An endorsement -- language school

Should you, dear reader, be heading south, I must strongly suggest taking a bit of language school. The benefits are myriad -- learning a new language, speaking said language while traveling. But the greatest is the following :

Language school is summer camp for grown-ups.

Not college students taking a ¨break¨ for six months. Honest to God grown ups.

In the past month, we´ve met several soon to be doctors in the last throws of med school, three nurses (including two ER nurses, which was both soothing and intense), a Swiss banker and a New York City principal. And several of Australians who don´t seem to be employed at all, as is apparently the custom Down Under.

Like me, they all seem thrilled to be learning without being graded. And there are little activities that add to the whole camp vibe. And school buses. Lots of crazy painted school buses.

Mostly though, it´s that we´re all enthralled by the immediate gratification of learning to talk to people. It´s really great for those with short attention spans.

Oh, and you get to drink with people who don´t speak English to well to begin with. So they don´t get long-winded, and don´t understand when you do. It´s fantastic.

As an aside, for the single gentleman the language school has an additional perk. Hardly any other men. Not that it matters for me. Beluga and I are very much enjoying eachother, as I´ve signified for you now by using a cute nickname for her which does not relate to the weight or the paleness usually associated with the whale. I´m just saying. Lotta of unwed lady doctors out there looking for someone to spend money on. Could be you.