Geography Lesson

For those of you who have no idea where I am, Barranquilla is there with the green arrow. Once you get to Miami it's only about a 2 hours and 20 minute flight, and it's in the same time zone as the East Coast in the US.

It's fairly hot and humid year round - think Iowa summer, but with a lots of big breezes coming in off the ocean to keep things pretty bearable.

Oh, and see how far away it is from Mexico? It's a totally different country, totally different food. I've yet to be served hot salsa or any spicy dish, though I HAVE had a lot of rice and beans. And I hear the food from the coast is different from the food from the mountains. Just like we have Chicago style and New York style pizza, and the culture in the US is different from the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc. Of course there are many similarities between the English speaking countries and the Spanish speaking countries, but thinking that all food south of Texas is tacos is both a huge and common mistake.

My New Favorite Word: Rompecabezas

So, just like in English when you learn a new vocabulary word and suddenly start seeing it everywhere, I've been running into words over and over here in Barranquilla as well. Some of them are pretty common and I'm still trying to get the meaning properly fixed in my head - like vuelta, which literally means to turn; circuit; bend; curve; reverse, but they usually use the phrase "hacer unas vueltas" which the closest concept I can figure in English is to "do errands", but it's a little more all inclusive than just practical stuff, because during the vuelta you could also have lunch or visit friends for example, and I wouldn't categorize that under errands...

The other word that I'm finally starting to get is bastante. It means enough or a lot, and they use it A LOT. Seems fairly easy, but the problem is I got it stuck in my head that it means "already", based on the contexts I heard it in. Now I when I hear it I have to stop and think "it means a lot" and then re-hear the sentence in my mind and that way it's slowly getting re-trained.

One thing we couldn't find in my little dictionary at all was the word for basil. It came up because they brought me to a a vegetarian restaurant that had a pesto-like sauce on some gluten but it didn't have any basil in it. Cilantro, and parsley I think... but by the time you get the garlic and olive oil and some green leaves, it tastes pretty similar. Since it wasn't in the dictionary I tried explaining it, small green leaves, an herb, you can use it dry or fresh, and I must have gotten much of the point across because we went through we went through oregano, parsley, spinach, cilantro, etc. Finally when we got to a computer G's sister looked up basil on Google images, and we asked G over instant messenger and he said he'd had to look it up when he got to the states: Albahaca. Whew!

The other time Google images saved the day was with the food "yama". Which they described as a hard, orange vegetable. It was chopped up in rice, and I thought it was a yam, because it was the same color. So I was asking them if it was like a potato, and they said no no. That WAS in the dictionary - pumpkin, and they also finally they showed me a piece of it raw, and it really was like a pumpkin!!! But I still wanted to show them MY yam, so they'd know I wasn't crazy. So google images to the rescue!

Ah, but we still haven't gotten to my new favorite word - Rompecabezas! It means "puzzle". I saw it first on a book of puzzle games, and then on G's sister's facebook, she has a photo of her family that is broken up into little puzzle pieces you can put back together. And finally, I was researching female Colombian pop and folk singers for my radio show, and remembered there had been a Colombian girl named Melany Moloney who befriended me on MySpace a few months back. (Well, I remembered her name started with M, and then I looked her up. ;-) ) Guess what the name of her CD is? Rompecabezas! She explains: "I named the CD ROMPECABEZAS, because in Spanish the name constitutes the two words ROMPIENDO CABEZAS (translation - breaking heads) and I feel that this is the statement I am making with this multicultural CD". And that is part of why the word delights me, because I knew "cabeza" meant head, and the "rompe" part makes it sound like it's having a romp through your head. So it's a fun word to say and it gives me a visual that makes me giggle.

Melany has an Australian father and a Colombian mother, and her album (It's listed simply as Melany Moloney #1 on iTunes) has a diverse blend of rhythms and instruments - from rock to traditional Colombian instruments, and some of her songs on it have a few words in English. It definitely is a mix of cultures, and that concept echos to my experiences here so far.

It's interesting to think about communication in general. Another thing I hear A LOT is "entendiste?" - "do you understand?". And honestly that is a hard question to answer. Sometimes I DO completely and fully understand. Sometimes I don't catch any of the words at all, but more of the time, I get the essence of what is being said - I know we're going to have dinner when Made's boyfriend gets back, I know we're going to the school to find out why my classes have been postponed till next week, etc. But I couldn't repeat it back to you, or know what each and every word actually means - yet...

My Class Is In The Paper!

Today Gilberto's dad showed me an article from the paper that talked about the class I'm going to take starting Monday.

Español para extranjeros

La Universidad del Norte abre la convocatoria para quienes desean ingresar al programa ‘Español para extranjeros’, que iniciará el próximo lunes y se extenderá hasta el 29 de este mes. El Instituto de Idiomas de Uninorte ha liderado este programa durante los últimos nueve años, en el que han participado alrededor de 250 estudiantes extranjeros. El curso incluye cinco horas diarias de clase, recorridos por las principales empresas de Barranquilla y actividades extracurriculares como visitas a sitios de interés en Cartagena y Santa Marta.
(from the bottom of this page)

I can't really translate word for word, but it basically says that the University Del Norte is holding a class called 'Spanish for Outsiders', starting on Monday and going to the 29th of the month. The Language Institute of the university started the program last year and had 250 exchange students. The course includes 5 hours of lessons, teaches about/trips to the major businesses in Barranquilla and has field trips to sites of interest in Cartagena and Santa Marta (nearby cities).

Ok, let's see how I did, here's the Google Translator version, which isn't quite right either, but works:

The University of North opens the call for those wishing to enter the program "Spanish for Foreigners', which will begin next Monday and will be extended until 29 this month. The Institute of Languages Uninorte has led this program during the past nine years, which have involved about 250 students. The course includes five hours a day of class, travelled by major corporations in Barranquilla and extracurricular activities such as visits to sites of interest in Cartagena and Santa Marta.

Not too shabby, but it does make the point where I often miss a word or two that makes a big difference in the meaning. In this case, the biggest mistake I made was mistake nueve (nine) for nuevo (new), so I thought they started the program last year when really they've been doing it for nine. HA! That's good though, that they've been doing the program for a while now.