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My Family
Cookie, Me, Connie, and Teresa.I arrived in Antigua on March 31/11 and was dropped off at the home of my host family. I was given a quick tour of the house (very nice) and an introduction to my new family. The women of the house are Connie and her two daughters, Cookie and Teresa. The men of the house are Teresa’s husband, Jorge, and two of their sons, Alex (21) and Jose (16). Two other students are also staying at the house; Mimi is from Slovenia and Nadine is from Holland (Sigrid, from Germany, came halfway through following Nadine's departure). Antigua is such a beautiful city. Obviously I noticed right away how clean and fresh it was. The city consists of brightly painted colonial style buildings complete with terracotta roofs and cobblestone streets. The city is surrounded by three tree covered volcanoes (one of which is still active). Many of the larger buildings show evidence of the damages incurred from earthquakes years ago. On many of the streets you can see crumbling walls and the remains of large buildings/churches that have not yet been restored. It’s quiet and beautiful.
My initial plans were to study Spanish in Antigua for three weeks with the goal
Friends
Bettina (a student from Germany), and my house mates Mimi, myself, and Nadine. to be fluent/confident enough to travel solo for the next five weeks through the rest of Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica). However, my Spanish had not progressed as quickly as I had hoped so I decided to stay in Antigua for an extra week. I have realized that it is really difficult to learn another language and that it is impossible to learn by osmosis.
Week number one was a short week (which I hadn’t realized prior) due to the holiday Semana Santa so classes were only held from Monday- Wednesday. The first teacher I was paired up with was a nice young man named Alvaro. Alvaro did not speak any English so much of the morning was spent passing the Spanish/English dictionary back and forth to communicate. “Preguntas?” (Any questions?) Now… what other option do I have but to say, “no preguntas”. If I replied with, “si”, I would then have to look up each word in the dictionary or come up with some elaborate charades to make the question clear. If by some chance Alvaro was able to figure out what I was asking, then what? How would Alvaro be able to answer a question about
My Teachers
Diego, Fracisco, Me, Victor, and Antonio! a language I don’t understand in a language that I don’t understand? I continued onward hoping that I would be able to figure things out as I went along. Alvaro was very patient and encouraging which was necessary in this situation and thankfully some of the Spanish I learned six years ago in an introductory Spanish class slowly started to return. And so we were able to make it work, but by the end of my three hour class I was exhausted. These are not classes that you can daydream and then return to the conversation and pick up where you left off. These classes were non- stop; struggling to hear, translate, understand, translate, and speak. Not only that, I was still recovering from jet lag and emotionally/mentally/physically drained from my time spent in India. So inevitably, once returning to my homestay I didn’t have the energy to practice my Spanish and spoke to the other students in English. And so I came to realize that, no practice= no progress.
Week two I was excited to try some new teachers and had a list of questions ready. However, the first teacher in the morning was Victor. Victor seems to
Amigos from Guatemala City
Pablo, Nadine, Nathaly, Alejita, Allan and Me. have a more strict approach than the others and he made it clear that in his classes there is no speaking English. Serious? Well I guess it is going to be a very quiet class because I can’t say anything in Spanish… yet. I was frustrated to nearly tears. How can I move forward and arrive at the point of asking questions in Spanish if I can’t get some explanation in English first. Needless to say, Victor intimidated me into completing more than my assigned homework as I sought after some approval from him in class the following day. Althought Victor’s classes were frustrating at times, I am well aware that I need a bit of a “push” in the right direction or I tend to procrastinate. After Victor’s class in the morning I had Diego. Diego is much more relaxed which I felt was a good balance after two hours with Victor. This is what I was waiting for.... Finally I was able to get away with asking some questions in English and getting some answers in English.
On week three I continued to have classes with Diego and Victor was replaced by Antonio. Antonio was great and
taught at a pace that worked well for me. Antonio is also the activity director for the cultural excursions during the afternoons and was very helpful as my personal translator. We visited a couple of churches, a coffee plantation, the hospital/clinic, hiked to Cerro de la Cruz, cooked a traditional desert, watched a movie about the culture/lifestyle of Guatemalans living in the dump, and another explaining the inside story of the civil war/Guerrillas in Guatemala just over a decade ago.
