About this time last year I introduced Blovember - a solid month of blogging on Man Writes Blog. This year I'm attempting, albeit with a slightly late start, a variation on the theme I'm calling Hablovember, so titled because I am spending most of November in Mexico attempting to learn Spanish. Actually, let's qualify that - as much Spanish as it's possible for a man two decades out of school to cram into a brain that hasn't had to learn anything genuinely new for quite some time.
If it all sounds a bit random that's because it is all a bit random. I had a stack of air miles teetering on the brink of expiry at the end of last year and ended up booking a return flight to Mexico nearly a year in the future. This was before swine flu had pushed Mexico just below Mogadishu on the list of desirable holiday destinations and it seemed as good a place as any. Also, despite the United Airlines Mileage Plus programme creating the distinct impression that a man with 100,000 air miles could rightfully consider the world his travel oyster, when it came to booking the flights it basically boiled down to North America or Mexico.
Anyway, I've always fancied learning Spanish - and have made a couple of half-hearted attempts in the past - and as the flight dates got closer I decided that rather than jump on the Lonely Planet Mexico tourist conveyor belt I'd instead make a proper effort to get some Spanish under my belt.
So the plan is to try the whole immersive approach - I'll be living with a Mexican family and taking lots of one-to-one lessons at a local language school. Although this would be rather extravagant in London (private lessons I mean, not living with a Mexican family, although importing a Mexican family just to create an immersive environment just round the corner would be quite extravagant) but it's about ten quid an hour in Mexico which makes it somewhat more feasible.
I'm aiming to keep the blog updated fairly regularly while I'm away, and hopefully the "stranger in a strange land" factor will guarantee a few genuinely amusing moments amongst the facile yet sadly inevitable "don't foreigners do the funniest things?" observations.
I'm also aiming to keep a video record of my progress, which you'll be able to check out on the hablovember channel on YouTube.
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