¨Canto queso, I said to the man at the internet cafe in our neighborhood, hoping to discover the cost for one hour of internet time. He smiled politely and answered, `triente lempira`. It was only after we walked out that we realized I had actually said something more like `I sing cheese`.
So goes our first week of language study here in La Ceiba. Our conversations are peppered more and more with little pieces of espanol as we learn more vocabulary and verb usage. We say `quieres?`or `me gusta`when mealtimes come around, and `vamos a caminar`when it´s time to leave for school. And then there is the all important, `mi estomago`, as in, `I need to go to the bathroom.´ We are learning a lot, and finding it is one thing to know the correct conjugation on a worksheet, and quite another to engage our Honduran friends in conversation. `Que? No entiendo...´ Fortunately, kelly knows a good bit of spanish already, so I lean on her a lot to understand questions from our host family or vendors or neighbors.
Language school has also been an adventure as Kelly and I continue to learn to communicate with each other. The first few days were very difficult as we struggled to establish a balanced rhythm between twin goals of acquiring a language and growing in unity. Thankfully, we have learned a little, and have set aside a specific time for talking only in English. `Te Amo much`wasn´t quite cutting it for us. Praise the Lord for partnership, though! It has been a wondrously rich time for us.
We wake at 5:30 or 6 every morning to prepare for the day and be at school by 7:30 for 4 hours of one on one tutoring. We are back with our family by noon for lunch -- the biggest meal of the day -- and then spend the afternoon studying, talking, often in some nearby climate controlled establishment. After dinner we usually wind down quickly: it is dark by 6 pm, and we are usually getting into bed before 9.
Our host family is Petra and Billy, a middle aged couple with a large grown family, including one daughter and granddaughter, Patty and Deborah, respectively. They live in a very upscale part of the city, Colonia El Sauce, and have a large, well appointed home. It´s an interesting combination of 1st and 3rd world: meat every day, a refridgerator, washing machine, beautiful tile floors; and chickens in the backyard. Petra is a mennonite, but no one else in the family seem to have strong religious beliefs. They are all very kind, and help us graciously with our Spanish. Recently they have been making a lot of fresh squeezed lemonade to help settle our estomagos.
You need that English-only time. Even as fluent as you will eventually get, you still need to speak your mother tongue occasionally.
It reminds me of when I told my host sister I was going to wash my horse(caballo) when I meant my hair(cabello). There will be lots of these stories!
I'm excited to see how the Lord continues to draw you closer to each other and to Him. Can't wait to see some online pictures.
Man, i know how you feel. I've been singing cheese for years now.