So, Central America.
People who know me have no doubt that Latin America has "bad idea" written all over it for me. In big, blinking letters. My dislike for salsa music is second only to my dislike for coriander (cilantro) - both of which are about as easy to avoid here as a Catholic priest in Rome.
The other issue Latin America and I have is that I consider myself to be a vegetarian, a concept constantly challenged and crushed by the Latin America diet. Luckily I actually enjoy eating meat, so I have decided to take a blood-thirsty break from my self-imposed abstinence.
In many ways however, Central America and I are a match made in heaven. Wonderfully warm people, an often hot climate, breathtaking nature, plenty of wildlife, great food, to name but a few. And, hopefully, a kickstart to my dormant Spanish. No one forces you as charmingly/ruthlessly to dust off your rusty Spanish as the Americas (minus Brazil, of course). Just now, in the airport in Bogota, I heard an announcement asking Mr Li Wang Chan to immediately go to Gate 51, all in fast-forward Spanish. And only in Spanish. Given his name, I would at least hesitate to assume that Spanish is his first language...
Very occasionally, there will be an announcement in English, but as these announcements go, you can only understand the English one if you have already paid very good attention to the Spanish one. Is a gold medal in a speed mumbling contest a hard requirement to get a job behind an airport microphone? Is there a global training course for this? Where the teachers go: "No, I still understood three words out of eight, say it again!"
Overall, I have already heard some fantastic variations of what is considered Spanish: on the plane here, my neighbour, when asked whether he wanted a beverage, gave a somewhat disgruntled hum - upon which the stewardess stoically handed him an orange juice - and to my utter surprise, she was right! Maybe stewardesses get a special training in grunt interpretation? Same school, possibly?
People who know me have no doubt that Latin America has "bad idea" written all over it for me. In big, blinking letters. My dislike for salsa music is second only to my dislike for coriander (cilantro) - both of which are about as easy to avoid here as a Catholic priest in Rome.
The other issue Latin America and I have is that I consider myself to be a vegetarian, a concept constantly challenged and crushed by the Latin America diet. Luckily I actually enjoy eating meat, so I have decided to take a blood-thirsty break from my self-imposed abstinence.
In many ways however, Central America and I are a match made in heaven. Wonderfully warm people, an often hot climate, breathtaking nature, plenty of wildlife, great food, to name but a few. And, hopefully, a kickstart to my dormant Spanish. No one forces you as charmingly/ruthlessly to dust off your rusty Spanish as the Americas (minus Brazil, of course). Just now, in the airport in Bogota, I heard an announcement asking Mr Li Wang Chan to immediately go to Gate 51, all in fast-forward Spanish. And only in Spanish. Given his name, I would at least hesitate to assume that Spanish is his first language...
Very occasionally, there will be an announcement in English, but as these announcements go, you can only understand the English one if you have already paid very good attention to the Spanish one. Is a gold medal in a speed mumbling contest a hard requirement to get a job behind an airport microphone? Is there a global training course for this? Where the teachers go: "No, I still understood three words out of eight, say it again!"
Overall, I have already heard some fantastic variations of what is considered Spanish: on the plane here, my neighbour, when asked whether he wanted a beverage, gave a somewhat disgruntled hum - upon which the stewardess stoically handed him an orange juice - and to my utter surprise, she was right! Maybe stewardesses get a special training in grunt interpretation? Same school, possibly?
No comments:
Post a Comment