Tuesday- Day 2

Buenos Dias!

Where do I even begin? Yesterday I wanted to write a detailed description of everything that I was seeing and experiencing, but I think that there was so much of an overload that I didn’t have any energy to pick up the computer.

This morning though, I am ready to try and sort out my thoughts.

I woke up yesterday at 6:30 to go to orientation. Breakfast was at 7 and then my housemate was so kind to walk me 30 minutes to the don Quijote school for my placement test and orientation. On the test it explicitly said “don’t guess”, so I didn’t. I answered 3 of about 20 questions. At the end of the test there was an essay question explaining “your experience with the Spanish language”. My essay was one sentence and it ended with a smiley face.

I am definitely a beginner ☺ The people who are beginners in my class are : a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a 17 year old high school boy from LA, an ESL teacher from Dallas, Tejas and a psychologist from Dallas.

After we were placed into our class we were told that we would be in the second session of classes which go from 3-7. SO, it was like 9 in the morning and we had some time to kill. Two of the girls in my class and I went and explored the city. We even went into some shoe stores that were having some major sales. There are lots of cute shoes in Guanajuato by the way.

While we were out exploring it began to rain. Apparently it is the rainy season. I picked the one month out of the year where it rains to come. Actually, it is not bad but I am so glad that I brought my umbrella! At about 11:30 I decided to try an find my way back to my casa. This was my first time to go there alone from the city, but I decided to try it anyways. It is hard to describe the streets here. I guess the best way to put it is that the streets are like a labrynth. They wind every which way and they are on an intense incline. They are not marked like the streets are marked in the US. There may be a very small sign (if that) indicating the street, but it is definitely not easily apparent.

I FINALLY made it home after asking about 20 people “donde esta Vista Hermosa?”. So, at this point in my Spanish life I am not super savvy with Spanish directions. I did understand though pointing…that was quite helpful ☺ I was so excited to find the door to my house. Don’t forget that it was raining. I was lost for about an hour and was wearing flip flops. When I got home I ate a quick lunch (Marta, my housemother made quesadillas) and I rested for about 30 minutes before making the 30 minute track back to the Escuela.

When I got back to the school we went on a walking tour of Guanajuato. On this walk I met some of the new students to the language school. One of them is from Montreal, Canada and French is his native language. I was so excited to speak a little French and he told me that it was his first time in a month that he was able to speak it…he said it made him happy. J’adore le francais! Pero, me gusta tambien espanol ( I like Spanish too).
So, if you know Spanish and mine is not right on this blog please correct me. I have so much to learn!

After the walking tour we went back to the school. I was so excited for my first ever Spanish class. Boy did it KICK my butt! My first teacher is Manuel. He is a very chill kind of guy. We talked about everything that is found in the city and how to say stuff like En me ciudad hay una biblioteca, algunos casas, etc. Then we learned descriptions of the city such the city is polluted, it is big, it is ugly(fea) or pretty (bonita). We probably learned 200 new vocabulary words including nouns, adjectives, verbs…holy crap it was an entire unit of Spanish I thrown into 1 hour and 45 minutes.

After that class we had a short break and then had class number 2. This class was taught by Rebecca. She is so nice and smiles a lot. We learned estar and then how to do the estar+a gerund. Seriously, don’t know very many Spanish verbs but Rebecca had us doing it. I felt like I was pulling Spanish out of nowhere ☺ It was kind of magical, but also kind of insane. I don’t know how much I really took from the lesson, but I think after a few weeks I will catch on.

From my Spanish classes yesterday I took a lot from just observing the teaching. I have some new ideas for my classroom already and I have some mental notes of how I need to change some things in my class. It is a true reality check to be able to experience what my ESL kids experience daily! It is quite powerful! I am lucky though because I am already literate and proficient in a second language which happens to be a romance language. It is amazing how much Spanish I already understand (but the Spanish has to be in a context for me to really get the whole picture).

Ok so I am starting to get too verbose. I will now leave you with some pictures.Please know that I appreciate all of your prayers and support!

Love,

Katie


One of the many views in Guanajuato. The little colored things are houses.
MUY Lost!!! Thought I would stop and take a photo op. The red necklace in the picture is complements of Martha---the SWEETEST housemother ever! In my room she has lots of jewelry. She told me to wear them whenever I want :) The people here are so extremely nice and genuine!!!
So happy to see the door to mi casa!


The streets of Guanajuato