May 19th 2008

To begin today, I woke not feeling good with a stomach ache. However, I had two pieces of bread and two cups of water for breakfast. Also, after breakfast and moving around a little bit, I felt much better and the stomach ache was gone. Luckily, I then received a ride to the language school from Susana. I had my first class with Mauge at eight. During the class, she explained the four parts of skills necessary for communicating is Spanish. We also went over introductions and responses to common questions that will be asked of me. She also helped me by giving me information on how to get around and communicate well. Next, I had a class with Angelica which we reviewed what I did with Mauge in role play situations and also went over phonetics of pronouncing words and making sure my sentences flow. Then, I had a class with Norah in which we worked on talking about my family and being able to give descriptions. My classes ended by me having a class with Susana the person I am staying with in which we wrote down goals that I would like to accomplish such using the right tense of verbs and correcting my sentence structure. Also, during Susana’s class, she told me that I was a part of her family now which was very nice to hear. She also told me that she thinks that my Spanish is good and that I know how to speak it; I just need to learn the right structure. All of my classes today went very well and I learned a lot. I was also happy to hear that all of my teachers thought that I did not need any books; I just need to practice speaking the language as much as possible. In all my classes, I took notes and I only received homework from one teacher which was to write a description of a person in as much detail as possible. Also, in my classes there was a lot of laughter because I catch myself making mistakes and because their teaching methods are fun. All of the teachers were very encouraging and thought that I had made good progress in the time I had spent with them. On the other hand, I was supposed to take public transportation home and this was an adventure. I originally got on the right bus to come home and then I got off to early. Then I caught another form of public transportation which took me to the middle of nowhere. I was able to call Luigi and then he was able to help me get a cab back home. Before I returned home the person who owned the store where I was waiting for the cab told me that I owed him more money than I had on me. However, a lady came into the shop and paid it for me, but the owner still tried to get me to pay him before I left so I gave him what money I did have on me and left. Also, the man called me a silly white person which in this case was true. The taxi driver was even nice enough to let me pay him when I got to the house. When I returned to the house I had lunch which was steak, pasta, and a potato. After lunch I did my noon day devotion and took some time to reflect on my day. I remember that I have failed to mention some things that have happened that have been a blessing. One incident was the fact that I made a mistake talking about weather with one of the teens at church and he corrected me. I was told that people would not correct me until they felt they knew me and were comfortable around me. Secondly, on Sunday I met other missionaries that have been here for four years that are from England. They said it was good to have another person here, they wished me well, and also said that it was good to have another person who spoke English in the church community. Finally, is the fact that one of the family’s dogs had puppies and I was able to share my knowledge about animals with the family because I am a certified animal care assistant. Later on in the afternoon, I worked on school work for both the language school and for my college in the United States. I was to full from lunch to eat any dinner so I just continued to work on school work. In doing so, I was able to complete my book report for the time being. Now, with most of my school work for college out of the way, I can focus on my language school. I then decide to work on my Spanish by reading the Bible in Spanish and reviewing my notes from my classes today. When Susana arrived we discussed my little trip earlier today and came up with an action plan of visual sites so I know where to get on and off the bus. While I was relaxing I kept replaying what had happened to me in my head, praised God, and laughed about. In laughing about it I felt that God was laughing with me and saying in the most loving way, “you knucklehead.” Before going to bed, I did my night time devotion and took a shower.