Stelle's log (Spanish, Italian, Tagalog)

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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (Spanish, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Stelle » Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:26 pm

Hola chicos!

I'm currently in my fourth week of Spanish lessons here in Antigua Guatemala. It has been an amazing experience so far! Antigua is a beautiful city with breathtaking views of forested volcanoes and crumbling ruins everywhere you look. There are a lot of tourists here, but it's very easy to find people to speak in Spanish with. Before coming here, i expected to find that many of the locals spoke English, but that simply isn't the case. It's very easy to step out of the English foreigner bubble simply by choosing establishments that cater to locals rather than tourists.

My teacher is wonderful. After several weeks of working together, i sincerely love her. She feels like both a friend and a teacher. She's very experienced and flexible, which is exactly what I need. She's been teaching for over 25 years, but still takes obvious joy in her work.

A typical day looks something like this:

8:00-8:30 informal conversation
8:30-10:00 reading an interesting text out loud (she is very skilled at finding interesting and challenging articles), which then serves as a springboard for discussion
10:00-10:30 break. I didn't think that i'd need a break...but I really, really do.
10:30-11:30 go over my homework, with lots of discussion
11:30-12:00 some sort of targeted grammatical activity, based on errors that my teacher noticed. These are very conversation-centric and very engaging. For example, today I practiced the imperative (which I've never really worked on, to be honest) using role-playing cards. I pulled a card with a situation on it (for example: give a pep talk to your disobedient child before school), and then improvised, making an effort to use the imperative. It was both challenging and fun!

For homework, I usually have:
- a text to write
- an article to read intensively. My teacher expects me to pull out new vocabulary; be prepared to retell the text orally the following day; and come prepared with a few discussion questions about the topic

She really is an excellent teacher!

In addition to my Spanish lessons, I have:
- read two novels: La Chica del Tren and El Principe de la Niebla
- binge-watched the entire telenovela La Reina del Sur (we generally stay home on weeknights)
- taken salsa and cooking classes in Spanish
-started a new anki deck with words that I find myself searching for during class. So far my deck has 280 words.
- gone on several short tours (a macadamia farm, a coffee finca, a few other towns)
- talked to everyone and anyone who seems interested (or at least willing. Ha!)

Next week we'll take a bit of break. We're going to visit Tikal and then head to the beach in Belize for a few days. In mid-December , we'll come back to Guatemala and find a place to stay at Lake Atitlan for our next round of Spanish study.

I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity. I am very aware of the privilege that allows this type of travel (not the least of which is having been born in a country whose currency allows me to save enough to travel, and whose passport allows me pretty open access to most of the world).

And yes, I probably should have written this update in Spanish, but I'm using my phone and typing is already enough of a challenge. Ha!

(Oh, and speaking of writing... I didn't even try NaNoWriMo. Maybe next year, when I have access to a computer.)

Happy Tuesday!
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (Spanish, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby DaveBee » Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:45 pm

Stelle wrote:I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity.
It does sound super. :-)
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (Spanish, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby ShawnP » Wed Nov 23, 2016 2:00 am

Stelle,

I just noticed your update. Super envious. 6.5 weeks to go and I'll be following in your footsteps, more or less. Enjoy your time there. I can't wait to read more.
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (Spanish, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Stelle » Wed Dec 21, 2016 5:25 pm

I'm sitting in a restaurant in Panajachel, sipping a coffee and listening to the neighbourhood. There's so much noise! Music from the store next door, TV in the restaurant, vendors calling out from the street, conversations at the tables around me, waiters calling out to the people walking by.

The result? I can't understand a single word. With all of this noise, I don't think I'd even be able to eavesdrop in my native language. Instead, I'll just let the noise wash over me and enjoy the chaos.

We're looking for an apartment for the month of January. Once we get settled, I plan on signing up for two more weeks of Spanish. I want to test out some ideas for improving at my level (both for myself as a learner and so I can extrapolate as a teacher). More on that another time.

I had my first medical experience in Spanish. I had to get an eye exam so that I could order new glasses, since the protective film on mine is peeling off and I feel as though I'm seeing the world through a heavy layer of fog. It went very well, although I didn't quite understand when he was asking me for a down-payment. Interesting fact: I can comfortably talk about politics, daily life, imaginary situations, opinions, beliefs... but I often struggle with simple daily transactions. I think that's a direct result of learning most of my Spanish through Skype conversations. It's a very different kind of interaction.

