I'm not quite sure what to begin writing about, and I am positive this particular entry will sound very disconnected. But since I'm really writing it for myself, I guess I shouldn't care :).
Actually, I'd like to begin by talking about my progress in Spanish. Back in July when Ana Elisa said I would be speaking Spanish by December, I was super excited. I figured it would just happen because I live her. Well, it hasn't. I figure that between meals with the nuns, church, students who insist on speaking Spanish to me, and students who have taken it upon themselves to help me learn Spanish, I am getting about 18 hours of Spanish a week. That is quite an intensive Spanish course. Unfortunately, I have not spent enough time doing my own personal studying of Spanish to have it translate into a growing fluency. I have learned a great deal, and I actually understand the majority of what people say to me (unless it's the girls talking really fast, which they are extremely good at). I can also respond and question in present tense and use some verbs in preterite tense. My vocabulary is growing, but all too often I find myself saying, "No se la palabra en espagnol." I do like, however, that I am learning the Spanish that is used by the people. I have also learned my share of malas palabras, since some (many) of the girls think those are the most important words for me to know. The worst thing about my Spanish, though, is my pronunciation and accent. Like I have mentioned before, the girls laugh at me when I speak. They tell me I am doing a good job with my Spanish, but that it sounds funny. Some of them are nice enough to tell me it sounds cute, but I know they are just being nice. Many of them will repeat what I have said with my STRONG American accent and then laugh. I must confess that I actually think it's cute when they do that. I hope that when I get home in a few weeks I will be able to use my Spanish enough to show that I have indeed learned something. I am most excited to talk to Lali's kitchen crew at LP. For too many years we communicated through body language and smiles. I can't wait to tell them how much I appreciate how they took care of me for so many years. If it hadn't been for Lali and her crew, I would have starved to death.
One of my relatively recent activities, that I wish had begun in July, has been visiting the school in El Bosque, which is called Lestonnac. As I have said before, I originally came here with the intent to spend every Friday at the school in El Bosque. Due to circumstances beyond my control, that did not happen. Fortunately, Angie Usuga and Julieth Davila invited me to join them on their journey one Wednesday. A little back history: Every Wednesday, Angie and Julieth got to El Bosque to work with a group of girls in teaching them performance art. In my post about Medellin, I wrote about the two of them and what they do. As soon as BAMUN ended I accompanied them to Lestonnace on a Wednesday. I loved it! I met a girl named Sarith who was my tour guide and translator. Her English and my Spanish were almost equal, but it was nice to have her with me. At one point I met Jonathan, the Spanish teacher for the primary school. He told me he only meets with the girls in the elementary grades one hour a week. I happened to be there during 4th grade English, so I got to join their class. The girls were so cute and they were so excited to ask me questions and talk to me. Although their Spanish is very limited, they asked me if I like bananas, yellow, tennis, etc. I also went to prekindergarten and greeted the students in English. They were able to respond and everything. I seriously wanted to put them all in my pocket and take them home. I was able to go back two more times before regular classes ended. I told Angie and Julieth going to El Bosque was my new favorite thing. Another day I was there, I visited a group of 3rd graders and I spoke to them in Spanish. Either they actually understood what I said or they were too polite to tell me they had no idea what I was talking about. I hope to continue my visits in January once school resumes. The best thing, however, about my visits to El Bosque is the time I get to spend with Angie and Julieth riding to and from the school on the bus. The journey takes almost and hour and I have so enjoyed getting to know the two of them. They are both such good examples of the spirit of St. Jeanne and the Company of Mary. They both live lives of service. In a coming blog I will expound on how fantastic the two of them are, but for now suffice it to say they are a rare breed. By the way, most of the pictures are from Lestonnac, but the first two are of Angie and me and then Julieth and me on the roof of the convent. One day as we were leaving for the convent, one of the girls decided me needed to climb onto the roof because she had done it once before with Ana Elisa. I, of course, was game.
I also found time to have some fun, too. One day I accompanied the 9th graders to the zoo. It was first trip to the Barranquilla zoo. The zoo was better than I expected, but it reminded me more of the Santa Ana Zoo than the San Diego Zoo. There was a good variety of animals and the design and layout of the zoo was nice. It was, of course, also fun to visit the zoo with some of the girls. I was so busy taking pictures of the animals that I neglected to take pictures of most of the girls I was with. I did take one of Lina Lara with red lips and red teeth because it looked so funny. Also, when we were about to leave, I realized I had no pictures proving that I went to the zoo so I grabbed Luisa and made his pose with me. As is evident, she didn't really want to be in the pictures.
If I were actually a good historian I would have pictures of everything I've done. Since I'm not...you get the idea. I do have a sampling of a few things from both inside and outside the school that don't really fall into their own special category. In 6th-8th grade one week we played statue to practice giving commands. I know it's something everyone has played at some point, but probably not to practice speaking a foreign language. Some of the girls were quite good at it. We also played Preposition Twister, which most of the girls enjoyed.
Because there are close to 1,000 girls at the school and I teach over 900 over them every week, I have been very fortunate to be invited to go out with many of them. I have eaten a great deal of chuzo desgranado (which, by the way, is my favorite food here) and perros calientes, eaten frozo malt, seen a many movies, gone bowling, played Monopoly, played cards, etc. I am happy to say I haven't experienced a moment of boredom. The pictures above are merely a sampling of some of those activities.
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