Today was day one of Clase de Español.
And I am so ready for this.
I have been waiting all my life for the year when I could eat,
breathe and live Spanish and maybe even feel like I was fluent. Here it is! All
this summer I am going to study my little gringa butt off and get ready to
cement all the studying with 2 years of living in Guatemala .
John gets 6 months of Spanish class, intensive Spanish for
Diplomats, where they teach him how to talk about anthrax, nuclear
proliferation and economic policy. At the end of 6 months he has to test out at
the 2/2 level (indicating professional proficiency). He’s under a good deal of
pressure and from what we’ve heard from the other language students, it’s going
to be the hardest 6 months of his life. Thank goodness it’s Spanish and not
Mandarin!
This may be the only chance in his OMS career that they’ll
give him language training at FSI so he’s savoring it, and is extremely grateful to
even have the chance to get paid to learn a language.
Me?
As the wife of a Diplomat I was told I could get into his
same class as long as there were open seats. No go on the open seats, so I got
put in the “FastClass” that lasts 8 weeks. The registrar said if a seat opens
up in the longer more intensive class I can try to test into it. Until then I’m
learning “survival Spanish” as in how to ask for something at the grocery store, how to order something in a restaurant, and lot’s of “Como
esta? Muy bien, y usted? Muy bien, gracias!”
So I need to be studying my materials AND the hubby’s homework
to try to keep up. But what else am I doing right now? The Smithsonian etc. can
wait until the weekend…
So today when we got home from class I made some guacamole
(I was totally CRAVING it for some reason), and then we plugged our little headphones into
our laptops, and started pronunciation practice. It’s adorable listening to
John pronounce Spanish words! He’s sounding more and more autentico by the minute!
Wish us some buena suerte as we rediscover the full-time student
lifestyle.
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