i have two goals in life. 1--learn to play the piano. 2--learn spanish. when i was 8 i tried the piano one. correction: my mom bought me a keyboard for christmas that year and told me it was, and i quote, "close enough" to a piano and i should start with that. pretty sure i taught myself two songs--"memories" from the musical cats and "heart and soul" prior to packing away the keyboard for life. now, some 20 plus years later, i think it's time for some spanish. i realize, as some of you have suggested, that something like rosetta stone would have been an easier route. but this past summer i met a new friend at a wedding (hi stef!) and we talked about our insatiable desires to travel and live abroad. stef also told me about her fantastic experience learning spanish through an immersion program in guatemala a few years ago. and i thought to myself, "wow, how cool. i wish i could do that." and then i thought, "wait, i can do that!" so chalk it up to a combination of my wonderlust with an unexpected conversation at a wedding, and the idea to learn spanish in guatemala was born.
there is this horrible joke. it goes like this. what do you call someone who speaks three languages? tri-lingual. what do you call someone who speaks two? bi-lingual. what do you call someone who speaks one language? american. true, no? and i was reminded of my american-ness about a month ago. a community organizer from columbia spoke at virginia tech and i sat in on the class he spoke in. let me just tell you, people in the world are doing freakin remarkable things--john henry's contribution is the founding of the small scale farmers movement in columbia to protect water, food, and land ownership rights from some not so nice big corporations trying to take stuff that's not theirs. so, after the talk i found myself chatting with the faculty member whose class i sat in on, john henry, and his interpreter from witness for peace (an amazing organization devoted to achieving peace and justice through changing trade policies in latin america and the caribbean). so, as you might suspect from my desire to go to guatemala, i do not currently speak spanish. honestly, the spanish your child might know from watching dora probably exceeds my current level. but still, i thought i'd give it the good ole fashioned college try. i figured i could at least start with something simple--say goodbye in spanish at least. and, as you may have guessed, that didn't go as planned. instead of adiós, or even goodbye in english, i busted out some high school french. yep. as soon as the au revior left my lips i knew what i said. and with that, my worst fear came true--i sounded like an ignorant american. of course, i then wanted to go into the corner and curl up and die. instead, we all just laughed. note to self: just because the words you speak are not english does not mean the person you are speaking to will understand you.
so yes, i realize i have just finished about all the schooling i think one human being can possibly complete (and far more than one ever should), and i probably should not be voluntarily signing up for more. but i am. i also realize some of you may be over there thinking to yourselves, "oh my god, is this girl ever going to get a job?" or, in the words of my not so subtle and slightly less politically correct friend, "get a damn job, hippie." but the way i see it, jobs will be there forever. plus, the united states is a ridiculously over-worked and under-vacationed country and i plan to do my part to change that! and, if truth be told, i do have some method to my madness. i'm hoping learning spanish will broaden my job prospects. or give me the ability to communicate with labor rights organizers and factory workers (i'm already figuring out how to get into some guatemalan factories-horray!). or raise little bi-lingual children. or all of the above.
as for the details of all of this, well, i don't really have them. i was thinking today how all my extended international travel has always been with someone else and has always been aranged by someone else (usually by a university that has offices devoted to these sorts of things). this time, i'm on my own. i do, however, know i'm going to move in with a local family and start my schooling here--at coopertiva spanish school (that translates to co-opertive in english if your spanish is on par with mine). but seriously, a co-op, owned by the teachers and a school where the money stays in the local community and isn't funneled back overseas--how fantastic is that!? so, at the end of december i'm headed out with molly to the dominican republic to visit her family (and for a vacation before my vacation, why not?). after that, its onto guatemala for a few months to learn some spanish (return date currently up for grabs). looks like i should have some internet access so will try to post some pics and blogs as i go. adiós.
