Learning Spanish in Merida
I guess you could say I'm taking a different approach to Spanish here in Merida. In Guatemala, I took as many Spanish classes as I reasonably could. Every day after work I went to La Union for an hour or two, and sometimes I took a weekend class. Of course, it helped that the classes were $8/hour. I could pretty much take as many as I wanted.
(I don't have pictures for this post, so I'm randomly sharing my new favorite fruit, which grows on a cactus!)
Here in Merida, on the other hand, I looked into schools and found private classes to be around $25/hour. That's still low compared to the U.S. but it was not in my budget since my main goal here is to save money. So I've been doing some other things instead. I went to a few language exchange meetups on Wednesdays at a bar nearby, and on Monday I go to a two-hour conversation group at the library. I'd say that here in Merida I also just I also talk to a lot more random people than I did in Guatemala when I was staying at "the convent." More people approach me here for some reason, such as when I'm in the park, and I keep an open mind and take advantage of the opportunity to practice.
Recently, I did find a Spanish tutor, though. He's a college guy I met through my neighbor, Seth, and he mentioned he had taught English before so I asked him if he'd tutor me a couple of times a week. We met up on Tuesday for an hour and a half and it went well. We agreed to two days a week and I offered him $13/hour. He seemed really happy with that and said he'd give me two hours for that price, which was sweet, but we settled on an hour and a half since my Spanish brain really shuts down at about the 1.5-hour mark anyway.
Sometimes I think my Spanish is improving, but it's still not feeling all that natural. Maybe that's just going to be a constant feeling since with languages, there's always more to learn. But I know to really take it to the next level I'd have to immerse myself more, like living with a Spanish speaker or making some friends that don't speak English. However, I am making some slow progress and I can certainly get around in Spanish pretty easily. I just don't think I'm one of those people with a knack for languages, and I accept that. I try to remind myself it's just for fun after all and I'm not prepping for a final exam. :)
(I don't have pictures for this post, so I'm randomly sharing my new favorite fruit, which grows on a cactus!)
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| Yummy pitaya, or dragonfruit |
Here in Merida, on the other hand, I looked into schools and found private classes to be around $25/hour. That's still low compared to the U.S. but it was not in my budget since my main goal here is to save money. So I've been doing some other things instead. I went to a few language exchange meetups on Wednesdays at a bar nearby, and on Monday I go to a two-hour conversation group at the library. I'd say that here in Merida I also just I also talk to a lot more random people than I did in Guatemala when I was staying at "the convent." More people approach me here for some reason, such as when I'm in the park, and I keep an open mind and take advantage of the opportunity to practice.
Recently, I did find a Spanish tutor, though. He's a college guy I met through my neighbor, Seth, and he mentioned he had taught English before so I asked him if he'd tutor me a couple of times a week. We met up on Tuesday for an hour and a half and it went well. We agreed to two days a week and I offered him $13/hour. He seemed really happy with that and said he'd give me two hours for that price, which was sweet, but we settled on an hour and a half since my Spanish brain really shuts down at about the 1.5-hour mark anyway.
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| Successful haircut in Spanish |
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