Cemetaries and Conjugacions

Hello, hello! Day three here, and lots to fill you in on!



Yesterday was a LONG day. I got up around 7 AM (which is, by the way 4 AM EST - a much bigger time difference than I was expecting), had a quick breakfast of corn flakes and a banana and coffee, and then hopped onto the number 12 bus to take me to escuela. Mi casa is in the northern section of Palermo, on Av. Santa Fe, and the school is east of there, in Recoleta. It´s about a 20 minute bus ride. You can also take the subway, but Rosa has advised me against it (basically just because it´s hot and crowded and you can´t be guaranteed a seat). We were supposed to be there at 8 AM for a placement test, but they actually only made those of us who spoke a little Spanish take the test. In other words, I did not have to take the test because I know nothing! So it was milling around for about an hour, waiting on the test-takers to finish up, and then they handed us each a text book with our class assignments. (Mine is 2 PM - 6 PM; I think I will adjust to this schedule rather well!)



There were probably 50 or so new students yesterday, and they are from everywhere! There are maybe 6 other Americans (all from the West - three from San Francisco, 2 from Portland, 1 frm Aspen), but I´d say the majority of the students are easily from Sweden! Of course, those smart Swedes all speak English, too. There are a few Canadians, at least one Frenchman, an older German couple, some Swiss folks, English, etc. A very diverse group, I think.



Anyway, after I got my class assignment, it was about 9:30 AM, so I had quite a bit of time to kill before class. So I went and sat down in a nearby park to gather myself and study my map (I am trying very hard to not be the tourist standing on the sidewalk, staring confused at my enormous map.) I discovered that my school is very close to the famous Recoleta Cemetary, so I made my wondered my way up there.



The cemetary is amazing. It´s all enclosed by high walls, but it´s right smack in the middle of everything. From the sidewalks of the trendy little neighborhood surrounding it, you can see the tops of the monuments peaking out, marble and elegant and imposing. I walked probably halfway around it before finding the entrance, which is a large white gate of a thing, with the words, ¨Requiescant in Pace¨ (I will let you translate that one yourselves) written in large gold letters above.



Once inside, the cemetary is its own city. There are literally little walkways, like roads, that form a grid throughout the cemetary, so you can just wander around forever, up one path, down another. There are shady trees lining the main drags, and there are cats everywhere! The monuments range from old and crumbling to modern and sleek, and each one is different. Most of them are very tall, and many have an angel perching on the stop of a tall spire, with its hands in prayer up to the sky. I love marble sculptures like this and took many (many!) pictures, which I am going to try to download later today. I did not see Eva Peron´s grave. I know, I know. But I felt kind of "eh" about it, and I couldn´t find it, and I didn´t feel like going to the trouble of going up to someone and saying, "Eva Peron?"



After that, I popped into a bookshop and picked up a Spanish-English dictionary (no, I did not have one yet), and a Spanish phrasebook, which has been very handy so far. I then had maybe an hour or so to kill before class, and I was sweaty and exhausted, and wanted to just cool my heels, study my new books, and have some agua! I wandered into a little cafe, and geez, I didn´t even know how to ask for a table. I stood in the middle of the cafe rather awkwardly for a minute, not knowing whether to seat myself or ask, and finally the waitstaff, gathered at the bar, looked at me expectantly, and I muttered, "No habla Espanol?" They looked at me like, oh shit, and then I boldly said, "Quisiera un cafe" (I would like a coffee), and a waitress finally motioned for me to sit anywhere I would like, and so I did.

While sitting in the cafe, I found the phrase for, "I would like the bill, please" so there were no more awkward moments there.

I had to be back at school at 1 PM for a welcome lunch, which consisted of egg salad and ham sandwiches - that´s together, not separate. Interesting. The staff of the school introduced themselves and yada yada.

Then we were dismissed for class. They have split us up into classes of 4! In my class is Emily from London, Charlie from London, and Camilla from Sweden (though she is curently living in Amsterdam), and oh yes, Juan Manuel, el profesor. Juan Manuel is 23 years old and is probably the equivalent of an American who has just gotten out of school and is going to teach English somewhere before they figure out what they really want to do (only he is teaching Spanish). This is his first time teaching a group class, and I think we are exhausting him. After class yesterday, I was walking out with him and another student, and he asked the student if he had a smoke. He went on to explain that he had given up cigarettes for the day but after class, he had to have one. Oops! I think he must be muy frustrated.

But class is good. And I am the nerd that sits right next to the teacher and asks too many questions and pats myself on the back when I get something right. I am so determined to learn this! It really is unfortunate that we are forced to learn languages during college when we could not care less about actually learning them. When we choose to learn something because we really want to learn it, it´s much more effective. I went home after class last night and studied my vocabulary and did my homework and wrote down useful verbs and phrases. Dork!

But I will say that after one day of class and studying on my own, I am making some progress. Over steak last night, I told Rosa that the cemetary had lots of cats and the school was very beautiful. She is still speaking to me in English a lot because she gets that I don´t get it, but we are taking baby steps here. I will get it.

Okay, I am sitting in the school now, on a short break during class, trying furiously to finish this post! I was going to try to write about what I did this morning, but I will wait til tomorrow to get into that. Don´t want you to have too much to read, after all!