Teacher

My students call me "Teacher." They say, "Hi Teacher!" when I walk into a room, and they shake their heads disdainfully and say, "Oh, Teacher..." when they disagree with one of my many ridiculous opinions. (For example, it bothers my teenagers tremendously that I listen to reggae music.) They even send me emails to cancel class beginning with "Dear Teacher..." as if they'd forgotten my name or something.

They are, of course, translating directly, because in Spanish they generally call their teachers "Profe." However, I can't help but be swept back to Quaker boarding school at Westtown, where we called our teachers Teacher Tim, Teacher Anne, and of course Profe Rick and Profe Juan... it makes it feel like, I don't know, like I'm really a teacher, and not just some crazy redhead that comes stumbling into their office every morning speaking in tongues!!!

The vast majority of my students are great. I've fallen into a confusing, rigorous, but wonderful schedule with some very awesome people. And it's quite exciting sometimes to teach managers, executives, even presidents of major companies, and think, ha ha! Here I am, chatting with the president of XYZ Company about their family and personal life, when everyone else in the office is probably afraid to ask! Because once students reach an intermediate level, they really just need to talk and talk and talk, and what better way to do so than to get to know each other?

Sometimes we even become friends. My student Paola, who actually was forced to quit my class a week ago due to new work restrictions, has become a good friend of mine, and just found out she's pregnant! It's been exciting to be there for her through all this exciting [terrifying] news! We chat on the phone a lot, and enjoy long strings of email exchanges in Spanglish.

Sitting in a room chatting with these people for a couple of hours a week has really been a huge part of my experience here. My students teach ME so much. I've heard teachers say that before, and I always thought it sounded really stupid and cliche, but turns out it's true. My students taught me how to prepare and drink mate... they taught me how to say all sorts of naughty words in "Argentine"... they taught me about the real rules of dating in Argentina (not that I've had the chance to practice!)... they taught me about family life, social life, being a teenager in BsAs, living in the campo, getting married, hating Chileans, and how to prepare chocolate cake layered with dulce de leche. Where would I be without them?

The first couple months of teaching here I didn't love it. I didn't even like it. And yet I had gotten myself into a head space of "OMG I have to teach, I have to make this work, I have to learn to like this!!!" and it was making me miserable. But these days, I've fallen into a rhythm, I'm learned to take it easy, I've learned to be flexible, and I've learned to read and understand the needs of each individual. Basically, I'm becoming a good teacher!

On Monday at one of my business classes where I teach 2 students, my boss came in and did an observation. She sat in the corner, furiously taking notes as I taught them, and all of us were nervous. What could she possibly be writing about so furiously?! At the end of the class she asked my students Gabriela and Guillermo, "Do you like the class?" and they both nodded enthusiastically. "We love Erica!" they said. And then my boss asked, "Do you feel you are making progress?" and they both responded more or less, "Yes, we feel like we've really improved, we're more confident, and we can speak more fluidly. Erica is an amazing teacher."

Well I just about lost it, I was so happy and proud. In the past, that moment would have been about ME, feeling good because I had gotten a compliment. But in that moment, it was about THEM-- I was thinking, "What perfect sentence structure! Great use of the second conditional! Such fluid speaking!" and I felt like a proud mother.

In teaching, I have also rediscovered my love of writing. I looove writing, which is why I'm crazy enough to keep up this blog. Most of my friends here think I'm nuts, or at least extremely disciplined, to write this blog all the time, but for me it's not a chore, but rather it's something I enjoy. It's a release. It's a pleasure. I just wish I had more time to write every day.

I've also taken on a new project, which is that I'm translating part time for a company that translate children's stories from Spanish to English, and that's been quite fun for me. They even let me name characters! (Can someone think of a great name for a wizard??) It's validating to know that my Spanish is at a level where I'm being trusted with these translations, and it's also fun to develop this new skill. I wish they had more work for me!

I realize more and more each day that this was the right decision. I am not cut out for the Boston 9-5 lifestyle. My time working at AAC and living in Boston was incredibly valuable, and I learned so, so much from the experience, however it just isn't ME. I'm just different, and I both fear and love that about myself. Each day is an adventure, and honestly it's exciting and fun and thrilling in one regard, and tiring and lonely in another. Sometimes I wish I were like other people and could just sit down and work and get married and start pumping out babies while I pay off my mortgage. But that, honestly, is my idea of hell on earth. But being creative, adventurous and independent while simultaneously having stability? Well, that is just heaven. And it all starts by finding what I love and doing it.

I'm getting closer.

