Day 1 Ecela Spanish!! (i.e. yesterday)
Well, this certainly turned out to be an interesting day!
We all arrived at the school around 8 am this morning. There was a placement test that was available online to check understanding of grammar. Some took it this morning, but I took mine about three months ago. I knew after taking the test that my understanding of Spanish grammar was "un poquito" or VERY LITTLE! It was extremely difficult! I had a conversational test this morning, which was a little easier. So the learning begins!!
I have one other woman in both my grammar and conversation classes. Nice! We spent the morning moving along quite rapidly. I kept asking my teacher "mas despacio por favor," to which she kindly slowed down for a phrase or two. Then, right back to the same pace!! Actually, the teaching style is fairly easy to grasp. I will have to say that I forgot the meaning of the same word more than once. That's okay though. I do that in English also!!
After class today they had a "Conversation Club" that anyone could sign up for. I thought it would be good for me to fill my already full brain with more conversation and also get to know some of the students in other classes. There are many class levels here. All seven of us hopped in taxis with a school staff member and went to a restaurant for coffee. Unfortunately, one of the women with us got her purse stolen within minutes of arrival. Two women were sitting behind her and she put her purse on the floor and before we realized it, they had walked off with her purse. From that point forward, our Spanish conversation turned into English as our Ecela staff went to the police station with our friend. Very tragic as she had all of her money, passport, copy of passport and the only credit card she brought to Peru in her purse. Case in Point: only take with you what you need and never set anything down.
Day 2!! (i.e.today)
Well! Well!! Oh my, what a lot of verbs and tenses in Spanish!
My fellow classmate spent the morning at the American Embassy to get a passport. So, I had a morning of private lessons. It was great! Except...I figured out after about the first thirty minutes that it is sure a lot easier when there is another person that has to attempt to answer all of the questions and carry on a conversation in Spanish! Will my mind ever be the same again?!?
My days go somewhat like this. Breakfast with my host family at 8:30 a.m.; off to school, which is about a 10-12 minute walk in "Perth" mode (my family all knows what that is!); Grammar from 9:00 - 10:40 a.m.; Conversational Spanish from 11:00 to 12:40 p.m. Then after that I do about 2-3 hours of homework each day. Dinner at 7:00ish p.m., lights out about 10:00 p.m. and then lay there with my brain turning from all of the learning for another hour or two! I'm hoping the latter stops fairly quickly and my nights end at "lights out" before too long.
I attempted to attach a couple of photos. Not too exciting! Just showing you a little of my world! (I attempted to upload ones from the school, but for some reason they stayed in the gallery! You can find those there if you so desire. Again, nothing too exciting as I have pretty much been between the school and my host home!!) I don't know if you noticed or not, but most of the students do not have white hair! In fact, I would be it!! The majority of the students are 18 to late 20's. I've decided they have a lot more functioning brain cells or at least ones that are a little more active than mine!! I'm actually kidding!! I am having a lot of fun recalling Spanish I learned 40-45 years ago. It is also fun to mix with the younger adults! There are probably 4-5 different levels of classes going on simultaneously at the school.
Not sure why the photo loaded sideways. Instruction #1: Please turn your screen sideways as it is a lot easier for you to do that, than it is for me to figure out how to fix this!! This is the home I live in. My host family is delightful. I've fallen in love with them already! More about them later!
I hope all of you in Colorado are staying warm! It was actually very hot here today and HUMID!!
Blessings,
Pat
