Spanish Classes

So I'm not sure if this happens to many Peace Corps volunteers, but I was nominated to Peru with only having beginning Spanish from college, and a month later they said I couldn't go without a higher level of Spanish!? I was none the less confused about why I would be cleared to serve in a country, then flagged to go to that country because I wasn't cleared to serve there in the first place. I can only imagine I just slipped over the red tape somewhere, but it eventually caught up to me. Besides the popularity of the assignment, I began to wonder why South American PC nominations needed higher language requirements? Why did I meet a retired couple at a Returned PCV picnic that went to Mongolia with no language background, and were tossed into the "complete immersion" test class? Where are there no requirements for the Armenian, Thai, and Togo assignments which simply give you the 3 months at Pre-Service Training (PST) to become a proficient speaker? To me these languages, which many of us have had no encounter with, seem much more deserving of qualified speakers prior to departure...But no matter, it proved to be providential, it forced me out of my comfort zone and into another college level Spanish class- intermediate in fact. I signed up to a correspondence course from the University of Tennessee simply because it was the cheapest, and not because their mascot is the Volunteer. U of T mailed me my courses and syllabus and I purchased the exorbitantly priced book that's no thicker than my thumb- making me wonder if the pages were lined with diamond dust! It took me about 3 months with one vacation to Florida in between, and I got a solid B! On top of that I can now honestly say what millions of people that have learned a language to an intermediate level can say, "I can read it, but speaking it is another story." I actually finished two books in Spanish, El Color de Mis Palabras and El Capiton Calzoncillos; obviously not Neruda, but its a start.



After the Spanish Class the PC also recommended to me, like they now do to all volunteers before departure, to complete at least 40 hours on the complimentary Rosetta Stone program. It was a great way to solidify what I learned in the Spanish class, and even learn quite a bit more vocabulary. And if anyone has had the opportunity to be serenaded by the lovely "you are correct" chime Rosetta Stone incessantly bings at you, you'll know what a great program it is...And for the record my favorite sentence to date has been, "El gato esta debajo de carro!"