Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Disculpame...I know it's been a while

10.8.07

I have finally met a Spanish person my age! (Besides the one who lives with me and is introverted, so I only speak to him at meals) My program sets people up with “intercambios” which is a meeting between two people who want to learn each other’s languages. I had my first intercambio today with a girl named Veronica. She is my age (which is lucky because some people are paired with 30-year-olds) and she studies philology, which apparently is the study of different languages. I didn’t know that until today because we talked about what our areas of study were in Spanish and for the longest time I thought she was talking about philosophy and finally she had to tell me in English that she doesn’t study philosophy, but philology. A little embarrassing, but priceless. So she is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and English and is now working on Korean. ¡Dios Mío! She speaks English so well and she’s never studied in an English speaking country before. It amazes me. I’m so excited though, we will meet every week and she told me that my friends and I could go out with her and her friends because we don’t have any Spanish friends yet, which makes it really hard to learn to speak colloquial Spanish rather than like a Spanish teacher or something. Granted, we’ve barely had the opportunity to make Spanish friends because they just started school a week ago.

10.11.07

Besides my first intercambio, I’ve had a couple of other fun experiences this week. First, I had an interview in Spanish for a job teaching little kids English. I didn’t get the job – there were only 4 open spots and the whole English-speaking population of Salamanca applied (which is a lot) because they were offering 30 euros per hour! Whew, that’s like 50 bucks an hour. It was a really good experience none-the-less, because I actually did something really practical in Spanish.
Though I didn’t get that job, I did teach kids English today. A woman stopped Gina on the street one day and asked if she could teach her kids English for 30 minutes a week. So now she does that every Thursday, but she couldn’t do it today, so I filled in for her. The kids are so cute, they are 4 and 6, so we are just teaching them colors and numbers and simple things like that in English. The hardest part for me was changing my accent all the time from Spanish to English. And accepting the fact that they are barely out of their toddler years and can speak faster than me. ¡Madre mía!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

louboutin pas cher, nike air max, ray ban sunglasses, prada handbags, michael kors, coach outlet, coach outlet, nike free, replica watches, kate spade outlet, uggs on sale, louboutin shoes, longchamp outlet, longchamp, burberry, polo ralph lauren outlet, tory burch outlet, nike air max, louboutin, ralph lauren pas cher, louis vuitton, christian louboutin outlet, chanel handbags, prada outlet, tiffany jewelry, ray ban sunglasses, kate spade handbags, sac longchamp, nike outlet, air max, gucci outlet, air jordan pas cher, louboutin outlet, nike roshe run, replica watches, nike free, longchamp pas cher, jordan shoes, polo ralph lauren outlet, tiffany and co, cheap oakley sunglasses, ray ban sunglasses, oakley sunglasses, ugg boots, replica handbags, longchamp outlet, ugg boots

Anonymous said...

moncler, moncler, pandora jewelry, pandora jewelry, marc jacobs, ugg,ugg australia,ugg italia, sac louis vuitton pas cher, canada goose, moncler outlet, pandora charms, canada goose outlet, bottes ugg, moncler, canada goose uk, replica watches, hollister, louis vuitton, louis vuitton, swarovski, moncler, swarovski crystal, links of london, ugg boots uk, moncler, louis vuitton, doudoune canada goose, ugg pas cher, coach outlet, louis vuitton, moncler, canada goose, canada goose outlet, canada goose, thomas sabo, canada goose, pandora charms, ugg,uggs,uggs canada, wedding dresses, moncler

Anonymous said...

timberland boots, soccer shoes, nike roshe, asics running shoes, oakley, juicy couture outlet, beats by dre, new balance, jimmy choo shoes, vans, north face outlet, instyler, mcm handbags, abercrombie and fitch, baseball bats, hollister, karen millen, gucci, lancel, bottega veneta, valentino shoes, louboutin, reebok shoes, north face outlet, converse outlet, hollister, herve leger, juicy couture outlet, ralph lauren, ferragamo shoes, insanity workout, ghd, nike air max, mont blanc, chi flat iron, nfl jerseys, toms shoes, supra shoes, mac cosmetics, converse, babyliss, wedding dresses, celine handbags, ray ban, vans shoes, nike air max, montre pas cher, soccer jerseys, p90x workout, birkin bag