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Tuesday, August 4th

Typical morning routine, and then I left a few minutes early in order to make it to the photocopy shop. I did my typical many different printouts, and I felt kind of bad for making him open so many files, but really, it’s like 3 minutes of his life. It’s not that bad. I was really hoping he would tell me that he had my USB, because I can’t find my black one. But he didn’t.

However, right before I left, I asked him, and voila! He pulled it out from a cup! I almost cried from relief, because I had seriously torn up my room looking for it. My immense relief was apparent as my face got red, and he gave me a weird look, but then joked about how nice he was for keeping it for me.

Cool. Much relieved, I headed to the subte and to my classes in Belgrano. Oh, on the subte there was this guy coughing. A really nasty cough. It was kind of crowded, so I couldn’t move away. Finally a seat opened up, and this nice guy let me have it. Gentlemen can be found on the subte! Pues, I was pretty late, about 15 minutes, but my worry was for nothing as Florencia didn’t come get me until 10 minutes later. We had a good class reviewing the first and second conditional and then hitting a tangent with the question – if I were president of Argentina, I would…. I got to hear her political views, which were interesting. Again, no one I’ve met likes Kirchner, but she did make the point that the workers like her. It was also interesting to hear how politically based certain stuff is. For example, some people get what we would call welfare from political parties. They get it, with the agreement that they give part of it to the political party and that they will go to any protests that political party has. Dang, corruption.

After that, I had my class with Hernan. Oh, before we started, I was waiting for him in the hall, and this guy who works there (which by the way, all these computer guys are tall and skinny) was like, chill, sit down. He was paler than me! Turns out he’s from Russia but has lived here for about 9 years (he was about my age). He asked me where I was from, and when I said U.S., he was like, you look it. I wasn’t sure how to take that.

Anywho, tangent. Class with Hernan started with us completely not understanding each other. But we worked through it, and the rest of the class was smooth. We talked about the difference between make/do, which Hernan likes rules and sometimes you just gotta memorize! And also did my complaint letters lesson. I love when I can reuse lessons.

After that, I grabbed a quick bite to eat at the McDo. Since school started, the place was full of kids. I was sitting at the bar, when these kids surrounded me (in the seats, not like a mob). In order to let them all sit together, I scooted down one next to these guys who were sitting opposite each other. Because duh culture dictates that if there’s space I leave an empty one between us. Well, just as I scoot, the kids scramble off to a bigger table that had just opened up. Awkwardly ate the rest of my lunch semi-listening to these guys talk. Haha. But yea, place was SWARMING with chicos.

Then, subte’d and train’d to Quilmes. This time in transit always wears me out – when I got off the subte and noticed all the grown MEN holding their backpacks in front, I got even more paranoid. I mean, I keep nothing of real value in my backpack, but still. The Cline is just sketchy. On the train though, I got to sit next to an old lady. But then she started coughing and I was like, ohhh noo fluuuuuuuu. I’m turning into a portena.

My class started with just Pablo, who I found out is referred to as Dacoll and the other Pablo retains the name Pablo. We caught up, he asked about my birthday extravaganza and I asked about his trip to Uruguay. He’s from there, but works here. But he’s not married or anything so he goes home a lot. It’s about an 8 hour drive in a weekend. Oh, I also found out he’s currently working on an MBA at the Universidad de Palermo. So yea, he’s cool. He also called the other Pablo, who always cuts class, and I talked to him. Apparently he thought Dacoll was calling about something important, and then he got confused when his English teacher was talking to him.

Pablo was at a late lunch, so we began the phrasal verb part of the lesson without him. Half past, he showed up. He brought with him some slides from a presentation he had to give this morning. His English isn’t bad, but he gets nervous and adds all these unnecessary words, etc. So we reviewed some different phrases he could use, and I told him I would bring vocab for discussing graphs on Friday. It was a good class. 

After that, Jorge y Eduardo. Jorge never skips, and he was the sweet one who brought me some alfajores for my birthday. He’s basically like a father. Eduardo skipped last week, and his English is a little worse. He just mumbles a lot and it’s difficult to understand. We joke around with each other a lot though, and so the class went by fairly quickly. It’s a little difficult sometimes because everything is really easy for Jorge and I rarely need to correct him. Eduardo, on the other hand, takes a while and I hate to constantly correct him and not Jorge. So I have to be selective. At the very end of class, I requested a photo with all of them.

Then, we spent 10 minutes with everyone looking me up on Facebook. It was precious, and Pablo D. (because I can’t think of him as Dacoll now) made me sit down and add them all right then and there.

I left the office so happy, and headed back for the train ride home, where I wrote each of them goodbye notes/encouragement with their English to give them on Friday. I think I’ll bring some alfajores too or something.

As I made the transition from the train to the subte, I didn’t dare take out my camera. The image of the train station will just have to stay fresh in my mind. I did notice a law office in the bottom of the subte station. Right, because I got to the subte to seek legal advice. Que raro.

After the subte, I was going to take the connection to near Julian’s office, for my last class with him, and hang out at a Café Martinez I found near there. However, I forgot it was rush hour, and when the people were basically stuck in traffic, I decided to forgo the sketchy subte line for a brisk walk afuera.

I had less time since I was walking, so I ended up stopping by a Burger King and got a sundae to give me some energy before my last class. Only had one moment of frustration when a guy cut in front of me in the line. I think I stared sufficiently long enough at him to at least allow him to realize that I recognized what he had done.

After that, I went to the office. Julian and I spent our last class primarily talking about career paths. He is stressed because his daughter is about to graduate high school and wants to pursue teaching. He wants her to have more “financial stability” and do agronomy, like he did. When I asked him why she chose that path, he proceeded to list about 10 characteristics that would make her a great kindergarten teacher. Sounded like a perfect fit, actually. But not to him. He said when he was in high school, he wanted to be a pilot. But he did this instead, and flying is his hobby. He wants teaching to be her hobby.

He asked my opinion, and I had to admit that I’m kind of in the same situation. Of course I want financial stability, but I don’t want to compromise want I enjoy doing to just make plata. It felt like a discussion with my dad, haha.

The hour and a half went by quickly, which was good because I had been worried we had run out of topics, and then we exchanged contact details. He also gave me some chocolate for my birthday. I told him though, that the mate cup he gave me was the best gift ever! When we walked downstairs, I got the security man to take a picture of us. We shared our last cab ride together, and then said farewell at the corner of Santa Fe y Callao.

When I got back, apparently Maria Laura had thought I wasn’t coming back for dinner….even though I ALWAYS do…..and so I chilled on the Internet while she whipped up some rice and one of her diet dishes. Joy.