Thai basil growing on my terrace //
Albahaca tailandesa creciendo en mi terraza
The hot weather continues, along with my answers about life here...
What food do you miss?
I am really grateful that I know how to cook a lot of different dishes that aren't common here. However, I´m still limited by availability of ingredients sometimes. Corn on the cob? Only comes cooked and plastic wrapped, and I've never even tried it because it looks overly mature and tough. US style green beans? You can buy them, but they are super expensive and rare. So I'm left with Spanish green beans, which are longer, flatter, and tougher. It's also impossible, as far as I can tell, to purchase fresh Thai basil, but luckily I've been able to grow some on the terrace.
Green beans // judías verdes
Do you have any advice for people who want to learn Spanish?
I´m learning Spanish by immersing myself as much as possible, which I think would work for any language. I changed my phone and computer so that they're operating systems are all in Spanish. I listen to podcasts and watch things on YouTube in Spanish, and read books for kids. I look for people who want to practice with me. The truth is, I don't think I am especially brilliant at learning languages, but I have fair amount of knowledge about how people learn and I have a great deal of persistence.
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El calor continúa, con mis repuestas sobre mi vida aquí…¿Qué comidas echas de menos?
Gracias a Dios, puedo cocinar muchas recetas que no existen aquí. Sin embargo, no es posible comprar algunos ingredientes importantes. Por ejemplo, la mazorca de maíz fresca no está a nuestro alcance. Hay mazorcas de maíz cocinado y preservado, pero nunca los he probado porque me parecen demasiado maduras. Las judías verdes son más largas, planas y duras, mientras que la variedad de judías verdes de EE. UU. es muy cara y escasa. Por otro lado, no encuentro ninguna albahaca tailandesa en ningún lugar, y por eso, tengo una creciendo ahora en mi terraza. También, estoy soñando con tomar sidra recién exprimida.
¿Tienes algún consejo para personas que aprenden español?
Creo que mi método funciona para todos los idiomas, consiste en vivir tu vida inmerso en el idioma, lo máximo que sea posible. Cambia el móvil y el ordenador para utilizar esos dispositivos en español, escucha pódcast y mira YouTube en español, lee libros de niños o adaptados a tú nivel. Suscríbete a canales y sigue a personas de Instagram dónde hablen sobre tus intereses en español. Busca personas que practiquen contigo. En conclusión, no tengo una gran facilidad para aprender idiomas pero tengo mucho conocimiento sobre cómo las personas aprenden y tengo persistencia.
7 comments:
Are you taking questions from the audience? Here's a question about your writing: Do you write the Spanish part first (using mostly words/phrases you know) and then translate to English, or do you write the English part first and then try to translate to Spanish, looking up what you need along the way?
humble answers but your persistence will definitely pay off! I have come to prefer the flat green beans which were available in the Netherlands and now I've come full circle, because they are not available in Sweden.
Alexis, oh no! You are suffering the reverse green bean withdrawl! I can pack my bag with some when I come to visit :)
Cheryl Anne, I almost always write the Spanish first, using words I know, and my friend corrects/ improve the vocabulary and tone. I write the English later, and I try to get the gist, but don´t worry about actually translating, so sometimes they are a bit different in tone and content.
Oddly enough, you can get pretty good corn on the cob in Ghana. And you find it being grilled roadside all the time.
Green fingers as well as a talent for producing special dishes - perhaps your terrace will have enough space for you to grow other ingredients that are difficult to obtain.
In my opinion, your Spanish is really good. You have improved a lot.
And your English is perfect jjj
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