Hours of Operation

The police station of Samara has hours of operation.  They are currently remodeling the station, so there are periods in the day that the station is closed.  If I could paint a better picture for you of what life is like in Samara, then this would be it.

A sign hanging on the front door of the police station that says, "Closed.  Please behave while we are going through renovations. Pura vida."

Dígame con Pasíon

What does it take to fall in love with a romance language?  Some people say they don't understand why spanish is one of the romance languages.  You hear the melancholy and soft sounds of french and feel compelled to declare french a romance language.  You hear the dramatic cadence and explicit demonstrative nature of italian and feel compelled to declare italian a romance language as well.  Spanish can be spoken with such speed, it's hard to hear its soft tones, it's difficult to find the passion in the sound, because it's cadence just happens to be more foreign to our ears. However, the true romance lies within the meaning of the spoken word.

What makes spanish a romance language is the passion interwined with the words conducted by the heart.  The beauty that sits in a well placed lyric or line in a book.  A context so beautiful that it cannot be probably translated into your native tongue without destroying what makes it romantic.

I had come to a crossroads two weeks ago as I sat in class and vehemently chose not to participate anymore.  My quest to learn the language was halted by a mis-guidance of why I should be learning the language.  The school system was sterile.  It lacked the key aspect of the language.  It lacked passion.  How do you teach a romance language without romance? 

I started to fight with myself to find a greater reason for the need to learn.  Why am I here to go to school and learn that a conjugation of a verb makes the verb present, future, or past without any significance beyond that?

I stopped attending the school.  It began to poison the purity of the language.  It began to suffocate my ability to learn.  The structure of the school was driving a stake between the language and its reason for living.  Spanish and passion cannot exist without each other and not understanding this bond will forever hide the beauty of the culture in the shadows of the unknown.

I was fortunately introduced to a private tutor the day I chose to leave the school.  My frustration with the school and my desire to learn were as apparent as the color of my skin.  The fortuitous conversation with the tutor emblazoned my belief in the language once again.  Little did I know, I would begin a new path of education.  I am no longer learning Spanish, but the culture that empowers the words in the language.

I am no longer calculating my need to know a percentage, upward trend of growth, or tactical approach to become fluent.  I am simply enjoying the latin culture through its language as it's presented to me day-by-day.

I now become rich with knowledge from my lessons, not because I learn about a new structure or grammar, but because I learn the meaning behind a song.  I learn about the passion from a writer.  I witness the love for the language in the people I speak with.

Tell me that spanish is not a romance language and I will feel sorry for you all the same.

Spanish is once again like a warm blanket to me.