Grayson Zulauf - Earth Train Panama
Week 5

The Journey

Today was the first real Spanish class of my life. No, I am not berating my old Spanish teachers, nor am I implying that I don’t know any Spanish. It is not an open attack on the United States school system, nor did I enroll in a Panamanian university today.

            Instead, it was the first Spanish class where I learned vocabulary I had stumbled over that morning (outside of flashcards) and was able to practice my new “palabras” that afternoon. Last night, as I lay in bed, I realized that this Spanish class would transform my life, that this class would allow me to communicate with 400,000,000 would-be strangers. Of course, I have been learning Spanish by speaking with the Panamanians that I live and work with, but now, instead of struggling over a word I didn’t understand, instead of gesticulating my arms and drawing pictures to come to a guess that could in no way be proven, I could simply write the word down and take it to my new teacher.

            My teacher is a beautiful Columbian girl. Wait…did I just say that? Well, anyways, my teacher, beyond being “mi amor,” only speaks limited English, so those words that I take to her end up being a rapidly explained series of words that could be loosely interpreted as the definition. Fortunately, she can explain to me the definition in words I can understand, and thus my vocabulary builds. Almost more importantly, she has the patience to say ‘nacion” to me ten times until I get the definition. And certainly more importantly, I pay attention exceedingly well.

            Today, we worked on words that revolved around the transplanting of a fern that we had done during the morning. Words such as shovel, sand, bucket and fern that I had pointed to and said “ese” during the morning were transformed over lunch into smooth words like pala and culo that I could integrate into my speech by afternoon. This aspect of the class is vital to its success. In school, words need only be remembered until the closing of the next test, and possibly refreshed for the final. Here, those same exact words are vital to my survival and ability to communicate with my co-workers and colleagues.

            My immersion in the Spanish language is now actually beginning with the start of this informal class. I now have a method with which to learn new words, and a means of practicing them with an array of people. With most, although not with all, I am lacking an easy way out by asking how to say it in English, and can solely struggle through trying to explain myself in a roundabout way. Although things may go unmentioned, conversations dropped out of frustration, and comical mispronunciations may abound, I know that it will all help on my journey to finally know those 400 million strangers.