The Trials of Learning Spanish

Right now I´m sitting outside, at our new digs, listening to the rain pour down. It´s been cloudy and kind of humid and warm all day, and then just about an hour ago the sky opened up, and it´s raining like it never does at home. The streets became rivers in ten minutes, and the already slippery sidewalks have become amazingly treacherous, especially in my plastic-y little knock off Pumas. It´s great though--there´s nothing like a really good rainstorm when you can still be outside and appreciating it. (You think I´d be tired of the rain after living in the northwest forever...but maybe it´s in my bones.)

It´s been a grueling couple of days, with my three hours of Spanish every morning...I´m in a small class, at this beautiful school called Institute Jovel. There´s just two of us, which is really perfect, as we are both less than competent when it comes to the Spanish language. In my head, I had been thinking about how much a week of Spanish would help me, and how far I would come. I imagined, somehow, having elaborate conversations expressing complex thoughts. Kind of. The reality of starting a language from scratch is exciting, yet daunting as well. To realize you know nothing about how to say anything...hmm. There´s a lot to learn. I think constantly of this David Sedaris story about learning French. We walk around town and I listen to small children and am jealous of their comprehension. I´ll think, and practically ask some five year old aloud ¨Now how do you remember the difference between este and eso?¨ They just get to absorb by osmosis, while we adults stuck in all of our thought patterns have to fight to retrain our minds. Still, I really am learning a lot, and am already amazed by how often a (simple) phrase I am trying to think of will come to me.

The other great thing about my classes is Jose-Louis, one of my teachers. I have a twofold old man crush this week, and he is part of it. Many of you who know me will recall my obsession with adorable old men. I especially like it when they sport some kind of round belly and the ultimate touch: the bow tie. While no bow tie is involved with Jose-Louis, there is a sweater vest present, which is almost as good. But besides the cosmetic touches, he is just a super fascinating man, who has lived lots and lots of life. Today we were talking about tortillas, one of my favorite things about the food here. He was telling us that the price of tortillas is actually regulated by the Mexican government, and that the official price is 8.5 pesos per kilo, which equals out to about 85 cents for around 50 tortillas. Which seems crazy. However, before this last November, the price had been 4.5 pesos. Since the minimum wage in Mexico is 40-45 pesos a day ($4-4.50), when the price of tortillas went up, there was almost, as he calls it, a revolution. There were huge protests everywhere, and it was an enormous deal. For people who really make the minimum wage, what they eat is the equivalent of about 1 kilo a day of tortillas, because it is what fills them up. It was pretty humbling to really think about this reality, and how carelessly I spend money here, even on a budget. And to think about the fact that for many people, the dollar equivalent of 40 cents is enough to break their family....We talk a lot about the history of Chiapas, and what it´s like to live in Mexico. I hadn´t really thought I would learn all of this in my Spanish classes, and it´s so interesting, and important, and is giving me a much better understanding of certain aspects of life here.

On a lighter note, Louise got here yesterday, and it´s been *so* fun to have her here. We moved to a much nicer place today, with a huge, pretty courtyard, and kind of a cool rustic room. It´s very nice to have a friend here that I have some history with (Isn´t that funny that ¨history¨is like 4 days of knowing her?) Sometimes traveling seems a lot like dating, or a series of dates. Lots of getting to know you, lots of finding yourself with random people who are nice but maybe not quite your type. To find the gems...But it certainly is good when you do.

Rain and rainbows,

Kira