Last night our Spanish teacher, Ignacio “Nacho” Medina, set up an informal get-together at Mercado Ferrando with some of his local students whom we have come to know through Cada Día Spanish: David, Libbie and Hanna. Along with Janice Hayden (and her husband Elliot Quint) and Marsha Walker, all of these people are those whom I’ve “known” through the class, but really only “seen” through the miracle of Zoom.

Even Nacho, our Spanish teacher, remarked yesterday that what has been so surprising about Cada Día Spanish is the sense of community we have developed through the stories we write for class, stories about ourselves, our families, our vacations, and our life experiences. This sense of community is truly remarkable, given that few of us have met in person.

At the beginning of every class session, we are invited to post greetings from where we are. I usually write “Buenos días de Honolulu,” while Janice writes something like “Está nublado en Laguna Beach” (It’s cloudy in Laguna Beach) or Marsha writes “Hay nieve en Utah” (There’s snow in Utah.) I did meet Janice in person three years ago only a few months after joining Cada Día, when I was visiting my family in California. My sister wanted to go to an art show in Laguna Beach and invited me to go. “Sure, I know someone in Laguna Beach!” thinking of Janice. I saw Janice again last Christmas when I visited my son’s family and she invited me to stay overnight so we could plan the trip.

So, we know where our classmates are living … and where they are from around the globe, all meeting at the same hour every day: 5:30 pm in Argentina and Uruguay. For me, that’s at 10:30 in the morning, and I try to avoid scheduling anything that might conflict with my daily Spanish class!

Some of the food we ate tonight:

I can’t tell you how much fun and exciting it was to meet in person!

And look what we saw in the bookstore as we left the marketplace!