Intense Spanish at CSA in Antigua

Even though I learned a lot of Spanish while teaching a computer class when I used to live in Guatemala City, I have a very limited vocabulary and grammar. So I've been going to CSA in Antigua to better my Spanish. The whole 4-hour one-on-one class is in Spanish.

The class has been a good opportunity to ask a bunch of questions that I've had about Spanish. This is also the first time in my life that i have been able to approach language acquisition from the standpoint of a Linguist. My Linguistic background has been surprisingly helpful in learning the language. Sometimes I'm able to predict a rule about the language that I didn't know which is really cool.

Speaking a foreign language requires a lot of focus when you're not fluent. So after speaking and listening in Spanish during the language classes, I am worn out. Which is probably why my "afternoon nap" has been turning into "day sleep".

Last night I went to a local dance studio and taught a "West Coast Swing" class. In exchange I'm getting a private Salsa lesson today. On my way back to my host home which is a good twenty-minute walk from the middle of the town, it was raining hard.

The drainage systems here in Guatemala are set up a little differently than in the Sates. Instead of having a bunch of storm drains, they channel the rain water right in the middle of the road. Maybe that's unintentional and because the rain comes so hard so fast, they don't have an option. But whatever the reason, I ended up on the opposite side of the street of my host home. In between me and the house, a river that was once a road.

There were stones from the cobblestone road that were being ripped out by the force of the water and were being rolled down the street with a grinding sound.

I wasn't the only stranded one. There were two Guatemalan girls that were stuck on the wrong side of the river as well. We stood there in the pouring rain for over 45 minutes waiting for the river to subside. It didn't. So I eventually I just jumped over the smallest part of the river and got my shoes soaked when I didn't quite make it to the other side.

Eventually the two girls followed suit, but instead of jumping, they just waded through it.

I came home soaked through to the bone. My Walmart rain jacket was useless. I put my pants and shoes outside to dry and at the time of me writing this blog, they are still wet. Things don't dry so quickly here in Guatemala.

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