We love it here. Lake Atitlan is stunningly beautiful and the Mayan culture is fascinating. People are kind and warm and open to conversation. Pana is a bit overwhelming with its crowd of vendors and shoe-shine boys and its over-abundance of tourists, but it's easy to walk just five minutes out of the gringo strip and find a whole new city.

We've been in touch with a local dog rescue group and i think that we're going to volunteer at their weekly spay and neuter clinics. We just have to iron out the details.

Expected side effect of being in Guatemala: my listening skills have improved dramatically. I can understand close to 100% of podcasts now, with the exception of a few words. This is only true, however, when I listen from the beginning. If I turn on the radio in the middle of a conversation, it takes me a few minutes to situate myself.

Unexpected side effect of being in Guatemala: it appears that the extra pounds that have been clinging to me for years are finally starting to let go, without any effort on my part. The change is slow and almost imperceptible, but I feel healthier than I have in years. I blame it on lots of beans, no snacking, walking every day, and the lack of work-related stress.

I find that I need a brain break in the mornings. I'm making an effort to eliminate mindless internet browsing (good-bye Reddit), but I need something low-effort to start the day - it takes me a few minutes to wake up in the morning. Reading or listening to the news doesn't cut it, since I feel like it starts the day on a negative note. I prefer saving the news for later in the day.

On that note, I've restarted Duolingo in Esperanto, and it's fitting the bill perfectly. It isn't replacing something that I'd normally be doing in Spanish, since I used to browse on my phone in English during this time. It's fun, low effort and provides immediate rewards. My new morning routine is 10ish minutes of Duolingo Esperanto followed by 10ish minutes of reading Gerda Malaperis on readlang. It's a relaxing and fun way to start the day - and the amazing thing is that I think a mere 20 minutes per day will be enough to actually advance in a language that I had previously put on hold.

Tomorrow we'll leave Pana and head to San Pedro, another village on the lake. We'll spend Christmas there and will hopefully move into an apartment for the new year.

Happy holidays my friends!
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Spoonary » Wed Dec 21, 2016 6:57 pm

I'm so incredibly jealous! But I'm also extremely happy for the pair of you :twisted:

I'm sure your Spanish is coming on in leaps and bounds and you'll wipe the floor with little old me and my neglected Spanish when you get back :lol:
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Stelle » Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:55 pm

So my husband is a wonderful life partner - but he's absolutely useless as a language partner. While he never discouraged me from learning Tagalog and he was actually quite proud to announce to other Filipinos that I spoke it (an exaggeration if I've ever heard one), he really didn't see the point and wouldn't get on board with practising with me. He moved to Canada as a 20-something 20 years ago and fully embraced living in English from day one. I've never seen him read in Tagalog or watch a TV show.

But yesterday, he said "you should start learning Tagalog again." I just about fell off my seat. It turns out that he wants us to have a secret language so that we talk about people and things without anyone understanding. Ha! I'm sure this new-found interest in helping me learn Tagalog will disappear once we're back in a place with a large Filipino community (or any Filipino community at all), but it made me laugh. Maybe I'll start working on Tagalog again after we return to Canada.

It's almost Christmas, but it really doesn't feel like it to me. I'm actually glad, because if it did feel like Christmas, I'd probably feel homesick. We're in San Pedro now, another town on Lake Atitlan. It's a bit of an odd place. It's full of young European and Australian tourists, many of them dreadlocked and barefoot, frequenting bars and restaurants owned and staffed by other young Europeans and Australians. There's a definite stoner vibe on the tourist strip. We only got here yesterday, but I'm really not crazy about it so far. Today we'll go exploring and try to find the "real" San Pedro, where people who aren't expats and tourists live.

(Unrelated aside: I find it interesting that people from rich countries who work in other countries for indefinite periods of time are "expats", while people from poor countries who work in rich countries are "migrants", "immigrants", or even "migrant workers". I have NEVER heard a Filipina nanny in Canada being referred to as an expat, but if a young American woman were to move to France to do the exact same work for two years, that's quite likely what she would be called. Just another sign of the many imbalances in this world of ours.)

JP's Spanish is coming along. He often omits the verbs altogether, but he never hesitates to try to speak and he can usually make himself understood. He'd learn much faster if he actually studied, but I can't expect him to be the same as me! I'm just so happy that he's learning through immersion, and that he's interested in signing up for more classes.

As for me, progress is imperceptible, but that's to be expected at my level. What's important is that all of my media is in Spanish, and that I have multiple opportunities every day to converse in Spanish.

