Bettaaaaahh…with a book
Yeah, the next day of class went much better. A few things came back to me and we started methodically conjugating verbs. No, it’s not easy, but I see the logic behind it. If I try hard to use these verbs properly and practice, I can see a big leap happening. IF I use them and practice…..
….but, you know how they say multi-lingual children (from dual-languag parents) take longer to begin talking? i feel like my head is filled with verbs and their multiple conjugations and even the verbs i used easily before – get stuck in my mouth. i can only hope that like multi-lingual children, once i start talking i improve rapidly and end up even better :).
Although my classes are only 4 hours a day I feel pretty lazy for the rest of the day. Maybe it’s too easy to use school as an excuse to read the rest of the day. after I talked about the challenge of getting good reading material on a long journey, a really nice woman I met in copan gave me her unread, hard-copy of “a thousand splendid suns”. I had just finished reading a compilation of sci-fi short stories about AI (artificial intelligence). It was surprisingly good – tho I couldn’t say that about the book I had underway at the time: the tommyknockers (tk’s) by steven king.
When I finished 1k splendid suns earlier in the week I realized the danger of a good read: its pleasure is fleeting. The tk’s consumed a good few week’s worth of reading time and here “1k splendid suns” lasted merely 2.5 days!! So today I traded this fancy, new, NYT bestseller for an old copy of tom wolfe’s “bonfire of the vanities” from a restaurant down the street. I know this was a movie but thankfully I hadn’t seen it. There were only a few books there but it was nice to find a 1 for 1 exchange. I hadn’t read any tom wolfe but know he’s an American gem, so I went for it. I am really captivated by his style.
WAIT – here I am in Guatemala reviewing contemporary American literature? That is soooo wrong. Tonight I decided NOT to go to a Lenten procession thru town – one that I’d learned about from my Spanish teacher – so I could sit on the balcony overlooking the lake and read. But I said “heck – I am going to be in Antigua for semana santa! What do I need with a procession tonight!?” But I know i need that boost….the boost that rainbows at the ngobe’ market in boquete provided me and the boost that poetry in a café in leon provided me.
But tonight I’ve tucked myself away using the comfort that a good, new book provides. Before that I used the copious hot water to shave my legs. I took out the best purchase I’ve made thus far – a 20 cent piece of volcanic pumice from the masaya market (and I bet that girl belly-laughed after I paid that for it) and gave myself a pedicure. I watched the sun dip behind this valley created by volcanoes, filled with clear-blue water and conjured the spirit that propelled me on this journey……..then I used tomorrow’s 8:00 am Spanish session, my last, as an excuse to hit the sack early. Buenos noches!!!!
Tags: central america, guatemala, Travel
Peggy Rehm