Now that I am in Spain, and having to work with a number of second-language English speakers, I have found that I speak way too quickly. Or rather they have told me so. So in an effort to actually communicate, I am making a conscientious effort to speak very slow. Painfully slow. While the people I work with are very good English speakers, their glazed eyes give away when I start talking fast again.

I have also found that I must limit my vocabulary considerably and I can not use any of my clever play-on-words (who said I did this to begin with). Now without my insatiable wit, I feel reduced to a person who can’t figure out what they want to say, nor can use anything but single-syllable words. I feel dumb when I speak.