Oh what a long day I had yesterday. Wednesdays are always the worst. I have 5 hours of teaching and two consecutive classes from hell. One are full of ornery preadolescents and the other are just 'littles' aged at an average of 6. I have a whole new respect for elementary school teachers, and I respected them a lot before. The good news is tomorrow is jueves which in translates to Friday for me but it is really Thursday. Plus there was no work Monday. As I understand it, Monday's holiday was due to the celebration of the immaculate conception of baby Jesus... but I really don't understand how that could be since Monday was the 8th and he was allegedly born on the 25th... any takers on this one?
I have to say though, it was a really interesting day. Even though the early bus I was trying to catch whizzed right passed me this morning completely neglecting to stop for me.... I managed to make at least part of my private Spanish lesson with my new teacher, Belen, a colleague, a Special Education teacher and una amiga. Sometime I will get into what I have learned about Special Ed. in Spain... there isn't much to tell because it is all but non-existent, but I will speak of it. Back to the point... Belen drilled me this morning, making me repeat verbs, conjugate, repeat orally, with my eyes open, then closed. She had me write, create small dull sentences and repeat it all over again... OMG it was just what I needed. A basic understanding and usage of how to make the verbs work for me. My vocabulary isn't bad at this point... not bad at all for a beginner, but I can't seem to get out of the present tense and pretty much only about yo... For those who don't know.. .that's me... I. So I can talk about me, here and now but that makes for very dull conversation after the first few lines. So today I learned how to memorize what I need to to talk about others in the present tense too. Too bad I didn't learn this sooner. I can't tell you how bad I hope it helps.
At lunchtime, Ramona and I had a deep conversation about Spanish, learning languages and then about our home countries. We spoke of how we are sometimes both proud and ashamed of the things our homelands have done and/or do. We talked about how sometimes it's hard to be proud of where you are from if you know the trouble the country has caused. She from Spain, me from the US both having similar feelings of love and shame for our own countries as well as each others. More and more I enjoy our lunch time together and her company.
It's really cold here this week. I am a bit tired of it already and winter hasn't even officially started... hehe, but I heard it snowed in NY already. I won't see snow this year unless I head for the mountains (which I would like to do) but I definitely won't be shoveling. May this day end soon so I can hit my new little version of happy hour con mí amigos... in the meantime I will try to enjoy.
I have to say though, it was a really interesting day. Even though the early bus I was trying to catch whizzed right passed me this morning completely neglecting to stop for me.... I managed to make at least part of my private Spanish lesson with my new teacher, Belen, a colleague, a Special Education teacher and una amiga. Sometime I will get into what I have learned about Special Ed. in Spain... there isn't much to tell because it is all but non-existent, but I will speak of it. Back to the point... Belen drilled me this morning, making me repeat verbs, conjugate, repeat orally, with my eyes open, then closed. She had me write, create small dull sentences and repeat it all over again... OMG it was just what I needed. A basic understanding and usage of how to make the verbs work for me. My vocabulary isn't bad at this point... not bad at all for a beginner, but I can't seem to get out of the present tense and pretty much only about yo... For those who don't know.. .that's me... I. So I can talk about me, here and now but that makes for very dull conversation after the first few lines. So today I learned how to memorize what I need to to talk about others in the present tense too. Too bad I didn't learn this sooner. I can't tell you how bad I hope it helps.
At lunchtime, Ramona and I had a deep conversation about Spanish, learning languages and then about our home countries. We spoke of how we are sometimes both proud and ashamed of the things our homelands have done and/or do. We talked about how sometimes it's hard to be proud of where you are from if you know the trouble the country has caused. She from Spain, me from the US both having similar feelings of love and shame for our own countries as well as each others. More and more I enjoy our lunch time together and her company.
It's really cold here this week. I am a bit tired of it already and winter hasn't even officially started... hehe, but I heard it snowed in NY already. I won't see snow this year unless I head for the mountains (which I would like to do) but I definitely won't be shoveling. May this day end soon so I can hit my new little version of happy hour con mí amigos... in the meantime I will try to enjoy.
2 comments:
miserable cold icy day here in the Hudson Valley. Hoping for a snow day tomorrow.......needing one badly.
At least my shows are over and I can now get ready for the holidays.
Miss you
xxxpatti
I'm so glad that you are having such a wonderful time and getting to experience so many things . . . I'm so jealous. I peek in once in a while - today was one of those crazy snow-delay-no delay days so it is rather layed back.
In 10 years time I hope you still can find the present tense so exciting.
Miss you
Heidi
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