Finished with that school crap...

It is very strange what my hand is doing in this photograph. The woman who took this photo, took three of me, Marcela and Claudia, and all three of them are blurred. I look horrible in all three, but Marcela, who is in the front with the reddish hair, looks adorable in every one. I have to say, Claudia doesn't look too hot either. Marcela looks like a little angel and we're two demons behind her.

Well, I'm finished. I now have two certificates, one certifying that I completed level 6 and the other for level 7.

I got up at 8 this morning, which was earlier than I've been getting up (normal wake up time has been 9 for me lately), but I also went to bed earlier - 12:30.

I took a quick shower, checked my e-mail (and maybe sent some) and had some tea, a little yogurt drink and some walnuts and then had to rush out to be at school by 9:30. I left here about 8:50.

I walked quickly down Florida Street to the subte station on Corrientes. I figured if I was going to travel the subte at rush hour, I was going to get on the train where I'd be able to sit. It took me about 10 minutes to get to the station and when the train arrived, sure enough, it was empty and I got a seat. I got to Pasteur Station at about 9:15.

I would have taken a taxi, but I think it was actually faster to go by subte at that hour. Also, I only had two hundred peso bills and didn't want to chance a taxi with a large bill.

I was able to get change in the cafeteria at school and had a medialuna with ham and cheese (which was quite strange because the medialuna was sweet), and a cafe con leche.

I went upstairs and Nancy motioned for me to go to the classroom she was entering. I went in and the two of us sat and eventually Ignacio came in and wrote some information on the board. He then looked at us and told us we were in the wrong room. Martin had told Nancy we'd be in room 301, which is where we were, but in fact, we were supposed to be in room 307.

When we got to 307, students were there and had already begun their exam. This was the 2nd time I arrived late even though I was at school on time!

The exam was about sources of alternative energy, specifically bio-fuels like ethanol and cane. It had nothing (really) to do with global warming, so I watched an Inconvenient Truth for nothing. Fortunately, the article was easy to understand.

There were two vocabulary from context questions, where we had to guess the meaning of two words that were very new for us. I really liked that exercise. There were some true false and then some comprehension questions. For the true/false, we had to justify our answers. I also liked that part.

Then came the hard parts. The stupid grammar!

The first grammar exercise was fill in the blank. There was a paragraph with words missing and we had to choose from a list to complete it. It was very difficult and I know this is where I made the most mistakes.

The 2nd grammar part was rewriting incorrect sentences to correct them. This wasn't so bad but I might have messed up a little here too.

In the last part we had to write, choosing either to respond to the ideas in the article or about one of the readings that we read in class. I wrote about the article and how we need to find alternative energy sources, but also reduce our consumption. It wasn't that hard.

I got 90 points on the written part of the exam. So did Nancy. Cynthia got 63 or something like that. She said her writing was bad.

Then we had a 2 hour break until we had to return for the oral exam. Ugh.

Nancy took me to the office of GIC, the program I signed up with that charged me the twice the amount that Anna paid (she registered independently). GIC offered some other activities, but I didn't take part because they were for the young kids mostly.

I had to return my cell phone and get my deposit, but the woman who had the money was not there.

So Nancy and I went to the cafe with good coffee and I had a hot pastrami sandwich. I wanted to go there to get these jars of coffee beans covered with yogurt and chocolate as gifts for my teachers to thank them for putting up with me. I got some yesterday for the guys in the little office with the big window (I guess it's the registrar's office) and they really appreciated them. They put each jar in a nice little bag and it looked like a nice token of my appreciation.

The pastrami was good, by the way.

Then we returned to school and had our oral interview.

They had the three of us - Nancy, Cynthia and I, sit together and the interviewer asked us first to introduce ourselves. Then she showed us some pictures and had us talk about them. The first was some sort of fruit stand in some tropical country, and the 2nd was a very polluted river. She then asked us some questions about immigration. It was an odd way to take an exam and I wondered if I should have spoken more than I did (because Cynthia and Nancy spoke a lot).

Then we had to wait again until 3 for our results and our certificates.

I went back to GIC and had to wait another 30 minutes for the woman with the cell phone deposits to show up. I got my deposit and went back to school where I ran into Claudia and she invited me to sit with her in the cafeteria, when Marcela joined us and we took this picture.

Finally, at 3 I went upstairs where everyone was waiting in the hall for their results.

After waiting about 30 minutes they posted the results on the wall. Everyone's names were visible as well as their scores. People crowded to see how they did, as well as how their classmates did. It was a very odd way to announce grades.

I got a 92 on my oral interview (Nancy got 93), so my total score for the semester was 91, Nancy's was 92. I didn't notice what Cynthia's was.

Come to think of it, Marcela told me this morning that class participation and homework also counted towards our grade, but I didn't see that reflected in our scores unless it was already figured in.

Well, I was satisfied. I do think I learned some things, but think my score is more a reflection of my cumulative knowledge of Spanish than what I actually learned in this school. The fact that the Chinese students in general were not passing, tells me the teaching is not that good. Those of us who did well, already had a strong base of Spanish and maybe were already at the level (or beyond).

I walked home in a sort of zig-zag through the city, snapping photos and stopping for a few empanadas on the way. I tried to enter the court building, but guard told me I couldn't (even though if I had just walked in, he wouldn't have noticed - I made the mistake of asking him if I could enter). Then I found an interesting looking synagogue and took a picture. I saw that they had these copper plates on the gate and crossed the street and took a photo of them. A guard came out of a booth and told me I couldn't take pictures. What the f%#@! I can understand security, but why can't I take a photo of a building? He told me there was a museum that was open on Tuesdays. That wasn't any help to me. I asked him what the plates were, and he said the 12 tribes of Israel. It was very interesting, but I was pissed that I got shooed away.

I stopped in the museum of the Theater Cervantes and there were lots of photos of actors and tributes to the theater in general, but the theater itself was closed for renovation.

Eventually I made my way home because it was a bit chilly out today (after the summer-like weather yesterday) and I needed to pee.

I'm having dinner with Hernan tonight, perhaps the last time I'll see him. We're going to a Spanish restaurant. I'm not going to consider any fantasies of long-distance relationships and actually we're really just friends. I hope we will keep in touch, but I know from past experience that is very unlikely. It was fun while it lasted, but like the weather, things change and people come and go.

I'm going to take a nap now to get rested up for this evening. It was a very stressful day with the testing and the waiting. Now, this school crap is officially over and done with.