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So folks it’s been awhile, and I apologize for not posting
in who knows how long. Well it says it right here now that I closer, almost two
weeks. Between focusing on my Spanish, as well as being busy with school, I
guess I just haven’t found the time to write. First off I can’t reiterate
enough how long of a process it is to learn a new language, even one that is as
in many regards similar to English. While I’m proficient enough to get by in
any situation, I still have yet to reach that level where everything just
clicks. And what’s worse, everything time that you think you have reached that
next level, you wake up the next day, and it’s like you’re back at square one.
As one may imagine, those days frustrate me to no end. It’s unlike anything
I’ve ever done, and it’s hard to draw any parallels to it. In school, as in the
workplace as well, you usually get a grasp for an assignment after a few hours
or days of studying, and just like that, you’ve acquired a new skill set or
ability. You become accustomed to doing the same thing over and over again,
without much variation, that the once unknown ability gradually becomes 2nd
nature. I guess a good parallel may be
athletics. After weeks of playing and practicing, one becomes competent at a
sport, enough so that they feel confident stepping onto the field, knowing that
they no longer will make a complete fool of themselves. But to become truly
great, to truly excel, it takes months, years of dedication and practice. Even
when you’re not in season, you’re still fine tuning your game. It just doesn’t
happen overnight. For me learning Spanish has required the same dedication one
needs to be a great athlete. Natural talent only goes so far, the rest lies in
the preparation and practice, and for that, I have started to be serious again
about studying. No longer do I want to struggle in conversations on topics I’m
not versed on. Besides just getting used to the general rapid language and
slang of the Nicaraguans with whom I work and live (Fun Fact: Many other
Spanish speaking countries equate the Nicaraguan Spanish to the Southern accent
of the US.
One time I even heard it reminds someone of Cajun English!), there are two
things that have taken getting used to, that I’ve only recently started to
overcome: syllables and direct translation. I had the hardest time trying to
make the syllable count line up in English and Spanish. That is to say, I would
have a sentence in English in my head, and while I would be translating in my
head, I would try to make the syllables line up, which very rarely happens. And
many times instead of saying the right thing, I would opt for an incorrect
version of the translation, because it “sounded” better in my head. The other
thing, which may come as no surprise, is direct translation. Many English words
or sayings cannot be translated directly to Spanish, and part of the learning
process is figuring out how to re-word your sentences, so that they make sense
in Spanish. A few examples: You cannot end a sentence in a preposition, so with
words like in, from, about, etc. So instead, they’re added to the beginning of
the sentence. A simple example is you would never say, “Where are you from?”,
instead you say, “From where are you”, if you were to translate directly. Or
many words that we take for granted in English, for example “to get”, do not
exist in Spanish.” There are four or 5 words that are similar to “to get” in
spanish, but each have a different meaning and are used in different contexts.
Or there is the other end of that, that a Spanish word has 3-5 meanings in
English. A common one in Spanish all over the world is llevar, .which means to
carry, to wear, as well as to bring. But then there are words like andar, where
for some reason here in Nicaragua,
could be substituted for to be, to have, to wear, and a plethora of other
things. So day by day, you try and pick up on a new context of the word, and
apply it to your vocabulary. So like I said, you constantly need to study and
practice. And I will not be defeated.
