I could continue to post about the horrors in the United States of 2025 under the Trump Administration. It’s just never-ending. I’m happy and proud to say that parishioners of my congregation are doing a great job of defending democracy, which is a Unitarian Universalist value. We’ll be marching in Boston on April 5. But for now… I want to talk about my journey of trying to learn Spanish (Español).

I’ve been trying to learn Spanish for some time now, especially since about 2010 or so. (I learned a tiny bit before visiting Barcelona back in 2000, but I also tried to learn the basics of Catalan, so I didn’t get very far in either!) The last congregation I served (UU Congregation of Andover) was right next to Lawrence, Massachusetts and lots of Spanish speakers. In 2013 I went to a two week Spanish immersion course in Mexico. I’ve worked with Rosetta Stone, both Latin American Spanish and Castilian Spanish (Spain’s version). I know enough to follow kids shows in Spanish, and I can communicate a bit as long as everyone speaks slowly.

You’d think I’d learn it faster. After all, I took four years of Latin in high school. And I lived in Italy for three years, with Italian having a fair amount of crossover.

I’m trying again to dive into learning Español. Part of it is, I’m thinking waaaaaay ahead to my next sabbatical, and I can imagine visiting a Spanish-speaking country. (Lots of different options are running through my mind.) I’m back to Rosetta Stone, but also taking advantage of all the Spanish language offerings on TV and streaming services and YouTube. There are so many chances to immerse yourself now!

Part of my motivation? It’s kind of silly, in a way. I’ve been doing lots of family tree stuff lately. I am mostly Scottish and German, with a fair amount of other UK stuff (British, a little Welch, a little Irish), and a bit of French. It’s all there in both my family tree research and in my DNA. But one other thing shows up in my DNA: I consistently show a small (between 1-3%) amount of “Iberian” DNA. That would mean either Spain or Portugal. I was never aware of that…

But doing my family tree research, I finally got back to it. You have to go back to the 16th century, but there it is… a 13th great grandfather and grandmother on my paternal side are Spanish, from Valladolid. How about that? Some of the Spanish names in my tree include de Alvarado, del Castillo, Gonzalez, and Vicente. Vicente was the name that got passed on for a while in my direct line, until a Vicente married a British woman, moved to the UK, and changed it to Vincent! The Vincent name gets me all the way to a 9th great grandmother. No wonder I never realized the Spanish heritage was there!

I find this discovery strangely delightful.