Setback Day

Yeah, so today wasn't great. I call it "setback day." Nothing was going right:( Spanish class was brutal...we reviewed, again, preterite and imperfect verbs, which KILLS me. You see, there's this weird verb tense they use that isn't quite past tense, but kinda is. It supposedly describes things that have happened in the past, but on multiple occasions. Or, they are ongoing events. It basically boils down to a guess on my part. I keep reading various websites (in English of course, because my damned instructor WILL NOT speak English) and they really aren't helping. In addition, people in my class are all having trouble with it and it's a hurdle we just can't seem to get past. And it's not like it's something I can brush aside, because we keep coming back to it. If I were in the states, I reason that I could just use past, present, and future tenses (which I have down just fine), but he insists on hitting this GOD DAMNED imperfect tense (wow, that was kinda angry, huh?). BTW, if anyone reading this has a good tip for me, please let me know...

Class itself was really fun. I like my group a lot...I've been with the same two girls since last week. However, if I was to bitch about something (I almost always can), it would be about this OBNOXIOUS 17-year-old kid who came on Monday. He is an idiot, and frankly, I'm upset and insulted that he would even be in our class. I mean, for the love of all things holy, this kid can barely say his name in Spanish. Seriously. He can't even read the damned words in Spanish. To top it all off, he constantly beats on the desk, has an AWFUL nervous laugh, and when he's supposed to be working/concentrating, he scribbles lines on a pad of paper. Lines. It's kind of freaky. After our break today, I came back in and told our professor that if this kid stayed in the class, I'd change. He said he'd already thought about it and is going to move him. That should be that, but if it doesn't happen, I'm more than willing to voice my dissatisfaction. I'm getting good at that.

Otherwise, class is super fun. He likes to have us do role-playing (probably purely for his enjoyment). In the past, we've done such scenes as:

1. I'm the "jefe" (boss) of a company and I have to decide who out of my three employees should get a week of vacation, based on their excuses.

2. I'm an official from the health department, and I'm inspecting a "carniceria" (meat store) as a woman comes in and complains that her family was poisoned by the meat.

3. Today, we did a scene where I'm an angry "vecino" (neighbor) of a family who has a teenage daughter who plays her music too loud. I have to yell at the parents, and then go and complain to the manager of the complex. I played that roll pretty well:) LOL

4. Next up was insanely ridiculous. I had to play the father of a daughter who was terminally ill and the mother and I had to talk to the doctor and decide whether we were going to euthanize her. It was SO hard not to laugh, as I was kneeled beside her asking her if she wanted to die or not. Unbelievably, my teacher got upset with us for laughing. He kept telling us to be serious...REALLY?!

5. The final role play was me as a reporter, interviewing two of the girls who claimed they had seen aliens. I think my teacher is on crack...

So, yeah. It wasn't that the day was terrible, just frustrating. I also attempted to go to the intermediate dance class after a four-day hiatus, and that was a HUGE mistake. I stuck out the class, but then went back to the beginner class for the next hour. Unfortunately, that story doesn't have a real happy ending either. I sucked. Badly.

I've justified all of this to myself by saying that there are going to be up and down days, and today just happened to be the latter. However, (not to make this a Lifetime movie or after school special) I've realized that it's just important for me to not give up and keep giving it my best. Funny thing is, that prior to this trip I would have told you that I have a hard time being wrong. Not so much here. I'm wrong pretty much most of the day. I don't think that it's something I'll take with me when I get back stateside, but I think it's definitely been good for me to get a good taste of what that feels like and how to let go.

Alright, time to study and watch some Spanish TV.

Hasta luego y "pura vida."

Ben