Everyone says then when learning a new language the third week is always the hardest, you sort of hit a mental wall within and shut down, at least you feel like this, when actually you are peaking and truly starting to comprehend. I felt this way in class this week, like I just wasn’t getting any better and even felt like I was moving backwards in my learning. However, this was not the case, in fact, this week I acted as a translator for a pharmacist who was trying to give directions to an elderly English speaking woman, I was asked for directions twice from Spanish speakers, and had been told numerous times that for being here 3 weeks I was doing really well. So even though I am totally stuck on the future tense and feel as if I can’t do my homework, I am learning, and I am able to hold conversations with people, if they speak slowly and use small words.
I have also heard that when you study abroad or travel for a set time, you have 2 points where you sort of break down and miss everything about home. The first break down happens around your third week in a new place and the second comes about one and a half to a week before you head back home. This phenomenon didn’t happen in New Zealand, so I never believed it, unfortunately, it happened today for me. I don’t ever feel like I need a phone, in NZ, I didn’t have one for the entire 5 months, and here I have one, but, I can only text and receive calls because for some unkwnon technological reason my phone doesn’t like to call out, which is fine with me. However, I didn’t realize how addicted I was to the internet and how much I depended on it until this weekend. I got home Friday from work and my landlord Jose said there was a problem with the phone lines and that we probably wouldn’t have internet this weekend, okay, not bad, there is a café on the corner with wifi, I will be fine. Well I was fine Friday, Saturday was a bit different, I headed to the café at 8 to use the wifi and had finally gotten a hold of Nick at 8:30 when I realized they were closing, so I only had a minute to talk, which was frustrating. It was frustrating on two levels; first I wanted to talk to Nick and second people don’t eat dinner until 9 or 10 here, so why the hell was the café closing so early on a Saturday? Ugh….this was more of a nuisance, my melt down happened Sunday. I woke up and headed out to use wifi, unfortunately all the café’s with wifi were either closed or they told me it wasn’t working today, and all the stores that said they had computers with internet were either closed or again said they didn’t have internet when they had a huge sign out front! This was very irritating and I started to get very frustrated and stressed out, all I wanted to do was call Nick. Here is where I was upset at my phone, because I couldn’t even buy a calling card to use with it since it won’t call out. I eventually got so stressed I started crying, a nice older gentleman asked what the problem was and told me where to find a café but I couldn’t find it and was getting desperate so I saw a hotel with wifi and through tears was able to get a coffee and use the wifi. I hate how I can work myself up so much to tears over something so stupid, but I do. At least my Spanish held up and I was able to cry and explain in Spanish what I wanted, so I guess my third week Spanish slump was just in my mind.
As frustrated as I was about the internet, I was able to get it to call out. And tomorrow I will have unlimited access to it at school, and hopefully the problem at home will be fixed and if not, I will need to learn patience and understand that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t have access, I can get it the next day at school. I know that I mentally needed this break down to feel human and I learned that I can be resourceful and get through things, although, I don’t know how the world ever functioned without the internet or blackberries (because I truly miss mine, I wouldn’t have had this problem with it, it always calls out and it has internet, it’s the perfect invention in my mind). In the end I calmed down grabbed my iPod and strolled through the botanical gardens…….
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