#grammatico

Another tough night of sleep–even after 2 Benadryl. Something about the combination of being away from home, no nadessa, mosquito bites, hot weather, ac, and fans blowing air in my face to keep me cool... No matter, I got up excited for my first day of ‘school.’ Noel and Lorena were up and I had some gallo pinto y una batida (smoothie). I’m fairly certain that I’m going to turn into a frijolito by the end of this trip. And if it doesn’t already exist, someone ought to write a children’s book about that. 

Arleen

Noel offered to drive me so we took off around 7:30am, arriving by 7:45. I met la maestra y se llama Arleen. She is great. She’s been teaching there for 9 years, 2 at a different school before that, and studied Spanish Language instruction in a university before that. We worked on grammatico, which was a little basic but I trust that it’s good for me. The best part was that we would casually get into conversations in between the formal lessons about all sorts of things: socialism and democracy, catholicism, judaism, and evangelical religions, education, our families, our likes and dislikes. As we talked she balanced well correcting my Spanish and just letting me flow–It felt relaxed and supportive. Here was our ‘classroom’:

They have a little break room with café, pastelitos y agua. There were 2-3 other classes occurring in the large shared space. As I mentioned previously, this is inside the Choco Museo, which houses a boutique chocolatier, store, a pool club including spa services, and who knows what else! The best part is that there are really pretty gardens throughout the space, beautiful art on the walls, and itself is a magnificent building - classic Granada colonial style. 

Words of the day

Zancudo (mosquito)

Orilla (shore)

...con el pie derecho (on the right foot)

Palomitas de maiz (popcorn)

Derretirse (to melt)

Orgulloso/a (proud)

At 12:30 we wrapped up and I began my hike home through the city. It’s about 90+ and I was probably close to passing out by the time I made it back. But I did pause to admire this tree in the cementerio:

Pretty cool right? The trunk seemed so straight. 

Once home, we ate lunch, I took a nap, and then got started on my homework... 

Paceco, un comitato per salvare l’autonomia della Bcc Grammatico

A Paceco (in provincia di Trapani) è stato costituito un comitato, con in testa il Sindaco Biagio Martorana, per salvare la locale banca, la BCC “Pietro Grammatico”, che attraversa un periodo travagliato. Compongono il comitato cittadini e soci dell’ Istituto di credito locale,  “a salvaguardia del ruolo e della presenza di un Istituto di Credito che opera nel territorio da più di cento anni”.…

Y tu sonrisa es aquel dispositivo que ejecuta mi entusiasmo.