The Currency of Knowledge

Day trip last week to the pueblo of Nerja

Today I was sitting in the teachers' lounge, looking up past participles (really exciting, I know) on one of the computers. I overheard one of the teachers I work with, Ricardo, mention something about "hacer surf" (surfing) to another teacher, Ramon. I saw Ricardo open a surf report on the computer next to mine for Andalucia and then a couple of beaches nearby. I have wanted to learn to surf for a while, and if you read my blog on my goals for my time here, one of them is to finally learn how to (you're supposed to be holding me to these goals, remember!). After realizing that one of them had to know how, I asked if they could teach me. The three men pointed at Ricardo and told me that he was a very "chulo" surfer. This means cool surfer. I told him I would pay him if he wanted or that we could work something else out too if he preferred that - as in I could teach him something I know in exchange for his surf lessons. There is no better way to learn something than from a native speaker or native person to an activity. Here enters my love of intercambios.

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, it means interchange. In fact, one of my favorite things about Spain is intercambios. Each time I have lived abroad, there is this constant exchange of skills. Like I said, I've wanted to learn to surf for years, and I now know that I can either offer up one of my skills which could be as basic as my ability to speak English to teaching someone how to use a 35mm film camera. It's amazing...you want to learn how to speak German? No problem, someone will teach you if you teach them how to play the guitar. You want to learn Spanish? OK, someone will post an ad online or you'll meet them at a bar one night and the two of you will start talking about your shared interest in learning the other's language and make a deal. You'll decide to meet up once a week and speak in the other's language as they speak in yours and you'll teach other for free. However, on my contemplative ride home on the bus today, with the Avett Brothers pumping through my Ipod, I realized this isn't true. You don't teach people for free- you teach people for knowledge. This is where my bus ride home started to make me wonder -- What better currency is there than knowledge?

This concept is beautiful. I believe in the power of education at every level, whether it is a formal college degree or eating dinner with a foreign family after which you learn and accept cultural differences. I've always been drawn to educational locations from the different universities and schools I've worked at during and after college. I have such a magnetic pull towards these places and their ever-constant drive for understanding and learning. Living abroad, every single day is this constant thirst for knowledge--cultural knowledge, dialect knowledge, bus timetable knowledge, grammar knowledge. The list never ends.

The fact is, locals and Spaniards always know that I am not one of them. I don't take a bocadillo break everyday at 11:30 a.m. or naturally eat lunch at 2 p.m. followed by a short siesta, and I definitely don't catch every joke because I was not brought up to understand the same idioms and sayings they have heard since they were born. Because of this, with every Spaniard I meet, I am either confronted with an "I want to understand you" presence or "I don't care if I understand you, you're different and weird" presence. OK so some Americans may argue I 'm a little odd either way...BUT the point is, there is usually a constant struggle to understand the other, or if I may say so, gain more knowledge on the other and their culture. Luckily, I usually only encounter people who share that desire to understand the other more.

Today during my lesson with my 26-year-old student, Laura, we struggled for a couple of minutes two different times. I was trying to explain the different meanings of the preposition "by" to her, then followed by (ha) the expression "makes sense". It was so funny and amazing. This American and this Spaniard were rustling through piles of papers and drawing diagrams hastily, making faces and acting things out just because of the general desire to understand the other.

But don't worry fellow Americans, while I'm sure it may seem that I want to drop my identity from our country all together, the truth is rather the opposite. I constantly feel our culture and identity abroad living here more than I do at home. I am constantly comparing and contrasting the manner we do things, say things and communicate. I love it. Today in a first grade class, we're learning the parts of the body and a little boy asked me what we call the "caja" (chest). The teacher and I instantly looked at each other as both realized that "caja" and "chest" have figuratively similar meanings and physical presence in our respective languages. Despite the history and cultural differences dating back to hundreds of years ago from the foreign yet similar origins of our languages, there is something in common.

The first thing I have taught my first graders is the simple phrase of, "how do you say...". They will sit silently for long periods of time, raise their hands, and ask me how I say everything. They love it, and I love quiet kids at the end of my day. However, I've realized the intent behind the question. It's not how do YOU say, it's how do you AND your people say. Even young children seem to realize that languages are more than words, they are idioms and references to objects, places and feelings that have important connotations to cultures. And as much as I love Spain, I always answer their questions as a proud American.

Learning is just such an important aspect in the lives of human beings. The accomplishment of having a better understanding of someone or something, or the acceptance that you may never understand it, which can be a lesson in itself, is an important motivating factor for humans' everyday lives.

So ummmm, go learn something : )

Hasta luego amigos.