Today I had my Italian class, as I do every Wednesday.
I'm beginning to get tired of Blas looking at me and shouting "Reeshaard". Today he wanted people to volunteer to talk about what they did on the weekend and no one would volunteer. So, he looked at me and said "Reeshaard?". I answered, "niente", because honestly, I had done literally nothing.
Blas, said that everyone says nothing. But apparently he didn't believe that could be the case. One of the ladies on the other side of the room said it was because I didn't want to speak. I asked her if she was a psychologist (no I didn't), so Blas pressed on. I told him I really did nothing because I had a cold. I then learned how to say "to have a cold" in Italian (it's in my notebook, I don't remember now).
The class is really kind of chaotic. It is very teacher centered for most of the time, but I do like that Blas puts us into groups, though I wish he would change the groups from time to time. We're becoming very cliquish.
The problem I have is I can not tell when Italian or Spanish is being spoken and even I am not able to control moving from one languge to the other. We really don't know enough Italian to be able to say the things we want to, and Spanish seems like a logical substitute when we don't know the word. I think Blas speaks Italian most of the time, but I am not sure. Most of the time I sit there smiling and pretending that I know what is going on, and I wait until we get into groups to ask my groupmates, or to just see what they do.
Today we learned an expression, "tenga pure il resto", which is what you say to a waiter when you want them to keep the change. But I didn't understand what "tenga pure" meant. I know tenga is have, but I don't get the pure part (in Spanish, pure de papas is mashed potatoes). I asked Blas and he explained, but I didn't understand. He then asked me as we were going over the exercise where we had to translate these expressions into our native language (Spanish) and I gave him my translation, but I didn't have it right. One of the ladies on the other side of the room, gave her translation, and that was it, but I couldn't hear it. I asked her to repeat it, and I still didn't get it. Blas asked me if I understood and I said yes.
Now I know why sometimes students say they understand when they don't. It's kind of embarrassing when everyone else seems to understand and you are the only one who doesn't.
My meeting with Raul was interesting as always. I noticed that I didn't want to speak Spanish. I was very self-concious and feeling out of practice. How did this happen? It is like I am not improving, but going in the other direction - deproving? Am I finding a way to do what I need to do with my limited Spanish and just giving up on my goal of becoming fluent? I really don't want to continue to put myself in uncomfortable situations. I'd rather sit and watch Patito Feo and understand half, than try to communicate something that is really difficult to communicate. Maybe this is a phase, but it has me worried.
I'm finding out that Raul is a bit conservative. He thinks Cristina is a communist. He also cleared up this Antonini Wilson thing. Apparently the money that Wilson allegedly brought here was from Hugo Chavez. It was 800 thousand dollars, but Wilson said there was another briefcase on the plane with 4.2 million.
The Kirchners deny that Wilson ever visited the Casa Rosada. Wilson is in Miami testifying.
I still smell a rat. Why is he in Miami?
So, here I am, about 1/3 of the way through this part of the adventure. The sicknesses have worn me out, and I feel like I've lost my momentum with both Spanish and tango. Hopefully, as I get strong again, I will be able to feel some progress again with both and begin to get excited again.
Right now I'm going to check out CNN and see what Obama's response to McCain's valient move to suspend his campaign (and get out of Friday's debate) was.
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