Saturday, May 30, 2009

"Maaf, Ibu Justine, you said Amerika incorrectly."


This line was said to me not once, but twice, this week! Forgive me (maaf), but I have only pronounced it that way for FORTY YEARS!!! :) By the way here it is pronounced "Ah-mey-ree-ka". That gives you just a taste of what I have been experiencing, oh and also intstead of a hard "k" sound make a glottal stop...uh huh, now your getting the picture! We started Language School on Monday and while it has been fun, tiring, and at times downright hysterical we have been surprised at the pace at which it runs. There is one speed and it's fast! From 8-12 we are in class going over vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency, with a 20 minute break in the middle. Our trainers (Pelatihs) are great, they are both young guys who speak English well and we have been able to have a lot of fun with them. After class our homework is to take what we have learned and to go out into the community and use it......uh, sure. We have a goal sheet in the back of our workbook in which each day we are trying to reach 15-20 points depending on which activities we can accomplish. That translates to about 2 hours engaging people in conversation, which is a great thing since it forces you to use it, but it also reveals just how little you actually know because when they start talking back we are like huh.....ya sure...right back at ya! It can be so frustrating trying to recall what to say at the right time. They use the same alphabet but about half of the sounds are different, so in a way it's somewhat easier, but it really messes with your mind to say those letters differently. We will have four weeks of Unit 1 before we can hopefully move to Unit 2 in July after we get back from Bali.

Oh, did I mention that I get to spend my birthday in Bali this year? :) We have a meeting to attend there, and since school won't start until after July 5th we are adding a weeks vacation on the end! Yippee!! We are all very excited about getting to go, surfing seems to be what the boys are most excited about. The boys will be at Camp MiKi (for TCK's from our company)the week before we leave so lots of traveling coming up. Their camp is about 3 hours from our home, we hear the whole camp is awesome, many college age TCK's who grew up here come back to run it every year for the current group. So after spending a whole week with these kids they will all be in Bali together, while we have meetings they have a VBS type program run by volunteers from a "business" in the States. I am really looking forward to it.

Well, keep up those conversations with the CEO, we really need to grasp this language quickly, and it will be only through His help!! Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We miss you!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

We understand what you are going through.I pronounce pizza wrong all the time. It is peeja here. I am thankful you are getting to go to language school. I have been here 18 months and know so little of the language.Not even the alphabet.Home-school and house work keep me busy. But little by little I am learning. My father is teaching me patients first. This summer I plan to work more on language learning. As I learn and struggle I will think of you. We love you and I will talk to my father about you. May many blessings come to you and your family.

Pamela Woods

The Hesskews said...

Wow -- BALI !!! and for your birthday !!! What a deal !!! You will feel like you're in Hawaii (except for the different language, ya know !!)
Kirstin