the new school

I left my apartment this morning at 8am; 1 hour before the school opened. The school is located in a part of the city that I've never been to before, so I wanted to give myself 'getting lost time'. I took my normal subte into Micro Centro and then switched lines. Once I arrived in Micro Centro, I took subte line A back out of the center, but in another direction (like a V shape). Subte Line A is the oldest underground line in South America. The subway cars are from the early 1900s. They have wooden benches, old lighting fixtures and you open the doors for yourself. (photo below: a photo of the Buenos Aires line A subway car that I found on the net)

I made it to the school within 40 min. Tomorrow I'll try taking my subte just 1/2 way and then walking 7 blocks.

The school was in an apartment building in front of a city square. They converted a 1970's style apartment into a school. The living room was the waiting room, the dining room the reception and the bedrooms were the classrooms. It was a clean and well kept building, but I didn't like the neighborhood as much as my last school. Not that it's in a bad neighborhood, but there is nothing to see and the park / square in front of the school is dirty and filled with homeless people.

Once I signed in and paid ($106 for one week / 20 hours of Spanish lessons) I went to my assigned classroom. The first person I met was a British girl. She was very kind and talkative. The next person walked in was a guy from Australia. He greeted us and asked where we are from. I said I was from the U.S. and he said "I'm sorry". You know, I've been waiting for that response the entire time I've been here. I thought I'd get it more often and sooner, so his comment really caught me off guard. Since I've been here, I haven't heard a direct negative comment about the U.S. (stress on the word 'heard'). Anyway, I gave him a look with no smile. He quickly apologized and said he was kidding. It's just that I don't find humor in negative jokes, I never have.

For class we had one teacher for 2 hours, then a break and another teacher for the last 2 hours. Both spoke slowly and clearly and I was happy that I understood 90% of what they were saying (yeah, small victory). We went over reflexive verbs, which is good for me, I need the practice.

When I left the classroom, the two other girls in the class, who are from Brazil, followed me out. When we went to step on the elevator one girl said she lived just 30 min from my college town for one year. She said she loved her time in the U.S. She looked very excited to tell me this. It was nice to hear after the Australian guy's 'joke'.

After leaving the school, I walked 7 blocks to my subte line.

* I really liked my old school, but I chose to go to another school because it's less expensive. Just wanted to put that out there.