Yo hablo palabras malas y yo no las sé.

I know that we're not supposed to be envious, but I have bilingual envy.
I've been thinking about it since Tuesday, when I met with my Spanish Study Buddy.  She's been in Provo for 4 months and is already better at English than I am at Spanish.  I've been learning Spanish since my Sophomore year in High School.  Granted, I took a two year break when I started college, but she's been here FOR FOUR MONTHS. 
Here's what happened.  I'm supposed to talk in Spanish for 2 hours before our first test and so I decided to be a part of this program in the ELC called Study Buddies.  I talk for 30 minutes in Spanish and she helps me to improve my conversation skills and she speaks in English for 30 minutes and I help her improve her conversation.  Pretty low key, which is just what I need.  I show up Tuesday for our lil study sesh and wait for her to come. And wait. And wait.  I call her.  I call my friend, Seth, who served in Guatemala for 2 years and comes back suddenly fluent in another language (green envy monster appears every time he speaks. ok, there are some things I need to work on in my life, including having bilingual envy).  I ask if we can practice Espanol since my study buddy forgot about me.  As I'm driving to his place, she calls me back, so I go back.  Seth tells me that he wants to practice, too, but that he's too lazy to drive down to us.  So I get to know my buddy, hablar-ing and English-ing.  I'm not too nervous because I know that she's in the same boat as I am.  We both struggle with each other's language but at least we struggle together.  No pressure.  Then suddenly Seth shows up, going off in the other language to my buddy how he wants to practice his Spanish, being as he just got back from Guate and doesn't really have anyone to speak to (he has me, buuuut we all can guess how much patience that requires from him).  She speaks in the other language to him and then I realize that she's MY hablar-ing buddy so I try to join the conversation.  It's not so low key anymore since there is now a person who is fluent in both languages involved (green monster of envy).  It was nice at some points when I'd forget a word in Spanish and he was my personal human Spanish-English dictionary, though. 
I get into the flow of the conversation, both of us turning to Seth every once and awhile to help me with certain words, when the conversation turned towards certain words that are different in Guate and Mexico (where my buddy's from).  Really trying to put myself out there and be all-hablar-knowing, I through out a word that my teacher from last semester taught us for "cool".  I won't repeat it as to avoid offending any hablars out there, as I did with Seth and my buddy.  Yeah. First day with the study buddy and I'm already dropping obsenities.  In my defense, it's not offensive in some Spanish-speaking areas of the world.  But it's pretty bad in Guate and Pueblo, Mexico, as I find out.  Yep. Awesome. 
You can imagine that soon after that, I decided that it was time for us to speak English.  And I kept it G-rated in both languages, I promise.
When we left, in order to continue the cultural experience, Seth fried me a plantain, something he ate frequently on his mission. 
Then I ate some funfetti cake to bring myself back to America, where I decided is the right place for me.

¡Olé!