The Squirrel Chronicles

Juan is an official Puerto Rican. I don't mean that he has a hispanic background. I mean that he lived in Puerto Rico his whole life until 4 years ago. The way he speaks English, you would NEVER know (except for the accent). He uses big words like "terrestrial" and stuff. Anyway, I am still putzing along with my spanish. Juan's entire family speaks Spanish, so there is pressure on me to learn. I can READ spanish quite well. Juan brought me a Spanish DVD yesterday and I shocked myself by accurately translating the entire narration on the back cover. SPEAKING spanish is a whole different issue. I completely clam up the moment my mouth opens, and the ONLY thing I can think to say is; "Comment ca va?" which is FRENCH for "How are you?" So yesterday I was at Juan's house (and not feeling very well). His mom asked me if I wanted somehting to eat (she ALWAYS wants me to eat..cheese, pears, bananas, tostones, rice, soup, yogurt...ANYTHING!!!) I stopped to think how I would respond to her in Spanish. I carefully plotted out each word in my head, and then proudly told her
"No thank you, my tomatoes are very sick today"