I've been having tango dreams. I don't know if that is a good thing, but I hope it is an attempt at my brain to digest what I've been learning and incorporate it into my muscle memory. I think I had an alphabet dream too. Anyway, I had kind of a restless night with all of the letters and steps going through my head (not sure where the alphabet came from, but I think it would be useful for us to learn the Italian alphabet so we can spell things, but that is another subject). I went to bed at 10:30 last night, by Mario's standard, that would be early even for a toddler. I got up at 7, and was out of here by 8:15, again taking a cab to school so I could sit in the bar with a coffee and do some studying before class.
We had to read an Aesop's fable for homework. I tried reading it before but had difficulty understanding it. This morning, I was a bit more focused and decided to try to guess the meaning of words I didn't understand from context. It worked. I was able to read the fable, understand it and complete the comprehension exercises. We briefly went over it in class, but didn't really spend much time on it, which kind of bugged me (I hope I don't do that to my students - make them do homework and then not go over it, but I'm afraid I might....)
Blas, our Italian teacher seems to have different ways of treating different people in the class. He seems particularly friendly with the guys. I think he's straight, so I think this is a male bonding type of thing. He jokes with the men, including me. He calls me "Richard". I notice a lot of Spanish speakers do that when I tell them my name is Ricardo. If I wanted to use an English name, I'd rather have them call me Rick, but that is difficult for people for some reason, and they'd end up calling me Ricky. Richard comes out like Rishard. Again, off the topic. Back to how Blas treats certain people.
As I said, he likes to joke with the guys. His calling me Rishard is a kind of way of joking - it seems very affectionate and endearing. Another guy who asked a question about the Madonna, thinking it was the same as mother, is now called Jesus - with English pronunciation. Another guy who seems to speak Italian well, though I can't really tell when people are speaking Italian or Spanish, makes Blas laugh a lot and there are often lengthy exchanges between them, and there is a very blond guy named Matias who also makes Blas laugh.
Then there is a group of ladies, older women, one of them a French teacher, who Blas directs most of his "instruction" at. They are the ones who are always asking for translation and they speak a LOT of Spanish in class. One woman who sits with them is very lost, and Blas spent a little time with her last week during the break, but otherwise, he kind of ignores her.
And then my friend Hana, who is this kind of crazy girl with bleached blond hair who always wears black and has two buttons on her black bag that say "No Flogger" and "No Emo". Hana speaks very fast and I have a hard time understanding her. She has this jewel studded pink cell phone that always goes off during class. The first week it was some kind of heavy metal ring tone that made Blas play air guitar with a glam rocker face (pursed lips) several times, last week it was something different, and today it was the sound of a guy laughing. In spite of her quirkiness, Hana is a serious student and she is really trying to learn Italian.
Blas picks on her for some reason though. Perhaps because she is not like the other "normal" girls in the class? I'm not sure why. Today we were working in groups on something and Hana was in our group, but she was doing it on her own. I thought we'd check with her when we were all finished. Blas came by and kind of gave her a hard time for not working with us (because she had some wrong answers), and then he tried getting her to give him some answers and she was confused and he was getting a little testy and I felt very uncomfortable. In general, people who don't know any Italian are confused. I was helping Hana and Natalia, two of the girls in my group. Our other group mate, Claudia, seems to know some Italian.
I like that Blas has us work in groups, but I think he could do more to make the class more communicative. I really wish he created opportunities for us to practice more with one another. Instead, our groupwork involves things like filling in blanks on exercises or writing dialogues (which is a really hard thing to do in a group). The problem is we speak a lot of Spanish while doing these things. I don't know why he has not had us practice things like simple greetings, introducing ourselves, introducing other people, etc. Chapter 2 is about ordering in a restaurant. Instead of writing a dialogue, it would have been more interesting for me to have us pretend one person was a waiter and have us order food.
I spend most of the time in class trying to figure out what language is being spoken. If I didn't already know basic Italian, I think I'd be really confused. I'm enjoying the class, but I am wondering how useful it is other than for me to observe another language teacher missing opportunities to make a truly communicative language class.
After class I had a tango lesson with Marcelo. I stopped for pizza and a salad and then went to the studio at 1. Marcelo was running late and while I was waiting for him, I started to feel a little dizzy. I took a Meclizine and waited for the spinning to stop. It was a good thing Marcelo was late.
When we started my lesson, I was still a little unsteady. My unsteadiness plus the effects of the Meclizine, made it really hard for me to dance. It was a good thing I took the pill though because we were practicing giros (turns) today. If I hadn't taken the Meclizine, I surely would have had a vertigo attack.
This meniere's thing is very weird and difficult to explain to people in English. Once I had an attack at the gym and had to find a place where I could lay on the floor and vomit in a trash can. Fortuntely I was able to go into the tanning room where no one could see me. That is the closest I've ever come to having an attack in public. Every other time I was at home, or able to get home before the vomiting started. My fear is that I will have an attack in a public place and not be able to explain to people that I need to sit still without moving my head until the spinning stops, especially if I don't have medicine with me. I thought I was getting better, but the spinning today makes me think that perhaps I need a bit more time before I can consider myself out of the woods.
I'm thinking that maybe I need to start doing something like Tai Chi or Yoga and also maybe get some acupuncture while I am here. There is no known cure for Meniere's but I think I can manage it and maybe regulate my energy so that I don't have to be constantly worried about puking in public.
And so the adventure continues.
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