Okay, what I should really be doing is calling a cab to get to the airport (they're not really serious about being there 2 hours early for international flights, are they?), but just wanted to give a quick update. Along with 11 other students and two professors, I'm headed to Quito, Ecuador, this morning for a two-week immersion (with a brief, 7-hour layover in Panama). I'm super-excited to quit falling back into the ease of English for a brief time and see if I can untie my tongue a bit. I'll be staying with a host family (my 16.95-year-old niece asked "Do old people really do home stays?!") and having classes every day at the Academia Latinoamerica de Español. We'll do salsa classes several evenings and head to a national park for the weekend (I'm envisioning zip-lining and lots of vegetation). D sent me his head size, so I'll be scoping out the hat situation as well.
Wish me luck, or buena suerte!
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
My Spanish Transformation
If you knew me back in the day, you'd know I was the biggest French snob in all of central Pennsylvania or northern Ohio. I never had an iota of interest in learning Spanish. As I've learned with many things, from Africa to forestry, that lack of interest was born of ignorance. Now that I'm studying it, I'm adoring it. It's fairly easy, fun, and everywhere! I picked up three free newspapers in Spanish today. Notices about work on the Metro are in Spanish possibly more than in English. There are scads of places to learn, practice, and read Spanish on the web.
Possibly the greatest advantage to learning Spanish? The ability to watch 1970s Mexican masked wrestler vs. vampire princess movies in their original form (Santo, I'm looking at you). I would have had to watch a badly dubbed or subtitled version before this, but now I can stumble through, understanding at least the gist. OK, I probably could have gotten the gist without a word of Spanish, but it's much more gratifying to feel that I'm studying while watching this. I can also watch anything on TV, as long as it's in, dubbed into, or--at the very least--subtitled in Spanish. Comisario Rex, the German detective-dog series? Thank you, I believe I will. Star Trek? Planeta Feroz? Flight of the Conchords? You name it. HBO does a great job of dubbing many of their movies, even beyond those on HBO Latino. Then there are the 8 or so Spanish stations available here, including one that's all programming from China (but, yes, in Spanish). Those poor people who are learning Vietnamese, Turkish, or Arabic must feel guilty when they turn on the TV. I also discovered that a good 10% of the DVDs I brought have a Spanish track and maybe half have Spanish subtitles. Who knew "But I'm a Cheerleader" was also "Pero Yo Soy Porrista"?
And then there's the immersion program. Many of the language students have the option to do a two- to three-week immersion program once they get to an intermediate level. So about 15 of us are going to Quito, Ecuador, in March! Those poor Arabic students? Dearborn, Michigan. I believe the German students can go to North Carolina. OK, the French students are going to Nice. Figures... Still, I'm very excited to go to Quito. Will stay with a host family and get 4 hours of class every morning, followed by reading groups or other activities in the afternoons. Apparently we won't become instantly fluent during those two weeks (darn!) but should gain a lot of confidence. And we're to pinky-swear not to speak English at all, not even in groups of just students, even in the evening. Yea! I hope my host family has a TV too so I don't have to miss out on Comisario Rex episodes.
Possibly the greatest advantage to learning Spanish? The ability to watch 1970s Mexican masked wrestler vs. vampire princess movies in their original form (Santo, I'm looking at you). I would have had to watch a badly dubbed or subtitled version before this, but now I can stumble through, understanding at least the gist. OK, I probably could have gotten the gist without a word of Spanish, but it's much more gratifying to feel that I'm studying while watching this. I can also watch anything on TV, as long as it's in, dubbed into, or--at the very least--subtitled in Spanish. Comisario Rex, the German detective-dog series? Thank you, I believe I will. Star Trek? Planeta Feroz? Flight of the Conchords? You name it. HBO does a great job of dubbing many of their movies, even beyond those on HBO Latino. Then there are the 8 or so Spanish stations available here, including one that's all programming from China (but, yes, in Spanish). Those poor people who are learning Vietnamese, Turkish, or Arabic must feel guilty when they turn on the TV. I also discovered that a good 10% of the DVDs I brought have a Spanish track and maybe half have Spanish subtitles. Who knew "But I'm a Cheerleader" was also "Pero Yo Soy Porrista"?