WORK WORK WORK

I am pleased to announce that I am currently working 23 hours a week, and I am horrified/ excited to announce that beginning in about 2 weeks I will be up to 41!!! Which is both good and bad! Good because I will be making enough to save money for traveling around S. America around the end of the year (plan is to travel December-February), but bad because when you add in lesson planning and travel time, I'll be working more like 70 hours a week, and thus will have no life.

Small price to pay for saving for the trip of my life, I suppose. ;-)

So specifically I am working 11 hours a week for Vivian and 12 for the Institite. I like the vast majority of my students, and though the materials are sometimes extremely disorganized, both the Institute and Vivian have been better about giving me something to work with. This is a great improvement over when I started a month ago and was literally inventing lesson plans, exercises and worksheets off the top of my head... and robbed off the internet.

The other hours will come from the Hostel where I will be starting to work soon! I am VERY excited about this! Diego, my roommate and landlord, is also the owner of a brand new hostel right around the corner from my house. The hostel is actually opening next week, so I will start working reception there just as soon as the reservations start rolling in. I'll be doing around 18 hours a week there, not getting paid a ton, but having fun, I'm sure. Working in a hostel is so appealing to me because you spend your day meeting new, interesting people from all over the world! I was recruited by Diego for my outgoing personality and the fact that I am bilingual, so I think it's going to be a really good fit for me. Can't wait!

Lastly-- MY MOM AND BILL ARE COMING DOWN ON MAY 20TH!!! I'm so excited for my very first visitors!!! Hopefully I won't have to work through their entire trip. ;-) No but seriously, I am counting down the days, and couldn't be more excited to see them. Yay!

So who's coming next???

Getting used to it

I'm going to refer to Vivian from now on by name, since she is rapidly becoming an important figure in many of my stories.

Vivian is my CRAZYPANTS boss, the one who sends me from here to there and all around, yells at me, acts all nuts-o, and who I have never actually met in person. (She's sort of like "Dr. Claw" from Inspector Gadget, because I picture her in a big chair, stroking her evil cat, and drumming her iron-gloved fingers on the desk, faceless.) That's Vivian.

Dr. Claw and MAD Cat (aka Vivian's iron fist of English-teaching death)


So the strangest thing has happened. I don't give a %$#& what she thinks anymore! It's very liberating.

Basically, over the past couple weeks Vivian drove me so completely nuts, was so totally gonzo, was so blatantly disrespectful to me, that I completely lost it. I broke down, cried about it, and got very worked up about it. Then about a week passed, and despite my threats to quit, as it turns out I'm broke, need the money, and am still working for her minimally. (The good news is that I did eventually get my money from her-- wasn't easy, mind you--and she and I are back to acting cordial on the phone.) I figure, whatever, the pay's not bad, and frankly, I now realize that she is the rule, not the exception. All English pimps (Vivian) treat their whores (Me) this way here. I'm moving on.

Truth is, Argentina is just like this! It's disorganized, chaotic, and mind-numbingly slow at all things. Employers are self-serving, and treat you as their pawn. Your needs are not important, only theirs. And as much as I hate this, I am also becoming hardened. Yes, I'm getting used to it, and the only way to survive is to stop caring so much.

Case in point: Vivian was supposed to call me yesterday at Noon to arrange a meeting (finally!) so she could give me some books I need for a class. However, the last time she told me she'd call me at noon, she didn't call until almost 5:00pm, only to cancel on me, yell at me, and then stiff me out of money. So my expectations were pretty low yesterday. So low, in fact, that I myself forgot about the whole thing! Me! And it worked out great, because when she finally called me around 1:00 (to cancel, of course), I didn't care! I hadn't been waiting by the phone, nor had I rearranged my day around her.

I had become, ahem, more Argentine.

This all probably sounds really nuts, but it's actually really good. It's a coping mechanism, and it's working. I think my blood pressure has gone back down to normal in the past couple days, and damnit, I'm going to last here a full year if it kills me! (which it might)

This means I need to stop having such "American" expectations of professionalism. I need to suck it up, lower the bar, and integrate. Working on it.

Happy Birthday to Me! I need a job! ...and other random thoughts

Wow! I am the worst blogger ever! Sorry, everyone. Clearly my mind has been elsewhere. And you know how when things just pile up, and the thought of having to catch up on so much makes you want to do even less, not more? Yes, I am suffering from that phenomenon. The shear amount of things that have happened over the past few weeks have made me hide from my blog. I will take this one step (ahem, blog entry) at a time.

So alas, if you want to hear about my fabulous 3 day weekend in Mendoza (yes, it was fabulous!), you will have to wait for a future post, unfortunately! (sneak peak: it involved a bicycle tour, lots of amazing views, and of course a ton of delicious Malbec!)

