First Week in Bocas

Week 1 in Bocas is officially complete. My classes at Habla Ya are going great! Surprisingly, I understand most of what my teacher says. I guess those eight years of classroom Spanish helped out a bit 🙂 Around town, I’m even seeing some improvement in my comprehension of local speakers. I may not be fluent in 4 weeks, but I think that I’ll definitely be more comfortable speaking and listening. I hope to continue building on that during the rest of my travels this summer.

After I arrived in Bocas last Saturday, I went to the school for a pre-class interview to evaluate my Spanish level and ensure that it was in line with the results from the written evaluation I took online when I registered for the school. Based on my oral interview, I was placed in B1 which is a level lower than my online placement. This wasn’t completely unexpected because I knew my Spanish conversational skills were lacking. The next morning when I arrived, I was in for a surprise. The teacher for B1 was out sick and the only available spot was in a B2 class. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous, but by the end of the class, I felt more comfortable. I’ve returned to this class each day, and I think that it’s a good fit. I met some of the students in another B1 class and I think that it would have been a bit too much review for me. They have spent a lot of time learning tenses that I am already familiar with. For most of the tenses, I just need a quick review to jog my memory. I think I would have been bored in B1, so I’m glad that B2 worked out. At the school, there is an option to switch out some of your group classes with private classes as long as there is an available professor. I think that my last week in Bocas, I will change some of my classes so I can get some more one on one time to practice speaking. On Saturdays, the school also hosts some free conversational classes, so I’ll be trying that as well.

One of the coolest things about the school are my fellow students. I have literally met people from all over the world and from very different walks of life. The UK, New Zealand, Germany, Belarus, Canada and the US are all represented.  And for the first time, I’m not the youngest person in the group! The majority of the students are younger than me, which is interesting for me because among my friends and family, I’m usually the baby of the group. We’ve all gone out a few times this week and they really are a great bunch of people. On Wednesday, we took a water taxi over to Isla Carenero after class for a beach day. The beach was beautiful and my classmate made a friend in a stray dog. I was skeptical, but he made himself at home between our towels. He made me miss my precious Cheddar that much more. For those that don’t know, Cheddar is my dog and essentially my child until I have real children 🙂

After the beach, we headed to Selina’s Hostel & Bar for some drinks. There was an impromptu salsa lesson which was loads of fun! Reminiscent of my Zumba days 🙂

Yesterday, the group went on a catamaran sunset cruise with a couple of the teachers from the school. We had a blast! There was a water slide at the top of the boat and we had a chance to slide down and swim under the stars. Stars, which I feel like I haven’t seen in years thanks to Houston’s smog 🙂 It was a bit cloudy, but still a beautiful night. Afterwards, we had dinner at this really cute French restaurant called MK Restaurante. So delicious! Look out for my next post about all the delicious food here in Bocas and a full review on MK and other places I’ve tried thus far.

It’s been interesting learning about the similarities and differences among the cultures of my classmates. A couple of their stories are similar to mine. Two of the girls quit their jobs and decided to travel like me. One is at the beginning of an eight month journey and the other is just traveling with no specific end date. Some are between undergrad and grad school and want to learn Spanish to help in their future careers. All of the students are remarkably well-traveled which reinforces the whole reason for my trip. There’s so much to see in this world and restricting myself to my own little corner isn’t how I want to live. Each week, new students arrive. I’m excited to see some new faces and stories come Monday!