day dos

day dos (spanglish for day two)

7:45 i woke up to my alarm clock on my cell phone. i really need to buy an alarm clock since i don't have a charger for the cell. (anyway, my cell phone service was scheduled to be canceled today.)

8:10 i had some 'cookie's with marmelade and tea this morning with the chinese girl. the german girl met me in the kitchen around 8:20. last night she offered to take me to my school this morning. she also kindly lent me a peso for the 'subte' (subway), since i still didn't exchange money.

8:40 the subte/subway is just 4 short blocks from the apartment. just as i read on numerous blogs, the subway cars were jam packed and with no air condition (but the windows in the car were open). i really didn't mind this. it's to be expected that subways, during the rush hour, are crowded and i also like the heat. it was about a10 min. ride to our stop (the business district).

8:50 once we got off and climbed the stairs to the top, the german girl pointed me in the direction i needed to walk (roughly two blocks). the map i had was a zoomed out version. first thing i thought is 'you know you're horrible with directions, why didn't you google map this?' (sidenote, google maps just came to argentina one week ago, before then google didn't have any mapping information available for this country). to my luck (which i seem to be having a lot lately) i easily found the street my school was on and i easily found the correct door to enter. (why do i keep expecting bad things to happen to me?)

9:00 my school is located on a small street and is on the 4th floor of a beautiful beautiful building. there are marble spiral stairs up to the fourth floor with a one/two person old elevator in the middle of the spiral staircase. the administration room has old hardwood floors and a couple of sofas. the next room has two computers for the students, free coffee, tea, water and croissants.

when i walked this morning i greeted the receptionist with spanish. she looked on her list and said 'you're not a beginner'. we spoke some more and i told her that i have the basics of present tense, but i have not learned past tense. she placed me in level one class 7. (there are 8 levels). the class she placed me in was perfect for my level. i understood majority but it wasn't easy either. there are 3 other students in the class. one belgium girl, another american girl and a guy from switzerland. i won't name names but wouldn't you know it that one of these 3 is a 'know it all'. i thought was just an american thing. (ok, so it wasn't the american girl, that leaves the two others a possibilities) it seems like every class i have ever been in has one of these people. example: when the profesora asked us to complete 5 written questions by ourselves, 'this' student finished quickly then loudly put his pencil on the shared wooden table we all sit at and then loudly took a drink of water. they then later told all of us that they take 2 hours private lessons a week, then when the profesora would ask us (the whole class) questions this student answered over and over and over again, not giving others a chance to think and then speak up. major pet-peeve of mine.

besides senior smarty pants, the 4 hour class was enjoyable. the level was just right for me and i loved how the profesora didn't use any english to describe things instead she used other spanish words, expressions and hand gestures until we got it. i don't feel like i know a lot of spanish, but it felt good that i grasp about 80% of what she said for 4 hours. my confidence in spanish is already increasing.

2pm class let out. we all started late since it was the first day for many and they also gave us a half hour break to have coffee and croissants with the other students. i met two other american girls. they were planning to go to one of the activities that the school plans. i decided to go back to the apartment and rest. in the morning i took many, probably too many puffs of afrin up my nose because it was so blocked. i also took a dayquil and a lady working at the school gave me an asprin for my headache. i feel fine now, but i think this way because of the medicine.

on my way to catch the subway back, i purchased an adaptor for my computer from a street vender (a school employee recommended to buy it there). it cost 12 pesos (around $3.50)