Tomorrow, I leave La Fortuna for the beach: Playa Domenical on the Pacific coast. I´ll be sad to leave - my host family has been really great and supportive of my efforts to learn Spanish. I know where everything is in this tiny town, etc. etc. etc. Having said that, I´m also ready for new pastures (or whatever the saying is.)
I´ve spent every evening watching the news with my host family. I keep my dictionary at hand and consult it often. My host father and I have bonded over our mutual love of the Brazilian soccer team. My host mother still thinks I´m a little crazy, but then again - maybe she´s right.
Honestly, in many ways, I wish I was headed home. I´m not sure why, but I often feel homesick at the one week point. I think the adventure/adrenaline/whatever is starting to wear off and I´m missing my bed, my shower, and my friends. (Possibly in that order.) I miss knowing where everything is. I miss talking to people easily. I know that I´ll rally and move on, but I still wish I could somehow just pop back for an evening and see Gia, etc.
It´s amazing how much Spanish I understand after 4 days of classes. I took a tour on the Caño Negro. The guide did the tour in Spanish and English, and I was surprised how much of the Spanish I understood. I still have major problems producing Spanish, but my comprehension is probably around 70% now. I´ll be interested to see where I am after another week of classes. (I took lots of pictures: white-faced monkeys, a ´Jesus Christ´lizard (it walks one water), etc. I will have quite the Flickr set to upload when I get back.)
So, that´s where I am. It´s like a see-saw, the more you fit into the area you´re visiting, the more you miss where you´re from.
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1 comment:
that happens to me when learning languages as well -- i'm able to comprehend pretty quickly, though learning how to speak correctly takes forever. i attribute this to deciphering what my parents were saying while i was growing up.
be safe and have fun!
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