A scorpion in my shower, a tarantula in my bedroom, ants in my bed, flies in my soup (seriously), 3 flea ridden, but lovable dogs, a tame wild pig that thinks it's a dog, lots of trees and wildlife including hummingbirds, woodpeckers, and bats...plus 4 hours of lessons in Spanish a day. Add a freshwater, volcanic, crater lake no more than 30m away, and you have a lot of distractions for an ageing student, who's never been good at languages. Yes I'm finding it difficult to learn.
I'm 'supposed' to be studying in Guatemala by now, but i sort of got stuck here. I like the surroundings, the people, the simple lifestyle - although i have been stir crazy a couple of times. I'm also supposed to be eating, sleeping and thinking Spanish, but instead i find myself eating bugs, sleeping with bugs and dreaming of chocolate. In the evening i often chat with the other students - in English...I'm a hopeless student.
Life is certainly different here. I'm awake everyday at dawn (usually itching). My lessons start at 8am, and last until 12.30 with a break at 10.30. Then we stop for one of the 3 meals that are supplied to us. I particularly like the very Nicaraguan food of pizza - generally the food has been great and not just rice and beans, although we do have them everydayand for every meal. There's a fridge full of help yourself, honesty system beers and a large balcony with which to watch the world of man and animal go by. I have local teachers who speak virtually no English and fellow students from all over the world. It's been interesting, but a fairly intensive 3 weeks. It's been a fairly serious Shane, for at least 1 week of them. Some days I've studied for 10 hours or more and felt like i have remembered nothing. My most common words are no entiendo/conozco/recuerdo - i don't understand/know/remember. Bizarrely some days the whole class is spent chatting - it's a twilight zone of how and what. Topics of politics, Nicaraguan history and wars, religion. prostitution, abortion, how crap (Nicaraguan) men are, other cultures, UFO sightings of the 2 of the other students, and loco gringo's are all discussed in detail. I really don't know how this has occurred, my verbal spanish is pretty awful. Yet I know all about the unfortunate history of one of my nice but unhappy teachers and how she ended up without a father herself and a father to her two kids. A very common and sad tale i hear again and again. Sometimes travelling can be a depressing, sobering experience. I am muy suerte as i tell her again and again. I really feel very lucky too.
The school is a non-profit organisation, ran by locals and a hippy jefe as i call him (hippy gringo boss). It's a nice set-up, maybe not always the most efficient endeavour, but an enjoyable one none the less. I particular like the gossip i get to hear from everybody. Some of it is truly incredible - who says village life is boring.
Learning Spanish is not easy, I'm not in the immersion method, sort of a half-way house. 4 hours a day is tiring though. Add to it excursions and the meeting of locals, most of it in Spanish and you can't help but pick some stuff up. I started my time here, knowing virtually no Spanish except to ask for a bus to somewhere and now i can talk about UFOs and abortions...it's important to concentrate on the necessary stuff.
