And the Results are in!

 On September 18th, I had a language evaluation to see how I've progressed (or in this particular case, regressed) in my Spanish.  Two weeks ago I got the results of my evaluation, and I was quite surprised at how much I didn't regress.  Remember, after studying Spanish in Mexico for 11 months, I left at level 6 of 8...but then I spent 18 months in the U.S.  I expected that my language level would have dropped down to level 4, but, it only dropped one level--to 5!

This level is called "Progressing Mid", which basically means that I'm in the middle.  (Down south, they call this "fair to middling.") As far as language, it means that I can communicate fairly well in Spanish with people who are accustomed to how foreigners talk.  I have a fair amount of vocabulary; know quite a few verb tenses, but don't use most of the regularly in their appropriate time frame; I regularly confuse the articles preceding nouns & adjectives (everything here has a gender); and I need to learn how Paraguayans use prepositions instead of translating in my head from English to Spanish.

 The simple explanation: I can frequently understand enough to think I understood but still often misunderstand the meaning behind the words.  

The goal for level 8: To understand almost everything, minus the occasional word in a new topic, and even understand why the Paraguay is saying what they are saying.

Simply put, I have a lot of work ahead of me--but I have to remember that I have a lot of work behind me, too.  The upcoming levels are some of the hardest to work through, because of the more complicated verbs (remember learning what "I would have eaten was called?)  I'm also learning Paraguayan culture, which will take quite a while.

I thank you profusely for your prayers--they are a huge part of what keep me going each day.  My next language evaluation should be in January, so in February we should know how much progress I made in my first six months in Paraguay!