I set my alarm for 9, but did not get up until 9:15. I have been so tired that it is ridiculous! I got almost 11 hours of sleep last night! Spanish just wears me out! Anyway, I got ready and had breakfast. Both yesterday and today, Fani gave me medialunas for breakfast. They are like sweet crescent rolls. I like them, but I prefer tostadas with dulce de leche! However, medialunas are more filling. I also tried a fried flaky roll thing, but I didn’t really like it because it was very greasy. I had two cups of hot chocolate because Fani makes it in a little pot and I feel like I should drink all she makes. I also had some grapes. She gave me an apple and a banana to take to school today. I left at 10:30 to walk to the ISA office. I asked Guillermo where there is a protestant church nearby. He gave me directions in English, unfortunately (and broke my fast from the English language—other than the computer)! I wanted to walk to the church so I would know what time the service is on Sunday. However, I had just walked 20 minutes to get to the office and the church was on the opposite of my house! I decided that if I wanted to go on Sunday, I would have to go there this morning, so I backtracked to my apartment and continued on. I went past the road I needed because it was not marked, but after three blocks of heading in the wrong direction, I turned around. This was my first time exploring by myself. I found the correct road and headed in the exact opposite direction of the university. I walked for a while. I had decided to turn around at 11:45 whether I had found it or not so I would not be late for class. The day was actually pretty warm and I was regretting having worn my winter coat. At 11:45, I thought I was one street away from the church so I kept going. I was right (for once)! I quickly wrote down the time, address, and phone number of the church and headed off to school. Instead of going back the way I came, I decided to be adventurous and went a different way. I had to walk really quickly because I was scared I was not going to make it back in time. I did, however, and was actually 10 minutes early! I had walked for almost two hours straight!
We had Eugenia (the g in her name makes the /h/ sound, just so you know) for our professor today. I could understand her almost perfectly today except for when she got excited and was talking rapidly with Pedro, a boy in our class who speaks very well. In my class, there are three students who are of Latino origin and grew up speaking Spanish. Although they are not as good as grammar and verb conjugations, they can talk very quickly and fluently (or at least it seems that way to me). Today we went over our homework from the previous night. All of us misunderstood part of the directions… oops! At least we all messed up, so the professor had to accept it! We talked about verbs in the present subjunctive today. The subjunctive is really tricky for most people who are learning Spanish, but our professor was really funny and said that there are really only two things to learn about the subjunctive: 1) how to form it and 2) when to use it. Yeah, if you can do those two things, you have it down! Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. :) Fortunately for me, I have had great professors at AU who have prepared me well in the world of Spanish grammar! I am also good at spelling which helps with spelling changes. All of today was good review for me, but I did not find it overwhelming because I had learned it all before. It was good to refresh it in my mind, though. We did lots of exercises in class with many examples. We had our lunch break early… at 2pm. It is really too short to eat lunch, so most of us just grab a snack. I wish our host moms would pack us lunches like the ones in Tammy’s program! I ate my banana and a granola bar and quickly checked my email. We continued with the subjunctive all afternoon. We had a short break (5 min.) about 4pm and then had a conversation exercise where we talked in groups about questions Eugenia wrote on the board. They were opinion questions which made it interesting. We had to go to a meeting at the ISA office at 5:30, so Eugenia let us out 5 minutes early so we would not be too late. She gave us homework or tarea first, of course! I would have been disappointed if I had a Spanish professor who did not homework. I think I am kind of crazy though because I love conjugating verbs! We walked 10 minutes or so to the ISA office and we talked about our trip to El Tigre tomorrow. I did not think they imparted valuable enough of information to call a meeting because all they did was to tell us where to meet! After this part, though, some men who operate a tour group came and talked about an opportunity to travel to Córdoba and stay at a ranch there. The trip sounds neat because you get to ride horses to a Jesuit mission, see salt fields, and go hiking. They can only take 15 people and many of our 30 were interested. I don’t know if I will go. I checked my email on the computers in the ISA office and headed home with a group of people who were going shopping. Everyone was making plans to go out tonight to bars and boliches (clubs). I went home and arrived about 7:15. Fani greeted me and got dinner ready. I had a HUGE bowl of soup (each night it gets bigger), a leftover pasta roll thing from last night, arroz con pollo (rice, chicken, and potatoes), and chocolate mousse for dessert. Every night after dinner, I am completely stuffed! However, most of the day I am very hungry. It is a weird combination. Last night at dinner, I asked Fani about the Dirty War (Guerra Sucia) and the desaparecidos. She said that no one in their family was affected, but that most families were. About 30,000 people disappeared during that time and no one knows what became of them exactly. They were killed, but they do not even know where they put the bodies. Fani told me that she remembers the army marching through the intersection of La Pampa and Amenábar (very close to our apartment) and how they were very afraid. I wish I could have understood more of what she said! I am getting to the point where I can usually tell who or what she is talking about, but often I miss the details. I spent my Friday night doing my usual Friday night activity—homework! I have missed it these past few weeks! Haha! Fani went to bed about 9 and I am going to head there soon because I have to be up in the morning for our trip.
