GRADUATION

so now we are fluent, and we have the diplomas to show for it. NO, in reality, as you might imagine, we are still stuttering along. BUt, i do think that we are stuttering along quite a bit better than we did when we arrived. the school experience here was very satisfying. we had wonderful teachers, an incredible family to live with, and a beautiful place to be. We got to play soccer on the beach, snorkel with the fishes, surf warm waves, play with monkeys, eat odd foods, take part in foreign customs, and drink some rum. Leaving is sad, but it has to happen some time.

Where are we at with our language skills? Its hard to assess BUT we can now speak fairly reliable about things that happened in the past, which we couldn´t before. We can also speak somewhat reliably about things that MIGHT happen in the future, whereas before we could only talk about things that WOULD happen in the future. We definitely know more verbs, though by no means all of them, and i still haven´t worked out all of the different ways that they use the verbs ´´sacar´´, ´´salir´´ and ´´ir´´ here, but we are working on it. We also have significantly improved our vocabulary and I can now say things like, ´´Wow, you are quite the ladies man´´ and ´´If I am going to get out of prison I will need some connections´´ in spanish, which is very satisfying. Comprehension is, sadly, still lagging and we are both frequently left with that special thing known as ¨gringo face´´ after someone says something. You know the face, sort of a dazed look, with mouth sort of just parted so.... I get it more. christine is definitley better at comprehension than I am. I believe that we also are that type of person right now that, while engaged in conversation with someone, thinks they know what the other person is talking about and so replies in kind. It sometimes turns out, though, that the person was talking about something entirely different than we thought, and so our reply makes absolutely no sense in the context of the conversation. The native speaker is then left with ´´talking-to-a-gringo-face´´.

That being said, it is no small victory that we are having conversations with people in the first place. We´ve actually had some very satisfying discussion with various people over the last two weeks or so, especially regarding things like american and nica politics, CAFTA, various living conditions in our respective lives, education and the like. These types of experiences add immesaurably to the value of being here.

So, as promised in the last blog, i´ve included a video of us singing during purrisima. it was quite fun and VERY interesting. we went to three houses with the fam and, at each, sung a series of songs (Well, we sort of half-sung and hummed some)to the altar of the virgin erected in the house. the family would then give us all sorts of treats. After getting home with our laden purissima bags we dumped all of the loot on the table (see photo above) and started gorging. we didn´t stop until we had upset stomachs. All in the name of the Virgin. Love it. Here is teh video

A little note. My wonderful niece Tian is having her birthday on dec 13. if a remember correctly she will the very old and wise age of 6. I am missing the party but here asked some of our family kids and their cousins to sing her one. Here it is. If you can, send her a special brithday message through her ma at rachel_jo@hotmail.com.


ian