¿Cómo?

Just got back from my first Curso con Ticos, my only class with local students: Spanish Writing and Style. ¡Qué horror! I barely hung on to the roller coaster that was the professor's lecture as he cruised along at 500 words per minute up the steep climbs and around the sharp turns of the Spanish language. And he was only explaining the syllabus. For two hours.

At one point he was talking about the difference in writing styles of two local papers, La Nación (legit) and La Extra (sensationalist). I understood perfectly what they were. Then he asked me if I knew what they were. I stared at him dumbfounded, like an iguana, precariously situated in the middle of a narrow mountain highway, watching as a tourbus brimming with beachbound gringos barrels towards it at a speed breaking not only Costa Rican but also God's traffic laws.

Even worse, he was the only person in that classroom I could halfway understand. The other students all spoke as if they were participating in a contest to see who could stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth; I don't think I heard one of them enunciate a single consonant.

The class should be fun though. I have to find 15 errors in local newspapers, write a few essays, do a CEPA evaluation (I have no idea what that is...), participate in some in-class foros (don't know what they are either, and they're next week...), and not get discouraged.

Going to email the professor all of my questions about the class now. Thank God it's the weekend. Off to the mountains tomorrow, so I'll update with pictures Sunday night or Monday.

Pura vida,
Eric