Anyway! Last Thursday was my 21st- ahem, 28th-- birthday! Woopie! Yay, I'm old! No really, I'm starting to worry about wrinkles, my metabolism is slowing down, more and more people are asking why I'm not married with babies, and I'm only 2 short years away from 30! I even said the word "blouse" the other day! Who says that under the age of 50?! One foot in the grave! AWESOME!

Luckily, you amazing friends and family helped me keep it together. Throughout the week (and still trickling in this week) I have been inundated with snail mail. Thank you all so much! Especially you, Mom, who managed to send me I think 5 separate letters! No really, the door man thinks I'm crazy. When I finally introduced myself to him yesterday, he said, "Oh YOU'RE the girl who gets all the mail!" Yes, I'm famous, and I appreciate it! My room is filled with cards. :-)

I admit that I did spent the first several hours of my birthday being fairly miserable. I suffered through an extreme case of the "what-am-I-doing-with-my-life" syndrome, and worried about finding a job (ugh), feeling fat (anorexia, anyone? this country is so skinny and vain it could make a pig stop eating), making friends, having enough money, being a good teacher, and just generally wondering why exactly I decided at 27 years old to uproot myself again, change careers, change COUNTRIES, cultures, habits, lifestyles, diets, and environments, and go off on such an uncertain adventure.

Don't worry-- I know what I'm doing is awesome. I mean, I'm in Argentina. It's interesting and fun here, and I'm finding that teaching is rewarding, creative, and right up my alley. BUT!

Finding a job here has been a nightmare, I'm not gonna lie. I am currently working only 6 hours a week, for $28 pesos/ hour. By my calculations (do do do do doooo) I'm making approximately... NOTHING!!! Yes, I have financial woes, and I need another job. I've been looking diligently for jobs and networking like crazy, and there are definitely some leads and possibilities out there for me, but it's been a long and frustrating process.

Ooohh but the students I DO have are some real gems. You're gonna love this. Remember your friend Erica who doesn't know anything about kids? Yeah, I'm teaching them. A 5 year old boy and his 8 year old sister and her friend, no less! Yep! And the 8 year old girls only want to learn lyrics to High School Musical songs (I can now sing several of them, but we will never speak of this again), and the 5 year old boy only wants to jump on the bed, dump his toys on the floor, and throw his trucks around. OH MAN! Did I really sign up for this? But beggers can't be choosers (they're paying me, after all), and I'm actually surprising myself to find that even though the kids can be total nightmares, I actually don't want to dropkick them. I actually kind of like them. Wow, I really am getting old.

I have some adult students too, but they don't make for such fun stories. :-)

Oh yes, so back to my birthday! I bought myself a lovely plant, a jasmine that will supposedly bloom sometime in April. The jasmine's name is Flor. I saw a great aloe at a shop down the street that I plan to buy this week, too. The aloe's name will be Máximo.

Here is Flor, hamming it up for the camera on my balcony:



Anyway, Thursday night (birthday night), 4 of my wonderful lady friends took me out to a fabulous dinner at a pricey and fancy restaurant in Belgrano (one of the most upscale neighborhoods of BA) called Sucre. Known for its wine list, we enjoyed several glasses of the finest, and I also put away a plate of white salmon with shitake mushroom sauce and cauliflower mash that was to die for!

Before (Exhibit A):



After (Exhibit B):



We also had some chocolate lava cake smothered in the best thing on earth, dulce de leche, and of course, some champagne.

Here's the birthday girl:



We then headed back to my neighborhood of San Telmo to a fun ex-pat bar called the Red Door where a bunch of other friends met up with me for chili bombs (recommended- chili pepper vodka dropped into a Red Bull and then chugged), beers, and a few games of pool. Needless to say, I was out until about 5:00am. Oh, Argentina!

Here's me with 2 of my favorite BA boys:



And with most of my favorite BA women (with a few key omissions):



Anyway, don't ask me how, but I somehow managed to wake up the next day and plan a lesson for a new student studying for the TOEFL exam, and then execute said lesson for 2 hours in the afternoon. Go me! At which point, running on no sleep and completely dehydrated, I returned home and prepared for round 2 of the birthday festivities! A group dinner at Cheff Iusef, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Palermo, followed by general shenanigans.

