Learning Spanish in Sucre

April 16 - May 2

I have spent 2 wonderful weeks in the lovely city of Sucre, Bolivia learning Spanish. Sucre is known as the “white city” and has colonial architecture in the city center.

Plaza 25 de Mayo

 Prior to arriving I had done some research on where to take Spanish and had chose Sucre based on people’s reviews, the mild climate and inexpensiveness of Bolivia. Quite a few people wrote glowing reviews of the Open Spanish School. (www.openspanish.net) I’m so glad I took my classes there as Gonzalo & Maricel who run the school are the nicest Christian couple. They have a small 5 bed dorm upstairs where the classrooms are. My teacher Shirley was fantastic. I think I may have been one of her more lively students as I loved cracking jokes in class as it made the learning better for me. All my classes were one on one and I had them twice a day in 2 hour blocks. I typed all my notes in Google Docs so I could have it synced to my phone and then I would have my notes wherever I am. It proved to be a great way of doing it as I studied my notes wherever I was. I had so many verbs and learning the conjugations was slow especially on the irregulars. I told Shirely to be patient with me as I’m an old man and don’t learn as quickly as the others. haha! Here’s one of the first sentences I put together. “Yo aprendo espanól.” (I am learning Spanish) I made up other sentences that involved “helado” and a couple times Shirely and I would run down to the shop and get some helado.

Maricel & Shirley

Gonzalo

Buena comida con amigos

Mi prefossora, Shirley

Estudiante loco

La Escuela

Lukas

While in Sucre I attended the Adventist Church which was only 6 blocks away from me. I made friends with a few people there and I can say they are so far the friendliest church I’ve been to. Llew has come back from Cuba and spent almost a week there. It was longer than he planned as he got salmonela posioning and was not feeling well for a few days. The Sabbath he was there we were invited to 2 sisters place. (Victoria & Virginia) While talking to them Llew discovered that he had gone to school in France with Virginia’s husband. Just a reminder how small the Adventist world is. :)

Mi amigo Angel

My last Friday at the school was the labour day holiday and I watched marching bands with people in traditional costume. It was a great way to end my stay and see a bit more of the tradition here. I’m fascinated how there is a blend of the traditional and the new. I always saw women in the traditional skirt and hairstyle carrying things in their blanket. All the school kids are wearing western clothes and listening to western music. Its interesting to see the differences coexist together. I wonder what this country will look like 10 years from now. Will they lose the traditional look and feel and be more western. Will they start becoming obese as they prosper. The country is definitely doing much better than they were 10 years ago.