"Yo no se mañana" is a pretty popular/overplayed song by a Nicaraguan singer called Luis Enrique. It means I don't know tomorrow. The song basically emphasises on the "NOW" because you don't know what tomorrow will bring or if there will be a tomorrow. It pretty much is the philosophy of life. Why leave till tomorrow what you can do now?
Having said that, I do put have an alarmingly long wishlist of things I want to do. I remember having this conversation with my friend, Orlando, we were both sitting by the sailing club in Oslo and I mentioned how "learning to sail" was on my things to do before I turn 30. That wish kept multiplying and I had a lot more under my "pending or to-do" list than my "done" list. I started freaking out, not *that* long to go till 30 and still a heck lots of things to be ticked! As John Mayer would say, "won't someone stop this train"?!
One of my aspirations has always been to speak another language fluently. Sadly as of right now, I can only say I'm fluent in one language. I can speak Hindi and Gujarati (my mum's mother tongue) but I'm losing my fluency and I can't have a proper conversation without fumbling for words or casually weaving in some English words and phrases which is very embarrassing. I think bi/multilingualism is a very valuable asset. I was so dumbstruck by people I met in Europe who spoke multiple languages, not just their native and English but most people could also speak a third language! I was totally in awe of a colleague who spoke 8 different languages and she would easily switch from one to another as she spoke to various people and departments in our office! LIKE A BOSS!
I like languages and am pretty good with picking them up...not so good with continuing. I flirted with French for a while which I loved but never took to the next level. I took Spanish and Mandarin in University which again I really enjoyed but didn't really continue to use. I took some beginners Czech classes..more out of need than want but didn't really use it much either. I also picked up several profanities and silly phrases in Portuguese, Croatian, Dutch etc but it's best if I don't use them ;). It appears as though I have a non-committal tendency towards languages. I'm like the Jack of languages, master of none.
To keep up with my new resolution to do one new thing and to tick off another thing from my "to-do before 30" since "yo no se manana",I decided to reconnect with languages far forgotten and seldom used. It was a tough decision between the seduction of French and the sexiness of Spanish, like a linguistic battle of the McDreamy vs McSteamy but in the end, McSteamy i.e. Espanol won. Spanish in my opinion was easier, more fresh in my memory and easier to practice with all the Spanish speakers I know. So I spent an hour studying Spanish yesterday, basic phrases and survival terminology and then spent the rest of the evening listening to my Spanish playlist. It was awesome actually understanding some of the words in those songs I usually listen to so naively. I'm going to try and keep up with the self-study and hopefully practice my Espanol soon with some guapos in South America (must-do destination before I turn 30 ;)).
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