I am "el" tired....

You know how some days you just have those...uggggggggggh days? Well, this was one of mine. Nothing horrible happened, it just was one of those days (except for a few specific instances which should shine through at various points). Also a lot of thinking occurred, so feel free to just skim through this more thought-sorting-out post that was needed so I can formulate my plan of action. Again, you have been properly warned, not much cool touristy stuff here today (unless you skip to the end....oh, you'll know when you see it).

I woke up with a sore throat :( and feeling a little, out of it? So I'm not doing so well on that end. Sick sucks, but sick in foreign country double sucks. I meant to get cough drops today, but I forgot, so I'll try to remember tomorrow. I just really hope I don't get worse b/c I must teach!

School went well. We talked about motivation. I brought up several times that my motivation stems, at least in part, from wanting to be able to keep up with my native Spanish speaking peers in class. It was only after the second time that this came up that I realized how school-oriented I am. Aside from Angie, everyone else in the room does not think in terms of University, school, grades, etc. aka such rather meaningless to the world things. I felt really boring.

I also realized that I'm not achieving my goals with Spanish. The first week was great with Martin around....but I don't think I've had a solid conversation in Spanish since Thursday. No bueno. Not acceptable. I talk with Maria Laura a bit, but she just doesn't have the time to sit and chat for extended periods of time. So I emailed my program about this "language partner" they supposedly provide. Apparently it's "on hold at the moment." While I'm not pleased with that answer, as it's part of my "package deal", there's nothing I can do. Rebecca from class recommended looking up craigslist to find a language partner, but Internet friends are just a little too sketchy for me. I think I'm going to try to go to a Spanglish class (think speed dating, but speaking English/Spanish instead of trying to hook up) and surely I'll find someone who wants to talk there. Everyone says native English speakers are like gold here, so it shouldn't be too hard, and if I have to do half-sies and speak in English too, that's cool - I like jabbering too. And I found out today that tomorrow there's a forum about international marine law held by 2 Argentine ambassadors. That's right up my alley, no? So I want to go, but it's kind of far away. But it would be worth it, right? And good Spanish practice. And an opportunity to meet some ambassadors and other people of BA interested in stuff like this. Ughhhhh, someone convince me to just suck it up and go, please.

Also, during class, I was thinking how useful this information will be for my thesis .... which I still haven't heard whether it was approved or not. I'm writing about how second languages are taught...specifically how Spanish is taught in US (texas) v. how English is taught in Argentina. And class brings up lots of interesting points about bilingualism and the history of it, etc. Good ideas with which I can expand my thesis.

On that note, however, in order to achieve the goals of my thesis, I need access to a high school English classroom here. I found out today, from a guy who just took the same TEFL class as me and is currently interviewing for positions, that that is an unrealistic goal. Talked to Road program again, and that was confirmed in that they are just going to "place me" sometime in the near future. This is code for being placed in an elementary school. This is also code for they haven't begun the process yet. Not cool. Not efficient, since I'm only a very limited time frame. So I'm going to do some research on my own and try my damndest to get inside a high school.

Grabbed a hamburger at lunch with Angie, which was nice. When the bill came out, we paid with two twenties (they don't split checks here) and I specifically asked for 2 five dollars bills in change. The waitress nodded affirmatively, then brought back a ten. At this point, you may be thinking, well Lara, your Spanish just might suck. Well, you might've been right, but then I asked her again, and she said "they didn't have change." Yea right. Too bad one of those fives was going to be her tip.

Worked all afternoon on my lesson plans...but barely made any progress. For my advanced class, I'm going to focus on reading an NYT article about the Atlantic plane crash and then discussing safety issues in Argentina (my example will be my constant neardeath experiences with the buses). I teach advanced twice, so then the second time we will debate ways to make Argentina safer. If you have any good ideas for activities during the first class, lemme know b/c I have majorly frustrating lessonblock.

The intermediate is about writing a letter of complaint. (haha, very appropriate for today, no?) I just need to refine this one; the idea is there. Tomorrow morning, we get feedback from our first two classes. While I'm nervous, I'm not terribly nervous. I really do want to get better, and as the youngest person in the class, I know I still have a lot to learn. So I'm ready to hear what he has to say. But you know how sometimes I get nervous and wound up and it results in.....shall we say an emotional response? I really hope that doesn't happen. potential embarass.

After school, headed to the Museo de Bellas Artes con Rebe. Still not feeling super bueno. Met up with Stacy and her roommate and Hasil. Exciting point: He bought tickets to the futbol game this Saturday! wooohooo! I'm going to watch Argentina BTHO Colombia - in a world cup qualifying game! I'm actually super pumped about this - and we got the tickets for just 80 pesos (less than 30 dollars)...so i mean, the seats are blahh, but I'm sure the spirit of the game (and the piel de gallinas, as the taxi driver put it) will transcend the particular seat.

The museum was neat, free, and feature a wide range of art from all over the globe. I made fun of some of the more "impressionist" pieces, but some of it was really good. We also saw this HUGE flower machine thing that opens and closes with the sun. It was just a little past the museum, right next to the law school of BA. I need to do some more research about it to let you guys know. It was interesting...and huge.

Returned a la casa, and here's the best part of my day: Maria Laura is like, we're having milanesa for dinner. And I was like, oh, I've seen that on all of the menus, I'm excited to finally try it. Well, my plate becomes loaded with rice with a ton of cooked veggies. Oh. Not as exciting as I hoped.

And then....

From the oven......

She slowly pulls out......

MILANESA AKA CHICKEN FRIED STEAK!!!!!!!

OMG I freaked! Before I tore into it, I double checked that there was nothing weird like a pepper or something snuck in there, but no. and MAN it was so good! If you want more detail, wikipedia it.

So if I do get sick, at least I can go out and have chicken fried steak con puré (aka mashed potatos, yummmmm). And the veggie side was good too. Maria Laura is just a stud. Too bad that doesn't translate.

K, I'm going to hammer out some more lesson plans. And hopefully sleep off the yucky, no smiley, underprepared/overwhelmed feeling.