That Spanish Tutor (BxB)

CAPÍTULO 8

I decide to make a schedule for learning Spanish. For every single day, I need to spend at least 2-3 hours studying the language. I realize that I need to immerse myself in their culture to hasten up the process, and that includes: listening to Spanish songs, watching Spanish movies or series, and talking to natives.

The first 2 plans are definitely okay. The talking-to-natives part would be quite hard for me considering the fact that I have social issues, and the people that I want to speak with are probably busy. Mikel and Jorge have life outside, and I can't just talk to them all the time. Tita is busy and has work Monday through Friday, and on weekends, she would probably want to take Pablo somewhere. And Pablo, I can't speak with Pablo because he's a child. And then there's Luisa, which I forgot the name several times, so it would be awkward if Luisa and I constantly talk. Plus, we've barely said a word to each other since I got here. And most of them the interactions are: buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches. And hola, hi, and hello.

Thinking about the future does terrify me sometimes, and that's when anxiety kicks in. Because I'm thinking about so many possibilities, and almost all of those probabilities are not going to anyway. Because I like to freak out, and I like overthinking. Overthinking that will get me nowhere, but I'd feel immense relief if what I'd think would not happen.

With the help of internet, I'm able to practice a lot of conjugations. I go on a site that teaches basic Spanish conjugations, and from there, I practice conjugating. Some of them I get wrong, but it's mostly because of the spelling changes, and I feel proud of myself for getting at this stage. And I've learned a lot of verbs.

Verbs that I would probably forget later on.

But that's beside the point. I've learned so much in a span of an hour, and all I have to do is keep practicing.

7 in the morning, and people in this house are already alive. I can practically hear Pablo asking his mom to cook eggs for him. I stand up and look through the window, and find Mikel's window is still closed, the white roller blinds pulled down. I close the book that I'm reading and head downstairs.

On the table in the kitchen, there are croissants and two cooked eggs. Tita is washing her hands in the sink, turns around, and greets me. Luisa, on the other hand, is busy typing on her phone but her eyes would frequently switch to Pablo for a moment, before checking the screen.

"Hijo, we need to talk." Tita says to me as she wipes her hands on the apron tied neatly around her waist. "I have a favor to ask you."

"Okay," I respond, nodding my head.

"Here, these are croissants, and this egg is for you." Tita says. She grabs the other cooked egg and puts it on Pablo's place, and Pablo immediately digs in, a croissant in his other hand. "He just likes egg. Pretty sure he's going to be a big man when he grows up."

"He's actually a bit big for a 5-year-old kid," I tell her and she laughs. Pablo, probably sensing that we're talking about him, blinks his brown eyes at us but doesn't say anything.

"Oh, Andres, could you go to Mikel's house and bring this?" Tita hands me 2 boxes of Maria cookies. "His grandma likes this. Cookies are one of the typical breakfasts here. So when I buy one, I make sure to buy for them, too. Eat your breakfast first."

"All right,"

"Galletas," Tita blurts out.

"What?" I blink.

"What are galletas?" She asks me and puts a hand on her hips. I blink again and look at her with confused look. Oh. That's so random. I now remember a few days ago she told me she would randomly ask me translations and I guess this is it. But what the fuck are galletas? "I just gave it to you a few minutes ago."