I'm not a prissy girl

I'm not a prissy girl.  I have never worn "real" high heels.  I didn't start wearing makeup until after I graduated from High School.  I love getting my hands dirty.  I love camping.  I live to be outside.

But I'm still a girl.  I hate lifting heavy things.  I try to make myself look nice (although I do need self-reminders sometimes).  I won't touch an insect or amphibian with my bare hands, no matter how cute or interesting I think it is.  I am easily won over by flowers.

I'm not a prissy girl, but I love who I am.    

Espanol

For the next 3 months I will be working at our satellite location.  I have had some very mixed feelings about this, but in the end I trust it is for the best.  I get to meet new people, and I have a new job to learn, and a LOT of work to do as this location is very understaffed.  One of the things I love most about my job (at both locations) is that I get to use my Spanish--everday!  When I left for my mission to Ecuador in 2003 I knew that I would have a wonderful and unique opportunity to learn fluent Spanish and I wanted to take advantage of that blessing to the best of my ability.  I prayed and asked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to use my Spanish skills to bless the lives of others for the rest of my life, but little did I know how much they would end up blessing my own life.  I always try my hardest to speak Spanish perfectly, but I know sometimes I mess up-using the feminine article for a word instead of the masculine one, or vice versa-as well as other similar errors.  I also know I speak with an accent-it is pretty much impossible to learn a new language as an adult and not speak with an accent.  (But I always figure that if I can speak Spanish as well as President Uchdorf speaks Engish then I'm in pretty good shape!)

Often my native Spanish-speaking coworkers will ask me if my dad is Mexican or if my parents speak Spanish (I think its funny that they always assume that my dad would be Latin-American and my mom would be white but that always seems to be how they imagine it).  I always feel flattered when they ask this!  If I can't speak perfectly at least they think I speak well enough to be a first generation American who grew up with a lot of Spanish at home!

Today I got the ultimate compliment.  A coworker just flat out asked (in Spanish of course)
"So, what part of Mexico are you from?"
WOW!!!!
"I'm not from Mexico.  What makes you think I'm from Mexico?"
"Because you speak Spanish so well.  They have white people in Mexico too."
"But I speak with an accent, don't I?'
"Yeah."
"A little bit, or a lot?"
"A lot."

Oh bummer.  Well, at least I was on cloud nine for a little while.  Other people have told me that I hardly speak with any accent of all. (Yes, I'm always trying to figure out how I sound to people when I talk.)  I do know that when I'm tired my Spanish gets worse.  I still feel flattered that he thought I was from Mexico, even if he thinks I talk with a heavy accent.  I just have to remember President Uchdorf!