As any semi-regular reader of my silly little blog will know, I have been studying 
Spanish for a while. As part of that exercise I use a platform called, italki.com. I use one professional teacher from Guatemala who is valiantly trying to improve my grammar and pronunciation. As you can imagine, working with me, he does indeed have the patience of a saint. I am also working with what italki calls tutors. These are generally folks not trained in teaching languages, but will converse with you and gently correct your errors. Some will try to teach a little. I use them mainly for conversational practice. I am currently using 4 tutors in 4 different countries to sample different accents. I also occasionally do a language exchange. There is no cost to these. You spend 1/2 your time speaking your language and 1/2 your time speaking their language. This last method sort of works and sort of doesn’t, at least for me.
I use Skype to take these lessons. My avatar on Skype is Bill the Cat going, “Thbbft“. Why? My approach to life is frequently a bit cynical and this seems to embody it for me.
I was having a session with a young Mexican man living in Honduras. While he is not a big sports fanatic he was telling me how he would like to have a Yankee jersey. As The Dude said in The Big Lebowski, ” this aggression will not stand, man.” So I told him what he really needed was a Cardinals jersey. Then since we have several hanging in the closet from stadium giveaways, I told him I would send him one. I won’t go into all the details as to why he has not received it yet, but a new jersey is currently with a friend of his in Houston who hopefully is making a trip to Honduras soon.
In another session he was asking me about my avatar so I spent a portion of that time explaining to him the 80s pop culture phenomenon (at least in my circles) that was Bloom County.
Today Señora brought in a package from the mailbox. She asked me what I ordered. Not recalling any recent online purchases I brightly replied, “Nothing that I know of.” When I opened it there was a cup with Bill the Cat expressing his favorite comment, “Thbbft“. It put a big smile on my face and I laughed and laughed. I knew immediately who it was from.
It was totally unexpected and totally appreciated.
Keep well.
To see the videos of some of my italki teachers click this link: DSR’s Teachers