Spanish Vulnerability

Sometimes my Spanish decides to take a vacation. I'm not sure where it's going whether it be Costa Rica or Panama or maybe it's just going to the beach.  It's embarrassing when I am scrambling for words and people are looking at me strangely.  Most people tell me, "You have such great Spanish," which I give credit to my expression and ease of flow. In my opinion, language is not my strength, but picking up on non-verbal expressions, gestures, and their pronunciation is what makes me communicate better. 

When these cloudy language days arrive, I start with the broken Spanish and then I look up things in my handy Iphone Spanish-English dictionary, which does not require a Wifi connection.  There are moments with this Iphone where I think, "Wow, this thing really is helpful."
Although, the local person is not concerned with the Iphone or the dictionary, there interest is in you.

You are not the American that is just trying to get by with some Spanglish.  

You are not the American who would never look in a Spanish dictionary because people speak English.  

You are not the person who disrespects the language. 

You are the person who pulls out your phone, says excuse me, and looks up a word or phrase.  
You say thank you for their patience and apologize again for your incompetence. 

 The amount of happy faces that I have seen pulling out this Spanish dictionary. People are so happy when you are trying to learn their language, but they are happiest with the beauty of vulnerability.
You are sitting there in front of them completely alone and vulnerable-in their culture-in their city- in front of their eyes. They love that you are just trying to learn, you are trying to improve, and you are just trying to communicate with their language.

There are days that we are going to be great and there are going to be imperfect days.  People respect you when you are trying and just showing some human vulnerability.  You're not a perfect, smart American, but you are someone trying to learn just like everyone else-no matter the color, the race, the language, and the country. 

Next time your Spanish, your new learning language takes a vacation. Pull out that dictionary or ask a local.  The sun will shine again and you will have a better language day. Those difficult days will come, but......

Instead of feeling embarrassed let yourself feel human. 

PRIS 

Creole Cray Cray

Creole is one of the funniest languages. The expressions and the tone of voice when speaking, it just sounds like pure street slang.It can also sound like a chicken. Sometimes I can pick up languages, but not this one. My comprehension has improved overtime, but my pronunciation is slim to none. It's just hard to speak such a broken language. It's like syllables and words cut in half. 



 Actually, Creole has an open syllabic system of language.  Many of the words are ending in vowels and syllables reduced to only a consonant or vowel. 

The Chicago Tribune 1987 reported that Belize Creole is "a language that teases, but just escapes the comprehension of a Native English speaker." Some say that Creole started from the contact of English land owners and their West African slaves to ensure basic communication(Wikipedia).     

If I am on the bus or just sitting with a couple students, I just listen to them go back and forth. My head is turning as I am fascinated by this being an actual language.  I don't even make an attempt to repeat words rather I try to just listen and make out words.  

Sorry Belize, but this language is Cray Cray

Threes Company

The lovely woman I am working for in my organization, Francis, is always looking out for me. She makes sure I get my meals, I have a nice room, and she includes me in on tours if I'm available. She doesn't give this special treatment to anyone else and she's like a Mom and I adore her. We just have a great relationship and its really nice.



As for my Saturday off, she insisted I go to San Ignacio and have a nice day. She knows how invested I am in working in the MH community, therefore, she told me to just,"Go!" 

She sent me off with the MB tour guide Chester and driver, Justin. They were picking up some tourists in San Ignacio and taking them to Monkey Bay.  She jokes that they both are in love with me and will do anything I ask of them. I guess this was partially true. My second day I had to make my presence known. I came back from MH for lunch to find my room invaded my ants. I found Justin and Chester and told them to come quickly. They were standing there and Justin says, "I'm surprised that many got in your room." He is always making the funny comments.  I told them, "Okay boys lets move it out." I knew there were open rooms above the library so I had them move all my stuff. 

Side note:  I switched rooms 3 times at Monkey Bay until I got my perfect room. 

Justin and Chester knew about my funny ways and my high maintenance behavior and they loved it. We all became good friends. 

They are just two nice guys who have worked with the company for over 8 years giving them credibility and loyalty. They just enjoy being acknowledged by a tourist rather than just having forced conversation. Chester mentions how much he loves meeting tourists and getting to know them. 

On the bus, Justin is rocking back and forth to his reggae music and is super content. He's just in love with reggae music. And with the songs in Belize, they basically turn every hit song into a reggae song. It just slows down and has a reggae beat-it's pretty funny. Chester is the tour guide so he is full of information and facts about Belize.

Instead of accomplishing my bus writing goals, I am again sitting there and learning about the country asking a thousand and one questions. This usually why I fall behind- I blame on my beautiful people;) 

To sum up a few facts, Belizians are Creole, which is a mixture of European and African-American. The Creole language sounds like broken English and is quite difficult to understand. The political situation is pretty similar as the same corrupt party is voted in each and every year. Chester says that people don't know any better, which is an insightful and true statement. 

We discuss all the imported items and the few exports including: oil, sugar, bananas, and other fruits. They import everything making the cost of things ridiculously high. It's so unfair for the locals who have to grocery shop and have families to feed.

-When it comes to the kinds of people, Belize is very diverse with many cultures and languages. People speak Spanish, garifuna, Creole, and Mayan. 
- It was originally part of the British empire and became independent in 1980s with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Her face is on all of the bills and coins- it's a little strange because you are in Belize.

Chester's random facts

-Belize is the birthplace of chewing gum. Belize has the largest Jaguar reserve( hence the ones outside my room!)

-Hurricane destroyed Belize City, which made the capital move to Belmopan. The tallest building ---  --Belize is a Mayan ruin and Belize has over 7,000 Mayan ruins.
-The islands of Belize are called Cayes and there are around 450. 

The best fact and my own observation- there is NOT ONE Burger King, McDonald's, KFC, or Pizza hut. Go Belize!!!!! Stick to your amazing soul food and forget the American food chains.