Breakthrough Day

At the other end of the spectrum (opposite "setback day") there exists another type of day known as "breakthrough day." Today, I found her. And, it was quite by surprise, because it really started off as a crap day. I went out with the youngins last night and stayed out fairly late (by my standards at least), and felt absolutely lousy this morning. As an aside, I am really quite proud of myself for the fact that not once have I gone overboard on this trip, and every time we go out, I'm the first one to leave (ninja-style AKA "Houdini" disappearing act). This usually prevents any sort of hangover, but even though I didn't think I had too much to drink last night AND I was back around midnight, I had a wicked headache this morning.

OK, back to the story. So class started, and I'm thinking to myself that today was going to be the LONGEST DAY IN HISTORY. I couldn't even fathom the idea of sitting through five hours of intense instruction and all of that thinking. Class started off pretty slowly, it got better throughout the morning, and by lunch it was going quite well. After lunch, we got out of the book, and just played games for the rest of the day. Class, lately, has been really fun and we're laughing all the time. Aside from our ridiculous role-plays, we play cards, board games, tell stories, etc., and at this point in the program, we have established a level of comfort that makes it much easier to learn. Seriously, at one point today, I started thinking about how often I'm wrong in class. I've never been SO wrong SO many times in my life. And right now, I don't even care about being wrong anymore. And that, in and of itself, is an amazing thing to hear myself say...

However, the real breakthrough happened towards the end of class, after a lengthy discussion initiated by yet another ignorant question posed by me. I don't know what it was about Daniel's explanation, but it just totally made sense to me. It was like everything just kind of came together. Walking to the bus after school, I thought about conversations I might have with a student's parent during a conference...things I might want to say, both positive and not-so-positive, and found that I had no problem doing so. This caused another brief surge in my level of confidence, and when I got off the bus and was walking to the house, I had the strangest sensation. I remember one Recreation class I had at Chico that talked about the concept of "flow." Used in a variety of contexts, "flow" can refer to a kind of distorted state of mind like many athletes experience when playing sports. Time kind of goes out the window and you get super focused on whatever it is you're doing. Well, it was almost like I experienced a Spanish flow as I walked home. I had this (distorted, I know) feeling that I now understood everything Spanish.

As I walked up the porch, my flow was disrupted when I saw Frank outside painting again. I thought to myself, "Shit, well here we go again." But, to my surprise, Frank was shockingly sober. We talked for a minute, he told me about earthquakes and his military "friends" and then invited me out for a beer. I told him something like thanks, but no thanks, and came inside to have a nice little fiesta. As I laid down, I flipped on the TV and found myself understanding much of what was being said on an awful telenovela (Mexican soap opera...if you've never seen one, you should check one out...they're ridiculous). I laid there thinking that finally, I had realized some serious progress, and I'm only halfway through my instruction. It was an awesome moment...

But, then I woke up from my nap and clearly, I had snapped out of this mental state. I didn't feel bad about my newly found gift of comprehension, I just didn't feel the same. I've been watching Mexican TV all night, trying to find my mojo again. I even made about 100 flashcards, but it's still not with me. I'm not worried about finding it again, I know I will, but I just hope it happens again soon.

This weekend will not be helpful at all either, as "the clique" and I are heading to Arenal Volcano for a weekend of zip lines, wildlife, thermal pools, and swim-up bars. I'm actually WAY more excited for the zip lines than a swim-up bar, which I think is really saying something! I leave tomorrow morning around 6 AM for a 2.5 hour ride up country. It should be a blast. I'll undoubtedly have lots of pictures when I get back that I'll post as soon as I'm able.

Next weekend will be my last official "weekend" trip with the crew. I think we're going to head out to the Pacific side, to a place called Playa Tamarindo. Following that will be my last week of class and then my final week here which will be spent traveling. Right now, I'm leaning towards getting on a nine-hour bus ride up to Managua, Nicaragua and spending my last days up there visiting the capital, Grenada, and Leon. It's supposedly incredibly beautiful and a hell of a lot cheaper. And if you, like me, cringed when you heard Nicaragua, fear not. Apparently, from what I've heard, the reputation it earned back in the 70's/80's is not at all an accurate description of what it's like now. In fact, it's actually dubbed the "land of lakes and volcanoes" by Lonely Planet. It sounds great, and I'm really excited to go.

Alright, off to bed. Got an early bus to catch!

Ben