And then there's the immersion program. Many of the language students have the option to do a two- to three-week immersion program once they get to an intermediate level. So about 15 of us are going to Quito, Ecuador, in March! Those poor Arabic students? Dearborn, Michigan. I believe the German students can go to North Carolina. OK, the French students are going to Nice. Figures... Still, I'm very excited to go to Quito. Will stay with a host family and get 4 hours of class every morning, followed by reading groups or other activities in the afternoons. Apparently we won't become instantly fluent during those two weeks (darn!) but should gain a lot of confidence. And we're to pinky-swear not to speak English at all, not even in groups of just students, even in the evening. Yea! I hope my host family has a TV too so I don't have to miss out on Comisario Rex episodes.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Crying in Public
It's something I've always done with embarrassing regularity, and this new gig is no exception. I cried during a sad movie in Regional Studies class, during a one-on-one conversation with my Spanish instructor talking about how much I missed my husband and dogs, after what I felt was an unjust result on my Spanish evaluation, and most recently, out of frustration with the instructor during Spanish class but really for no good reason at all. That last one was pretty ridiculous. Turns out it was largely attributable to coming down with a cold that's overtaken my 3-day weekend.
Looking back at my long and illustrious history of crying in public, I realize that I have seen far fewer people cry in public than have seen me do so. That means I'm in a minority. How do the non-cryers do it? Can you will yourself not to? I've tried and have even pinched pretty deep dents in the backs of my hands, but to no avail.
When my friend N, who preceded me in the Foreign Service by a year or so, told me that everyone cries at some point during language study, I thought she was mad. But now I can see it can hit you at any point. Or at least, it can hit me.
Looking back at my long and illustrious history of crying in public, I realize that I have seen far fewer people cry in public than have seen me do so. That means I'm in a minority. How do the non-cryers do it? Can you will yourself not to? I've tried and have even pinched pretty deep dents in the backs of my hands, but to no avail.
When my friend N, who preceded me in the Foreign Service by a year or so, told me that everyone cries at some point during language study, I thought she was mad. But now I can see it can hit you at any point. Or at least, it can hit me.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Norming the New
Isn't it amazing how quickly the new becomes the norm? The idea of starting this blog was so I could share the new experiences D and I go through as we embark on our new adventure. And yet, here I am, posting only every couple weeks. Is that because nothing new is happening? Not at all. But apparently my little psyche is normalizing all that new stuff as fast as it can so I end up finding nothing particularly worth blogging about.
Two and a half months ago I was in Hawaii, living in a beautiful 2000 sq ft house a mile from the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a loving husband and adoring pets. Now I live by myself in deepest suburban northern Virginia in a furnished corporate apartment. I have easy access to Tasty-Kakes but can't find poke in the Safeway.
Two and a half months ago I was in Hawaii, living in a beautiful 2000 sq ft house a mile from the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a loving husband and adoring pets. Now I live by myself in deepest suburban northern Virginia in a furnished corporate apartment. I have easy access to Tasty-Kakes but can't find poke in the Safeway.
 |  |
| Yummy fat patties! | Delicious source of mercury! |
My work life has changed from a cubicle in a high-rise office I inhabited for 9 years, with my own phone and computer, a raft of decade-long colleagues, an interesting science- and policy-based portfolio of ocean pollution issues, and some pretty cool responsibilities. Now I'm an itinerant trainee. I pounce upon any open computer in a common area, hoping for one that's not so glacially slow that I'll have to quit before it connects, to check email. My only phone is my personal cellphone. I hide my lunches in refrigerators scattered throughout the corridors of the Foreign Service Institute, then try to remember which refrigerator I chose. I lug my bike's saddlebags around all day, since students have no place to call their own after they finish A-100 orientation (and then it's just a common room with a coat rack). It's not better or worse, but it is vastly different, yet it seems normal now, after just a few weeks.
