Been brushing up on my Spanish
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Hi Reader, There I was, at a coffee farm in El Salvador, communicating with a local woman through pointing and awkward attempts with my rusty high school Spanish. That woman was the mother of Gladys, one of the Professional Fellows Hazel and I hosted. We were visiting Gladys and our other fellow, Andrea, in their home countries (El Salvador and Honduras) as part of the ITD Professional Fellows program. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Both Gladys and her mom are lively and so funny. Even though Glady’s mom and I couldn’t technically understand each other very well, we connected and laughed together all day. I enjoyed listening to her talk. As the trip went on, Spanish speakers would apologize to me for not speaking English, but I was relieved. The tourism industry caters to English in a lot of places nowadays, so it can be hard to get fully immersed in another language when you travel. (Even when I visit my family in Germany, we all end up speaking English to each other.) I found it refreshing to be with so many non-English speakers, which forced me to try and interpret their words—to listen even more intently. Each day of the trip, I seemed to remember a little bit more from high school Spanish class. Hazel, Gladys, and Andrea’s translation skills helped immensely too. By the end of our 11 days, my comprehension was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Suddenly, I could actually understand the people around me, which helped enrich the connections I made during the experience. Even when I continued to stumble over my words or misinterpret things, the act of trying meant something to me—and I hope to them as well. I’m not fluent by any means, but I came back to the U.S. with an unexpectedly renewed skill that I thought I’d lost. Not to mention many wonderful new connections. And that’s what the trip was really all about. Curious what else we got up to? Read more about our experience in El Salvador and Honduras. Reply back if you have questions about the ITD Professional Fellows program! I’m always happy to chat about it. Hasta luego,
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Hi! I'm Rachel, the Left Brain of Drio.
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