Today is Dia del Amigo - day of the friend. I have no idea what this day is or where it started, but there are signs all over the place for things you can buy for dia del amigo - chocolates, trinkets, food, etc. A few weeks ago we had la semana dulzura - sweets week - you were supposed to give someone a sweet and they in turn would give you a kiss. I found out about it a week too late - so I didn't get any kisses.
I went to McDonald's today. It has been 7 weeks that I've been here and I have not once stepped foot in an American fast food joint, other than to use the bathrooms at McDonald's. Well, today, I decided to walk through the Recoleta on the way to school. It was a beautiful walk in the brisk morning sunshine. I was looking for a cafe but nothing caught my interest. I wanted to sit outside and didn't want to sit where there were car and bus fumes, and then I came across the McCafe! I don't know if we have McCafes in San Francisco, but I know I have never seen one until I got here. I really wasn't expecting much, but I got a macchiato and tiramisu. I was feeling very low energy and thought the coffee and something sweet would perk me up.
They were both not bad. I'm not sure how good the tiramisu really was, but for McDonald's, it was not bad. It actually seemed like real tiramisu. And I have to say the coffee was quite good. Better than in a lot of restaurants, and definitely better than in our cafeteria at school.
It took me quite a while to walk across town to school and by the time I got there it was lunchtime. I went to the same restaurant as yesterday and had a breaded, fried chicken breast and steamed vegetables again. The vegetables were oversteamed again, but it was a decent lunch.
Today Nancy and I were supposed to do something in class. I had decided I was going to teach a lesson using a song. I wanted to do something that was along the lines of how I wanted to be taught. Nancy told a story of a whale. I'm not sure why she did that. It was the story of Keiko, the whale from "Free Willy", who was discovered in a tank outside of Mexico City and who was very unhealthy because the tank was too small and he was very unhappy. He was moved to Oregon to a bigger tank after children around the world sent money to set him free. There he was happier and gained weight and got stronger, but he was supposed to be set free. The only way that could be done was if they found a pod of whales that spoke the same language as him. They found this pod off the coast of Iceland. So he was moved to another tank there and they gradually started letting him swim out into the ocean to join this other pod of whales. Well, he didn't like the ocean and preferred his tank and he didn't like the other whales. The money from the foundation was beginning to run out and they didn't know what to do. The problem was solved when he died. That's the story.
It was actually interesting because she used the board a lot and spoke at a level that I could understand, so I didn't mind a whole lot. We had a brief discussion afterwards.
After the break it was my turn. I used a song by Ricardo Arjona called "Mojado", which is about the undocumented who cross the border to work in the US. My objective was to try to get the students to work with one another while doing the different exercises I had. They did work together a little, but Daniel seemed kind of spaced out and Cynthia doesn't like to do anything that involves reading. She gave her opinion on things in the song but based on her imagination and not the actual words of the song. It was a very strange experience trying to teach a class in Spanish. Claudia kept interrupting too and changing the topic, which made it kind of difficult for me to keep them focused on what we were doing. But overall, it went well, and Nancy said she liked the lesson. She is always asking about vocabulary and I had a vocabulary matching exercise where they had to use the context of the song to guess the meanings and choose the correct definition. She liked that, and I have to say it worked really well.
I had a nice walk home and I'm now drinking a glass of wine and planning on cooking dinner at home tonight. I am 99% cured, but still feel like there is some congestion in my chest. I want to be well for the weekend as this is my last weekend here. I read yesterday that this year has been the worst outbreak of bronchitis in X years (I forget how many). I might have had bronchitis, but since I didn't go to the doctor and treated myself, I'll never know, but I think the antibiotics definitely helped.
I'm glad I'll be going home soon. I've had a great time, but I am ready for familiar surroundings, clean air and Trader Joe's. I'm also tired of being a student and struggling to try to express myself. It's only been 7 weeks, and I'm ready to call this study thing quits, I can't imagine how my students do it year after year. Now I understand why they drop out of class after half a semester.
I bought a pair of tango shoes last night. I stopped in several shops and the pickings are pretty slim for me. I don't really like the style of tango shoes and would rather just wear a regular pair of shoes with a good sole for dancing. I think I might see if I can get a pair of shoes and have a suede sole put on them. The tango shoes are really kind of ...well, I don't know what word to use, but they are not shoes I am particularly attracted to. The newer styles are even worse than the traditional ones with very odd colors like red, neon green and orange.
Anyway, I stopped in a store not far from here called Tango Brujo. The woman who worked there was very nice and very helpful. At another shop I went to that is near school, I was ignored, and I went to one across the street from that one, but didn't know the difference between the different soles and the clerk wasn't that helpful. But at Tango Brujo, the clerk was very helpful, spent a lot of time with me and told me my Spanish was good! That sealed the deal for me! I decided I'd spend my money in a place where I got decent service, since the shoes at all of these places seem the same. They are all handmade and the prices seem pretty standard.
They also have classes there, but I'd have to lead and I'm not ready for that yet, so I'm sticking with my private lessons for now.
I bought a pair of black suede shoes with a suede sole. They are ok, I'm not crazy about them and doubt if I will end up going home with tons of tango shoes like I thought I would. I think the only thing I really want to buy a lot of is tea. It's lightweight, it's healthy and the teas here are not like what I can find in San Francisco - one of my favorites is camomile with anise.
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