Friday's dinner was superb! I had a reservation for 10, but more and more people kept showing up, and by the end of the meal I think there were 18 of us. They kept adding tables and chairs until the restaurant literally ran out! Anyway, we dined on hummus, falafel, chicken, and lamb (don't worry, Mom, I didn't eat any lamb), and plenty of Heinekens. It really was a phenomenal meal, and I'd recommend the restaurant. Here we all are (I'm way in the back of the picture!):



And here's me enjoying it all! (And no, that is not a bruise on my arm, it's a lipstick kiss from Victoria)



We then went on to drink litros of cerveza out of plastic bags in the middle of Plaza Serrano, headed out for a drink at some random overpriced bar in Palermo, and then headed to... a gay bar! It was called Sitges, and it was phenomenal. $25 pesos for all you can drink, and the company was lovely! The remaining group of us danced all night quite literally. As in, I got home after 7:30am! (There is nothing quite like passing by cafes serving coffee and medialunas to people for breakfast as you walk home from the nightclub...)

Needless to say, I was a total waste of space for the rest of the weekend, and did nothing but sleep. But it was worth it. I am now in full detox mode and have vowed not to drink for at least a week. Not a drop. My poor, elderly liver deserves it.

So that is the tale of my birthday shenanigans! It was a lot of fun, and I'm very appreciative of my friends here in Buenos Aires who helped make it special. Obviously, I missed my friends back home TREMENDOUSLY, and it would have been even better with you guys here. I got pretty homesick around my birthday, and really wanted a good old fashioned hug from my family members and my close friends. But I got through it, and I do feel lucky to have people in my life here who helped make it special.

More later. SO MUCH MORE. I have about 500 million other topics to cover, and I'm determined to get to them all eventually! But I am teaching tomorrow morning (my student and I are going to learn all about phrasal verbs!), so I need to get my beauty rest.

xoxoxo

PS. Side note: Mullets are considered cool here in Argentina. So if you have one, you should totally come here, because then you'll be cool. You should also dread your mullet, because apparently that is cool here too. Or just shave off all your hair except for one little rat tail, and you'll STILL be cool. You can even dread THAT and be cool. Basically, any haircut you can think of is cool here. Except for like, normal ones.

The end.

Compliment!

I'm so happy right now that I need to gush!

So I just finished my second-to-last teaching class of the TEFL certification course. It was an advanced class, and my topic today was Obama. I brought in an abridged version of his inaugural address and we got into a big discussion about everything-- education, healthcare, immigration... you name it, we covered it. It was a lot of fun.

Anyway, as the class came to a close, one of the students, Edit, said, "Erica, you are our favorite teacher. You are so helpful, we always learn so much, and you are so much fun!" Then another student, Stephanie, chimed in, "Yes, you are the best! We love your class the most of all."

As if that wasn't enough-- because I was SO flattered of course, and was smiling ear to ear-- Stephanie and Edit both came to me after class and requested that I teach them privately! Which means... drum roll please.. I have my first 2 students!!! And 2 students that I adore, no less. (I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but I secretly do.)

Anyway, I'm happy and thought you might want to go!

T MINUS ONE DAY TIL BEACH TIME!!!

Rainy day women #12 and 35

Man, it rains hard in Argentina! I have never seen raindrops so huge or a downpour so torrential. This is the kind of rain that soaks you to the bone within seconds.

Last Saturday night, I went to a party in Adrogue with Ali and Bata to one of Bata's friends' birthday parties... and it started to POUR. We just needed to run from the car into the house and were in the rain for maybe 5-10 seconds, and this is what happened:



HA!

It has been rainy that way off an on for about a week. We needed it, as Argentina suffered a petty bad drought this summer, but it was pretty unpleasant. Luckily, I bought myself a fuchsia umbrella to put a smile on my face. :-) It rained so hard a few nights ago that a tree outside my house got ripped down and blocked off the whole street. The street was closed for the entire day (not to efficient, I might add) while they "dealt" with it. And by that I mean, after 10 hours of scratching their heads about it, they finally moved the tree onto the sidewalk, where it remains today.



Anyway, enough about rain! Today is relatively clear and mild, so hopefully the worst has passed. Which is great because TOMORROW IS MY LAST DAY OF CLASS! AND THEN I'M GOING TO THE BEACH! I am so excited! I teach tonight for an hour, then I have a couple hours of class tomorrow and then teach again tomorrow night, and then I hop on a bus with 7 of my classmates and head to Necochea. I cannot wait to get out of town, get onto the beach, and spend some time relaxing, without having to worry about homework or lesson plans or anything else. It sounds utterly luxurious!

