I do not understand why it takes me so long to unpack my stuff. This is why I was never fully moved into my apartment. So of course my clothes are still in the luggage and the luggage is still on the floor outside of the closet. Ah well. No pasa nada (as they say here which basically means “it’s whatever” or “don’t sweat it” or “don’t worry about it”). I am so proud of myself and what I did today. I woke up mad early around 10 am and made it out of the house around 1 pm (on schedule for me!) so I could head to my program’s office to pick up my paperwork for obtaining my residency card. I took a look at a map and figured out where I had to go and guess what? I still got lost. I swear I have no sense of direction. But luckily it was still early and I had time to wander around and find the place which I eventually did. I got my document, talked to the program director a little to brief her on my new place and how much I loved my school. After that I decided to find out where I would be teaching my clases particulares (literally “particular classes” but translated into private classes). It is right next to my program’s office so that is great! I was to meet the father of the 12 year old girl around 5:45 pm. Until then, I decided to pick up some postcards and try to see if I could buy some stamps. I found my way to the Cathedral and this little tourist shop to buy some fairly inexpensive postcards. I then walked and saw the big post office and went inside where I was entirely too confused so I left. I’ll do one thing at a time (in other words, I bought the postcards today, so I will be buying the stamps on another day). I went to the Tourist Office where I was able to get the coveted bus guide map (my friends and I had been confused as to where to find one. Many people had to be asked and we still never found out where to find them). I felt so good I had to treat myself…to food. I stopped at a little sandwich shop and bought a half of a sandwich after asking the woman what was in it and only understanding that it did not have meat. I then ate that on the way to the bus stop.
I hopped on the bus and headed to El Corte Ingles (my stop). When I got off the bus I figured I didn’t have much else to do so I might as well go to the supermarket in El Corte Ingles. I read an advertisement from there before and spotted something about tofu so I got excited. I wanted to see if they really had some tofu products. They did! (Or they do!) You should have seen my face. I was truly like a kid in a candy store. Not only did they have veggie burgers but they had veggie chicken and veggie bacon and other goodies. They also had marinated tofu! Not even some grocery stores back in the States have that. I wanted to buy up the little section but I just decided to buy some marinated tofu and some sliced cheese and chips and be good. I can always return to pick up more. This place also has a large selection of everything else. I think if you can’t find something you want in another grocery store, El Corte Ingles Supermercado will have it. They have a Tex Mex section with taco and burrito seasonings and everything you need to make some pretty good Mexican food. They also have an “Oriental” section where they have Japanese and Chinese food options and a “Latino” food section where there were some pretty interesting choices of food. It was all so beautiful. The tofu prices were decent too (considering how expensive they are in the States I would say it made sense for 2 burgers to be 3.15€-ok, not really but I can’t knock it, at least they have it). The marinated tofu I bought was 2€ and some change for 6 pieces (broken into 2 blocks of 3). All I need would be the navy beans my mom cooks them with, which I could probably find at that place too.
After that I thought I’d stop over my fellow assistant’s place and use her internet although I only had about 20 minutes before I had to leave for my private class. So I thought I was being smart leaving and trying to catch the bus at 5:30 which would only give me 15 minutes to get there, even in the States this is not plausible or probable. I was late. I got to the place 10 minutes after 6 pm. The bus was late picking up people and in turn people had tons of questions about where to go and the bus driver would wait until they were done asking their questions to pull off. Ugh. Next time I will leave early and walk. Oddly enough I ran into one of the teachers I just met last week at my school. I sat next to her and spoke to her about my stay here and everything. I told her I wanted to meet more Spanish people and she said she has a niece around my age (20 or 21) and she would get my information so we could meet. Cool beans for me! I met my student, 12 year old Blanca. She is so cute and happy. Her level of English though, very low. It was very difficult trying to ask her questions and explain things. I had to throw Spanish in there often and I normally don’t do that but she wanted to prepare for a test she would have on Wednesday. I pray she does well. I stayed there later and then asked if she had any questions at all to just ask me. So she did. And she asked me about her previous test. All in all it was a good session. More difficult than I thought but I think I will like it. She asked me if we would have exams (like if I would give them) and I asked her if she wanted them. She told me she didn’t care so I said we would have some. Funny, never thought I’d be administering tests to ANYBODY. After we finished, her father and I spoke some (he speaks a little bit of English) and he told me he basically visited the entire east coast. Then he talked to me about Blanca and the passing of her mother and how it affected her. It was really sad. I can tell she is a bright girl and she is super sweet. I was definitely content with the idea of teaching her. I will like teaching her on Mondays and Wednesdays because it gives me something else to do and another way to pass the time. Once I get my life together, I will begin volunteering and exercising. This is after I get the internet of course. On to the next day…
No comments:
Post a Comment