I'm currently reading El fin de los sueños, an interesting dystopian book about a future world that has eliminated the need for sleep. Of course, chaos and disaster ensue. It reads like a young adult novel, except that there are a few adult POVs as well. Overall, an interesting read so far!
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Brun Ugle » Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:05 pm

I've seen the discussion about expat vs immigrant many times, so you're not the first to notice the imbalance. I always consider myself an immigrant rather than an expat. I don't like being called an expat. I think the word expat makes the situation seem like a temporary thing, like you don't really plan to stay and become a real member of society. That is, I feel like it is a viewpoint as well. So, if I were to say, "I'm an American, but I'm living in Norway right now," that would sound like an expat way of saying things to me. What I actually say most of the time is that I was born in the US, but I live in Norway. I think it's very noticeable in people's behavior as well. Expats tend not to integrate so much and often hang out with other expats. I've only known one American in Norway and that's because he was in my class at the college here.
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Stelle » Thu Jan 12, 2017 2:35 pm

We're spending the month of January in Panajachel. While it seems to have a bit of a bad reputation amongst some of the travellers we've met, we actually really like it here! We're staying in an apartment just outside of town, and it's very green and quiet. We're met with the breathtaking view of lake and mountains every morning, and the garden is full of hummingbirds. We spend very little time in the tourist-saturated parts of Pana, and mostly stick to the more local neighbourhoods.

J is doing really well with his Spanish study. He's finishing up his sixth week, and I'm amazed at how well he communicates. It's funny, because he often just leaves out the verb. But he's not afraid to speak to anyone and everyone, and his accent is excellent.

I've cut down a lot on my Spanish lessons. Four hours of instruction per day seemed both self-indulgent and inefficient. I'm currently working one-two hours per day with a teacher who is teaching me about Guatemalan history and politics. I'm learning so much, and our discussions are fascinating. It definitely feels more like History or Political Science class than Spanish class - which is exactly what I need right now.

My classes with him end tomorrow. I haven't yet decided what I'll be doing next.

A few weeks ago, I did a week of classes with another teacher, based around newspaper articles. I'd read an article for homework, add new words to anki, and then write a list of discussion questions. I picked articles that would allow for in-depth comparisons of Canadian and Guatemalan cultures (education, mental illness, youth employment, etc). I summarized the article orally to my teacher, and she would ask me questions to clarify or dig deeper. Summarizing in a coherent fashion is a challenge for me! Then we would go through my questions, spending as long or as little on each one as felt natural. This article-based session would usually take up the full three hours, and was very rich and fascinating.

J and I have done some volunteer work with spay and neuter clinics. I love it (despite the difficult parts), but it's not much good for practicing Spanish, since the people running the clinics are foreigners. The vets are Guatemalan, but they're too busy to chat. I do talk to locals picking up their pets (about half of the animals are pets, while the other half are street animals).

I may look into doing some classes - specifically weaving - if I can find a Spanish-speaking weaver willing to teach me for a reasonable cost. A lot of the weavers are older women who speak Mayan languages, and very little Spanish.

Overall, my life here is calm, simple and interesting. I read, i hike, i talk to EVERYONE, I spend a few hours per day with my teacher, I go to the market, I cook, I watch the birds, I sip coffee for hours in small cafes. (Oh, that beautiful Guatemalan coffee...) I can't imagine a nicer way to spend a few months. Although if I were to live here long term, I would definitely need to work in some capacity, to contribute to the community beyond spending my foreign dollars (which, let's be clear, is probably the best way that a foreigner can contribute. Still, I'd want to do more.) For now, I'll enjoy this learning vacation. But who knows what next year will bring?
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Re: Stelle's 2016 log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby rdearman » Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:26 pm

Very, very cool.
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish, with forays into Esperanto, Tagalog, Italian)

Postby Stelle » Sun Apr 30, 2017 4:17 pm

We're home! We arrived at the Toronto airport at 2:00 AM on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. I went to speak to my boss on Wednesday afternoon, and he asked if I could start the following day. My brain said no, but my mouth said yes, of course! So that's how I found myself teaching 130 students in 7 different classes a little less than 30 hours after getting home from Guatemala.

I. Am. Exhausted.

But I'm also very aware of how fortunate I am. I'm grateful to be working again so quickly, and it will just take me a few weeks to wrap my head around everything that I need to do. I spent almost all of the money that I saved for our trip, so my bank account will be very happy.

Where did we go?

Our August-April 2016-2017 journey looked something like this:
7 weeks - epic American camping road trip
2 weeks - short break back home in Canada
5 weeks - Antigua, Guatemala (4 weeks of Spanish study)
5 weeks - Guatemala and Belize (backpacking)
7 weeks - Lago Atitlan, Guatemala (mix of Spanish study, volunteering and visiting the villages around the lake)
5 weeks - Costa Rica, with a short weekend jaunt to Panama (backpacking)
2 weeks - Nicaragua (backpacking)
2 weeks - Antigua, Guatemala (Spanish study and Semana Santa)

How much Spanish study did we do?

