Terrific story, Deb. You've captured so well the sometimes overwhelming feeling of life in a foreign country and of not being fluent with the language--although I'm sure your Spanish is better than my French.

When my former husband, fluent in Spanish (as spoken in Mexico) and I visited Valencia many years ago, he was disappointed to find that locals found his Spanish difficult to understand.

You handled that experience very well though and I continue to admire your strength, courage and determination to do what you're doing. Are you having some fun, also?