First Great Day of Spanish Class

Not my first day, but the first day that I actually felt I made a lot of progress. For some reason, when I get a sheet of paper in front of me that is supposed to teach me Spanish, I can't learn a thing. It's not like learning a language, it's like doing math. Plug in the verbs, figure out the formula for a sentence and write it down in the blank spaces. Then you want to discuss it with me? Impossible. I have no clue what just happened.

The first fifteen minutes of class were a struggle, going through homework and walking through some scripted conversations. Eventually, I was just so exhausted from doing language math I couldn't talk anymore. Maria, my teacher, then just started talking to me and I was forced to rip my eyes away from their futile scanning of the paper and look at her. Suddenly the stuff she was saying was making sense. We were talking about how the culture has changed in the nuclear family of Bolivia; how family gatherings use very informal greetings now instead of the formal titles and greetings they used to use for parents, elders, etc. I told her about how it was the same in the United States. I mentioned how it probably had something to do with the hippies.

Then we took off! Maria actually went to college for one year in San Francisco in the 1960's. She had a lot to say about the lifestyle of the hippies. We talked for most of the class. We went from hippies to New York City, to New York City vs. Chicago, to Al Capone and prohibition. In the words of Katsumoto, "this was a good conversation".

Later that day, I hung out with Ramiro. Even he noticed my Spanish was much better than usual. I just hope I can do it again.



Grace and Peace,

Clay