For context, my parents are both from Mexico(El Grullo, Jalisco & Mexlicali, Baja California) but my Mom came to the states when she was 8 and my Dad when he was 17-18, so she is Americanized, graduated High School and did two years of College before she had to drop out and take care of my elderly grandmother. More Americanized than my dad, pretty much. He only went to school in Mexico. Growing up in Orange County, Calif., during the 2000s, I remember living in a middle-class, mid-century cul-de-sac and my family, plus a couple others, were the only Latino family. At least to me, it felt like we were cuz I grew up mostly around white kids, so, I spoke English all the time and didn’t bother wanting to learn Spanish because “I’m an American.” By the mid-2000s, we started going to the old country more once my mom got her residency(dad had his since the 80s) and I remember it being so hard to communicate with my family, even though I understood half of what they were saying. My parents split up by the late 2000s, and lost the house during the recession, so, my mom and my siblings packed up and moved out to Riverside County, while my dad stayed in O.C. I currently live in a highly-populated Hispanic neighborhood of a city, and once I moved up here, and made friends who’s parents only spoke Spanish, I took it more seriously and I started to learn the language, the culture, my roots, and I couldn’t be any more prouder to be Mexican-American!!

Now that we got some context, I’d really like to improve my Spanish more. I’ve definitely learned a lot since, but I’d love to improve. Preferably, I don’t not want to learn Spaniard Spanish and the slang cuz it just confuses the living nightmare outta me, so anything that steers away from it, I’d gladly appreciate it!😊