Classes

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I awoke thirty minutes earlier this morning to re-straighten my hair and review for a potential afternoon quiz. The straightening went extremely smooth and then I discovered a second use for hair irons when traveling. Ironing 101 for travelers – Clean the ceramic plates of the iron with a damp paper towel while it is still off and unplugged. After the iron heats to a moderate temperature you can utilize it like a traditional iron. In fact, it has an added bonus in that it is actually a double-sided iron and can remove the most threatening of wrinkles on both sides of the garment at the same time! This revelation is thanks to the little black dress, which strongly resembled aluminum foil after it has been mashed into a ball and is subsequently flattened out again.

I feel like every waking moment of every day is spent deep in Yucatec and even breakfast becomes an opportunity to study, though my Special K doesn’t appreciate this treatment much. In fact my morning meal is more of a rushed affair shoveling soggy rice into my mouth that no longer has that pleasant crunch when I chew. When I walked out the door this morning I was greeted with a thick curtain of moisture that refused to give way and so my careful attention to straightening my freshly washed hair became a kinky, bushy, frizzy disaster in moments. Thankfully sheer luck was on my side since I had adorned my lovely locks with a black ribbon. Thus my façade was ensured an appearance more like Goldilocks and less like Mia from the Princess Diaries before her royal makeover.

We have four rather large textbooks, a box of fancy flashcards, and five compact discs that we cart back and forth to class each day, added to the purse stuffed with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pretzels, grapes, water, umbrella, and a jacket draped over your arm for the sub-freezing temperatures of the FedEx Global Education Center. Add to this the fact that your sandwich will probably not make it in a recognizable form – it will actually resemble a small child’s first finger painting by the time you enjoy it for lunch, and the knowledge that only a fur lined parka would provide adequate insulation. I imagine that my fellow classmates and I are quite a sight with our massive pile of Yucatec books. I am finding the morning class more enjoyable than the afternoon, probably because it focuses more on pronunciation than on grammar. This morning we spent some time just talking in Maya and though my heart stopped at first, it went much better than I thought. During lunch I tried to cram every last ounce of notes into some very dusty corners of my brain that haven’t been utilized since studying Spanish and Italian several years ago. This afternoon we got our quiz back from yesterday and I was very shocked to receive a perfect score, mostly because I am still trying to figure out what a verbal inflection is, but once again I know more than I think I know.

This afternoon’s class was filled with some pretty amusing moments. In Yucatec there is a distinction between a beautiful woman and a handsome man. Professor Mora-Marín asked for a volunteer to translate ki’ichkelem, meaning handsome. Garrett blurts out, “Man pretty,” which of course sends the whole class into fits of laughter in reaction to his “Me like Jane” Tarzanesque response. Shortly following this outburst of hilarity, Professor Mora-Marín demonstrates an example of a simple sentence, “JLuukas, A taatajen!” or “Luke, I am your father,” and Leah, not the Princess Leah, exclaims “Oh my gosh, you just made my day!”

After class I returned to the apartment and spent several hours studying. I am feeling less alone as I have fewer hours each day to think about my loneliness. I believe that I am eating, breathing, and sleeping Yucatec, and I look forward to moving beyond the “I have three red flowers. You have one black dog,” exercises. It is hard to imagine that in a few weeks I will be able to converse more or less in Yucatec. Until tomorrow, tak sáamal.