J studied for a total of nine weeks. Seven of those weeks were 20 hours, and two of them were 15 hours. He worked with three different teachers in three different schools and loved all of them. He did only the homework assigned by his teacher, along with a bit of Duolingo.

I studied for a total of eight weeks. Six of those weeks were 20 hours, and two of them were 10 hours. I worked with five different teachers in three different schools, and all but one of them were fantastic. I did homework assigned by my teacher (mainly writing), along with homework I assigned to myself (reading articles, summarizing, writing discussion questions).

Aside from that, I read three novels (La Chica del Tren, El Principe de la niebla, El fin de los sueños), a book of Mayan legends (fabulos y otros cuentos mayas de atitlan), and half of a fourth novel (La sombra del viento). Together, J and I binge-watched the entire series of La Reina del sur on Netflix. I also finally finished the series El Internado (oh, the feelings!!!). I tracked my novels and Netflix-watching for the Super Challenge, but I did a ton of listening and reading that I didn't track. I listened to hours and hours of podcasts while travelling on buses, I read the newspaper and articles for school, and sometimes - if we had a TV - we would just watch some random Spanish TV or dubbed movies.

We also stayed with a host family at the end of our trip, and that immersion opportunity pushed us to live in Spanish.

Did our Spanish improve?

J started at zero, and can now communicate comfortably in Spanish - although he still makes a lot of mistakes. He can make phone calls, ask questions, make friends with cab drivers. He basically has no fear of speaking Spanish and he has a really engaging personality that made it very easy for him to make local friends.

Mine absolutely improved, although the improvement is much harder to measure. Three of my five teachers were very demanding - in a fun, friendly way - and I got the most from my time with them. I worked on grammar that I was a bit sketchy with: past subjunctive, hypothetical "if" clauses, and so on. The biggest change in my Spanish is probably that I no longer go through that shy, hesitant stage when I first start talking to a person that I don't know. I'm much more comfortable when speaking with strangers, and I can confidently say that I would have absolutely no problem living in a Spanish-speaking country and living/working in Spanish (although I do still make mistakes, so obviously I would have to change careers, since I wouldn't be able to teach anything but English in a Spanish-language school). A few times I had locals asking me if I were a native speaker from another country (a Nicaraguan thought I was Spanish, a Guatemalan thought I was Costa Rican, a Costa Rican thought I was Colombian). That was fun! I still make a lot of mistakes, so I wouldn't be able to keep up the facade for long, but I won't deny that it was an ego-boost when it happened.

Oh yes, and my accent changed. I no longer use the Castillian "ciceo" when speaking, although I do sometimes read in my head with a peninsular Spanish accent.

Would I do it again?

In a heartbeat! If I could get on a plane tomorrow, I would.

I think that I've gained all that I can gain from Spanish school, though. If I were planning a second long Central American trip, I wouldn't sign up for Spanish school again. Instead, I would volunteer in the morning and hire a private tutor for an hour every afternoon.

What next?

Honestly, right now I'm tired. I haven't had the chance to process everything yet. Work took over my life, leaving me little time to do the things that I planned on doing when I got home.

I'm taking a break from study, at least until things settle down. I'm reading for at least half an hour every evening. I still have to finish La Sombra del viento, but my brain is too tired at night, so I've started a much easier "guilty pleasure" book: a translation of The Host by Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight infamy). I'll go back to La Sombra del viento later, because it's such a beautiful book, but for now I'm going to let my brain rest a bit.

I'm also going to start talking to my italki tutor again towards the end of May. I still had enough credits on my account for a 10-session package, so I've pre-booked weekly Sunday morning sessions starting on May 21. I figure that easy reading + an hour of conversation weekly will keep me at my current level without too much difficulty.

I have to do more watching for the Super Challenge, but I have so many English series to catch up on! We don't watch a ton of TV, but we always watch The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Vikings and Homeland. It's usually not time-consuming at all to keep up, but we haven't watched in nearly a year, so we have a backlog. We also want to watch the new Prison Break - even though the last season of the original series was absolute garbage.

So yeah...take a break. Work. Catch up on silly TV shows that my family enjoys watching together. Read silly books that don't take much effort. Meet my Spanish teacher for coffee and Skype once a week. That's my plan for now! In two or three weeks, I'll decide on my next step.
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