I can’t believe it’s only Thursday! The 4 days of Spanish classes feels like a month, probably because we have covered what Juan teaches in over a month of classes in just these 4 days. Review of what I already knew and covered much new ground. I keep telling him that my head is going to explode!!
This morning I went ahead and took a taxi to Spanish class because I hurt my little toe and wearing walking shoes didn’t feel good. So I wore flip flops (or as Mary and I call them ‘flops’) and wasn’t planning on doing much walking. I got to the corner by the school early and exchanged some US money for Córdovas. Then I arrived to the classroom about 20 minutes early. It was a great time to review yesterday’s lesson before Juan arrived.
We had a great time together. Juan is an exceptional teacher. He and my friend Oliver in Rogers are 2 of the best teachers that I have ever had. God has really gifted them teaching ability. And I’m thankful to get the benefit of their skills.
One of the things that Juan had me to today was to tell him in English what the process of traveling by plane is. He has never flown and wanted to know all the details. It also gave me a very exercise in using words that I wasn’t aware that I knew in Spanish! We talked about checking in, security, waiting, boarding, what the space inside the plane is like, instructions from the flight attendants, announcements from the pilots, food, bathrooms, preference regarding aisle seats vs window seats, customs and immigration, etc. At one point he asked about the safety announcements by the flight attendants. I gave him pretty much a word-for-word example of the announcements, including location of emergency exits, oxygen masks and seat cushions that are used as flotation devices. I told him the seat cushion thing is not all that comforting to me, since I think if you end up in the ocean, you probably hit hard enough to be dead. But anyway… He asked ‘when do they tell you about how to use the parachutes?’ I said ‘there are no parachutes’. He said what if something happens to the plane while it’s flying?’ I gave him a wave and said ‘so long’. We both started laughing and couldn’t quit until we had tears in our eyes. We discussed this later in the English class with the guys and decided that 1. The air would not be breathable to jump out, 2. Everyone would get tangled up with each others parachutes, and 3. Probably that last thing that the flight attendants would say is ‘buenas suerte’ which means ‘good luck’. I’m sure we will laugh about parachutes for a long time to come.
At the end of the Spanish class, we talked about Simple Present Tense verbs and it was so much easier than the other 6 tenses we have studied this week, that I was happy and excited to leave the week on that note. Juan likes it when I get excited about what I am learning. I think he appreciates seeing his students understanding and being enthusiastic. I’m loving it!!!
After Spanish class, I walked downtown to Central Park. I stopped in at a shop at Plaza del Carmen and bought a couple pairs of sandals. I had a nice chat with the owner of the shop. She is always so nice to me.
Then I walked to Al Carbón restaurant and treated myself to churrasco (steak) for lunch. It was very good. The waiter was very nice and wanted to practice his English. I was sitting near the open courtyard and enjoyed the breeze. I made my to-do list for the day, weekend, and next week. Very enjoyable downtime for me. The waiter was explaining their lovely desserts, but I was too full to have any. Maybe one day I will stop in there just for the dessert. That will be fun.
It started raining as I was leaving the restaurant. I walked in the rain for a while. I stopped at a music store to see if I could find some drumsticks with the cushiony ends so that when Manuel plays the drums it won’t be so loud. They didn’t have any. They wondered why I wanted them and in my limited Spanish, I explained they were for a little boy. They smiled knowingly.
Then I walked to a Kodak store to get some pictures printed. These pictures were from last Sunday when Mike preached at Rose of Sharon CC church for a special service for their leadership. I took a picture of the group up front being prayed over by Mike and also of the whole group standing together after the service. The shop was out of 8x10 photo paper, so I had some 4x6 copies made for now. I will give these to Pastor Marvin tomorrow when we go to the Women’s Bible Study. Anyway, I had to leave the images from my camera card and go back and pick up the pictures in a couple of hours.
In the meantime, I walked to the sewing/crafts store next to La Unión grocery store. I got drenched. Jason, the guy who helps us find parking spaces when we go to the grocery store (we can find our own spaces, but he likes to get tips), was standing at the steps by the sidewalk. He took my elbow and helped me up the steps in the pouring rain. It was nice to see him and get a little help. I looked like a drowned rat. Good thing I like to keep my hair short so it will dry quickly. Anyway, the store was great. They have a little bit of everything there. A very nice clerk helped me find some thread, a bobbin, seam rippers, pin cushion and elastic. I told her I was glad that their store was there and I would be shopping often.
Next I went to another store nearby and the clerks asked if they could help me. I told them in Spanish that I was just looking around. I told them I was also learning and practicing my Spanish. One clerk noticed how wet I was and asked if I wanted to buy an umbrella. I was glad to! They asked where I’m from and I thanked them for helping to practice my vocabulary. Of course, as soon as I bought the umbrella, the sun came back out! LOL
I looked at sandals along this long hallway between stores that has a ton of inexpensive shoes. I found a cute pair of lavender sandals to wear with some of my skirts to church. Only $5.