In A-100, I met 92 people, plus our course coordinators. Since then the acquisition of new acquaintances has slowed, but I've still met a ton of new fellow language or area studies students and language instructors. In A-100, we gradually came to refine the snapshot impressions of our colleagues that were based on quick introductions, to get a feel for the multi-faceted individuals they are. In language studies, we lack the vocabulary and grammar to convey complex thoughts. As a result, I'm the dog-lover, then we have the engaged guy who doesn't call his parents, the barfly with a Russian grandmother, the expectant father who dances the tango, and the woman whose husband cares for their young son and who vows never to return to the African country of her last post. I know intellectually that there is more to these people than the few things we've managed to say and to which we return again and again, but I don't know what it is. If we stay in the same language class together, I hope we'll get to the point of talking about more than dogs, drinking, pregnancy, and the poor engaged fellow's lovesickness.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Gladys, el Mosh, and Sunny Holidays
Three happy things since my last post:
(1) Since Saturday, when I walked to a "nearby" outdoor store along busy highways with meandering or nonexistent sidewalks and decided, by gum, I need a bike, I've been riding around on Gladys singing to myself, "Take a look at me, I'm on a bike!" She's a very staid brown commuter, befitting my newly minted, serious persona as diplomat-in-training. But she's not afraid to sport a chirpy pedestrian-alerting bell. It's been delightful to ride the 4-ish miles to and from work in the changing weather along bike paths that put the sidewalks to shame. (And you're welcome, economy.)
(2) Today in elementary Spanish class while learning to conjugate AR verbs, we had to talk about dances we know. Everybody was talking el tango, la vals, el swing, la samba... I said "Bailo el mosh y el pogo." Our charming instructor from Peru had to find out what el mosh is, so we watched a couple terrible youtube videos (is there a great moshing video in existence?). Then she asked what bands I'd moshed at. I volunteered "Bandera Negra" (Black Flag) and the Ramones. She said, are they Latin? Giggles all around when she googled them.
(3) After deciding I couldn't afford the miles to go to San Francisco for el Día de Acción de Gracias (Thanksgiving), I broke down and bought a ticket to Hawaii for Christmas!! Bring on the festivities!
(1) Since Saturday, when I walked to a "nearby" outdoor store along busy highways with meandering or nonexistent sidewalks and decided, by gum, I need a bike, I've been riding around on Gladys singing to myself, "Take a look at me, I'm on a bike!" She's a very staid brown commuter, befitting my newly minted, serious persona as diplomat-in-training. But she's not afraid to sport a chirpy pedestrian-alerting bell. It's been delightful to ride the 4-ish miles to and from work in the changing weather along bike paths that put the sidewalks to shame. (And you're welcome, economy.)
(2) Today in elementary Spanish class while learning to conjugate AR verbs, we had to talk about dances we know. Everybody was talking el tango, la vals, el swing, la samba... I said "Bailo el mosh y el pogo." Our charming instructor from Peru had to find out what el mosh is, so we watched a couple terrible youtube videos (is there a great moshing video in existence?). Then she asked what bands I'd moshed at. I volunteered "Bandera Negra" (Black Flag) and the Ramones. She said, are they Latin? Giggles all around when she googled them.
(3) After deciding I couldn't afford the miles to go to San Francisco for el Día de Acción de Gracias (Thanksgiving), I broke down and bought a ticket to Hawaii for Christmas!! Bring on the festivities!
Monday, October 31, 2011
El Espanol-o!
Today was both Halloween and the first "day" of language class. That latter is something of a misnomer, since we really just got oriented to language class. I'm so ready to start learning Spanish, I could scream. Or study.