On week four I thought it was necessary to request a teacher that scared me into learning and that was Victor. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), scheduling did not work out and I was paired with Diego and Aura (Victor’s sister). Aura was really great and very patient. Aura spent time practicing my conversation skills with me which was exactly what I needed.
During this experience of learning a second language I have thought about the children back in India often. I consider the challenges I have faced and can appreciate a little more the challenge that the children face every day with a language barrier in their new environment. I found myself struggling to keep up with the
Surprise visit with Leanne and Shane in Antigua.
Friends (from Australia) that I had met in Thailand in 2007. other students, working for approval and praise from my teachers, and striving to reach goals that I had set for myself (which may have been a bit unrealistic). This experience certainly gave me a better understanding of what the children are going through right now and they continue to show so much pride and committment. With my mind drifting to India and to my friends/family in Canada I can honestly say that I have not focused 100% of my energy on my classes and my Spanish skills have suffered as a result.
Over the course of the last few weeks I have been taking private Salsa dance lessons with Diego. It is so great! After the first few steps, I have a great big smile across my face. I can’t help it; it just appears and remains for the next hour. Oh how I miss dancing with a partner! I miss dancing with MY partner! I miss my Dad! Dad taught me to love dancing… and I do! It feels so good to hear the rhythm and to follow a strong lead. Some of the steps and turns feel familiar. Diego moves his hips with confidence and I see my Dad swaying to the music with a cocky grin on his face. Those were the greatest times!
I have had two weekend trips scheduled as part of my school package. Another student/my house mate, Nadine and I went to Lake Atitlan together. We spent the afternoon touring some of the villages around the lake and had a few drinks. On the boat back to the city we were staying in, Panajachel, Nadine and I decided to practice our very limited Spanish skills on some locals (the booze always seems to help with confidence in these situations). We decided to chat with a group of six young people from Guatemala City. Our new amigos invited us to join them for an evening out so that we could practice our Spanish and our Salsa dance moves. We had the best time! And, as it turned out, our new friends were fluent in English (they must have enjoyed watching us struggle with our Spanish!). Thanks Nathaly, Alejita, Cecy, Allan, and Pablo. The gang even came to Antigua (1 hour drive away) for another great night out and also took me to Guatemala City for a day tour. Who would have thought that a conversation on a boat could open up such great opportunities for us. I feel so fortunate to have met these great people.
My second weekend trip was to Tikal (Mayan ruins in the North of Guatemala). What a great trip. I was nervous to be traveling on my own again and had even started considering staying in Antigua for another additional week for fear of leaving my comfort zone… again. However, this weekend trip changed all that. I met many people and enjoyed some time to myself. I imagined myself at the beach with no scheduled classes, no homework, …… I need that!
Side note: I had started to see a bit of pattern and that often you could just add an “a” or an “o” to an English word and it becomes a Spanish word. Ie: persona, diccionario,rapido, timida, tranquilo, delicioso, attractivo, problema, mapa, bicicleta, helicoptero, etc. So as you can see, you can occasionally get away with adding a letter to make it sound like you are speaking Spanish. Well… let’s just say that I have two examples of when this theory failed me. When I was trying to practice my Spanish with my friends from Guatemala City I had said something stupid (as always) and tried to explain to them that I was embarrassed. I wasn’t sure of the right word so I took a chance and told them that I was “embarazada” which incidentally means “pregnant”. Oops! After drinking cervezas all afternoon I had now told my friends that I was pregnant! Embarrassing! On another occasion I wanted to tell me dance teacher, Diego, that I was very excited for dance class. “Muy excitado!” which apparently translates into “horny”! Oh crap! I just told my teacher that I am horny! So I guess I am pregnant and horny! Awkward! Lets see what awkward situations my lack of Spanish gets me into over the course of the next few weeks as I return to independent travel! Stay tuned.
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Jens' Auntie Sue
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I love your stories of life.
Oh Crystal! You have made me cry over the past few months, but, you make me laugh out loud! Your experiences are something most of us will never get to do. Enjoy, have fun, laugh, live and experience this wonderful world of ours. Take care on your travels. Sue