Hello everyone!
I thought I'd share a funny anecdote about my time in Guatemala, so let's all gather 'round for story time!
I flew into Guatemala with a Spanish vocabulary of about 10 words, and four of those words had to do with locating a restroom. Needless to say, I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold insightful conversations on Guatemalan literature. However, I still felt fairly confident in my Spanish skills, because I had purchased a Spanish-English phrasebook prior to my departure. After all, how hard could it be to flip through a book and locate what I wanted to say/what others were saying to me?
The night before my introduction to Pacaja, I quickly memorized some phrases that I thought would be helpful for interacting with children. "Let's draw a bear!" was one of those phrases ... for some reason I was certain that I could use that one in the schoolyard.
When we volunteers arrived for our first day at Pacaja, we were approached by a cheerful 11-yr old boy while we painted desks. I clumsily said to him "Hola! Como te llamas," and I was so happy when he actually understood and responded! In fact, it was very easy to hold a conversation with him, and I felt on top of the world! Then I realized that we were actually speaking English -- I was awkwardly dispersing my limited Spanish vocab into English sentences, and he was responding to me in very good English. I felt a little embarrassed that an 11-yr old could show me up with his bilingual skills, but it was great talking to Michael anyway.
A few hours later it was recess time for the students at Pacaja, and scores of children ran out into the schoolyard. "Dibujar un Oso, dibujar un Oso" I repeated to myself, and then I was surrounded by a group of curious 6th-grade girls. One of them spoke to me in rapid-fire Spanish, and in my mind I hastily translated her questions as "Where are you from? How old are you?" Aha! Those were easy questions that even I could answer! With overwhelming confidence, I replied with what I thought was "I'm from the United States and I'm 24 years old."
Unfortunately, one of my fellow volunteers started giggling as soon as the words left my mouth. The little girl hadn't asked my age at all, and instead was wondering how long I would be in Guatemala. And, to compound my embarrassment, not only had I NOT answered her inquiry correctly, I had also messed up my Spanish numbers! What I accidentally said in Spanish was "I'm from the United States and I'm 45 years old."
Fortunately, at that time the group of girls noticed one of Stephane's boys, and they made a beeline for the 13-year old hunk =) I've save that story for Stephane to tell.
Anyway, I'll end this story on a semi-corny but completely true note. The Spanish-English language barrier really didn't separate me from the children at Pacaja. They were so patient and eager to teach, and we all had lots of fun laughing at my mistakes. We also had great times playing games that didn't require any speaking -- after all, Ring around the Rosie is a universal language. After just one day at the school, I knew that the happy, innocent, friendly children at Pacaja would always claim a piece of my heart. I was so sad to leave the kids on my last day, and that's why I teamed up with Stephane, Liz, Erin, Angelica, and Orlando --so that I can give something back.
-Zhitong
