| You Should Visit Costa Rica |
 Costa Rica is the perfect place for you to get in touch with your inner beach bum. Relax on the beach, go for a bit of surfing, or try to communicate with the monkeys in the jungle! |
Well, don't know that a trip to Costa Rica is in my future ... but I did find out the other day that I was accepted to go on our Congregation Experience in El Salvador this summer! It's a 10 day study trip with Sisters & Associates from our 3 provinces. We have a health mission in El Salvador, but this is really a chance to learn about the past and current reality of the country.
Why did I study French in high school? Spanish would be so much more useful these days!
5 comments:
When I went ot high school about a hundred years ago, the only people who took Spanish were the secretarial students -- the rest of us got shunted into French, Latin, Russian. But when my kids went to high school, I saw the light: they HAD to take Spanish, and I told them not to even consider arguing with me. It's the only useful language today (other than Chinese, maybe?). Do I know any Spanish? Only what I see on the signs at my nearby Wal-Mart! "Velas" means candles. That's about it!
Judy
I *so* agree about the French/Spanish thing. I took French in high school also. I found the language much more attractive, and I didn't like the Spanish teachers. But Spanish would be SOOO much more useful. What little bits I am picking up usually get mixed up with French adjectives and conjuctions and such.
C'est tres loco!!!
What a blessing to visit El Salvador! And what a graced God-incidence to receive the news during the anniversary week of Mons. Romero's martyrdom!!
I've been to Costa Rica several times - it is a great place; I highly recommend it. I wish I would have studied *8any* foreign language in school :( My boys are taking Spanish, but by the time they are grown, Chinese might be more useful!
I have to dissent from the common view that it's better to have studied Spanish rather than French because the former has greater utility in the United States today. I took French for five years, and I've kept the language up fairly well since. Since I entered the Jesuits, I've been in a number of situations where my French language skills were uniquely helpful - e.g., in service environments where Spanish speakers were a dime a dozen but there was also a need for someone who spoke French. Because the others in the offices I worked in had succumbed to utilitarianism and taken Spanish instead of French, my ability in the language was an asset. So my advice to people in this situation is this - by all means learn Spanish, but do not do so at the expense of your French. Work to keep up your French at the same time you learn Spanish, because having both will enable you to serve more people and work more effectively than you could if you only had Spanish.
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