Spanish and Sailing
Monday was my first day of school! My Spanish classes are held at International House, a language school that's a twenty minute walk from the apartment. The class is taught in Spanish, so I'm learning quickly by necessity! My teacher is very nice, and I've got classmates from all over the world!
After my twenty minute trek to the school, I checked in and was directed to room fifteen on the second floor. My class is very small. There are only four of us. Our profesora arrived and introduced herself; her name is Rosi, and she's from Ecuador. Then it was our turn for introductions. Amelia is from Belgium; she's nineteen. She is staying in the International House student apartments for the four weeks that she's here. Veronika is from the Czech Republic; she's seventeen. She is staying with a host family for the next four weeks. Roman is from Slovakia; he's fourty-two. He is living in Spain (hence, why he's needing to learn Spanish) and working.
Our profesora, Rosi, makes class really fun. She is really expressive and silly, and the activities she picks for us make learning Spanish fun, not frustrating. Meeting people from across the world is really neat. I get to see how different our cultures and languages are.
Classes take place from 9:30 to 1:30, but we get a coffee break at about 11:30. There is a coffee shop next door, so we all walked over there to grab a drink and a snack. The man who owns the shop is very nice, and he was patient as we clumsily ordered in Spanish. After about twenty minutes, it was time to head back, and we ended class with a homework assignment.
As soon as class ended, I had to start working my way to S'Arenal for sailing. I took a quick bus ride to the Estacio Intermodal, ate some lunch at the station and waited for the bus that would take me to the yacht club.
I got to the club, changed into my swim suit, a tank top and shorts and met my instructor. Fortunately, my sailing instructor speaks English. The other two students and I grabbed life vests and then walked to our boat. The sailboat is fairly small; it can seat about six people comfortably. We unwrapped the sail, pulled it open and started heading out of the port to the sea.
We very slowly floated through the port, and once we got out of there, we unfurled the small front sail and got going. The boat requires two people to control it. One person mans the jib (the front sail), and another person steers the rudder and controls the main sail.
The water is incredibly blue. It hardly looks real. The boat moves swiftly through the water, and being out there with just the wind and sea is pretty peaceful. The back of the boat is just flat, so water comes up into the boat. It's not much, but enough to get your feet wet.
I learned to jibe and tack, two maneuvers for catching the wind. Sailboats have to sail in a zig-zag motion so your sails can continue to harness the wind and keep you moving. I got to control the jib and the rudder on my first day, and it was a lot of fun! Once we were down the coast a ways, we even tied the boat to a buoy and swam for a couple minutes.
I had a great time on my first day of Spanish and sailing, and I'm excited to keep learning!
After my twenty minute trek to the school, I checked in and was directed to room fifteen on the second floor. My class is very small. There are only four of us. Our profesora arrived and introduced herself; her name is Rosi, and she's from Ecuador. Then it was our turn for introductions. Amelia is from Belgium; she's nineteen. She is staying in the International House student apartments for the four weeks that she's here. Veronika is from the Czech Republic; she's seventeen. She is staying with a host family for the next four weeks. Roman is from Slovakia; he's fourty-two. He is living in Spain (hence, why he's needing to learn Spanish) and working.
Our profesora, Rosi, makes class really fun. She is really expressive and silly, and the activities she picks for us make learning Spanish fun, not frustrating. Meeting people from across the world is really neat. I get to see how different our cultures and languages are.
Classes take place from 9:30 to 1:30, but we get a coffee break at about 11:30. There is a coffee shop next door, so we all walked over there to grab a drink and a snack. The man who owns the shop is very nice, and he was patient as we clumsily ordered in Spanish. After about twenty minutes, it was time to head back, and we ended class with a homework assignment.
As soon as class ended, I had to start working my way to S'Arenal for sailing. I took a quick bus ride to the Estacio Intermodal, ate some lunch at the station and waited for the bus that would take me to the yacht club.
I got to the club, changed into my swim suit, a tank top and shorts and met my instructor. Fortunately, my sailing instructor speaks English. The other two students and I grabbed life vests and then walked to our boat. The sailboat is fairly small; it can seat about six people comfortably. We unwrapped the sail, pulled it open and started heading out of the port to the sea.
We very slowly floated through the port, and once we got out of there, we unfurled the small front sail and got going. The boat requires two people to control it. One person mans the jib (the front sail), and another person steers the rudder and controls the main sail.
The water is incredibly blue. It hardly looks real. The boat moves swiftly through the water, and being out there with just the wind and sea is pretty peaceful. The back of the boat is just flat, so water comes up into the boat. It's not much, but enough to get your feet wet.
I learned to jibe and tack, two maneuvers for catching the wind. Sailboats have to sail in a zig-zag motion so your sails can continue to harness the wind and keep you moving. I got to control the jib and the rudder on my first day, and it was a lot of fun! Once we were down the coast a ways, we even tied the boat to a buoy and swam for a couple minutes.
I had a great time on my first day of Spanish and sailing, and I'm excited to keep learning!
Comments
Post a Comment