Franciscan Monastery – Nature in Full Bloom

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An abundance of confidence is a good thing, right?  I believe so.  I’m a pretty confident person, but sometimes the things I’m most confident about should be the things I practice with humility and restraint.  Unfortunately, I never realize this until after the fact.

My dad and I were taking pics for this outfit at the replica of the Grotto at Lourdes where the Virgin Mary appeared to a young Mary Bernard Soubirous (St. Bernadette).  Unfortunately, with this outfit, most of the pictures were not coming out to my liking.  I was frustrated as was my dad (as you can imagine).  I tried sitting, standing, and reclining until finally, we were able to catch a few decent shots. 

After the photo shoot, we had quiet time to ponder the miracle that happened at Lourdes.  Eventually, more visitors made their way to the grotto.  My dad asked me to take a pic of him in front of the fountain there.  As I did, a nice Peruvian woman, who was with her mother, asked if we wanted a picture together.  We said sure.  As she took our picture, I notice this woman’s mother only spoke Spanish.

How exciting, I thought to myself!  I can practice my Spanish! 

After she took the picture, I returned the favor and took a picture of the two of them in front of the Virgin Mary.  As I took the picture, I counted to three in Spanish, “uno, dos, tres.”  I took another for good measure (“una mas!”). 

After the pictures, the woman talked to us for a little bit.  She was curious to know about my fluency in Spanish.  My over-confidence got the better of me because I would answer her in, what I thought was close to perfect Spanish.  However, I should have realized something was off when she only responded back in English.

I continued speaking in Spanish and she continued speaking in English.  At the end of our conversation, she told me she was a Spanish teacher and very nicely advised that I should get back to practicing my Spanish.  Yikes!  How embarrassing.  Four years as “Elisa” in Mrs. Schilling’s high school Spanish class plus 3 years in college apparently didn’t do much for my mastery of the Spanish language. 

To add to my bruised ego, there was another group of Latinos listening to my broken Spanish conversation with the Spanish teacher.  One guy from that group said, “Te voy a dar clases de espanol gratis.”  This translates to “I’m going to give you Spanish lessons for free.”  All this followed by laughter.  LOL.   Well, at least I can understand Spanish better than I can speak it.  😉    

Have a wonderful week!

Lizzy’s Latest for this week is the White House Black Market Evie sandals (no longer available).  I will give my review of these sandals on Wednesday.  For now, enjoy the pictures!  🙂

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