Sometimes I feel like the mythical Greek high-school exchange student. The exchange-student kid that keeps blinking at the lunch table. Who keeps smiling while totally disoriented.

Here´s the great news. I am not this student, although sometimes I still feel like that. Here´s what I am learning about fluency and connection. This comes to you, from me, from the deep end of the pool. I am also teaching painfully-shy Peruvians this while teaching English too.

Personality matters more than fluency. Connection, effort, and intimacy matter more than understanding or saying everything. So, the perfectionst can take a very careful seat. Getting a general idea and then building more and more (like eating an Elephant) is actually how this skill is developed. I´m not aware of another option.

So, you are welcome all you like to obsess about saying things perfectly. But, what is far more important, is to go ahead and say them. Say words with the wrong article in front. Whatever What is more important is that you put it out there. It´s actually a type of vulnerability.

The next thing you need to have is a sense of humor to laugh when people sometimes don´t understand you. Sorry, this is not optional if you are a language learner. Latino people are generally gracious about this. They smile then look at you with a specific unknowingness. Then, you can establish once again that you are a beginner, and that´s simply how all this looks even when you wish it didn´t.

Okay, next week we talk about Carrbayllo.

At a chocolate shop in Mindo, Ecuador. This is from January of this year.