First day of School (Spanish Class)

Today was my first day of Spanish class.

From 100920

Thank you Michael for thinking of and capturing such a Kodak moment.

In order for IE to put us in the appropriate level Spanish classes they had us all take tests (over the summer) and (today) we’d practice speaking in front of the professors five-ish students at a time. We had been gabbing with classmates for about an hour waiting for our names to be called when I met a man named Greg “from Georgia Tech.” Greg and I quickly hit it off, it would appear that nothing in the first moments of our conversation were truthful except our names; we are both very sarcastic. Shortly thereafter, Greg and I would be called at the same time. The professors interviewed the four other students first, gave them their placements and those students left the room, Greg and I remained. I said to Greg, “Mano y Mana” I didn’t know if that was Spanish but it felt appropriate. They questioned Greg first then interviewed me; we would both be put in the second group. We high-fived.

Greg and I both had to set up our bank accounts so we walked to Caja Madrid the standard bank that students sign up with. We had a little over and hour before our Spanish class started. At Caja Madrid Greg and I sat in the chairs with the banker, who, for the sake of time was going to give us the same information at the same time. Greg and I continued with the witty banter, and we think (and asked) if our banker “Valentino” appreciated it. We are pretty sure he did. Greg pulled out his passport and it looked like it had been rung through a jet turbine. Valentino and I made fun of it. Valentino left, I thought Greg was reaching for my passport and I scooted it away, which perked his interest to see the gem inside. I told him he couldn’t see it because I had a bad picture. He said no way, he’d see it one day. I kept it on my lap until Valetino came back. When he did, I gave it to Valetino who opened it promptly and laughed then said to Greg, "have you seen her photo!?" while opening it towards Greg. Flabbergasted. “Excuse me sir” but I couldn’t help laughing because they were both rolling laughing.

Valetino asked if we were married and I said "no." He asked if we were dating and Greg said “we met an hour ago.”

We wrapped up Caja Madrid and headed to Spanish 3 minutes late. They had just closed the door and we were those two fools walking in late. We sat at the last table in the back. The teacher went around the class and asked each of us at random questions like Where are you from? What do you do? Do you like Madrid better than where you are from? When it was my turn he asked where I was from and I said California, which prompted a chat about wine. I understood what he was saying to me and responded – how many cups do your drink, I said back in Spanish “Per day?” he said “yes” I said “one, more or less” and it went on.

When he asked any of us questions, if we struggled with something he'd write it on the board and explain. One person in the class was trying to describe “roommate” so our professor wrote on the board “companero de….” (casa: house, piso: room, trabajo: work, etc) I turned to Greg and said “you are my companero de banco” (“my companion of the bank”), he said "that doesn’t make sense." Oh but then a little bit later it would be Greg’s turn…

Professor - Hola Senor es tu mujer? (is this your wife/woman?)
Greg – No
Professor – Quieres que sea tu mujer? (Would you like her to be your wife/woman?)
Greg – No, ella es mi companera de banco.
Professor – oi??ahhhhhhhahahahahahahaha quickly speaking Spanish only catching words, tu mujer es rica (your woman is rich), awwwwww mostly laughter. hahahah
Erin – Como se dice “sugar mom”
Professor – laughing while explaining that in America there a"honey" not a sweet honey but another honey for men…

Not my first "honey talk" in the last week, thank you Senora Berber who first explained the difference between "honeys" en espanol...