I also bought bus tickets to Mendoza for a visit from March 20-24th with my roommate Victoria, and 2 other girls from my program. Can't wait for some serious wine tasting! Apparently the big thing is to do a big wine tour on bicycles, so obviously I am ridiculously excited about that. It's supposed to be fabulous in Mendoza, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

...then when I get back, the real world will sink in, and I will have to begin the process of finding a job. Anything! Because unfortunately, around here, English teachers are a dime a dozen, so there's a lot of competition and the wages are pretty bad. I think I can expect to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $25-30 pesos/ hour to start off, which is about $7-8 USD. Eeeeek.

I did go to a party a couple weeks ago where I met an American guy who was returning to the States, and so he passed me along the contact information of his employer. I called her up yesterday, and she was very excited to hear from me, and said she probably has work for me! So let's all keep our fingers crossed that that is the case. We were supposed to meet today to finalize details, and she had something come up and had to cancel, so let's hope we can find a time to reschedule ASAP before "my" job goes to someone else. Like I said-- stiff competition.

But anyway, I'm just generally thrilled to be finishing the TEFL certification program, excited to take a little vacation, and then feeling ready to take on the new challenge of teaching FOR REAL!

Jazzy Tango for the Soul

Although I probably should have been staying in tonight preparing tomorrow's lesson plan on "ordering food in a restaurant," I opted instead to go to see a jazzy tango orchestra concert by a local group called the Fernandez Fierro Orquesta. It was incredible! Accordion has never sounded so beautiful. There were 12 people total-- one singer, one pianist, several accordions and violinists, plus a cello and an upright bass (which we all, of course, know is my favorite instrument of all time). I really found the music beautiful, sultry, and inspiring, and I'm so glad I ventured out. If only it hadn't been well over 100 degrees in there (quite literally), it would have been perfect! Luckily, my program got me in for free, saving me $15 pesos. :-)



Every time a song ended, or actually just a mere moment before, there was a girl off to the side of the room who would always scream "Bravo!" without missing a beat. We couldn't figure out how she always knew, down to the millisecond, exactly when the song was end, so we ended up turning it into a little game. Could we yell "Bravo" before her, but still at the appropriate time?! This turned into bets, dares, and finally the ultimate Double Dog Dare, but in the end we were defeated. She was just too good. (Ever the conspiracy theorist, I'm convinced she was being paid by the band.)

Anyway, now at a mere 2:30am I am getting snuggled into bed and trying to get a bit of sleep before tomorrow's class. I will teach a beginner lesson tomorrow on the aforementioned topic, which should be interesting because it's my first "beginner" lesson. I'm also planning one for Friday that I will teach to an Intermediate class on the topic of "getting through US Customs and Immigration." It's a crazy topic, really, and one I think they will find quite useful. Hopefully I won't scare them too much, as I found out in my own research on the Homeland Seecurity webpage that in addition to scaring the pants off people with our intimidating officers asking intimidating questions, we also actually take everyone's fingerprints and EYEBALL SCANS these days when they enter the US. Nuts! There's one good solid reason to be an American. Entering Argentina took all of 2 seconds, and there were definitely no elaborate scanning and tracking devices involved. Apparently tourists entering the US also have to answer the direct question, "Are you a terrorist?" Sheesh!

Anyway, you can tell I'm tired because I'm rambling about terrorism. Love to all!

Teacher in Training

I taught my second class today, and it went GREAT! Which is surprising, given that only 1 person showed up. Yes, one lonely student. But it ended up being a wonderful class, and a nice little ego boost for me, which I desperately needed.

Today's class was advanced level, and I'd prepared a course dealing with euphemisms. I brought in a text to read and had about 10 euphemisms picked out that I wanted to teach. Luckily, the lone student, Alejandro, found the subject matter really interesting, and didn't already know most of it. His personal favorite was "pushing up daisies," which was great because I was worried that talking about things like death would be too depressing, but we ended up making it fun.

The class was particularly good because it had a natural flow to it. Although I had several exercises and discussion topics prepared, we didn't stick exactly to the plan and ended up discussing several other things instead. It ended up being even better that way, because Alejandro learned what he wanted to learn, and it still remained in the framework of the planned theme of the class. As class neared a close, I felt like I'd done a pretty good job...

...which was completely validated when, as I wrapped things up, Alejandro asked me, "Did you just start teaching?" And I told him yes, that I just taught my first class yesterday. And he said to me, "You are an excellent teacher, a natural. I learned a lot today, thank you very much!"

Big smiles!! As a new teacher, what more could I possibly ask for? I feel so much more confident now, and am reading to take it easy this weekend and have a few celebratory cervezas tonight. :-)

I taught a class AND got a can of beans!

OMG!