We had Eugenia (the g in her name makes the /h/ sound, just so you know) for our professor today. I could understand her almost perfectly today except for when she got excited and was talking rapidly with Pedro, a boy in our class who speaks very well. In my class, there are three students who are of Latino origin and grew up speaking Spanish. Although they are not as good as grammar and verb conjugations, they can talk very quickly and fluently (or at least it seems that way to me). Today we went over our homework from the previous night. All of us misunderstood part of the directions… oops! At least we all messed up, so the professor had to accept it! We talked about verbs in the present subjunctive today. The subjunctive is really tricky for most people who are learning Spanish, but our professor was really funny and said that there are really only two things to learn about the subjunctive: 1) how to form it and 2) when to use it. Yeah, if you can do those two things, you have it down! Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. :) Fortunately for me, I have had great professors at AU who have prepared me well in the world of Spanish grammar! I am also good at spelling which helps with spelling changes. All of today was good review for me, but I did not find it overwhelming because I had learned it all before. It was good to refresh it in my mind, though. We did lots of exercises in class with many examples. We had our lunch break early… at 2pm. It is really too short to eat lunch, so most of us just grab a snack. I wish our host moms would pack us lunches like the ones in Tammy’s program! I ate my banana and a granola bar and quickly checked my email. We continued with the subjunctive all afternoon. We had a short break (5 min.) about 4pm and then had a conversation exercise where we talked in groups about questions Eugenia wrote on the board. They were opinion questions which made it interesting. We had to go to a meeting at the ISA office at 5:30, so Eugenia let us out 5 minutes early so we would not be too late. She gave us homework or tarea first, of course! I would have been disappointed if I had a Spanish professor who did not homework. I think I am kind of crazy though because I love conjugating verbs! We walked 10 minutes or so to the ISA office and we talked about our trip to El Tigre tomorrow. I did not think they imparted valuable enough of information to call a meeting because all they did was to tell us where to meet! After this part, though, some men who operate a tour group came and talked about an opportunity to travel to Córdoba and stay at a ranch there. The trip sounds neat because you get to ride horses to a Jesuit mission, see salt fields, and go hiking. They can only take 15 people and many of our 30 were interested. I don’t know if I will go. I checked my email on the computers in the ISA office and headed home with a group of people who were going shopping. Everyone was making plans to go out tonight to bars and boliches (clubs). I went home and arrived about 7:15. Fani greeted me and got dinner ready. I had a HUGE bowl of soup (each night it gets bigger), a leftover pasta roll thing from last night, arroz con pollo (rice, chicken, and potatoes), and chocolate mousse for dessert. Every night after dinner, I am completely stuffed! However, most of the day I am very hungry. It is a weird combination. Last night at dinner, I asked Fani about the Dirty War (Guerra Sucia) and the desaparecidos. She said that no one in their family was affected, but that most families were. About 30,000 people disappeared during that time and no one knows what became of them exactly. They were killed, but they do not even know where they put the bodies. Fani told me that she remembers the army marching through the intersection of La Pampa and Amenábar (very close to our apartment) and how they were very afraid. I wish I could have understood more of what she said! I am getting to the point where I can usually tell who or what she is talking about, but often I miss the details. I spent my Friday night doing my usual Friday night activity—homework! I have missed it these past few weeks! Haha! Fani went to bed about 9 and I am going to head there soon because I have to be up in the morning for our trip.
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