The week has begun. Abbey and I left late because it took her longer to feed the chickens than usual. At the road, I watched two combis zip by as I waited for Abbey to tie her shoes. We walked all the way to Inquilpata before we caught a ride.
I was feeling anxious that we wouldn’t arrive in time, but we made it twenty minutes early. I paid our fees and chatted with the one teacher awhile until our teachers arrived.
When they came, I heard the first lady telling them that I already knew a good bit of Spanish and that they’d have to change their plans for the day. My first teacher, Karen, dropped her things off in the classroom then went to make photocopies of some written work.
After chatting some, she asked what I knew. I told her some of what Rafael has been teaching me. She said she wanted to give me a more advanced placement test. I took that, and she went over my mistakes with me.
Then we went over the verbs ser, estar, and haber, which I knew already. She tested me on a set of adjective flash cards; I knew nearly all of them. She had me read her a story to test my accent, but she said I didn’t need much practice with that.
She stepped out to talk with the other teacher, Silvia, to let her know I was an advanced student so she could prepare. Karen told me she would make Tuesday more challenging.
She asked me when I was born because she thought I acted like a Virgo. I didn’t understand, but she explained that I was indeed a Virgo who was a perfectionist; she said she could tell by my note-taking. Uh-huh.
Abbey and I were given a break after a couple of hours. We went up the street and bought empenadas for lunch. Abbey spent the morning practicing the months and various animals. Her afternoon would be on artÃculos.
Karen drilled me on grammar, Silvia drilled me on Australia. Siliva’s goal seemed to be to talk as fast as she could and see if I could follow.
She introduced the verb tener, but I knew it already. I suggested she teach me about por and para because I get them confused. She gladly switched to that, and I learned a number of things.
Both teachers sent homework with me. Steph was not given homework, but I’m glad for the challenge. Silvia assigned me a lectura on my family. I wrote a few paragraphs. She wants to correct it and discuss my mistakes.
She gave me several pages of verbs to study. I did not get them memorized last night, so I think they’ll keep me challenged. I’m hoping to learn some about reflexive verbs today, which I constantly butcher.
It was a good first day.
Juan David 