I then walked to a couple of fabric stores to get material to make more Bible bags. I found a couple of different prints that would work okay. At one store, the clerk became talkative when I told him I was learning Spanish. I always feel that I have to explain that I am learning, even though it is evident that I’m not fluent. But I think that it breaks the ice more if I admit to them that I know that I’m not very good yet. It seems to make a difference in the way they treat me. They are more friendly. Anyway, this guy spoke a little English and said that he likes to speak English because it sounds nice. He did pretty well.
I stopped in a couple of other stores to price some clear vinyl. I have a project I want to try that requires it. Maybe I’ll get to play with it this week.
I stopped in a little libreria to get some more receipt books for Mike. It’s a store that German took Mary and I to and it’s very nice with lots of notebooks, pens, etc.
Then I stopped at a store that has household goods. I got a bag with handles to carry all the little plastic bags I was trying to carry. I also picked up a little cutting board for the kitchen corner of my room.
I still had some time to kill before picking up the pictures, so I stopped at Eskimo and had a double cone (café and chocolate). Yum!
When I got to the Kodak store, the clerk (who was practicing his English on me today) was just trimming my photos. They turned out good and we not very expensive.
I grabbed a taxi back to the school for the English class and arrived right on time. Jonathan was already there and we started talking about the verses in the Bible that Mike had him look up. I have loaned my bilingual NIV/NVI Bible to him and Salvador. When I asked Jonathan if he had read much of the Bible since I loaned it to them on Monday night, he showed me how he had started a chart of geneology in Genesis and mentioned how old people lived until the flood happened. He amazes me at the hunger he has for learning. I told him to keep the Bible for a while and keep reading it. I may go ahead and give it to them. I have another bilingual Bible here, but it’s RVR/NIV. But I think I can do okay with it and bring down another NIV/NVI one on my next trip. Anyway, it was great to see him diving into it.
English class was so great this afternoon! Juan had asked me to have some kind of story ready for the guys to translate. He wanted them to listen to full sentences and paragraphs and get used to having to store it in their memory before speaking. I had a copy of Creation to Christ Story, which Lori McDaniel had sent me to learn to help me teach oral learners about the Bible. I had not went over it much yet, due to all the other studying that I have been doing. I thought this might be a good example for the guys to translate. It was great! There are 8 parts to this story and each guy took turns listening to me say one sentence at a time in English and translating it in Spanish. Juan was there to help and correct. We all learned new words and phrases in each other’s language. We went through the entire thing twice. Once I read it and they translated it. Then they wanted to read it aloud themselves. So they took turns reading it and did an awesome job. I am soooo proud of both of them. The pages are the story, plus some questions to ask the listener and scripture references for the story teller. I gave the copy to the guys to keep. They will read it many times over. I hope to get the chance to ask them the ‘key question’ about it soon. God is working on their hearts to accept Christ. They have a lot of baggage from being cultural Catholics, but are becoming aware of the Gospel. I’ll just keep tending those seeds as we go along.
Juan had some verbs (70) for me to memorize the definitions and congugations in different tenses, but he had forgot to make the copies of the pages. Jonathan and Salvador walked me to a cyber store (internet place) to get some copies made. Then they walked me to the corner to hail a taxi. Traffic was kind of weird because a large group of people on motorcycles, pedicabs, trucks, etc were gathered on the main road and police were blocking it off for them. It was kind of a political parade. They had red flags. Other people that they passed were showing their red and black flags, so I guess the plain red flags represent a opposition party. There is another large party that has blue and white flags. I can’t keep up with it all. There will be elections in a few weeks, so this will probably happen a lot. Anyway, we had to wait a while for a taxi to come along. Jonathan took Juan’s book back to him. Salvador waited with me until I got in the taxi. They have a final test on Saturday for the ‘level’ they are studying in English. I told them I would pray for them as they study and take the test.
The taxi driver was nice and when he pulled into the Texaco station for gas he told me ‘sorry’. But I told him that I wasn’t in any hurry. He also picked up another fare on the way to take me home. It’s funny how they do that.
I couldn’t get my phone call to go through to Alberto to open the little gate, so I had to knock loud. He had called me at the beginning of my English class to check on me since I had not come home this afternoon. He takes good care of me, but sometimes I feel like I have a husband when he asks when I’m coming home. LOL
I got in and fixed a baked potato with half a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup on it. It was kind of like mushroom gravy that way. I called Manuel to tell him that I missed seeing him today. We made plans to play tomorrow. I don’t have morning class, so I’ll have time to pretend with him. He wants to pretend to be husband and wife. He’s so funny. Sherry is going to cut my hair tomorrow. This is the longest time I have went between haircuts in a long while. Leslie thinks I should let it grow out. 99% of women here have long hair and wear it in pony tails or buns. But I like my short for when I sweat, wear caps or get rained on.
I felt like some visual stimulation this evening, so I watched a Disney movie ‘Tangled’ on my computer. I’m glad that Manuel brought some movies down. ☺ I will watch it again in Spanish one of these days.
Now it’s past my bedtime and I’m going to go to bed a very relaxed and contented lady. This has been a whirlwind week and I’m ready to get some different things taken care of tomorrow, go to Rose of Sharon CC Women’s Bible study and do a little sewing.
God has been so gracious to me this week. I’m so thankful for all the blessings. I really feel like this is ‘home’ and I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful for everything. And I know that I am blessed.
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