All the language-class newbies gathered this morning to--wait for it--fill out forms! Then we broke into language groups. A few trickled out for Urdu and Vietnamese, more than you'd expect for German, a handful each for French and Arabic, not too many Mandarin Chinese, a goodly gaggle of Portuguese, then the half of the room that's starting Spanish left (about 75 of us, an FSI record!). We went to a mega-room to get assigned to small classes (max of 6 each) and went through some of the basics of texts, online and in-building resources, and class schedules. There are so many of us, they're hot-bunking the classrooms. That's a term you use on a ship when people share a bunk - when one person's standing a watch, another person's sleeping in their bunk. So one group has class in a given room from 8-10am, then we have it from 10:05 to 12:05. They come back at 12:10 to 2:10, and we get it again from 2:15 to 4:15. So a given student has four hours of instruction a day, four days a week, plus lots of time in the language lab, self-study, and area studies (Central America and Caribbean for me). Plus the odd Wednesday afternoon for doctor's appointments, banking, showings of Spanish-language movies, meetings with learning consultants (seriously, we get 'em!), and so on.
After the Spanish group session and lunch, we all got back together to undergo a battery of tests to determine our learning preferences. I felt like my answers were all schizo - yes, I want structure; no, I can't abide structure! I often can't separate daydreams from reality -- what?? We'll get the results in a few weeks. I can't imagine what it'll all mean or how the language instructors will use it. Maybe it was a trick, and anyone who said they think they'd be a great clairvoyant will be quietly shown the door...
I did a little homework tonight with a CD of MP3s that demonstrated the importance of stress and intonation. The difference between PApa (potato) and paPA (dad), for instance. Yea! The humble beginnings of my professional competency in Spanish, a language I never knew I wanted to speak until now. And I do! Poor D. will have to learn mostly by distance learning. There were quite a few EFMs (you may know them as spouses; we know them as eligible family members) in our Spanish mega-group, enrolled in the full course. Pretty cool if you can make the time and don't have jobs or kids or dogs or unsold houses hanging around your neck.
Halloween itself was fun - went over to a colleague's apartment where we all pooled our candy, ensuring that there were tons of leftovers to replenish our depleted brain sugar reserves after language training for weeks to come. Bring on the estudio de idiomas!
All the language-class newbies gathered this morning to--wait for it--fill out forms! Then we broke into language groups. A few trickled out for Urdu and Vietnamese, more than you'd expect for German, a handful each for French and Arabic, not too many Mandarin Chinese, a goodly gaggle of Portuguese, then the half of the room that's starting Spanish left (about 75 of us, an FSI record!). We went to a mega-room to get assigned to small classes (max of 6 each) and went through some of the basics of texts, online and in-building resources, and class schedules. There are so many of us, they're hot-bunking the classrooms. That's a term you use on a ship when people share a bunk - when one person's standing a watch, another person's sleeping in their bunk. So one group has class in a given room from 8-10am, then we have it from 10:05 to 12:05. They come back at 12:10 to 2:10, and we get it again from 2:15 to 4:15. So a given student has four hours of instruction a day, four days a week, plus lots of time in the language lab, self-study, and area studies (Central America and Caribbean for me). Plus the odd Wednesday afternoon for doctor's appointments, banking, showings of Spanish-language movies, meetings with learning consultants (seriously, we get 'em!), and so on.
After the Spanish group session and lunch, we all got back together to undergo a battery of tests to determine our learning preferences. I felt like my answers were all schizo - yes, I want structure; no, I can't abide structure! I often can't separate daydreams from reality -- what?? We'll get the results in a few weeks. I can't imagine what it'll all mean or how the language instructors will use it. Maybe it was a trick, and anyone who said they think they'd be a great clairvoyant will be quietly shown the door...
