Live Boldly

haha, I'm stealing Jamie's line for today. Today was a much better day, albeit much more runny in terms of the nose and itchy in terms of the throat. Maria Laura and I had a laugh earlier today as she said "I told you so!" b/c I walk around barefoot with my hair wet.....and that automatically equals flu (pues, after commenting with large surprise about how red my nose can indeed get, she now believes its a cold. She also taught me how to say I have boogers, haha. My host mom is tres cool).

Woke up, and intentionally left the house early so I made it too class ten minutes early as opposed to being 3 minutes late. You know it sucks when you're just a few minutes late b/c the prof knows you couldve made it on time. In college, when I'm going to be late, sometimes I hold out a few more minutes so it seems more credible. Haha, I hope that's not too terrible.

Once I got to the school, I was asking my classmates if anyone was interested in going to see the ambassadors speak. Pues, they laughed. Remember, I'm the youngest one in the class......and probably the most enthralled by things.....and also still only thinking about myself in terms of money, if that makes sense. So they're like, what's the topic? And I was like - international law! And they laughed for real this time. And I laughed too, as Peter said "oh yea, that's how I want to spend my night." And I told them that they would ALL want to hear me speak when I became an ambassador, and we all laughed some more. When Rebecca got in, I asked her, in a final ditch attempt, and while she mildly contemplated in order to practice Spanish, she declined as well.

Got feedback from Eammon. He said I have a very "gentle" classroom presence, and that I don't need to worry about the students liking me because I present myself very well.....but to not OVERDO the niceness. Aka how I said "good job" to everyone in my nervousness and wasn't really focusing on correcting them. In the intermediate class, I just needed to think through my board diagrams a little more. He said in my post lesson notes I evaluated myself pretty well and was aware of areas where I could improve. But overall................

He said I was FINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. yahoo :) that's all I need.

For lunch, we ordered from this place called Sabores that delivers. Super YUMMMMMMMM. For 11 pesos, I got a huge serving of milanesa de ternera and french fries and a roll! I placed the order, and at one point, the lady was like, speak English, but I refused and we figured it all out. The food was just amazing, and came packaged like at Jim's Chicken (Mexia shoutout!).

Then we reviewed each other's lessons. Mine got an ok, but need more fleshing out. After researching traffic safety in BA, I'm freaking out. They have, on avg, 22 deaths per day due to traffic acccidents! Eek! EVERYONE is supposed to wear their seatbelt, but really no one does. Crazy, crazy.

After class, went to Roadhouse and chilled with Rebe and others for a bit. Tried in vain to find people to go to the ambassador thing with.

Finally, headed home, chilled with Lulu for a bit, then headed to the event. Pues........taxi HORRORS.

I have gotten several taxis since being here, and never had a problem. Of course, the first time I'm by myself it goes to pot. So I'm looking throughout the street, and a few taxis pass, but I, in my unfailing wisdom, want to get a taxi going in the direction that I'm headed so I can pay less (aka less time). So I go to a side street. Well, the light is red across the street, so no taxis are coming. Pues, by the time I get across, the taxis have all passed. So I go back to the big street. But the only taxis that are passing now that are free are not the "radio taxis". You only take those b/c the others are just "rented" and are associated with a higher number of crimes. So one stops, as I stand on the corner in my red coat, but I awkwardly shuffle away.

Finally, I spot a radio taxi! I wave......as it goes right past me to the couple on the corner. So I'm walking, frustrated, when I get to a side street, and I just decide to wait. Waiting probably wouldve been the smart move all along. And I watch all the radio taxis zip by on the other side. Finally, the light turns red, and a radio taxi stops. I freak out the driver by knocking on the window and pointing to his backseat, mouthing "open"? and hopping in. I give him the address, and comment on how difficult it was to find a taxi. He says that it's a busy part of the day (around 630). I ask him how long (good habit to avoid being schemed "around town" to add time) and he says 15 minutes. Then there's a demonstracion (protest) so it takes a little longer. But I made it! Yay for solo taxi ride!!

I head to the 21st floor of the building, and the elevator doors open to reveal an elegant structure. I awkwardly make my way to the speaking room, pay my money, and sit. The ambassadors had an interesting topic, but that does not equal a good presentation. Firstly, they were having technology problems with the powerpoint. Secondly, the first guy spoke, and he was ok. Then, the second guy repeated himself at least three times for every topic. Which, in my case, was helpful because I could for sure understand him....but then even I got bored. And after the first hour, I was tired. And his fellow speaker was like, dude, time's up. But he kept going. When he was finally getting into an interesting topic - claims on Antarctica.....he ended.

When I left, I ran into two girls from Road, and we all took a taxi back together. Had some yummy pasta with cheese and butter, and then some peaches to finish the evening. Then, the best part of the days, had a Facebook feed explosion of updates from my girls, culminating in a crazy fun skype chat.

Now I'm going to finish my lesson for tomorrow, and then BTHO this cold via sleep!