First Day of Classes

Ok…the first day of classes did not go so well. I really learned how little I know of the Spanish language. Again, this is going to be a long trip, but I’m determined and a have a really nice teacher. But before I get to classes, let me explain how I got to the school. I mentioned that I didn’t have any luggage. So I wake up and shower and put on the same clothes I had on for at least 17 hours yesterday! Not wanting to wear the same dirty boxers, I hand washed the pair I had. Unfortunately, they didn’t dry before I had to be on my way. I also mentioned there was a language barrier. So trying to get directions to the school was not working out. Maria says I can follow her to catch a bus, but I tell her I will walk. She draws a map and counts off the blocks. The map shows two blocks, then a church. After 5 blocks, a bridge is drawn. I cross the bridge, go two more blocks, make a right, and walk two more blocks. I figured how hard could this be, so I take off with my wet boxers at 7:15. At 9:00, I’m still walking around trying to find this dayum school! Did I mention that it was hot, I had on the same clothes I had on yesterday, I had wet boxers, and a friggin map that had a picture of a church and a bridge!!! It looked like one of those maps from Indian Jones! For 2 hours, I was walking around using two phrases: “Hablas ingles?” and “Donde esta Nueve Lengua?” while showing people my Indiana Jones treasure map! Well, just when I was about to give up and call it a day, I walk down this street that I had already been down twice and lo and behold, the friggin school…WTF!!!

Well, now that I’m in school, the first order of business is to take a test. The test was 5 pages long. I only answered questions on the 1st page and got about a half of those wrong. So, I am placed into the LD Spanish class. My teacher is Leidy, and she is a very nice lady. Through my lessons, I learn that her husband teaches at the school and she has been married for 7 years. She has 2 children, a 6 year old boy and a 2 yr old girl. I also learned that she has been unhappy for 4 years and wants to get a divorce. Don’t even ask how my non-Spanish speaking self got that info! I did learn the word “quedate” which means to stay. As I kept telling her, “No divorce…quedate”

Anyway, she is very nice. When my luggage arrived at the school, she said I will have to take a taxi to my house. I explained that I haven’t been able to exchange any money yet, so she offered to loan me some money since the banks weren’t open at that time. I declined her offer. She seemed a little offended by that, but when it was time to go, she allowed me to share her taxi. She just had the taxi drop me off using my treasure map on her way to her next job. I made it home just in time for lunch. I missed the day’s field trip and salsa classes, but I will be ready manana!