Day 23: The Private Day

Today was a strange day at school. Ruth, Andi and Peter all left after Friday, along with a lot of the other students that were around my level. This morning there were a lot of new faces, but there was only one other man who was in my group. This guy, however, had other plans it seemed, because he never showed and so I had 3 private lessons today, two during the "group" classes, and then my normal private lesson after lunch. It was interesting. Marta thought it could be a great opportunity for me if James, the other guy, does not end up coming, to really work hard and advance quickly. She wants me to write more in the classes and at home, she thinks that will help me lots.

With Marcelo we did a lot of conversional work as well as reading out loud. He is happy to talk about anything and everything, and he is good about always correcting me when I read. With German we worked on some grammatical stuff and then told fairytales in Spanish. Very amusing. Apparently a common ending to the fairytales in Argentina (like "And they lived happily ever after...") translates literally to "and they lived happily and ate little birds." !! I think they use it because the phrases rhyme, but it still a little disturbing. Today's photo is of German's drawing (of which he does a lot, and very carefully) while I was recounting the story of the three pigs, the wolf, and the whole blowing the house down deal.

Look closely and you can see his Estudiantes watch too

German is an avid fan of the fútbol team "Estudiantes" from Rio Plata a smaller city to the east on the coast, he has an Estudiantes watch, and the team played tonight. Last time they played I missed the game, but was told by Marta the next morning that they had lost 4-1 to a team from Peru. So, I wrote a sign saying "¿Estudiantes? ¡¡4-1!!" and hung it outside his classroom in the morning. Marta did not approve, though all the students thought it was amusing, because fútbol etiquette states that you are only allowed to tease a team before the match. Not after. Well, tonight Estudiantes won 2-0 over Húracan so I will hang a similar sign tomorrow to show my support and apologies.
The big news today was the arrival of Luke. He flew in at about 11.00 this morning, was welcomed in by Ana the housecleaner because Betty was still at work, and when I came home he was just finishing up his post-flight nap. He is just a bit older than me and is with the University of Minnesota, though he is originally from Wisconsin. He is part of a large group, around 120 people I believe, and he will be in Bs. As. until July. He will be taking some Spanish classes in addition to attending one of the universities here. He is very nice, I can sympathize with his issues acclimating to the accent here, but he speaks enough Spanish that he can communicate well. Our only issue so far is that he actually enjoys the sport of Curling. As in he does not find it hysterical to watch, he actually likes it. Strange.

He will get to experience the subway initiation ceremony tomorrow morning as he goes to his school on the same line as me. Today, because more people are now returning to work after their summer vacations, the subway was incredibly full. I had to miss the first one that came because the two people in front of me squeezed in like contortionists. Zero personal space. Everyone is just trying to breathe and of course it is always the person at the other end who needs to leave at the next station. The process of allowing someone through reminds me of those scrambled tile puzzles where you move one, then move another into the open space. Ridiculous.

Well, a little Olympic action after the Estudiantes v. Húracan game, saw some pair figure skating and women's hockey. Now it's off to bed, I am interested to see of the mysterious James appears tomorrow.

Chao.