Day 33: The One Hundred Pesos Bill

I had a slow start to the morning today, so I had to walk a little quicker after getting off of the subway. Once I started classes today, with another new teacher called Silvana (who was also great; this school is so full of so many high quality teachers, it is ridiculous) I realized that I had finished my packet of crackers the day before and so I was without a snack. Now I would have normally just gone down at the first break and bought some, but I did not have the correct money.

A little context is needed here: When I take money out of the bank, I receive the majority in 100 peso notes and then the smaller denominations in 50s or 10s. This is surprisingly unfortunate in that the 100 peso note is hard to use. Since I do not go out to eat at fancy restaurants, nor do I make regular large purchases, the 100 peso notes are hard to break. It is like buying a lollipop with with a USD50 bill. You get disgruntled looks and with the taxis you have to make sure the change is not fake money (which is a common con). 

I had given Flor most of my small change to help pay for a bottle of wine to give to Paula at dinner, and then used the rest up on the taxi ride home that night. So, there was no way I could walk into the little kiosk and ask to buy a 2.45 pesos package of crackers with a 100 peso note. 

Therefore, my blood sugar dropped really low during the second 2 hours of class. I have never fallen asleep during a class before, but I came the closest ever during that period. I drank massive amounts of water and concentrated really hard on the conversation. Needless to say, lunch was fantastic.

I went to the little hip restaurant that is very close to the school, I believe I mentioned it before in reference to their extremely slow service, it is called "Suckewer." No one knows how to pronounce it. It sounds and looks awkward no matter how you say the vowels. Anyway, I ordered a salad with chicken and a fruit smoothie. The smoothie was fantastic, cold and huge on a pretty hot day, and made from fresh fruit on display in the restaurant. The salad had chicken that had been cooked right then and then mixed in with tomatoes, onions, avocados, and some herbs. It was super-dee-dooper.

There I was able to break my 100 peso bill because my total was 39 pesos. So now I am very happy that I can open my wallet and see 10 peso bills.

I met one of the new students today at the school, a woman named Tine from Norway who is just learning the beginners basics in Spanish as well as taking private classes in medical Spanish as she is a doctor. We had a funny encounter as we left the school together when we introduced ourselves on the stairwell. She spoke to me in English, since Spanish is obviously not her most comfortable language, but I had no idea she was not a native English speaker. After saying I was from Texas, I asked her where she was from, expecting a state, and when she said Norway I half thought she was joking. It was actually scary how all of her umms and uhhs and little details that you notice only if they are wrong, were spot on. She spoke better English than any of the teachers in the school. Well, she seemed very nice, although still unfamiliar with the city (it is still her first week), so I hope to talk more with her tomorrow. Hopefully, I will notice some accent or minor error to make it a little less unbelievable.

Well, I had the evening to myself. Luke was off at a soccer game (or so Betty told me), and Betty was visiting with her daughter and grandchildren. So I had some rice and chicken, finished up my semi-difficult homework and I am aiming for a nice good sleep tonight. Although the act of sleeping is absurdly unproductive and an evolutionarily retardant, there are some days when sleep sounds like a fantastic activity. Especially towards the end of the week.

Chao.