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Published: June 24th 2005
Okay, so before I start in on today's surfing adventure, let me start by addressing all the "Are you sure you're studying down there?" comments I've been getting.
YES, I'm studying like a maniac! Let me take a moment to expand this point. Last Monday I sat down with the director and dove right into a conversation with him in Spanish for approximately 30 seconds, saying a few of the only sentences I know about myself, thanks to my wonderful PSage teachers. Well, for some reason, he decides to put me in Spanish Level 3, an intermediate level class. The class is only in Spanish. . .no English allowed. We're conjugating verbs right and left in the present and past, regular and irregular. I spend 4 hours in classes each day. This week our class consisted of 3 students and Johnny, our teacher. I've learned a LOT just with the classes but that's not all. . .every night (except weekends--hooray for weekends!) we have about 2 hours of homework. AND, in keeping with the good ole educational philosophy of aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. . .we have an exam every week too! Fortunately, ours was take-home, but that didn't make it easy. It took me about 4 hours to complete and consisted of some low-level (Ben Bloom would be appalled!) fill in the blank questions, as well as several higher-level open-ended sections. The hardest part was the 300 word essay I had to write in the past tense! I didn't think I could write that much in English!!! And the most amazing part of all. . .I made a 95 on the test! Next week, I move on to Level 4. NOW do you believe that I'm really studying??? Of course, in between Parts 3 and 4 of my exam, I took a 5-hour break to go to a fiesta where I experimented with my first dose of the Costa Rican liquor Guana. . .but we don't need to go into those details right now! I'm sure it just made for better reading for Johnny when he graded my essay!
On to the exciting stuff. Today after class I took my first surfing lesson. Boy was I in luck. I was assigned the most coveted surfing instructor in town--Pablo! Ladies, close your eyes and say his name. . .Pablo! Yep, that's what he looked like! Of course the mood kind of crashed when I realized that I was going to subject him to the most unflattering view of my hind-side for an hour, but oh well! Well, Pablo, quite the surfer and in true hospitable Tico fashion, was quite a patient man and a great teacher. He taught me how to jump up on the board, first in the sand, then in the water with him holding my board, and then eventually on my own. Can you believe I got up SEVEN times!!! It's a good omen I think. I've now learned to operate, not from a calendar, but from the tidal charts, so I'll be hitting the waves either Saturday around 8am or Sunday around 9 or 2. I'll be flying solo this time, no Pablo to cheer me on, so wish me luck! I also hope to have some friends on the beach with my camera so I can document this momentous achievement!
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Shelly
non-member comment
Que BIen!
Yes, the closing of the eyes and imagining Pablo was very fun, especially since David is out of town. Tee Hee! Good for you for diving into so much Spanish. If I had to write in past tense, I would be sunk, because my Spanish sounds like that of an extremely challenged four-year-old. I'm glad you're having such a great experience!