That, my friends, is my can of beans. Ali works miracles, and found them at a store near her house for 5 pesos. Overpriced, but frankly, I'd pay triple. BURRITOS!! I am going to have burritos. *sigh of relief*

I taught my very first class today, and I didn't die! That is a great start. I was actually over-prepared, in the sense that I had more material ready than we had time to go through. It was an "intermediate" level class, and only 2 people showed up (they told me 1-6 would, so I guess 2 is better than 1!), and one was quite advanced, while they other was more of a beginner. It was a challenge because we had to go very slowly even though the other woman wanted to move along more quickly. But overall, I think I did a decent job for my first time! It was challenging, but the students seemed to enjoy it enough (they didn't hate me anyway, which is always a good sign), and I certainly feel like it was great practice and experience. I feel a bit more confident now. Which is good because I am teaching again tomorrow, this time advanced level!

Anyway, I got out of class and walked pretty much directly to Ali and Bata's house for dinner. Ali made fresh pasta with a delicious homemade tomato sauce, a caprese salad, and fresh bread. It was soooo good, and was also so great to get out of the house! I feel like I have been holed up for 3 days doing nothing but lesson planning, and I needed a break! They are wonderful, and I'm so lucky to have friends in town to give me that family feel. Ahhhh I needed it!

You know what else I need? Weekend. Saturday the plan is to go exploring around the city and see some of the hot spots, and then try to convince some of the students on my program to go out on Saturday night. Should be fun! Sunday night I am going to an asado with some of Ali's friends, which of course should be a blast! Oh man, listen to me. My brain has already fast-forwarded to the weekend. I am exhausted and need a serious brain break. This program is no joke!

Getting my vegetables...

...isn't easy around here! In a culture filled with empanadas, carne, pizza, pan, and more carne, I sometimes feel like I'm eating nothing but meat and cheese.

Part of the solution was that when I looked in my wallet a couple days ago, it hit me hard that Buenos Aires is not so cheap after all. Before I got here everyone kept telling me, "oh, it's so cheap there!" Yeah, well they were wrong. Apparently it used to be cheap, but now I feel like it's about the same prices I'm used to in the States, which is both unexpected and lame.

So I've taken to preparing my own food at home to save money, which is nice because it means I can make whatever I want. Within limits. The limits being that the kitchen here is tiny, gross, and unpleasant, so I don't want to prepare anything too lavish. However, it's perfectly suitable to make pasta, a sandwich or a salad.

I've been stopping by a fruteria every day to pick up what I need. They look like this, more or less:


The process is different than in the states, in the sense that you don't walk in and start selecting your own vegetables, but rather you actually go in and tell them what you want and they get it and bag it for you. I learned this the hard way, by walking in and grabbing my own veggies and having everyone look at me like I was the biggest jerk on the planet. Yup, the hard way. But now I know.

Today, I'm planning on whipping up a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and avocado, with oil, lemon and salt. Simple and yummy. And you'd be hard pressed to get someone at a restaurant to sell you a salad here without an accompanying meat dish. For example:


That was my lunch on Monday. It's called milanesa napolitana, which is a piece of meat fried (milanesa), then covered in ham, sauce, and cheese (that's the napolitana part). Milanesa is a very typical Argentine dish, as the Argentines love their meat FRIED! It's usually served with french fries, but I finagled my way into a side salad. It was delicious, but I was stuffed for the rest of the day, and I didn't even finish it! That is a seriously heavy meal.

Anyway, tonight I will be teaching my very first English class! I will be teaching a real practice course every Thursday and Friday for the next 4 weeks. I'm really nervous! I have been working on my lesson plans for the past couple weeks, and stressing about whether or not they are going to work. Here's to hoping they will! My class tonight is an intermediate level, and I plan to teach about "apartment hunting" and the words associated with that. I'm going to have them role play some apartment hunting scenarios, and write their own "apartment for rent" ads. Then my class tomorrow is an advanced level, and I'm planning on talking about euphemisms. Hopefully they will actually be advanced, and will be able to get into an interesting discussion about how and why we use them.

Then I'm headed to Ali's house for dinner tonight after I teach! Yum! I seriously cannot wait for this weekend. I feel like all I've done is study since I've been here, and it's very tough. I don't feel like I have a super great sense of the city at all, so I am excited to do some exploring around town on Saturday and Sunday, and hopefully get some good stories and take some pictures to show all you devoted blog readers. ;-)

A new pillow (and other stories)

Today I got a new pillow. This may not seem monumental for you, but you have NO IDEA what I have been sleeping on. Picture the thinnest, most worthless excuse for a pillow you have ever seen, make it even thinner, and make the pillow case a little bit abrasive and NOW you have an idea of my former pillow. I asked around the dorm, and it quickly became apparent that everyone else was perfectly happy with their pillow, and thus I determined that I had somehow been screwed over by the Pillow Distribution Services. I was forced to take matters into my own hands. I noticed this afternoon that one of the boys was moving out today, and casually glanced at his pillow... nice and thick! SNATCHED!!! New pillow. I'm leaning on it right now as I type, and cannot express how thrilled I am.

