Fluent?

There are times in the process of learning a new language where you thing you are doing pretty good and have a good grasp on the language. Then there are those other times where you realize how limited your knowledge is. In the effort to follow chap 7 of Preach My Gospel, I try to do things that help my Spanish improve. I have wanted to read some good Spanish literature outside of class so I thought; "why not read "Cien anos de soledad" (A Hundred years of Solitude). It is said to be one of the two most important novels in Spanish literature the other being Don Quixote. So I picked it up at the bookstore and started reading it. I wasn't reconizing all the words but I got through page one. After realizing that I didn't understand much I got out my Spanish dictionary and a piece of paper. Went through and found 36 words that I had no clue what they were. That's a lot on page one of the book. So I wrote them down and the first page of the book makes so much more sense now. Now I just have to get flash cards and make them for all the words that I run into that I don't understand. Hopefully this will help.