So besides trying to avoid English (I started War and Peace
at a bad time for that), I have been waist deep in starting the school year,
which is at this point a “month” in. I put month in parentisis - how do you
spell these thingsà (…) - because the first two weeks were more or less
lost due to late registration and arranging all the schedules. But now, after
all of the chaos the dust clouds are finally starting to settle, and we’re
making progress. Now I’m not sure but I believe that most people think I am in
front of the lass teaching. And to an extent I am, but that is not the primary
focus of my work down here. When it comes to the Peace Corps, the end goal is
sustainability.* Any chump can come down here and teach a class for any
extended amount of time, but one they leave, then what? A year later, there’s
no lasting impact, and the class returns back to its previous state. Sure a handful of students got a better
education, but that’s it. The majority of the teachers here don’t go to school
to learn about entrepreneurship, in fact, none of them do. To fill up their
mandatory minimum of thirty hours, teachers are assigned, or in rare cases,
choose to teach the class. So this means that there business knowledge is
precisely zero, and don’t know how to properly teach the subject. And this is
where I step in. Every week before the allotted time period in all of my
schools, I meet with the professor for 30 minutes to an hour to go over the
lesson plan, and more or less teach them the theme of the day, as well as
discuss different teaching styles to more effectively display our point to the
students. This way, after two years of working together, each professor
(theoretically) thoroughly learns the material so that when I leave they’re
able to teach the class alone and properly. This requires a lot of time, and a
lot prep work on my behalf; before each planning session, I sit down and try to
think of every possible way to describe that day’s topic, and have an answer
ready for any possible question that my counterparts may have. Once we step
into the classroom, I try and structure it so my counterparts are doing the
majority of the talking and activities. As for me, I’m kind of like a
cheerleader: I’m there on the sidelines providing support and encouraging the
team. Unlike a cheerleader though, I occasionally step onto the field in order
to rectify any mistakes or clarify any misunderstandings, as well as throw in
any anecdotes I may have, or introduce a new dinamica. This role is both
satisfying and frustrating at the same time. Frustrating because I know I could
teach this course with my hands tied behind my back, and sitting on the
sideline can get a little boring after awhile. It’s always more fun to be in
the spotlight, and be engaged into the classroom and with students. But there
are also those days when not only does the content seem to click in the mind of
the professors, but they understand it so much, and teach it so well, that it clicks
in the minds of the students too. It’s on those days, when I feel like maybe I actually
am accomplishing something in my time here.
On top of all the planning and teaching, I’ve been trying to
stay fit, which has been difficult as of late. I was signed up to run a half
marathon up in the north last weekend, but was forced to downgrade to the 10k,
since I took a spill about week before and had to get sewed up. That’s right, 4
stitches in my back. Surprisingly, the hospital was quick and efficient. All
said and done, I was probably in and out the door in about 40 minutes The
tradeoff is what you get in speed, you lack in general hygiene. The surgery room was like something
out of a horror movie, literally. At first I only noticed the sheet stained
with blood covering the bed I had to lie down on, and general grime of the room
– dust and old tile. But once lying belly down on the bed, I tried to distract
myself from the needle going into my back, and took a closer look at my
surroundings. I wasn’t thrilled to see the hair from the previous patient on my
bed, or the amount of dried blood on the wall. But despite that, I walked away
from all of this infection free! I’ll
tell you, the back is a strange place for stitches, because no matter which way
you move, your back is always in motion. So hoping that the healing process
would be quicker if I actually took it easy, I listened to the doctor…kind of.
10 days is way to long to just sit tight, and after 5 days, I just wasn’t able
to sit still any longer, and took a small run (the doc told me no contact sports)
and 2 days after that, was race day. I wasn’t gonna sign up and not run, so I
slapped on some extra butterfly bandages, and hit the pavement. And good news:
although a little bit stretched out, the stitches stayed! And I learned
something about 10ks. I can run them without any training…but not easily, as I
struggled through the hilly course of San Rafael del Norte, posting up a time
of about 54 minutes. I imagine I would have done a bit better, but I had to
make an emergency pit stop in a
spectators house about 6k in, as I had some unexpected bowel movements. It’s
also worth mentioning that relatively things are cold up in the mountainous
north, an icy 60 degrees. It was strange, as the bus was struggling up the
mountain, I suddenly felt an odd, uncomfortable sensation, and it took me a
minute to realize that I was just cold, a feeling I haven’t felt in over ten
months now.
So that’s it for now. I realized I jumped all around the
place with this post, but a lot of things have been going through my mind. Hitting the beach tomorrow for the first surf
session since my fall, and I’m exited to get back in the water. And tomorrow, I
could be bringing a new friend with me back to the house…. More on that when I
am better informed.
And hey, Greece
got bailed out, huh?
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