Things have been moving super quickly this week, and I feel like I've fallen behind in everything! I'll try to finish the post about yesterday tonight, and then hopefully tomorrow I'll get to talk about today.
So....Wednesday. Actually wasn't a super standoutish day. I wore a white top with the little vest my mom and I picked up from 21 the week before I left for BA. The day was basically full of lesson planning. The highlight of the time was while brainstorming for my intermediate class. I wanted to do a murder mystery game, but the problem is if only one student shows up.....que voy hacer? So then, I had the BRILLIANT idea of presenting about Texas!! Eammon was just like, where's the language learning? So I made sure: We're going to start with them doing a connect the dots which will reveal...Texas! Then, I'm going to go through some "fast facts" which will provide vocab and culture! Then, they're going to fill in the same "fast facts" about Argentina. THEN we're going to listen to the state song and I'll probably have them fill in something about that. Finally, we're going to read the night before christmas.....Texas style :)
I also got feedback from Eammon, which went well. Funny, he liked my intermediate lesson, which I thought I had really botched. He had a ton of feedback for my advanced lesson. The biggest 2 were: 1) present vocab in context, and 2) don't be afraid to correct the ***** students. His words, not mine. He basically repeated that I have a wonderfully pleasant not intimidating personality in the classroom, but that I can't be afraid of upsetting anyone to the point where I'm not giving them useful feedback. So hopefully I can improve that in my advanced class tomorrow.
ohohoh, he also asked about my last name, Speights, which I told him didn't know. I was like...well, my dad studied German in college? And I started feeling one of those, oh you American don't know your heritage bits, so I immediately chimed in with - well I know my moms! And I proceeded to inform him that I'm part Cajun, and that someone back in the day on my mum's side came down around the time of the Potato Famine. And he was like, you know, if someone pointed to you and told me you were Irish, I wouldn't argue. *pleased AHHHHHH!!* I was so giddy, but I couldn't tell him that b/c obviously if you're Irish it's not that exciting to be considered Irish.
For lunch, Angie and I tried a new deli, which had a French flavor. I got an egg and cheese omelette and cafe. ohhhh, and they served us bread, and I snuck some out with me. It was really good :)
After lunch, we presented our lesson plans, then Angie and I labored over our peer presentation of must/have to/may/might for a good 3 hours. Then Rebe and I headed back to my house, where there was a misunderstanding in that Maria Laura thought Rebe was a portena. And she pulled me aside and was like where did you meet her? And I was like, no, she's like my best friend. And I guess she thought I used the term lightly, because she was like I'm not comfortable with you bringing people here. And then I understood, and I was able to clarify that Rebe is from the US with me, and is really one of my best friends. And then she understood and it was fine, but it cracked me up that she thought I was bringing portenas over.
Then Rebe and I headed back to the Roadhouse, where a group dinner event was about to happen! We got to meet some new peeps from other homestays who we hadn't seen yet. The pizza caterers actually cooked the pizza in a stone oven next to the terrace, so that was cool. The pizza was yummy - my favorite were the slices with spinach. go figure. I also went across the street with some of the girls to get ice cream. It was really good, and I met another Aggie! So now there are 5 Aggies through the Road program. Crazy! Then Stacy and I and a group of people went to an Irish bar, which was fun.
Oh, I have to go, I'll finish this post tomorrow. Trust me, it's worth coming back to :) Besos!
K, I just finished my Advanced lesson for tonight, [also, I inserted something about being called Irish in an earlier paragraph b/c it made more sense there...getting behind in blogs makes it hard to go in order!] so I'm going to finish writing about Wednesday night, then review it, then print! ....btw - currently listening to Get Another Boyfriend...Backstreet Boys. You might ask, what on Earth? Lara, please. But check it. It's not even like I put them on. I typed in "friend" on my itunes search pad, and I'm listening to the songs that came up. It's a fun new habit of mine :) There's also a Center Stage song on this list, which reminds me of AI!
So anyways, Wednesday night. Stacy and I headed to the bar. We ended up in a taxi with another guy from Road, who is living in an apartment with this Argentine (porteNo, if you will). And so his housemate came out with us...and the cool thing is my Spanish was better than his English! So we're chatting, and it's all great. We show up at the bar, and it's pretty crowded, lots of different people, but nothing about it screamed IRISH to me, so that was a mild let-down. I don't remember what the music was, but it was definitely American. So we're a group of about 8, right? And the place is packed. But there's one booth, which could've fit all of us, that had 3 people. So one of the peeps goes in and tries to see if we can share (with the intent of pushing them out). Pues, she tries to ask in Spanish, and the girl says (in English), I don't speak Spanish. Well we were all like, great, we'll fit right in! Poor 3 people. So we squeeze in, and they're obviously uncomfortably talking to each other. And I mean, we really squeeze in, and they're in the middle. And then one of our girls starts talking to this one girl, and the "non-Spanish speaking" girl is like, Yea, I'm from Brazil. And she "speaks" Portugese, but I've heard Portugese and she was NOT speaking Portugese. SO another one of the girls is like, you're full of it. And she's like yea, I'm actually from Colombia, just here on my vacation. And we have an ok convo, but she keeps asking me, why are you speaking in Spanish, I speak English. And I'm like, I want to practice my Spanish!!!
The only big note from the convo is that it came up that I'm from Texas. And this is the 3rd time that after someone has found out that I'm from Texas, they've asked me who I've voted for and cursed out McCain before I can even respond. Once, it wasn't a big deal. The second time, the guy I was talking to said he hated me. This particular drunk Colombian stood up and started yelling at me, calling me the devil. (*Note, she wasn't really mad, just drunk and dramatic) And I hadn't even answered her! There is a very prevalent image of "conservative Texas" here.
Also, the other girl she was with was from Minnesota and was teaching English here. So we had a fun convo about that. Once they left, I started talking to the Argentine roommate again, who was REALLY nice. It's difficult though b/c the crappy music was loud and drowned out every other word. Ok, let's see if I can explain this properly.
We were talking about practicing speaking in other languages. And I mentioned that everyone speaks English really well and they all want to practice their English with me. And somehow in the music, a slight miscommunication occurred.
Here's what I *thought* was said (happened in Spanish, we were practically yelling at each other to be heard):
Argentine - you just need to meet more people down here!
Lara- yea, I'm trying to, but it's hard to meet people; I can't just walk down the street saying hi to people .
Argentine - you just need to go to more Argentine parties! you'll meet lots of people.
Lara - yea, but that's not safe to go to parties of people I don't know (some variation of this). A little too dangerous for me.
Argentine - SUPER OFFENDED LOOK
....K, so it went down much quicker/less corny than that, but there's the gist. Turns out he said something like - come hang out with me and Tim (the other roadie) and you can meet my friends and get to know more people. Ughh - and I responded with, oh that's dangerous and not safe. hahaha. I don't think I ever actually explained what I thought I said. baha.
Then headed out with Stacy, had a mild panic attack b/c I thought I lost my keys, but it turns out the lining ripped in my purse and they had slipped through. major whew.
K, that was Wednesday. haha, hope all the people drama makes sense.
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