Mr. Kuk's Excelente Aventura

When we made plans to come to Spain, I think that I underestimated the amount of effort that it would take to learn a second language. It is not that I thought I would pick Spanish up by osmosis, but I thought just living in Spain would be enough to learn the language in nine months. I quickly came to realize that it would require consistent effort and an intentional plan to reach my learning goals. In this post, I want to share some of the things I have been doing to learn Spanish. 1)       Intentionally seeking opportunities to interact with Spanish speakers Although there is an English speaking church near us, we intentionally decided to attend a Spanish speaking church. This has been a great opportunity to meet and interact with Spanish speakers (I say Spanish speakers instead of Spaniards because there are a lot of people who have immigrated from South America). The sermons are in Spanish, but translated to English, which provides a great...

Several years ago, we targeted the Málaga area as our preferred home base for a sabbatical year. Ever since that time, I have anticipated visiting nearby Ronda. Perhaps you will recognize this town, set atop two plateaus separated by a steep gorge and a waterfall, from the classic children’s book The Story of Ferdinand or from the more recent animated film Ferdinand . From the moment that I saw pictures of Ronda, it immediately went to the top of my “must-visit” list. A view of Ronda from the movie Ferdinand. The beauty of Ronda was shrouded on our journey toward the city, as our bus wound along steep mountain roads through the cold rain. We had a few hours to kill before checking into our AirBnb apartment and had not counted on dealing with inclement weather. To pass the time, we lingered in a café and I walked with the girls to the main bridge, Puente Nuevo, which separates new Ronda from the original city. Even in the rain, the gorge that separated the city was impres...