Friday, May 16, 2008

Week 2 of Language school

Things are going well here, but my head sometimes feels as if it's going to explode. We are taking the information that normally gets taught in 10 weeks and doing it in 4 and so it's a bit mind-numbing at times- but it's good too, because we are seeing progress!!

I got into a small accident the other day, but nothing major. The other fella tried to pass me on the left while i was turning left-- but i wasn't in the normal turning lane either- and the police officer was standing in the lane i was wanting to go in- so really it was all of our fault! the only damage was a bent side view mirror on the other truck and he was fine with that- readjusted it and left. The police asked for my license and insurance and then we talked about why we we're in Chihuahua to learn Spanish and where we're from in Canada and he seemed pleased to let me go without a ticket or bribe! Praise God

My teacher said that it was unique form of learning I had that morning and we spent the first hour or two going over the accident in detail and learning the different verbs associated with the accident... it was very helpful in my Spanish learning. In the afternoon class, my classmate Pete a 28 year old med student told the afternoon teacher about the accident and I went over it again only this time we learned new verbs and conjugations through the retelling of the story. I told them not to expect this kind of help in lesson planning again!!

Today it rained. All also night and into this morning till about 9am and it's about 13C this morning- a change from the usual 32C!! the streets were flooded this morn because they don;t have storm drains in this city so they wait for the sun to come put and dry it all up afterwards!! it was a driving experience for sure-- but NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!! That's 3 days in a row without an accident!!

The drivers here are a bit crazy- not nearly as courteous or helpful as the Tijuana drivers, and lots more aggressive!! It must be the heat that puts them on edge!!

Things are going well, though there are some adjustments that can some times be frustrating-- some cultural differences that are noticeable and the extreme lack of taco stands has made this a little tougher than we thought-- apparently the border area is not always the same as the rest of Mexico- and each area has it's own little cultural tweaks and quirks- not unlike the US and Canada too!
We have 2 weeks to go and hope to get to Suzanna's orphanage tomorrow and to another church on Sunday...

Thanks for praying- please continue to pray as we work through some adjustments that are needed living in someone else's house for a month!

God bless!!

Mike

3 comments:

Lisa Sawatzky said...

How are the kids doing with their language learning?

Michael and Sharlene McDonald said...

The kids are mostly progressing. Jacob is still pretty lost, Caleb is doing very well at understanding but is shy to speak it and so is struggling in his progressing in talking- Elijah is very motivated and understands alot and speaks quite a bit more than he did!!

Anonymous said...

I think the part about the lack of taco stands is hilarious...or should I say "hilarante"

tenga un día agradable - or something like that....