El Famoso Verbo “Gustar”
Summer in Antigua:
Week two begins. Spanish classes continue to go uneventfully, and as I read over Rachel’s posts, I am slightly envious of the brand new language learning. Everything is a discovery. Everything people say has the possibility of being a new poem, some great insight into character or politics or love. You pass a conversation on the street and think, I wonder if they are two lovers arguing, she demanding he leave his wife, he begging her to understand his love for her and only her, hand gestures pointing at the sun and their fading romance; in reality it is most likely a vendedor haggling the price of beans. Sigh. However, thinking back on my French learning of oh so many years ago, honestly I am mostly relieved that I’m not starting at square one.
My little maestrita continues to prod me along with prepositions and tenses. After flying through the fourteen tenses of Ser and Estar in the first two days, we’ve slowed considerably. And a good thing too, as I have a tendency to over-exert my conversation skills. I miss Portuguese Nivel Um! and Stacey’s mid-conversation pauses to insert ‘ooh, futuro perfecto!’ into her tense transformations. I’ve started to do the same.
Antigua has turned cold recently. The rainy season began with a vengeance the other day. In fact, my maestra said that the festival on Saturday which was in honor of a saint, also was a welcoming of the rains. Every year on this festival, it rains. Every year. For this reason, the fireworks are exploded on the evening before. And true to form, Friday night there were a thousand fireworks, but no street festival and no rain. And early Saturday morning, as Rachel and I were getting into the shuttle to leave for Xela, the rains began. Even in Xela it rained. During the drive, and during the final match Xela played against Municipal it rained. Happily the rains come in the afternoon, so we were able to wander around during the sunny hours, but as soon as I got in the shuttle for my return trip, they started again. The rainy season. I’m glad I had Jes pick up a capa for me (I’ve just learned that capa is both raincoat and cape.) And I’m also glad that I bought an umbrella from the vendedor that Rachel and I accosted on the street, although I’m still mystified as to why he offered to sell me the 10Q umbrella instead of the 15Q one. I’ve never been downsold before.
So, week two begins, as I say. And while I’m quite comfortable here in Antigua, both with the language and the people and the community, I wonder if that’s all a good thing. Technically I should be spending most of my time in the Archives in Guatemala City (GC), however being so happy here is making it hard to motivate. I shall call up the name of “the guy” who supposedly knows everyone and everything in Antigua, and perhaps I’ll be set up with a car and a daily commute. If so, this summer journey will take quite a different turn. Meanwhile, I continue with the famous verbs.
Week two begins. Spanish classes continue to go uneventfully, and as I read over Rachel’s posts, I am slightly envious of the brand new language learning. Everything is a discovery. Everything people say has the possibility of being a new poem, some great insight into character or politics or love. You pass a conversation on the street and think, I wonder if they are two lovers arguing, she demanding he leave his wife, he begging her to understand his love for her and only her, hand gestures pointing at the sun and their fading romance; in reality it is most likely a vendedor haggling the price of beans. Sigh. However, thinking back on my French learning of oh so many years ago, honestly I am mostly relieved that I’m not starting at square one.
My little maestrita continues to prod me along with prepositions and tenses. After flying through the fourteen tenses of Ser and Estar in the first two days, we’ve slowed considerably. And a good thing too, as I have a tendency to over-exert my conversation skills. I miss Portuguese Nivel Um! and Stacey’s mid-conversation pauses to insert ‘ooh, futuro perfecto!’ into her tense transformations. I’ve started to do the same.
Antigua has turned cold recently. The rainy season began with a vengeance the other day. In fact, my maestra said that the festival on Saturday which was in honor of a saint, also was a welcoming of the rains. Every year on this festival, it rains. Every year. For this reason, the fireworks are exploded on the evening before. And true to form, Friday night there were a thousand fireworks, but no street festival and no rain. And early Saturday morning, as Rachel and I were getting into the shuttle to leave for Xela, the rains began. Even in Xela it rained. During the drive, and during the final match Xela played against Municipal it rained. Happily the rains come in the afternoon, so we were able to wander around during the sunny hours, but as soon as I got in the shuttle for my return trip, they started again. The rainy season. I’m glad I had Jes pick up a capa for me (I’ve just learned that capa is both raincoat and cape.) And I’m also glad that I bought an umbrella from the vendedor that Rachel and I accosted on the street, although I’m still mystified as to why he offered to sell me the 10Q umbrella instead of the 15Q one. I’ve never been downsold before.
So, week two begins, as I say. And while I’m quite comfortable here in Antigua, both with the language and the people and the community, I wonder if that’s all a good thing. Technically I should be spending most of my time in the Archives in Guatemala City (GC), however being so happy here is making it hard to motivate. I shall call up the name of “the guy” who supposedly knows everyone and everything in Antigua, and perhaps I’ll be set up with a car and a daily commute. If so, this summer journey will take quite a different turn. Meanwhile, I continue with the famous verbs.
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