Hola!
As some of you know, I'm about to leave the country for a bit of a challenge; to become a confident Spanish speaker by my 30th Birthday!
And I've decided to make this blog which relates to that for 3 main reasons....
Uno: To put pressure on myself to achieve my target/dream.
Dos: To keep my Nan & Co. up to date with my progress! (88 years old with an iPad, I'm proud of you Nanny!)
Tres: To have a diary for me to look at in years to come. I did something similar for another trip and it's been great to look back on it all, every now and then (Around the World in 155 Days).
So it's now the 10th August 2012 and I fly out to Bogotá, in Colombia, tomorrow.
That gives me 7 months and 5 days to become confident in speaking Spanish...
My current level?
Pretty much non existent!
Gracias, Adios, Sí, Por favor, Amigo, Uno, Dos, Tres - that pretty much covers it!
How do I hope to do this? Total immersion. 7 months of trying not to speak English (bar when I'm teaching it & Skype calls back home). TV, films, books, websites, music, socialising - all in Español.
I intend to update the blog with my progress as I go along, with a video of me speaking Español (at my current level at the time), every few months.
All being well, I'll be gone for 12 months in total, starting in Colombia and ending up in Argentina. At the very least, I expect to visit Peru and Bolivia on the way down, but may try and see some other countries if I have time.
Meeting and chatting to people is the best way to practice a language, so I hope doing this helps me meet hundreds of interesting people along the way!
Hopes:
- To see the salt flats in Bolivia.
- To do the Inca trail to Machu Picchu in Peru.
- To eat a LOT of steak in Argentina.
Fears:
- I currently live on ready meals. I don't know that South America is big on ready meals. This could be a problem. I can't cook.
OK, enough waffle, see you all soon!
Muchas gracias,
James
P.S. To all those who hope to visit me in South America at some point - make it happen!!!
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