ANYWAY, you are probably wondering much more about my first day of school than about my pillow... fair enough. It was good! It's a bigger class than I expected, 13 students in all, 8 men and 5 women. We're a big range of ages, from a couple years younger than me, to several about my age, to 4 men that appear over 50 (one is most certainly over 60). Everyone seems really nice, and we're all kind of in the same boat. Although there are a few people with teaching experience, it appears the majority of us anyway are new to the whole thing, and are here for similar reasons-- career change, and an opportunity to work abroad. And a bunch of travel-lovers all in one place can't be half bad! The teacher seems like a nice enough fellow-- he is a kind of aggressive Irish guy with an intense personality who may take some warming up to, but overall he seems to have a good head on his shoulders... we'll see.

The reeeeally intense thing is how fast paced this course is going to be. I can barely even believe it as I type it, but I am going to teach my first course this Thursday! And another one on Friday! With real students!! Ahhhh!!! I'm terrified, which is why I am up at midnight blogging and pretending to research lesson plans. My class on Thursday will be intermediate level, and the one on Friday will be advanced. Overall over the next 4 weeks, I will teach a course every Thursday and Friday, totally 2 beginner, 2 intermediate, and 2 advanced when it's all said and done. But who knew I'd be thrown in so quickly??

I'm nervous-- I have to write the lesson plans tomorrow, present them to my class on Wednesday, and then execute them Thurs and Fri-- but also excited! I figure it makes sense to just jump right in. I don't feel I've had enough instruction at this point (after all, it was only ONE DAY), and I have no idea what I'm doing (he left the assignment very open ended, so our lessons can be about just about anything), but I'm assuming their expectations are realistically lower for the first lesson, and I'll only have room to improve.

So yeah. I'm going to be a certified ESL teacher in 4 weeks. Whoa!

In other news, I would like to recount the story of my first experience at an Argentinian grocery store. I've been into a few smaller markets, but I'm talking about a 2 story monstrosity called a Coto that sells everything. Well, just about, with a few key omissions. Like beans. I must rant about this-- you cannot find a can of beans anywhere in this city!! They just don't sell beans! It's horrible. Not only can I not buy a burrito anywhere, but I also can't even make my own?! It's like I'm being tortured. You can only buy the dry ones that you need to soak and boil, and if you could see my dorm's kitchen you would know why that is absolutely not going to happen.

Anyway, other than not finding beans, oh man, what a way to spend nearly 2 HOURS of my life. Wasted! It's a mad house! You go winding through the aisles, and it's like every single person in the city is in there, crashing into each other, with not even an inch to yourself. I spent almost an hour steering through the crowds, picking up easy-to-cook-in-an-awful-dorm-kitchen essentials while simultaneously being fascinated by the selections of funny looking cookies, bizarre meat parts, and tubs of spices labeled "spice." Pasta-- check. Tomato sauce in a bag (hmmm)-- check. A loaf of bread (the only one that looked remotely multi grain, although it turned out to be oats)-- check. Some ham and cheese for sandwiches-- check (although I have no idea what kind of cheese I bought??). Cheerio's and milk (the only one that appeared to be slightly reduced in fat, though I'm pretty sure they don't have skim here!)-- check. A couple grapefruits and a couple avocados. Mmmmmmmm I LOVE AVOCADOS.

So then I go to check out, and the lines are THIS LONG. Like, REALLY LONG. I am not exaggerating, I was in the "15 items or less" aisle behind about 10 people and waited an hour!!! God it was a nightmare. Even worse, some woman who I thought was just kind of fat started cutting in line in front of me, and of course being the disgruntled, impatient person that I am, I was trying to subtly sort of cut back in front of her.. finally she shoved past and marched to the front of the line, cutting in front of us ALL, and it was only then that I looked up and realized I had gotten myself into the "handicapped and pregnant women" express lane-- ugh, she wasn't fat, she was with child. STAB. (Frankly I don't care if you're pregnant with quintuplets, I have been in line for an hour!!!)

