School Days

For the last two weeks we have been taking Spanish classes with the International Spanish School of Costa Rica. Unlike many schools, the lessons here are completely conversational with grammar points covered as and when necessary. This posed somewhat of a challenge for both Zoë, who knows quite a lot of Spanish but isn’t particularly talkative, and Colin, who can be particularly talkative but didn’t know that much Spanish!

Although the classes took place in the spacious but homely and welcoming garage of Doña Ligia’s house, and not a dedicated school building, this certainly does not indicate a lack of dedication or professionalism on the part of the tutors (and directors), Rafa & Wes, who undertook a 2 hour commute by bus every morning to come to Heredia to teach us (and then another 2 hours home again). And it also enabled us to chat with Doña Ligia and meet members of her family.

Listening and talking only in Spanish for 4 hours a day (or more!), Monday to Friday , for two weeks was at times difficult, however it was an enjoyable and largely stress free experience, and we don’t think we would have learned as much in this short space of time in another school with a different methodology. The tutoring was mostly one-to-one with Colin paired with Rafa and Zoë with Wes (pairings which both seemed to work very well and felt comfortable), joining together for a coffee break mid lesson where we had delicious treats to eat (sometimes baked by Wes – yum yum).

We must have talked about EVERYTHING … from our childhoods and family history through to topics such as Costa Rican and Scottish culture, political issues and the current economic crisis, along with our own personal interests such as computers and Tai Chi. And, of course, what we would do if we were fish or had been living in England during the bubonic plague outbreak of the 1300’s …. (all hail to the subjunctive!)

After spending so long each day with Rafa & Wes it will seem a little odd not to see them every day. Now we just need to practice what we have learned in the real world.

Zoë's Spanish Phrase of the Day

Si tuviéramos más dinero, estudiaríamos más con Rafa y Wes.

Yummy Yuca

We started our Spanish classes yesterday with ISSCR. This is a little school which is run out the spacious garage of Doña Ligia’s house near Pollo Cervecero in Heredia. The tutors, Wes & Rafa, previously worked at another language school in Heredia, but didn’t like the fact that at that school the business seemed more important than the students, so they set up on their own. Their teaching style is very informal and mostly conversational – the grammar points are covered as they come up in conversation. The lessons are 4 hours each day and, for these first two days at least, have flown by. We are their only students for this week and next with the exception of a German woman named Frauke who comes once a week (on Tuesday). We essentially have one-to-one tuition with Colin working mostly with Rafa, and Zoë mostly with Wes.

Wes is a keen chef, and so the conversation often turns to food and cooking. Rafa is giving Colin a lot of information about Costa Rica in general, and as such today we were all discussing fruits and vegetables that are available here. And so it turned out after class we had the urge to go to the mercado central in Heredia to buy yuca before getting the bus home.

In Scotland yucca is a popular houseplant. We are not sure if yucca and yuca are the same plant; sources on the web are very conflicted! Anyway, in Costa Rica, yuca root is eaten as a staple vegetable, much like potatoes – boiled, mashed, fried etc etc.

Wes described how to prepare the root (in Spanish, of course!). The skin is poisonous so has to be removed, which is very easy when you know how. After you’ve cut the root into chunks a couple of inches wide, cut through the skin lengthways (between the cut ends) and ease it away from the chunk of yuca in one piece. We decided to boil then mash the root with some butter and milk, and ate it with some left over pollo asado from yesterday and ensalada. Verdict: very tasty!

Please Note: This is a stock photograph (borrowed from Wikipedia!). We did not eat all this yuca!