Mucho Gusto, Juanita

My mom took very limited Spanish in high school and again when she was working in Kansas, and now that all three of her children are studying the language, she's trying to catch up.  For many years, we heard her recite a memorized dialogue in which she introduces herself to her imaginary friend, Juanita.  "Mucho gusto, Juanita," or "Nice to meet you, Juanita," was a familiar refrain anytime we mentioned anything about our Spanish learning.

Mom begins learning with Rosetta Stone.

She purchased Rosetta Stone as well as "Learn Spanish in Three Months" tapes and book.  As with most technology projects, she needed some help setting it up.  After two emails to Rosetta customer service, we still haven't gotten the headset part set up, but above she is starting to learn simple sentences like "The boy eats" or "The girls swim."  Ethan and I have been correcting her pronunciation until she gets the words right.

Rosetta Stone has a speaking component built into the program.  Instead of having a computer decide if your speech is correct, it schedules you a time with a native speaker to practice.  As she progresses in the program, I'm curious to find out what these conversations are like.  Where are they getting the Spanish speakers?  What kinds of accents do they have?  Something many new Spanish users struggle with is accents--think about all the different accents from countries where English is spoken.  For example, while people in the United States understand the English spoken in South Africa, word usage and some grammatical constructions are different.  These differences are magnified to new learners.  

I'm hoping my mom has enough time to really commit to learning Spanish.  She needs to think about it every day and have a dedicated time to succeed.  I think she would enjoy being able to be a part of the language Ethan, Laura, and I study.   

Conning the Cons: Nueve Reinas

Per the recommendation of Argentines, former study-abroaders, and the Lonely Planet's top ten Argentine films list, I decided to watch Nueve Reinas  (Nine Queens) as part of my preparation for study abroad.  This film was released in 2000 and directed by Fabián Bielinsky.  We meet two con men, Marcos and Juan, who decide to pair up for the day to rob, cheat, and scam the unsuspecting people of Buenos Aires and then craft the greatest scheme of all time. I got an inside scoop into how they go about this-- confusing the counting of change at the gas station or zooming by on a motorcycle and grabbing briefcases.  If you watch the movie, be sure to stick with it until the final moments--the last moment contains a key twist.

I was not expecting to like the film as much as I did.  Normally, I don't like suspense, violence, or loud noises which makes most film viewings less than pleasant for me.  However, Nueve Reinas didn't have violence and unrolled the other elements slowly.  I also liked seeing what "real" and gritty Buenos Aires looks like and learning some new vocabulary.  I'm hoping to catch a few more movies before I travel to Buenos Aires.  

Let's Cook... Empanadas

Finished empanadas

In preparing for Argentina, I purchased an Argentine cookbook to learn more about what is eaten there and maybe how to cook it.  It's interesting to see how much beef in eaten in Argentina-- beef is a huge industry and export, although that is changing.  Argentina's consumption of beef is decreasing as people realize it's not wise to eat steak every meal  and it has fallen to the eleventh-ranked beef exporter in the world.  (Read more in Simon Romero's New York Times  article.)

I decided to start with something that I was mildly familiar with--empanadas in Spanish or empadas in Portuguese.  The recipe was adapted from Cooking the South American Way, a cookbook for kids I got from the library.  I made mine with relleno de carne picada , or beef filling.  I struggled the most with the timing, since the beef filling had to be precooked, but still hot, when the dough was ready.  The filling included beef, onion, cumin, salt, and raisins.  I omitted the olives (yuck!) and the paprika (couldn't find in the spice cabinet).  The recipe called to cook the beef and onions and then let it sit on the stovetop on medium for another twenty minutes.  After ten minutes, the beef was starting to look dry, so I turned it off and let it sit while I made the dough.  I almost forgot to add some of the liquid to the dough, so its final consistency was a little too sticky.  I had a hard time getting it rolled thin enough.  Into the oven at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.

The final product turned out okay.  The dough to filling ratio was off-- I did need to roll the dough thinner because the bites yielded a lot more bread than filling.  I also would have cooked the filling less because it was very dry by the time it came out of the oven.  But for my first attempt at South American cooking, I think I did all right.