Gracias

p.s. I'm totally just procrastinating my lesson plans right now. I have general ideas, but they need some serious fleshing out.

p.p.s. I know it's long, but I can type faster than I can write, and this is serving as my journal tambien. So just don't read it if you think it's too long or boring.


So woke up this morning around 8:30. I LOVE waking up to city noises. Oddly, it's YUM. Maria Laura (ugh, still haven't found a good name for her) made me some tostada and cafe. I added sugar y leche to the cafe and dulce con leche to the tostada, and YUMMMMMMM. [dulce con leche is to argentina what nutella is to France...sans chocolate] Oh, and apparently Maria loves peanut butter, haha. She didn't believe that I don't like ketchup.

Headed to school without drama, and we arrived and began class. He gives us lots of spots of group time, where he leaves the room, which gives us the opportunity to chill out at intervals. We discussed the necessity of lesson plans, what consitutes a lesson plan, class structure, teacher talking time v. student talking time, group time, etc. He kept reminding us that there's a difference between talking in English and learning English, and that not everything is necessarily effective. I tend to be the questioner in class (yea, that kid who questions everything), which I attribute to the fact that I"m still in college? So I asked, do most people tend to have "effective" first lessons? (referring to this Thursday). His response:

"You just want to get through the first lesson."

So I laughed, because what else can you do? For lunch, we stopped at a empanada and pizzeria. I got 2 empanadas de carne, y uno de jamon y queso. ME GUSTA MUCHOOOOOOO las empanadas de carne. It was messy, and warm, and yummmm. Pues, that's the other thing. The weather got chilly today.

Went back to the center, and began to plan my lessons. 2 1/2 hours, 4 trips to the prof, and 4 revisions later, I had a game plan. The easy description is: beginner class - weather vocabulary; intermediate class - future tense (will v. be going to). Apparentely we can assume the beginners have a bit of knowledge. He said my beginner class is "doable", which means not exciting, but I should pass. We can speak NO Spanish in class, which means vocab is a little harder to explain. But I think that with pictures it is doable. Plus, I'm trying to use sentence examples with lots of cognates. ;)

For my intermediate class, he totally called me out on not being able to succintly explain the differences between using "will" and "be going to". Pues, tengo 2 dias para aprender. This one needs more work, because it won't take up an hour. He said if a lesson totally bombs, we just have to last 45 minutes. Ugh.

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After leaving the center, I headed home. I was going to meet up with Stacy and Rebe to go to "ARTE BA", a neat art show in town. But apparentely our program director's email didn't reach me, and our phones got screwy, and I didn't want to take the subte (subway) by myself for the first time. And during rush hour. So I was frustrated, and had resigned myself to staying home allll night. But then the program coordinator called, and she told me to take a taxi. Pues, then I explained everything to Martin, and he saved the day. He decided to come with, and he showed me how to use the subte y comprO mi billete. Everyone was crammed like sardines b/c it was rush hour. I kept my hands in my pockets to avoid pickpocketers. We made it up there, about an hour late to the frustration of my program director, and I got my ticket. Martin was going to buy one, but the line was WAYYYYYYYYY long, and he had English class in an hour. So he left, after carefully explaining how I could get home, entrusting me with his Guia "T" (which is the equivalent of a SUPER detailed map of the town), and making me promise to call, no matter when, if I had any problems. Reminds me of Aggie courtesy. He's like a big brother, and I would have had a MUCH harder time these past days without him.

It's cool too, because he really wants to learn English (como yo con el espanol), and so we'll have fun conversations about whatever, just practicing sentences with each other. Language learning at its best! I'll miss having him around in a few days.


Stacy and Rebe found me at the art show. We walked around for a bit. Some of the displays were crazy, como the mattress house you could jump around in, and the hanging sculpture made of film. My favorite was the elephant (whoop!)




Then we left, and walked for FOREVER!!! (como una hora) searching for Palermo Soho, asking directions twice, and finally finding the plaza italia. We were all a little tired and bleh, so we sat down at a nice cafe, and ordered drinks. Yo tenia un irlandes. It was good. Los cafes aca no usan azucar. Tenia que usar como tres paquetes. And they had different rates for drinks for day or night, and we thought it was night (it was 7 p.m.) but in Argentina la noche begins at 8 p.m. Haha, this city is so crazy. When we left, around 8:15, the place still hadn't begun to fill for dinner.

Rebe y yo took a taxi home, making sure to only speak in Spanish so he wouldn't cheat us. I made it home just before 9 (dinner time in Argentina) and JUST MISSED getting to eat pollo y papas con Maria y Lulu. I guess they eat a little earlier since she's only 8. But Lulu sat and talked with me while I ate, and I got to practice some Spanish. I can understand her until she gets excited, then she talks to fast.

K, now I need to do my lesson plans. But I'm also happily giving thanks for being reminded to lose my expectations and enjoy what Argentina is offering me, for people who are willing to go out of their way to help me, for being pushed outside of my comfort zone and acting independently, and for simply LOVING communicating in Spanish and gaining confidence con cada palabra.

Besos!