rainbows and jesus

Monday, December 22, 2008

While driving to church on Saturday evening to see my Tica Sister in a play, my Tica mama said something to me and pointed out the window. I had no idea what she had just said, but I smiled and nodded ("uh huh! si!"), but she totally called my bluffed and repeated herself and pointed again. I looked out the window to see what she had been referring to as "arco iris". Que Bonita! Pero, que extrano! What a strange word. I had to have my tica sister spell it for me, as i had no idea how it was composed. But what a great word, no? Arco (arch) Iris (like your eye, i guess?). It's words like this that you only have to hear once (just like you said, Patrick). Sometimes it's fantastic learning a new language :).

Other times...it's a pure challenge. Definitely feeling like I wish I knew more, but this is for several reasons I can't control. After two weeks of speaking slowly with basic words, my host family has fallen back into their normal speaking cadence: very fast. I'm not sure how they think I understand everything! Maybe I'm just a very convincing actor when I smile and nod at the appropriate times. I don't understand much, but I do think I understand the general flow of the conversation, and I have to remember how far I've come. 6 months ago there is no way I could have even survived here, let alone answer most of the questions presented to me. So...poco a poco, si?

I'm starting to look into various TEFL programs, because I think the next step for me is going to be becoming certified to teach English abroad. That way I can make some money while I travel the world.


And, I'm sure you were wondering why this post is called rainbows AND jesus...well. I've gone twice now to church with my tica family, and each time it has been a real learning experience. No, I haven't been born-again, but I'm definitely improving my grammar when I go! You see, when we have sing-a-long time, they display the lyrics on the screen so you can sing along. Lyrics in Christian music are very basic, simple, and use a variety of verb tenses (including many commands: save me, help me, purify me, etc, etc). Church is my supplementary Spanish lesson during the week :).




Adios, for now!