spechul shekshun

haven't been up to much, but still finding myself with not a lot of time on my hands. class is taking up a lot more time than any of us had expected. still have time to run around every now and then, and perhaps go out for some drinks and tapas, but that's probably not the best idea. or is it?

doesn't help that the profesora has pretty much singled me out to be the class idiot. i haven't made attempts to talk to her outside of class, but she's been coming up to me (before and after class, mind you) and asking me if i want to switch to a lower level.

so i'm a bit rusty. eff off. that's what i wanna say, but you know me. i like to buy into it and lower people's expectations only to later wow them with my dazzling grammatical prowess.

except i'm lazy and probably will never get around to the latter part of my plan.

everything is in spanish, but when she speaks to me--and only to me--it's in english b/c i'm just that good.

she suggested talking to lucia, the ciee coordinator, to see if i wanted/could switch from advanced liberal arts to regular liberal arts. ALA students are allowed to matriculate directly into the university system here b/c they're fluent enough in spanish to keep up in university classes. LA students aren't allowed direct matriculation and only take classes at the ciee center with other american exchange students.

i feel like everyone is either a spanish major/minor or has studied abroad for at least 10 months in some other spanish speaking country. for me, it's been years since i last touched anything related to the spanish language. most of my 2 months in chile (2 years ago?) were spent scrounging around in dumpsters looking for food and being forced to "put the lotion on" whilst my host mama walked around in leather straps and a zippered ski mask.

but i digress.

adding the fact that i'm just naturally slow, then it shouldn't be surprising that i just need a little more time to get going.

maybe i fooled the evaluators and should be in LA instead? i can understand and speak spanish well enough, but i haven't read a lick of it for the longest time.

on the plus side, i am finally starting to get a feel for what it's like for the kids i tutor and why it's so difficult to get them to read. i don't understand half of what the hell i'm reading and large, detailed paragraphs are intimidating. long chapters are impossible b/c once you get lost in the first few pages, there's no way to claw your way back. practicing helps, but you don't want to practice b/c it takes too much effort, and like i am doing now, you try to put off reading for as long as possible.

also, the influence of one's environment has been reemphasized. ever since my prof decided i was stupid, and approached me all condescendingly, i kinda don't want to show her my true spanish skeelz (1337 as they are).

this is a reminder to myself that when i go back to teaching/tutoring, which doubtlessly i will since this has been such a good learning experience for me, i should be more proactive in encouraging my students. instead of waiting for them to do well before i comment, i will comment that i know that they can do well.

wow, look at me being all grown up and shit.

enough of that. back to procrastinating. i'm going to go raid the kitchen.

boogala boogala!