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At the End of a Long Drive


Shreesh and Neena Taskar

We didn't make the decision, the decision made us. On October 20th, 2007, we left our comfortable city of San Francisco to follow a simple algorithm - go North till the road ends then turn around and then go as far South. In between those two points was the stage, the timeline, the space, where we made things happen and things happened to us.

The past is fleeting and the stories, the sights and the feelings are perishable. One sees what one wants to see, and perhaps we are not capable of more. We saw that people are kind and helpful even if they were not materially rich. Some we could understand even though we didn't speak the same language, the motivations of others were incomprehensible even though we did. In the end fragments remain - the smell of roasting chocolate, a flock of snow Ptarmigians on snow, the creaking of the rainforest, the rough feathers of penguins, and the intoxication of Curanto.


So these are our stories. Every time you visit the site you will see a random post below. Each starts with Lo que pasa es que...

Learning Spanish

Feb 16th, 2008 by

field-trip

To El Pochote!

Learning Spanish in Oaxaca

How can you not like a language where the word for carrot is ‘zanahoria’? Almohada, alfombra, alacran…all roll off our Spanish maestro’s tongue in a whirl of Arabic influence. This is what I love about learning new languanges; the serendipitous discovery of delightful treats such as this.

oax-street

The ‘Centro’ in Oaxaca

My “official” reason for learning Spanish is to be able to read Borges in his native language. (That, and the fact that we will almost exclusively be in Spanish countries for a year). Language is the key through which you can understand a culture and see “into the minds” of people. I remember distinctly when our Italian teacher asked, “Which is your favorite word in Italian?” The fact that Italians pay attention to the sounds of their language may be the reason that their language is so beautiful.

sol-sign

Spanish school

We couldn’t have selected a better place to learn Spanish. Oaxaca, a colonial town with great food, weather, spectacular ruins and crammed full of artists is a vacation in itself. The school, Solexico, an afflilate school of Don Quixote in Spain, holds small classes in a colonial house. The maestros – socialogists, linguists, agronomists, all are ready to expound on the political situation in Oaxaca, tell jokes and advice us on the best places to try Oaxacan delicacies. Just around the corner is Cafe Antigua, with the best organic coffee in town to fortify us when struggling with irregular verbs.

At the end of a month, we will hardly have the ability to converse fluently in Spanish. I hope, however, that we will be in a better position to understand the people and the culture.

sol-patio with-chai sol-door pochote

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6 Responses to “Learning Spanish”

  1. fred says:
    February 17, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    I’m sitting next to you in the cafe Teatro; could you pass my drink over to me please?

    Thanks,

    Fred

  2. madhuri says:
    February 17, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    You three are funny!
    Hope the pasta and paella come out separate at the end of immersion.

  3. Vinay says:
    February 17, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    Great post! I wanna do immersion too! Sounds like you are having a great time!

  4. Neena says:
    February 18, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    Hey Vinay,
    Come on down! We plan on doing a couple more weeks in Antigua. Although we won’t know exactly when, it’ll probably be in the end of March.
    Madhuri, its called itanol. I am sure we will get it all mixed up 🙁

  5. Steve Rozimoto says:
    February 24, 2008 at 8:25 am

    Color me jealous, Shreesh and Neena! And, can you send some sun up this way?

  6. Sandro Gya Aruna Govinda says:
    March 5, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    Ciao Trottamundos
    Bonitos sitios very nice making
    Happy to coming to se yours trip to penguinland…la terra dei pinguini

    Salute e Fortuna Amigos…La Familia Global

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