Right, as I said earlier I was saving my opinions about one of the new girls because it was too early to judge. Well, now its later and my original opinion stands firm: she sucks. I can't even express how much disdain I have for this Scottish girl. She is rude, obnoxious, and just plain terrible at life. After it was brought to my attention that my 'tone' when addressing her was a little harsh (it's like Keith and Monique came to Spain with me) I chilled out a bit. While I didn't go out of my way to talk to her, I was still more pleasant when in her company. Then she got worse; not talking to anyone else, putting her headphones on when we were all together, and of course, my favorite, doing absolutely nothing for the Halloween play except screw up the one task she was given. Yeah...I was done. What's worse is other teachers are saying things to me about her wondering what her story is. Everyone notices that she is making absolutely no effort to get to know anyone, and what's worse is that she doesn't make an effort in class. On Thursday we had a nice little altercation (clearly I was the victor) and I think she realizes where I stand. Of course I know this doesn't mean she's going to change (nor would I have expected it to) but I hope she realizes that I have four years of girl-fight bitchiness saved up from high school since I never used it back then! I kid...but seriously.
On a positive note my Spanish is getting better at a steady rate. I've always had troubling learning a language. I'm not sure if it was because, believe it or not, I was always too shy in class to talk or if because my mind just doesn't grasp languages, or something else entirely, but I just could never seem to learn Spanish. When I first arrived in Madrid last year I was beyond nervous, I was always afraid to speak because I thought I'd be wrong. Even at school with the teachers I had a difficult time speaking Spanish and feeling comfortable. As the year progressed I started to recognize the things I was learning, I started noticing that I was understanding people better and taking directions well. When friends and family came to visit the role of translator obviously fell to me and it felt good. I know I didn't get everything correct, but I was understood and able to get everything we needed. Big confidence boost. I was nervous about going home for a month and not using my Spanish this summer, but something great happened. I realized that I was still thinking in Spanish and practicing how I would report back to my Spanish friends the things that had happened to me. For most of the summer when I returned to Madrid I was on my own. All that time forced me to be self sufficient and proactive with the upcoming year. Now, for the first time in my life, I feel confident in my Spanish speaking ability. While I would never say that I'm even close to fluent, I can easily say that I can take care of myself. Things are starting to fall into place and I'm able to grasp concepts that have alluded me for some time now. I'm excited to learn new words and phrases and, to the dismay of my friends, I practice using them...a lot. One more year here and I'll be set!
My classes outside of school have been pretty great. As I mentioned before I have a private class twice a week with 7 and 10 year old brothers. They are so funny and fun to work with. I spend a half an hour with each but it always flies by. They have a 3 year old brother who is also learning English at his school and loves to come in and show me what he's learned. As of now he's learned "no", "green", and "blue", but I'm sure he'll surprise me with something new this week. At the academy my adult classes are also going well. My private classes with Nayda are a breeze because we just talk about life, since I've been having classes with her since last Fall. The lower level of my group classes is decent, not has funny as the other but they try hard. Recently I taught them "hickey" because one of them came in with a giant one on their neck, he wasn't phased at all. The other group classes always has me laughing. There are five of them and we all get along so well. There's a perfect dynamic in the room and activities go over well. Three of the girls are still in highschool so we always have a good laugh over how ridiculous their days are with exams and highschool drama. This is by far my favorite class of adults I've ever had. I hope the class stays the same into next year.
On Sunday I went to the annual Botillo lunch/dinner with friends from work. Last year it was held at Juanma's house but this year there were too many people so we had it at Gabriel's parents' house. Gorgeous house with a terrace and patio to congregate on, and believe it or not in the middle of November we were able to have dinner outside and stay out until 6pm. This year four more teachers from school came as well as some friends of Gabriel's wife. In total we were fifteen and it couldn't have been more perfect. Once again I did not eat the food because it was meat and because it looks like one of the most revolting things ever...but I heard it was good. The company was good, the conversations were lively, and the wine flowed. Perfect end to the weekend. (ps I know my bangs are messed up in the picture and a ton of people are missing.)
Negative: Not being able to stay overnight at the farm with the teachers.
Positive: Seeing Conchi and Esteban after such a long time.
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