When I finally had the chance to formally study a world language in eighth grade, I turned to my family for guidance. My grandma, who was born and raised in Germany and who was a career German teacher, told me that if I studied German, she would take me to Germany. Clearly, my decision was made. I studied German in eighth grade and for all four years of high school. And, I was quite the star student. I loved it so much that I went to college with intentions to minor in the language so that I could then teach it in addition to English. While I took one full year, Drake University then upended the language program, and receiving a minor and/or endorsement was no longer an option. Despite studying and speaking German for a total of six years -- and having a fluent grandma with whom to practice -- my language skills diminished exponentially, and I'm lucky if I can understand even the most basic words and phrases at this point. Luckily, German is not a language that is used a whole heck of a lot in the United States. I would not give up the three-week trip I had with my grandma for anything in the entire world, but dang, I wish I also would have studied Spanish, especially in a more formal manner and at a more formative point in my life. Because y'all, teaching an old dog new tricks -- like a language, for instance -- is not an easy task. But, learning Spanish is important to me for a number of reason. First, my partner is Chicano and speaks Spanish, as does his family, including his daughter. Our children will also be multi-lingual, and I want to be able to communicate in both languages. Second, many of my students and their families speak Spanish, and I would love to be able to both understand and converse with them. Finally, I will be spending three weeks in Colombia and will encounter countless individuals, some of whom may not speak English; it is incredibly important to me to show effort in learning their language, even though I know it will be far from perfect. Several years ago, I took a couple of introductory Spanish courses through the Community Education program in Des Moines, Iowa. They were pretty solid courses, but because I went quite a while without using the language, my skills diminished -- quickly. While I still remembered a few of the basics, I definitely needed a heck of a refresher. And I found that through Duolingo. Duolingo is a free app that teaches language through a variety of different categories (at numbered levels) and different types of assessments. When I started the app, I entered a lofty goal, essentially stating that I wanted to learn Spanish as quickly as possible. Accordingly, Duolingo told me that I needed to complete a certain number of lessons each day in order to do so. Upon completion of your daily goal, you receive points -- points that you can use to "buy" additional lives. (The app allows you to make a certain number of mistakes (five?) prior to running out of life. In order to gain more life, you need to wait a certain number of hours, do "practice" assessments, use your points to purchase more lives, or watch advertisements to boost your health. And speaking of advertisements, there are occasional ads (like after each lesson, for instance), but they last maybe five seconds before you can click out of them. They are mildly annoying -- for a teeny tiny amount of time. One thing I really like about Duolingo is that the assessments differ each time, which allows for deeper learning of the language. (The one type of assessment that I tend to skip each time is the "record what she said" option, as I don't believe the microphone feature is incredibly accurate. And, I can simply practice pronunciation with my family and students instead.) Also, I appreciate that Duolingo requires you to fix your mistake before moving on to another lesson. If you mess up one of the questions on the quiz, the app lets you know (see image below), and then it moves you on to another question. But, before moving out of that quiz, you have to answer that question again -- correctly. Another thing that I like about Duolingo is the constant validation. As my friends know, #validateme (or, rather, #validateem) is one of my favorite things. In addition to learning new skills on Duolingo, I've also started going back through notes I took during my community education courses as well as books I have purchased over the years. I know that -- regardless of how much I study -- I will be far from perfect. I am also cognizant of the fact that while I can understand quite a bit, this comprehension will likely differ quite a bit in Colombia: people will be speaking super-duper fast (i.e. at a normal pace), will have accents to which I am not accustomed, will use slang and idioms with which I am not familiar. And, speaking Spanish -- especially on the spot -- is going to be relatively new to me.
But, I am going to try. And keep trying. And be okay with making lots and lots -- and lots more -- mistakes. ¡Hasta luego!
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One of the pieces of pre-travel preparation that I was most dreading (but also weirdly looking forward to) was my appointment at the travel clinic. Shortly after I knew I'd be traveling to Colombia, I checked with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding which vaccinations I would need. Well, it turns out that pretty much everything that exists is on my list. Okay. I may be exaggerating a little. But, I did need quite a few vaccinations! One of those vaccinations was yellow fever. Unfortunately, there's a yellow fever vaccine shortage in the United States, so I couldn't just go to my primary care physician for my appointment; rather, I had to go to St. Louis Park, the one clinic in the Twin Cities that had the vaccine. I'm kind of glad I got to go there, though. It was much nicer than my normal doctor's office. The nurse was also my travel consultant and had printed up an entire packet for my itinerary. (Initially, I told the office that I was considering extending my trip to Brazil and Peru, so the packet was much thicker than it likely should have been. I still may extend my trip, but I'll be staying in Colombia.) The above image was the front page of the packet she gave me, and it shows the areas of Colombia where the yellow fever vaccine is recommended. I know that I'll be in Bogota for about a week, but I don't know where else I'll be placed. I'm glad I opted for this vaccine, though, because it looks like Bogota is essentially the only place where yellow fever is not a risk. I had to sign some documents saying I was okay with this vaccine (it's not FDA-approved but is used in over 100 other countries) and stay in the office for about 15 minutes post-injection to make sure I didn't die. Thankfully, I'm good. In addition to yellow fever, I also got injections for Hepatitis A, typhoid, and rabies. (Everything else that I may have needed -- Hepatitis B, MMR, DPT, etc. -- were all up-to-date.) The only shot that hurt initially was Hepatitis A. (I am a huge wuss, and I honestly couldn't even feel the other three. I thought the nurse was joking.) I have to go back in December for a booster. Thankfully, the first shot is 95% effective. While typhoid didn't hurt going in, holy moly was my arm sore the next couple of days! The rabies shot was nothing, but it is a series, which is kind of inconvenient. I have to go back in seven days and again in 21-28 days. I'm really thankful for my stellar insurance, as the rabies series can be extremely expensive -- like, it would have cost me $1500 if insurance didn't cover it. You'd better believe I was on the phone with Blue Cross Blue Shield in that doctor's office just to make sure! The nurse talked me through the rest of my packet, where I saw all of the fun things I could encounter in Colombia. Basically, she told me I shouldn't snuggle rats, swim in mud, or eat from unsanitary places. Bummer. In addition to the shots that I received, I had to pick up a few prescriptions at Walgreens: one for just in case traveler's diarrhea (that I will bring along with eight boxes of Imodium), one for just in case altitude sickness (that I will bring along with 12 bottles of Advil and 30,000 jugs of water), and one for malaria (that I will bring along with all of the bug spray). While it is not as prevalent in Colombia as yellow fever, malaria is still a risk nevertheless, especially depending on where I am placed -- and if I opt to extend my trip and go to the Amazon. Essentially, I will take these pills for three days prior to going into the red zone, every day while I'm there, and for seven days post-danger zone. Again, I'm super grateful for my amazing insurance, as these pills could've been pretty darn expensive otherwise.
When I posted on Instagram how nervous I was for my four shots allatthesametime, my friend commented, "Just think of it as one step closer to your trip!" And that is exactly what I did. Only 34 days to go! |
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