My Mexican

*note*  This post was originally posted in January 2011.

The way we met was not your ordinary way......  I had gone through a bad break up and could not listen to ANY  music with out crying.  It would always bring up some type of memory or I'd have to hear some sappy love song lyrics.   One day I found a spanish radio station and thought, "This is great!  Music... and I have no clue what they are saying!"

A couple of months went by and I was really getting into this spanish music!  Talk about a "beat"...
I worked with a girl from Colombia (South America) and told her I wanted to learn spanish.  She told me that I needed to do EVERYTHING in spanish...  Watch Univision, eat spanish food, drink spanish drinks, listen to spanish music (check), hang only with my spanish friends, do absolutely everything in spanish.  So, that is what I did.

Amazingly, it started coming to me.   Don't get me wrong, i made some pretty funny mistakes "Tengo mucho hambre"  ("i'm really hungry") and "Tengo mucho hombre" ("i have a lot of men") will definitely get a laugh out of your spanish friends.

I had one friend inpaticular (from Mexico)  and every day he gave me a new word. My job was to find out what the word meant.  So far the words had been easy enough.  One day he gave me a word.  I searched everywhere. I looked in the dictionary, I called my Colombian girlfriends, I even searched the web and NADA!  I couldn't find any info on this word.  I called my friend and he insisted it was a "WORD" but refused to tell me what it meant.

So last resort  I got online, went into a spanish chatroom and asked if anyone knew what the word meant.  "The Mexican" instant messaged me and told me the meaning of the word.  Turns out it was a "slang" word.  (i don't even remember now what the word was, neither does "the mexican", wish we did)

Our conversation did not end at that point.  We continued to chat for hours.  I explained I was learning spanish and why I was "online" and in a "chat room" etc.... He convinced me to give him my # so he could call.  He warned me that he only spoke spanish.....

"The Mexican" called and we talked for hours.  It was GREAT practice!  He was patient and I was determined.  We talked for probably 6 weeks ONLY IN SPANISH until he let his secret slip!  He was fluent in English!  So this whole time he had been laughing behind the scenes at all my mistakes....

"The Mexican" and I agreed to meet at a restaurant and we've been together ever since............

This happened over 10 years ago and the internet wasn't even as popular as it is these days.  Yes, it was a strange way to meet, but that's how it happened and i'm thankful everyday for #1) the horrible breakup, #2) the Colombian friend telling me to do eveything in spanish, and #3) the friend who gave me the slang word.  Without those 3 things, we never would have met....

And for the cups 1/2 empty out there saying, 'oh he just wanted his papers..lalalala"  HE ALREADY HAD THEM!  Lucky me!