Day 23

Wednesday- 2.3.10

Don’t complain, you’re in Spain!

Today I was on a mission. So much so that I laid out everything from my clothes to my backpack out the night before and actually went to school in my running clothes (in disguise!).  I haven’t had a day like this since…I was in the states! I have truly enjoyed not rushing through life, but on occasion I do love hopping from one thing to the next.  It’s that Type A in me :)

Usually when I plan days like this it’s nothing but productivity, however Spain rejected my attempts today.  I forgot about a little thing called “siesta” aka the time where Spain thinks its funny to prevent me from doing all my errands in my only slice of free time in between classes.  One thing that topped my to do list- find a place to fix my camera! I have been absolutely devastated ever since my beautiful baby blue powershot decided the lens was malfunctioning especially with Morocco coming up!  I also forgot my phone at my apartment so I had to return which defeated the purpose of preplanning and also added to my 120 minutes of walking to and from school. 

I was a little flustered today, and late! But then I immediately started hating myself for being even the slightest bit disappointed--- DON’T COMPLAIN YOU’RE IN SPAIN. 

But Spain had better plans.

Instead of bocodillos made of crumbly icky breadà my absolute favorite- Espinacha y Garbanzos.  

 

Looks like this...I promise it is DELICIOUS

Then after class it was my first meeting with the girls I was tutoring!

Let me just say…I’m IN LOVE.  My new estudiantes- Claudia [7] (cl-OW-dee-ah) and Beatriz [5] (Bee-ah-TREE) are absolute ANGELS.  Perfectly matched in pink Minnie Mouse zip-ups, Hello-Kitty pijama pants and silver sparkly flats, the girls immediately took me by the hand to show me their room.  We got along immediately and chatted nonstop! My Spanish has never been better (probably because my Spanish is that of a 5-7 yr old child). 

They both attend a private school where they have English class once a day.  Claudia understands when I speak in English but has trouble with pronunciation.  She is very good with vocabulary, letters, and numbers.  Beatriz, as eager as she is, has a bit more trouble understanding.  However, she also knows her letters and numbers and a decent amount of vocab. 

Our first lesson- my name (something most Spanish adults cannot master!).

“Can you say MAIR-EE-PAT”

“MAR-EE-PATE?”

“Close!”

“MAR-EE- PAH”

“Bueno!”

We’ll work on it!

The girls are VERY excited to learn English, though.  One of the first things they showed me was a game they played with their last tutor, a numbers matching game.  Both of them are incredibly patient with my Spanish and very good at explaining things I don’t understand more clearly (again, better than most adults!). 

At the end of the “class” the girls said I couldn’t leave.  I am going there again tomorrow, but Beatriz will be at a birthday party.  When her mom reminded her of this, she immediately told her she didn’t want to go.  I assured her I would be back next week, and we would have lots of time together. 

I’d pretty much say we are besties :o)

But, Profe MaryPate was not done yet! Next class- Internet 101 with Josefina. 

After a delicious dinner of cooked veggies with olive oil/vinegar and tortilla Espanola (she is getting the hint how much I love being healthy!), we busted out our laptops (and some frango mints!).  Josefina now knows how to double click, open the internet, use the back/forward button, zoom in/out, google search (movie times, weather, and recipes), and turn off her computer.  A fantastic start. 

A fantastic day of teaching and most importantly, LEARNING. 

Spain taught me one last thing before the day ended…I didn’t DARE try to go to the camera store during siesta because my camera randomly decided to WORK TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray for happy endings and great life lessons!