Hoy Dia Escribí El Primer Examen

¡Practicamos!

A political cartoon that I had to describe to the class,

telling them (in Spanish, of course!) ¿que pasa?

Mí profesora, Cecelia, yo, y un otra profosor, Leo

She taught our class. He graded my exam.

Our Classroom and my fellow students

The stairway in the school, lookin down.

There are 28 steps between the floors. High ceilings!

Today I wrote my first exam at the school. After two weeks of study, we are given an exam to see whether or not we can progress to the next level. The proctor of my exam, Leo (pictured above) first gave me instructions and then, I wrote. For one section he asked me questions and I answered them. There were also multiple choice, fill-in the blank, multiple choice, name the opposite (example, for pequeño one has to write grande, its opposite. There were also questions to answer and an paragraph to write.

I took the trip alone, and a day ahead of the rest of the school because I am one of 16 people going on an excursion to Mendosa, a province in the Ándes, for a weekend outing. There were a number of times the professor and I were just talking about things -- life in Texas, his studies of other languages, the noise in the hall, etc. It was fun! If I were taking the test with my class, there would have been none of that! Anyway, after I took the test Leo graded it, discussing with my my mistakes. My score (...drumroll, please!) -- was 92! Leo said several times, "this is very, VERY good!" I was pleased. And as he reviewed the test with me, I was aware that half of my mistakes were due to inattention, so I COULD, have I been more careful (and not talked/flirted with the professor?!) been a 96! Four points were for things I simply didn´t get right.

At any rate, I feel VERY good about the test. Hooray! And now, I advance to the next level. Next week I will be in a new class, though three of us will continue together. We will have a new teacher, as everybody gets a new teacher every two weeks.

Cecelia has been a GREAT teacher. I have appreciated her teaching ability, most especially her ability to teach Spanish in spanish. Remarkable.

I have little time now, but let me briefly fill you in on some other happenings. First, the computer. As far as I know, it will be ready on Monday. I say that because I called yesterday, on Wednesday, to talk with the technician. I called from the same shop in which I´m currently renting a computer, which is about two blocks from the school. The phones are in tiny booths that give you the illusion of privacy with out all the trappings of privacy. In truth, you´re better able to hear the street traffic and the people talking with one another in the store than you are the person you call. Add to that the fact that I don´t have the language for negotiating with a computer technician in person, let alone over the phone, and you can have a clue as to why I say I think he said that they will have it repaired by Monday! Here´s hoping.

Second, I was very excited to have a peculiar problem yesterday. I was in a health food store to purchase dried fruit, speaking with the shop owner. I had spoken with her previously on another shopping trip. I was trying to tell her that I regret that I am leaving Buenos Aires so soon, and that if I had it to do over again, I would chose to stay here longer. But we´ve not covered future or conditional tenses yet, so in the middle of my conversation with her, quite literally, my brain just stopped! I couldn´t say anything, either in Spanish or English. I couldn´t THINK of anything at that moment. I simply ran out of the capacity to speak or think. How cool is that?! I was totally thinking in Spanish. It was exciting! As I stood there for a moment, my brain´s parking brake fully engaged, the woman stared at me with a rather alarmed look on her face. When I was able to kick-start my thinking process, I said, lo siento, pero no tento tense futuro ´(I´m sorry, but I don´t have future tense.). She smiled broadly and laughed, repeating ah, no tienes futuro! (Oh, you don´t have a future!)

Finally, Gary, a member of my class who was born in Oklahoma and has never been liberated from his strong Oklahoma accent, said a very funny thing to me today. He said, "You know, Bill, on the first day of class, I though, ´wow, this guy´s a little weird.´ Then, the other day, you prooved it. Our teacher said, ´today we learn preterito imperfecto,´and y ou said, ´Oh! That´s my favorite tense!"

Ok... maybe you had to be there! But I think it´s pretty funny.

I must go now. I need to return to the apartment (30 minutes away), get my duffle bag, and return to the school for the trip to Mendoza.

THANK YOU, one and all, for holding me in your thoughts and prayers, and also for reading my blog. I appreciate your joining me on this journey. And thanks, too, to those who have written responses, either here in the blog, or to me in person. Mucho gusto.

Hasta luego.

-- Bill