Spanish Word(s) of the Day: antes y después de

There are some words I have a terrible time with. Like derecho and derecha. Fortunately when I ask someone for directions, they'll point in the direction I'm supposed to go so then I'll know if they're saying go straight (derecho) or turn right (derecha).

That brings me to before and after. Antes and después were elusive until Mexico put up highway signs showing the work on Highway 15. The antes signs show the road narrow and potholed; the después signs depict a nice wide and smooth highway.

When I moved into this space, the porch was painted brown. All the boards and cement blocks were brown. Some friends gave me leftover paint and so I painted the back wall in a kind of pinkish salmon color. It wasn't great but it wasn't brown. Then Manuel splashed streaks of kerosene mixture all over the wall and it was truly ugly. It needed to be repainted. I hired his dad, Chapo, for some wall plastering.

Antes

Después de