Monday was my first day of Spanish classes and talk about brain overload!! It was an intense experience! The classes consist of 4 hours of one on one tuition every morning (8-12) and are a mixture of speaking and grammar. Great way to learn! It´s got slightly easier as the week has progressed but after each class I´m still mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. My teacher´s name is Sergio and he´s a top bloke.
On Sunday Frank and I moved in with our host families. We requested separate families so that we wouldn´t be tempted to speak English all the time and we ended up in houses next door to each other which is perfect! My family is really nice, they have 3 kids and the mother´s name is Chiqui. It was fairly uncomfortable at first but now I feel really welcome there. My Spanish has improved considerably and I got a bit of a buzz last night at the dinner table when I was able to understand about 90% of what was going on and even throw a few of my own (slowly spoken) sentences in! The family must be quite well off as they have two cars, a tv and the kid has a Nintendo. The 9 year old son is pure gold, his name is Oscar and he´s always in trouble. The mum is always yelling “Donde va?” (where are you going) as he is running out the door. It´s funny as Oscar is always on the phone to his girlfriend .. he calls her el amor .. gold!
The house is an interesting setup .. it´s 4 rooms set around an open courtyard and the kitchen is outdoor but covered and consists of 3 sinks and 2 gas burners .. very basic indeed. One of the sinks is for dirty dishes, one is constantly full of water and the other is for clean dishes as they don´t have any cupboards or storage. They have a fridge but don´t seem to use it as all he food is bought fresh on a daily baisis from the local markets. The shower and bathroom is a disgrace and make Aussie public toilets look 5 star .. hahaha. I had heard some horror stories about travellers ending up with bad families and being served beans and rice for 3 meals a day but Chiqui is a fabulous cook and I have been eating like a king for the last week. She asked me what my favourite food is so I said Guacamoli and she cooked it the next night. The avocados here are out of this world! Yeah so I get 3 meals a day at the house and have basically no other expenses so am living very cheaply indeed. Beers in a bar usually cost $1-$2.
During the week we went to two group salsa classes and pretty much became addicted. It´s extremely difficult but great fun. We booked 5 one hour one on one lessons for next week … bring it on! So next week is shaping up to be a full on Spanish immersion! I´m thinking of abducting a salsa instructor and a Guatemalan chef and bringing them back to Oz to start a Salsa bar … what do you reckon?
We´ve only been here a week and yet everywhere we go we bump into people that we know … so much fun! Loving life at the moment!
Spanish word of the day … Talvez – maybe
