“Be genuinely interested in everyone you meet and everyone you meet will be genuinely interested in you”. Rasheed Ogunlaru.
One week on from my arrival in Panajachel, and the start of my Spanish classes:
We have a new addition to the family. Santiago arrived last Sunday – direct from the United States. He is in his late fifties, tall, slim, and with an extremely outgoing personality. His presence has certainly taken the pressure off me at meal times, here in the ‘casa’. Prior to his arrival the conversation between my host family and I was starting to run out of momentum – having quickly covered all the subject matter that my limited vocabulary could facilitate.
Santiago is an interesting character to be around; I enjoy our evening conversations immensely (thankfully in English). His Spanish is very good and I have learnt a lot from him.
Up until Friday of this week, my Spanish lessons had been going great guns. My teacher, Patricia, is delightful – with the patience of a saint and a wonderful sense of humour. She is in her early thirties, short (5 feet something) and very pretty. She is married with three children – two boys and a girl. She has been a teacher at Jabel Tinamit, my Spanish school, for around 8-years.
I have now spent just over a week studying on a ‘one to one’ basis with Patricia and I have been gutted by just how much Spanish I don’t know. Friday of last week, proved to be a particularly rubbish day. After a week of: 5-hours of lessons each morning and 4-hours revising each afternoon, my head was close to exploding. The end of week exam produced a disappointing result, which left me feeling extremely despondent. But as Patricia, very thoughtfully reminded me, “poco a poco” – little by little.
It’s now the weekend, time to relax.
Hasta pronto.
