What you can do with a few words

This week Lena, Kathryn, and I have had many hard laughs about mistakes in Spanish word pronunciation and using a similar but wrong word. For example, one of us said that we were going to open the door with eggs instead of keys. The word for eggs is juevos, and the word for keys is llaves. Another example is that Lena and I practice physical prostitution for out occupation instead of physical therapy. Needless to say with so many words and grammar floating in your head combined with the urge just to say what you want to say, these mistakes happen often. It certainly provides much needed humor relief.

It is amazing what you can do with 9 days of one-on-one Spanish, basic grammar, and a few words. This past week has been so busy with Spanish! When I am not in class, I am doing homework or memorizing words. I am learning between 50 to 70 new words a day. It is the increased vocabulary that has made the most difference so far. I will either hear a word that is on my vocab list for the day or hear a word that is put on the vocab list the next day. The vocab list is not a topical list like in Spanish books. The words are those that have come up in our conversations that either Zoila said and I did not know, or that I wanted to say and did not know.

The neat thing is that with only a few words and a basic sentence structure one can have conversations about complex topics. For example, this week Zoila and I talked about Obama versus Bush politics, the different stereotypes and predjudices in California, NC, and in Guatemala, and how when I was growing up the public schools were integrated by busing kids across town to name a few. Although I am learning so much every day, I have realized that I am not sure I will be having basic conversation Spanish at regular pace and correct grammar when I return. It takes me a good minute to 30 seconds to construct what I want to say making sure all the articles match, the verb conjugation is correct, and grammar is correct. I will continue learning and see what happens!

Although I have made so much progress in a short about of time, I still get very frustrated because I cannot say what I want to say when I want to say it. Zoila speaks very slowly and uses simple words which gives me hope that I am learning. I am able to slowly but surely communicate with her. When Lena, Kathryn, and I are in the commuity, the Maya do not speak slowly ans simply. I am normally able to get the last word they say and ask them to repeat it. The second time around I am able to get the jist of it from context. Regardless, I have learned more Spanish in 9 days of class than in one year of highschool Spanish. We will see what I learn in the next 4 weeks.

During our conversations, Zoila and I learn about each other, each other´s families, each other´s culture. I am truly enjoying getting to know more Mayas and more about the Maya people and culture. The Maya people make up about 60% of the population in Guatemala yet only have 10 of the 121 seats in the government. The Ladinos and the Mesticos have the power. Ladinos are those who are ¨white¨non- indigenia who were born in Guatemala. The Mesticos are mixed (one ladino parent and one indigenous parent).

This weekend Lena, Kathryn and I went to Antigua (I will write about soon). This is another town two hours away from Pana. It was established by the Spainards in the 1500´s. It still has a very Spanish feel in the architecture and people. Although, I do enjoy being here in this history filled Antigua, I realized that I missed seeing the Mayas, the colorful clothes of Pana and the more genuine attitude of the Maya people I have met and interacted with in Pana and around Lake Atilan.