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Published: February 17th 2007
Another opportunity to write in the Blog. We had training near Cayambe again today so we stopped at the internet cafe to check e-mail again. I think I have figured out why this is the rainy season in Ecuador. That had not had rain for a month and then today the skies opened up. It has rained hard all day long. Everything is a muddy, wet, mess. The temp must be in the lower 50´s maybe upper 40´s today. We can see our breath. Alas, I shouldn´t complain those of you in Ohio and vicinity are dealing with much worse.
My Spanish took a big jump today. All the technical training on agriculture and environmental issues was in Spanish and I understood a good portion of it. I even asked questions (preguntas) in Spanish that made sense. By no means have I cleared the hill in my Spanish, but it was a needed shot of confidence.
Speaking of shots, we received two more today, for a total of 6 now. If all hell breaks loose, I am immune. I even have drugs to treat the bird flu should it ever come to Ecuador.
Last night I watched the Tarzan and Jane in Spanish. It was the version with Farah Fawcett. It was humorous to see and hard to translate. Sue and I usually retire for bed around 10:00 and spend an hour or so reading. I´m nearly done with my first book - Politica by Tom Clancy. I have plenty of tech manuals that I could read, but that is not any fun, plus they are all in Spanish. I find that my brain can process about 5 hours of Spanish a day anymore and it just runs out. One of my PC friends described it this way... learning Spanish is like filling a cup of tea, once the cup is full you can´t put any more in, it just flows over on to the floor.¨
My immediate training group is tight. Susan, myself, Roger (51 and from Dayton) and Kris (23 from South Carolina). We are all somewhat reserved and tend to think before we act - unlike some of our other PC friends. As a whole though, the group is really motivated and dedicated to serving.
Adios
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Greg
non-member comment
The tea cup gets bigger
Jeremy, my friend TJ told me to tell you that you will find your Spanish "teacup" will get bigger with time. He said fluency sort of creeps up on you. One day you will suddenly realize it isn't hard to follow conversations any more. Take care brother.