When I FINALLY arrived back at my residence it was already about 10:30 PM and the only reason why I was remotely okay was the thought of a yummy ham and cheese sandwich with avocado smeared all over it. So you can imagine my misery when I realized I'd somehow managed to not pack the avocados in my bag!!! I'd paid for them. Oh yes, they were on my receipt, but not in my bag. Grrrr. I am going to bed hungry in protest.

Note to self: do whatever it takes, pay extra, eat out every day, go to every corner market in town, but NEVER GO TO COTO AGAIN.

xoxoxo Love, Erica

Homework already?!

I'm leaving the country in about 36 hours, and with my mind 100% focused on packing, getting my life in order, and saying good bye, you can imagine my surprise/ horror when I opened my email on SUNDAY AFTERNOON and found a pre-course homework assignment waiting for me-- one that needs to be completed and emailed to my school before class starts on Monday.

And as much as I'd loooove to spend my first weekend in Buenos Aires with my head in a book studying, ummmm hmmmmm yeah, I think I should get this done before I go. THANKS FOR GIVING ME LIKE NO NOTICE, JERKS! Could you not have sent this to me a week ago? Or a month ago?!

So it starts off easy: What is wrong with this sentence? I have seen that film yesterday. Alright, simple enough. Wrong tense.

Now which tense is it? Ummm...??? One simple google search later, and I've discovered they used the present perfect. Okay, good.

Now explain briefly how you would explain the error to a student and how they should correct the usage. Okay, fine. This sucks. Where is my wine?

Now do that 30 times.

Now, still think you're so smart? Try this one on for size! The reader who can tell me what the person is trying to communicate in this sentence wins a one year subscription to my undying affection: My hobby is keeping feet.

HELP! Do they collect feet? Do they like giving pedicures for fun? Is this a really messed up way of saying they are a runner? Am I totally stupid, because I have no clue??

Anyway, welcome to my new world of English as a Second Language. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Why Argentina?

Many people are wondering, why is Erica moving to Buenos Aires? I've been asked that a lot lately, and it's a fair question with a long answer. So I've obviously put a lot of thought into this, and feel that you curious ones deserve a complete answer. Here it is, in list form. (Not in order of importance, btw. It's all pretty important.)

1. I love to travel! I want travel to continue to be a huge part of my life, as it always has been. I'm always looking for an excuse to go abroad.

2. Specifically, I've been wanting to work abroad (ie. get paid to travel!) for many years. As much as being a travel writer and/or founding my own international school is the ultimate dream, I realized several years ago that teaching English abroad is probably the best way to get started, and the best way to live around the world and find employment in many different countries.

3. Teaching intrigues me. I'm not big on office jobs, jobs that require me to be chained to a desk for hours on end and all that jazz. I've been curious about teaching for a while, and I think TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is the way to go, at least to start off. It seems like a great way to combine my love of travel with a profession that is flexible and creative. Plus, I'm a people person, so I think (I hope!) that I will love it and excel at it.

4. I went through a traumatic break up back in early September, and was simultaneously feeling like I needed a professional change, and realizing also that I won't be a spring chicken for much longer. It occurred to me rather suddenly this fall that if I want to pick up and move abroad again and really tackle this travel bug of mine, I better do it soon. I mean, lets face it, right now I am single, looking for a career change, childless, and I don't have a mortgage. It's kind of now or never.

5. I speak Spanish! So when I finally decided to take the plunge and look into TEFL programs and it came down to choosing a country, I decided to sacrifice higher wages (Asia) and go somewhere where I know the language, at least to start off. I figure I can always move somewhere else once I get certified.

6. So then I thought about which Spanish speaking country I should go to, and it seemed glaringly obvious. Argentina!! Why? Well, I've already lived and/or traveled in Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and all of Central America, so that pretty much narrowed it down to South America. And then I came to terms with that fact that I am a city girl and really want to stay in an urban environment, and started contemplating which cities seemed most exciting. Buenos Aires is a city I've always wanted to visit, and not only that, I have a close friend there- Ali! I'd been wanting to visit her down there anyway, and it suddenly all just clicked and made sense. Buenos Aires or bust!

That pretty much sums it up as best as I possibly can. And although it is scary and overwhelming at times, I also feel confident that this change will be a good one. How can following a dream and moving to an exciting new place be bad?

A couple of the best pieces of advice I have received recently are:

1) Just do it. I am not chained to a contract. I am free to stay as long as I want or come back whenever I choose. My friends and family will be here when I get back, and will love me when I'm gone.

2) I chose to do this all by myself, and for good reasons. Whenever I start to doubt myself and my decision, remember those reasons which brought me to this decision, and be happy that I am strong enough to follow those dreams.

Great advice. Keep it coming! I am listening.