Antigua... within reach

Megan:
So much has happened in the three weeks since we last wrote. We spent most our time in Antigua, Guatemala taking in four hours per day of intense one-on-one Spanish lessons for two weeks. The colorful city of Antigua is nestled between three active volcanoes and filled with cobblestone streets, rich textures, and wonderful little restaurants - I think the only down side was that almost everyone spoke at least a little English.

Jon and I stayed with a local family again while in school which was a very rewarding and educational experience in itself. We spent every meal around the kitchen table with the mom, dad, three sons and one other student from the school. We enjoyed chatting with Sylvia, the mom, about the variety of Guatemalan meals she prepared for us each day; and with the boys we enjoyed discussing all the homework we had to do each afternoon - for us it was Spanish and for them it was English. It was refreshing to see that even in the relatively traditional country of Guatemala, the father of the house, Marvin, often helped his Sylvia with everything that needed to be done to keep the household running smoothly. I was pleasantly surprised during our first meal together to realize that I know a lot more of this new language than I did when we were sharing meals with our host family in Guanajuato.

The one-on-one teacher experience that our school offered provided potential to learn a tremendous amount of material in a small amount of time since everything was tailored specifically to our level of experience with the language. Jon was able to take advantage of this situation from the beginning as he and his instructor, Gustavo, hit it off quite well. As you can imagine, if the dynamic between student and instructor is not a good fit, it becomes apparent pretty quickly. I seemed to fit into this second category the first week, struggling to resonate with my teacher´s slower pace and style of interacting. For some reason it was really challenging for me to decide how I wanted to handle this tough situation.

After deliberating for hours over whether to request a new teacher for the second week - asking myself "what if the new teacher isn't as good? what if it's awkward to see my current instructor in the hall on Monday?" you know, the typical questions you ask yourself when breaking up with someone - I decided I needed a change! The second week I got a fresh start with a new teacher - I told her specifically what I was hoping to cover that week, and low and behold that's exactly what we went over and she was able to answer all of my questions quite concisely and thoroughly.

It felt pretty empowering to have facilitated a positive outcome for this unhealthy and seemingly unproductive situation. It´s amazing how obvious the solution seemed once I experienced a more rewarding alternative. I was reminded that when something doesn't quite fit, I need to take the initiative to change it - it's not worth settling when something better is within reach.