8 March - Mi Español es muy mal

Well, fifteen years after leaving Coventry´s Woodlands School, it seems that my ability to fail gloriously in the classroom has not diminished. My alma mater must have been glad to see me go. I took a very impressive selection of four, yes four, GCSE passes with me to accompany a barely-scraped grade E in ´A´level Geography.

Alas, it seems that the long hours I spent hating my education have returned. I can assure you that attempting to get a basic grasp of Spanish in one week is very, very hard. Do you know what the worst thing is? My classmate, a wee slip of a girl still in her teenage years, is sailing through it. She´s holding full conversations with the teacher and seems to be right on top of things. Meanwhile my four classroom hours a day leave me with intense head pain.

Every afternoon as I stumble back to the hostel, a shadow of my former self, I wonder if the intellectual void will ever diminish. I am currently very tempted with the option of abandoning Español completely and just shouting louder in English.

However, I have grown up since I left school, and will redouble my efforts in tomorrow´s class hoping that some sort of breakthrough is just around the corner. The main difference between choosing to study and being forced to study is that, in the end, you are seeking some level of success for your own gratification.

The only thing that has kept me going today is the thought of the unforgettable Basil Fawlty telling Manuel that, "there is too much butter on those trays". Manuel´s answer? "No, no, no Mr Fawlty. Zer is too mooch booter uno dos tres." Only now do I know how Manuel felt!

PS - If the title of this entry (which is supposed to mean ´my Spanish is very bad´) is in any way gramatically wrong, please DO NOT leave a message telling me as I don´t think my fragile ego could take it. Gracias.