Chica Loca

Three weeks into my Spanish classes, and I´m now studying the future irregular verbs. Funny how we´ve covered everything I learned in four years of high school study in three weeks. Not funny, is how difficult this language is suddenly becoming. Friday, I was all stoked to have the three or four basic tenses under my belt….present, past and future (and some irregular and imperfect stuff) *what else is there?*…and cheerily proclaimed to my teacher….”Homestretch, eh, Maestra?”. And she cheerily retorted….“Yup. Only 19 or so more tenses to go!” *jaw drops* Bah.

My teacher RULES. She loves me too. I´m a rather animated student, preferring to get out of my chair and play a game of charades to picking up the dictionary to communicate an idea or word (she doesn´t speak English). She laughs SO hard at me…and then I laugh…and then we´re causing disruption in the garden. She thinks I´m absolutely crazy too. The most common phrase from her mouth? “Chica loca!” But you just have to imagine this sweet little Guatemalan woman who´s never been in a bar, never drank alcohol, never cut her hair, never left the country, and never used the internet to hear me ask *or charade* questions like; “Como se dice, “I like to skydive.”, “Como se dice, “I want to pierce my eyebrow.”, “Como se dice, “I worked under webcam.” (THAT was a HARD charade! Pretty sure she still doesn´t get it….), Como se dice, “I got a job bartending.”, “Como se dice, “The last thing I need right now is a boyfriend.” She was in shock for a few days after I cut my hair (against all her protests), and she taught me every negative word in the dictionary describing to me how terrible I would look with a ring through my eyebrow.  Maria feels VERY bad for my “pobre madre”.

*interrupted from writing*

Um. Okay. That´s the second time today a complete stranger just walked up to me and said, “I heard you have a website where you are documenting the happenings of Antigua…can I have the address?”

My schedule for the next two days is: school all morning, dance in the afternoon, bartending from 5:30 – 2:00am.

Finished reading “Gone With the Wind” last night. *Sighs* Now Rhett *heart skips*….THERE is a scoundrel that I would like to have some adventures with….but alas *pinches Rhett and his disappears*….