It´s a new morning and my first day of class. I got ready and took pictures of the condo before I left. The pictures don´t look as bad, so I will give it another chance. (Besides me, only Gina would tolerate the condo.) I took my breakfast with me, picked up a Chai Tea at Starbucks and walked to the beach near the ferry dock. The first person I met was a guy from the South Side of Chicago (but he´s a Cubs fan). He´s living and working in Play Del Carmen as a Dive Instructor and he sells tours.
Jungle-Caribe
I swung by the hotel, Jungla-Caribe to say "hi" to Paolo on my way to class.
Spanish Immersion
The school is located directly next to Byblos restaurant. It´s not far from the Blue Parrot. It´s a decent walk from the condo as it´s at the other end of Playa, but I can get my exercise.
When I arrived at the school, I met Jane, who is also attending classes. We were early, so we went for a walk to another Starbucks so that she could get some coffee and I got a Coca Cola Lite.
Arturo is our teacher. The class consists of 5 of us, and everyone knows way more Spanish than I do! (I think it´s odd that our teacher does not speak English. I asked him for help with my blog and he had no idea how to speak English. I got help from the German guy sitting next to me.)
Tabatha almost fell off of her chair when I guessed that Arturo drew a ¨donkey.¨
Class is from 9:30 to 1:30 every day with a half hour break at noon. (Yes, Mandy, I will be starving every day!) I still haven´t eaten lunch yet at the time of this writing.
¿Verb...What´s a Verb?
Speak, work, live and eat (like the story of my life!)
Verbs are way over my head. I don´t know what I´m going to do tomorrow.
Students
Tabatha is a Producer and Director and she is currently producing "Myth Busters." She´s from New Zealand and England, but lives in a new country every 3 months. Tabatha was engaged to a guy from Portugese, so she knows a lot of Spanish.
Jane is from California and she´s in her 40´s and has a 14 year old son. She works in a Respiratory Therapist.
Mary Ann and Martha are friends from Norway. They are in their 20´s and both are students.
There is one guy who came here from China not knowing any other language at all. And you think I´m adventurous? There´s also a guy who has been here since December....doesn´t that sound wonderful?
Lunch
I had a memorable lunch at Palapa Hemmingway´s. It was a salad with goat cheese and Blueberry vinaigrette.
Wal-Mart
I walked to Wal-Mart to get some groceries and took a taxi back to the condo. Mandy, I took some pictures for ya!
Homework
I went to the beach to practice my Spanish and do my homework. I ordered a Banana Colada and they brought out chips and salsa, so no need for dinner!
I walked up and down 5th Avenue doing my homework assignment, which was to find different Spanish words beginning with specific letters. Everyone was so helpful, especially when they saw me walking around with my notebook. The most unusual word someone gave me was cowboy. A lady who owns a rooftop bar and restaurant that just opened used to teach English in Mexico City and she offered to help me.
As I was walking past the La Rana Cansada Hotel and Bar and the owners of the Hotel and the owners of Java Joe´s called me over to have a drink with them. I didn´t have a drink, but I stopped and chatted with them for a while. They were very friendly and one of their friends used to work in Wauconda, IL. Boy, it´s a small world!
I met Hugo Belasco, a Mayan Palace Rep, at Starbucks at 10:00 p.m. so he could help me with my Spanish. We stayed for about an hour and a half. As we were talking, I mentioned the book, The Secret and he said it sounded like ¨the law of attraction¨ and it is! Isn´t that odd that he knew that? I mean, what are the chances? It´s a great book. I finished it at the airport. I highly recommend it to everyone!....sorry, but I´m giving my copy to Luis.
P.S. My Secret Clinical held up all day and I highly recommend it.
Hasta mañana!
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7 comments:
Well hopefully it is tolerable enough to sleep in. I'm sure you'll be away most of the day. As for verbs, o,as,a, amos, an. It gets easier once you get the hang of it. Do you have some sort of book, workbook? Enjoy this experience, I wish I could have done it with you.
I am sorry to hear about your Easter Flight, but glad that you got there safe. How long do you think you are going to last at the condo- sounds kinda shaddy? Be safe when you are walking all that way, I bet the beach is a beatiful walking path. Thank goodness for Starbucks huh. Myth Busters- I LOVE THAT SHOW. My kids are going to freak out that you are by her. Their favorite show is the one with the hairdryer in the bathtub.....Anyway, I hope you are learning lots and having a great time. Take care and talk to you soon.
Gina, don´t worry! We might be coming back together. LOL
Mandy, totally safe. Thousands of people everywhere! Adios!
Hey, how is it going. I just read a post on the Coba and the roof of the Mikado caught on fire. I remember you saying you were going there on a day pass. Tell Annemarie I said hello. If your not happy with your condo check out the Hacienda El Caribe. It looked pretty nice and not to expensive. It was about a block off 5th Ave not too far from the ferry dock. Enjoy the weather they are calling for plowable snow here this week. Good luck with the Spanish!
Renee, is that your comment about the Coba? I don´t recognize the Sports Center address. Thanks for the information. I will send them an e-mail. There are a lot of great places to stay here and this guy was awesome. Now, he´s just blaming the cleaning lady. I´m sure that she´s not in charge of the maintenance too. The place could be beautiful.
Yes, it is Renee. When are you going to the GBPC? The high today is to reach 46 degrees. I will trade you placed.
Renee, thanks for filling me in. I e-mailed them and I guess it was worse than the roof...it was practically the whole restaurant. It´s almost been redone already. They work really fast. Not sure when I´m going down there yet, but it will be soon. Yes, I´m lucky to be going again. The weather has been great here.
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