I went to the park near my apartment today and came across an exercise zone like the ones they sometimes have in parks in the US- except the ones in the US have stuff like pull-up bars and sit-up thingies, and this one had machines. But not machines like I've ever seen. One had wheels like car wheels that seemed to have only the purpose of turning them. Another you could swing yourself from side to side. These contraptions were highly confusing and I was having a hard time understanding how this was considered exercise. I walked up to each machine and sort of stood there and stared at it for a minute and maybe poked at it, and after having done this with several different ones, a woman finally took pity on me.
'Necesitas ayuda?' (Do you need help?)
'Si!'
Noting for the umpteenth time the friendliness of Colombian people.
She showed me how to use all of them and then went and started swinging her legs from side to side on one of them. I joined her on the adjacent one and we got to talking.
She's thirty. She cleans houses for a living and she does this little exercise routine every day on her way home from work. She's from Cartagena, the northern Caribbean coast, which is why she speaks faster than everyone else, although I surprisingly don't have problems understanding her.
I tell her how badly I want to perfect my Spanish and be able to understand what everyone is saying and she tells me how much she wants to learn English. I tell her I can teach her.
'Enserio?' (Seriously?)
We decide to meet in the park a couple times a week. We'll speak in Spanish for a half hour or so for my benefit (because I know Spanish. All I really need to do is practice and accustom my ear to hearing it) and then I'll work with her on English, of which she knows not a single word.
This is exactly the kind of thing I came here for.
SEPT 18.
'Necesitas ayuda?' (Do you need help?)
'Si!'
Noting for the umpteenth time the friendliness of Colombian people.
She showed me how to use all of them and then went and started swinging her legs from side to side on one of them. I joined her on the adjacent one and we got to talking.
She's thirty. She cleans houses for a living and she does this little exercise routine every day on her way home from work. She's from Cartagena, the northern Caribbean coast, which is why she speaks faster than everyone else, although I surprisingly don't have problems understanding her.
I tell her how badly I want to perfect my Spanish and be able to understand what everyone is saying and she tells me how much she wants to learn English. I tell her I can teach her.
'Enserio?' (Seriously?)
We decide to meet in the park a couple times a week. We'll speak in Spanish for a half hour or so for my benefit (because I know Spanish. All I really need to do is practice and accustom my ear to hearing it) and then I'll work with her on English, of which she knows not a single word.
This is exactly the kind of thing I came here for.
SEPT 18.
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