Spanish Class March 12th

We enjoyed a lesson in ceviche preparation after class today. The raw fish is "cooked" with fresh lemon juice and salt. Thinly sliced red onion is stirred in, and bits of cilantro add flavor and garnish. The chef suggested any fresh white fish, but they often use tilapia. Ian and I will try making it, but I want to be sure the fish is fresh.

Our classroom is upstairs with a large open window to keep us alert. Our teacher Carmen paces the class well with speaking, games and writing for four hours. The school provides water, coffee and snacks at 11 for a much needed break. Ian and Steve (from Canada) are sitting at the table with Carmen while I snap the photo. Today we worked on regular verbs, how to use them and how to conjugate them. We also worked on pronunciation. I am learning to roll my "r's" with the best of them! Our sentences are simple at this point: Yo trabajo en mi espanol y yo hablo con mi esposo en espanol. Adding in all the adverbs and adjectives will take a bit more time, and yet I think of E.B White and Mark Twain who admonish us to write simply. Yo escribo sencillimente. What a great adverb! We will drop the pronouns such as "Yo" when we have our conjugations down pat because the verb indicates the person.

Our other "firsts" today were visiting the laundromat: la lavanderia and the hair salon: la peluqueria. Ian's haircut turned out great and the chicas fawned all over him trimming his eyebrows etc. He balked at a nose hair trim. El es guapo (handsome). Next week I'll try out the mani/pedi--both for $10! I will work on some phrases to say so that I don't have to use pictures and gestures all the time. At least I can say my name: Me llamo Polly and how much does it cost--Cuanto cuesta? and of course, gracias. We'll call this a field trip...

Every day is a new adventure. Just this evening we returned to the apartment only to find a sign that says the water will be turned off due to some cause we could not translate. So far, it is still on. We drink bottled water, so that is fine, but showers could be tricky in the morning.