The Chase

With my birthday and the holidays approaching, my parents asked me what I would like for my birthday. Every year, this question is really easy for me to answer because every year I ask for a puppy. Unfortunately, I could never get one because my dad and I were allergic...until now! I recently had an allergy test done and discovered that I am no longer allergic to dogs! Yay! Besides the fact that my dad is still allergic, I am one step closer to being able to get a puppy!

Ever since I was two years old, I have loved dogs. My grandparents had a dog named Ruby when I was two and she was the kindest dog I had ever met. She would tolerate my troublesome antics and play with me. After returning home from the long visit to my grandparent’s house, I realized that Ruby was supposed to stay with my grandparents and from then onwards, I have written letters, poems, essays, and songs to convince my parents to let me have a dog.

When I found out that I was allergic to dogs, I was devastated. All of the dogs I had met up to that point in my life had been so kind and I wished to add a puppy to my family. However, I soon met a dog who was nothing like the others.

One day, while taking a walk with my mom and our friends, we suddenly saw a dog run towards us. For a dog lover, I was excited, but I soon realized that this dog did not want to be petted. Looking back at this event now, I’m sure the dog would have calmed down, but in the exciting moment, I decided to run away from the dog. For some odd reason I was terrified that this dog would bite me and I would then have to get shots (which I was even more terrified of.) Anyways, I ran, I sprinted. Eventually, the dog tired out and returned to its home and then I returned to my mother and our friends who were angered, confused, and surprised by my action.

Upon my arrival, my mother first told me that I could run really fast and then broke out into laughter along with our friends. I wasn’t really embarrassed, but rather angry at the dog’s decision to chase me. But, I then realized how awkward it must have seemed to an outsider to see me dashing away from this probably harmless dog. I joined in the laughter, although I was still mad at the dog. However, I soon realized that there was no point in being mad at the dog so we “apologized” and are now good friends.

Interestingly, I did gain something from this odd encounter/chase. Besides becoming a great embarrassing story for my mom to tell, it taught me that I could run quite fast, which motivated me to join the track team. Also, I love dogs even more now and am looking forward to having one soon, hopefully!

False Cognates

Recently in Spanish class, we were learning about false cognates. The Spanish language has many words that sound really similar to their meanings in English. For example, "car" in English is "carro" in Spanish and they sound quite similar as well. However, this isn't always the case.

I remember a few years ago we were learning about the past tense in Spanish class and each student was required to give a short presentation using the past tense. I decided to write about a dinner party where I broke and plate and was then embarrassed. Carelessly, I thought that the word embarrassed was another common cognate, so I assumed that in Spanish, it would be "embarazada." So without trying to verify this self-created meaning, I just went with it and continued writing my presentation.

The next day, I gave my presentation, which was going well until I said "yo rompí un plato y fue embarazada." My Spanish teacher looked at me surprised and said "¿que?" I froze. What had I done wrong? She told me to repeat what I said and so I did.

"Wait what? Do you know what that means?" she asked.
"Yeah, doesn't it mean I dropped the plate and I was embarrassed?" I asked back.

She, being a lighthearted person, smiled at me and my somewhat understandable error. "That's not what you said, you said that you dropped the plate and were pregnant."

At that point, I was embarrassed and felt quite awkward that I had said that, but it was funny so I laughed it off and continued my presentation, trying not to make any more mistakes. But I did learn my lesson: things are not always what they seem to be...more importantly though, always use a Spanish-English dictionary when you don't know a word. :)