Class

September 3

            I haven’t really touched on classes yet. We all have to test in to 1 of 8 levels of competency for our “language intensive course” that lasts for four weeks. I’m in level 6. Our teacher is great, her name is Soledad or Sole. The first hour of our four-hour class was dedicated to sexual vocabulary and swear words. We were all giggling at first, but that vocab really is an integral part of Spanish life (and life in general as Sole would argue). It’s great brushing up on the details of grammar and sentence construction (something that was completely lacking in Drake’s language program). But the cultural aspects are just as useful. For instance, we were working on our commands and we had to “prohibit” sole from doing something. I told her not to smoke: bad idea. She launched into a tirade about how smoking is good for your body, mind and soul. It was very tongue-in-cheek, but it still made me realize that the Spanish don’t pour millions of dollars into antismoking campaigns and, therefore, tobacco companies don’t pour millions of dollars into lobbying here. Their warnings are more in your face, but it made me wonder if just talking about smoking (for or against) plays into Big Tobacco’s hand. That’s my philosophical quandary for the day.

Hasta luego,

Erik