Demasiado Español

When I began planning for this trip I knew Spanish language lessons would be on the itinerary. Few people in Central America speak English and I've wanted to learn Spanish for years. I knew a language intensive program would be a challenge; a challenge I was ready to meet. I choose a five hour per day, five day per week Spanish course, with one on one student teacher instruction. I also, decided to live with a local Guatemalan family, where I would be forced to practice my Spanish when not in school.

The first day of school began and I was thrilled with my instructor, Juan, he was my age and loved to discuss linguistics, politics and musicals! We spent the first day talking for the entire lesson. It was wonderful, I understood way more than I thought I would and my Italian language background made understanding and speaking so easy.

After school I went to meet the family I was going to live with for the next 3 weeks. I was nervous about living with a family; fellow travelers had horror stories. I worried about the meals they would serve (fearful every meal would be pork products and beans), apprehensive about the quality of accommodation, concerned I wouldn't be able to converse with the family. Bilma and George were a wonderful and very friendly older couple who frequently hosted language students. Bilma showed me their lovely home and my private room. Introduced me to their very sweet dog, Timi and asked me what foods I can't/don't eat. I was thrilled. Meals were wonderful and although they sometimes include foods I don't enjoy Bilma always made sure there were many options available. Accustomed to beginning level Spanish speakers in their home; they both spoke slowly and clearly, using small words and corrected me when I said something incorrectly.

After two days, I was exhausted I was living, learning and thinking in Spanish. My head hurt from the intensity of the language immersion. I started craving English conversation but it was hard to find opportunities to speak English. In fact, when I did have the chance to speak in English my brain would get stuck and I couldn't get most of the words out. I somewhere between loved and hated the feeling. Finally, after five days of intense language my first week came to an end. According to my instructor, I was going three times faster than the average beginning student and by the end of my 3 weeks should be speaking and reading at an intermediate level.

Juan was right at the end of the 3 weeks I learned 6 of the Spanish verb tenses and had a descent working vocabulary, the only problem...Italian kept working its way into my Spanish. For example, the Italian word for year, "ano" the Spanish word for year, "año". Without the little accent mark and slightly different pronunciation the word is somewhat vulgar. I can't tell you how many times I have said the WRONG word! Juan swore with time it would stop happening, I hope he's right because until it does, I will be running around Central America speaking Spanglitaliano. Deséeme la suerte!