I did a little homework tonight with a CD of MP3s that demonstrated the importance of stress and intonation. The difference between PApa (potato) and paPA (dad), for instance. Yea! The humble beginnings of my professional competency in Spanish, a language I never knew I wanted to speak until now. And I do! Poor D. will have to learn mostly by distance learning. There were quite a few EFMs (you may know them as spouses; we know them as eligible family members) in our Spanish mega-group, enrolled in the full course. Pretty cool if you can make the time and don't have jobs or kids or dogs or unsold houses hanging around your neck.
Halloween itself was fun - went over to a colleague's apartment where we all pooled our candy, ensuring that there were tons of leftovers to replenish our depleted brain sugar reserves after language training for weeks to come. Bring on the estudio de idiomas!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Week Two? Survived.
Quick update on the week:
1) I did exactly how I thought I would on the French test; I need another 8 weeks to get to a 3/3 (those numbers mean nothing to you, but if I could find the dadgummed video of an English-as-a-second-language speaker speaking at a 3/3, you'd see that it's not great, but basically workable in a professional setting).
2) I got my UAB (unaccompanied air baggage), 250 pounds of the stuff I thought when I left home that I could not do without. Sadly, living beings were not allowed in UAB, so I found that I'd sent myself lots of "huh?" items, like facial masks from Korea, vintage 2008, and more pedicure products than I'll ever use. Still, I'm happy to be wearing my magenta fuzzy socks, knitted by Aunt Jessie, if memory serves.
3) I got a fierce cold from all those germ bags I call my colleagues. We're packed like sardines in a room designed for about half our numbers. And we all picked up the cream of the virus crop from our flights in from Azerbaijan, Brussels, and Honolulu to share with our new best friends.
4) D and I chatted with my career development officer (known as--you guessed it--my CDO), with little closure or inkling on what to expect on October 14, flag day. We need to get our bid list in by Tuesday morning
4) I met up with a bud and colleague from home for delicious Turkish cuisine at Agora. Actually, through the veil of phlegm, I could just get hints of the deliciousness, but I'm definitely going back when this all clears up.
5) I got a handful of emails from the old job that nailed home how glad I am to be taking on a whole new universe of challenges.
6) Took the Meyers-Brigg test for the first time - wondering if it'll agree with my billion iterations of the Keirsey temperament sorter, where I'm an ESTP. If you don't know what that means, consider yourself fortunate!
1) I did exactly how I thought I would on the French test; I need another 8 weeks to get to a 3/3 (those numbers mean nothing to you, but if I could find the dadgummed video of an English-as-a-second-language speaker speaking at a 3/3, you'd see that it's not great, but basically workable in a professional setting).
2) I got my UAB (unaccompanied air baggage), 250 pounds of the stuff I thought when I left home that I could not do without. Sadly, living beings were not allowed in UAB, so I found that I'd sent myself lots of "huh?" items, like facial masks from Korea, vintage 2008, and more pedicure products than I'll ever use. Still, I'm happy to be wearing my magenta fuzzy socks, knitted by Aunt Jessie, if memory serves.
3) I got a fierce cold from all those germ bags I call my colleagues. We're packed like sardines in a room designed for about half our numbers. And we all picked up the cream of the virus crop from our flights in from Azerbaijan, Brussels, and Honolulu to share with our new best friends.
4) D and I chatted with my career development officer (known as--you guessed it--my CDO), with little closure or inkling on what to expect on October 14, flag day. We need to get our bid list in by Tuesday morning
4) I met up with a bud and colleague from home for delicious Turkish cuisine at Agora. Actually, through the veil of phlegm, I could just get hints of the deliciousness, but I'm definitely going back when this all clears up.
5) I got a handful of emails from the old job that nailed home how glad I am to be taking on a whole new universe of challenges.
6) Took the Meyers-Brigg test for the first time - wondering if it'll agree with my billion iterations of the Keirsey temperament sorter, where I'm an ESTP. If you don't know what that means, consider yourself fortunate!
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