Arequipa, Part 1: Language School

We moved here to Trujillo without having attended language school in order to learn it the old fashioned way. I'm glad we did it this way, but we did miss out on being able to focus only on Spanish for a period of time. Here in Trujillo, my time is divided among (1) Peruvians, (2) the interns with our SALI language institute and also with various meeting with the mission team, and (3) my family. So easily two-thirds of my life has been spent with "the Gringos" and hence in English.

In the middle of September, my wife and the Mission Team gave me permission to head to the south of Peru to spend two weeks in intensive language school. I attended the Casa de Avila language school which met outside everyday in a bright, sunny courtyard with near perfect temperature (lower 70s and clear blue skies)!

Here is a picture of Marta & me. She was my house mother from whom I rented a room. She was super sweet and very interested in our work as a mission.

As a somewhat jaded & discouraged Roman Catholic, she kept asking me when our Mission was going to come to Arequipa to help the people of Arequipa. Every morning for breakfast, she asked great questions about what we believed and what the Bible said and about the Gospel. She was frustrated because in her experience, her church doesn't really teach anything and it is impossible to have a conversation with a priest to ask questions. Our breakfasts always ended too quickly. She was a great encouragement. She sent me off one day saying, "Learn more Spanish so you can teach us better!" That memory sustains me often.

Here are some pics of the Plaza de Armas. Nearly every city in Peru has a downtown plaza with a Roman church or cathedral, restuarants, government building, etc. Arequipians are very proud of theirs. It is truly one of the most impressive that I have seen.




And to close with, here are some pics of my spanish teachers. Every day, I had an hour and a half with one professor, and then another hour and a half with another professor. We always went over this time, and I received almost four hours a day of instruction, five days a week for two weeks, or for a total of about 40 hours. I think it was well worth it to be able to escape English speakers and immerse myself and clarify some very fuzzy thinking in my mind with this language.



Thanks Janette & Juliana!