Aprendiendo Espanol...

Due to the lack of English in Bolivia and our lack of Spanish, Laura and I decided to spend our first week in Sucre as students at an intensive Spanish course. We had originally thought we wouldn’t have the money for this which had worried us but then as we were introduced to different people at church on Sunday a beautiful lady Elly told us that she has just moved away from the main language school to a new smaller, cheaper school, and as it is Christian-run she could work out a discount for us! We were ecstatic and relieved as the language is crucial here!
So the past week has been spent with 4 hours of language classes in the mornings and then about 3 or 4 hours of homework at night. On top of that though our lovely host Jan has been introducing us to some of the people and missionaries at their church, hosting several lunches and teas for lots of really nice and interesting guests. The Spanish school we are attending also offer several activities in the evenings to provide opportunities to practice the language and also get to know each other and Bolivia more.
So on Tuesday we had a tour around the beautiful city of Sucre. I didn’t know what to expect from Sucre, but i definitely never expected to love it so much! The architecture and feel of the whole place is breath taking and the surrounding mountains provide an idyllic backdrop. We spend most of our morning walks to class smiling at the beautiful scenery surrounding us. It’s so cool as well to see all the wee women walking around in their traditional dress on a daily basis. We have been very few places that are so seeped in tradition as Sucre is. And we love it!
On Wednesday poor Laura had an upset tummy and so we had to call in sick to classes to postpone that class until next Monday. This did however give me the opportunity to go with Jan to her Bolivian dance/aerobics exercise class! I had so much fun, although I couldn’t believe the way that some of the women there were able to move their hips! I giggled lots and worked hard on the moves (although I struggled a bit with the fast pace with the altitude sickness in my head!)
Thankfully Laura woke up feeling much better on Thursday, so we made it along to our class in the morning and then Spanish karaoke at night. Laura was so excited about this as everyone that knows her knows she is a karaoke queen, I however had horrible images of being forced to take the mic and attempt to sing in front of the people from the Spanish school that I barely knew. But it turned out to be much more relaxed than that, with no mic and everyone singing together! I’m still not so sure however that I will take Laura up on her suggestion to go again next week!
Friday came with roasting hot sun which was nice and a rather fun, more relaxed, less verb-filled Spanish lesson. We were even nicely surprised to manage a broken conversation in Spanish over lunch with some lovely Brazilian missionary girls. After some more homework time we headed out with Jan to meet the other people from the school for a Bolivian cuisine class. It was lots of fun and we were shown how to make some yummy stuffed potato ball things that are then covered in batter, fried and served with salsa. I will definitely be making these again in the future!
We are having a good time in Bolivia so far and are both really looking forward to getting stuck in helping working with the local street kids at a homework group next week! We are also excited to be moving in with 2 Brazilian missionary girls for the next few weeks who don't speak much English but seem great fun. I just hope our Spanish stretches far enough!!
Jenn xxx