the power of being bilingual

Its been a month now since I've moved to Peru and I must admit, I am having a great time. Now if only I could find the time to actually get work done. Even now, at 8:45 on a Sunday night, I am finding it hard to concentrate on the task at hand and find myself making an entry here instead of doing my work. I guess those habits learned as a kid die hard...

I just got back from a brief shopping expedition. I needed to get some new shoes for VB practice and I also grabbed a new nalgene bottle so I can drink some water at work while I teach. I walked over to Larco Mar - an upscale shopping area here in Miraflores and made my purchases. The fun part - I never spoke a word of english in the process and I feel really good about that. There's something gratifying about speaking the native tongue and conversing in another language.

Long time (or even somewhat recent) readers will recall my former position was in another overseas school, in Holland. They speak another language there and yet I never made any post about speaking Dutch over the last 18 months. Truth be told, I was one of the many English speakers in the Netherlands that never learned to speak Dutch simply because I was never required to since almost everyone speaks English. That isn't the case here in Peru. Almost no one speaks English and if you don't have a basic understanding of Spanish, you're sunk.

I was fortunate enough to grow up overseas and having lived in Mexico for two years back in the early 80s, I learned to speak a little Spanish. Thanks to Mrs. Huijsman at ASF in Mexico City for making this transition to Peru a little bit easier. *Odd note - Mrs. Huijsman was my Spanish teacher yet her name is Dutch; mere coincidence?* I can't imagine what it must be like for the other newbies here that don't speak a lick of Spanish. I mean, I know what its like to feel totally isolated because you don't speak the language so I guess I can imagine but its still not something that I want to relive at the current moment.

So even though tonight's shopping expedition wasn't the most trying of situations to need another language, I still did enjoy it. Just like the conversations that I have with the cab drivers (except the one about American politics - I never learned those words from Mrs. Huijsman and found it difficult to express my true opinion) and the maid and the other locals that I've bumped into, I find it nice to have the background that I do in Spanish and a little comforting to know that I can at least carry on a conversation as if I were a 10 year-old native speaker.

A 10 year-old with a wicked sense of humor... ;)

So to all those out there who haven't learned a second language I give you this little piece of advice - try one on for size. Its truly an empowering experience.