Lizzards and Tests and Sangria...OH MY!

Today was quite a rough day to be honest. We got up around 7:30 and I had my first taste of our extremely low water pressure showers. I felt like I was standing beneath a leaking pipe, waiting for each drop to try and wash out the massive amount of shampoo in my hair. Everyone had a fun time with that. We ate breakfast in the Comedor together around 8. Our chef, Scarlet wasn’t there yet, but one of the other old ladies made us toast and coffee. Our resident director, Paula came and met us and we walked to meet up with all of the home stay kids at the CLM (Centro de Lenguas Modernas) for the placement test. It started with a 30 minute written question/answer test. Then we moved into the 45 minute grammar multiple choice section, specifically sorted into the four sections we are attempting to place in: beginning, intermediate, advanced and superior. It was kind of overwhelming to try and see what we are going up against on paper! The last part was an oral interview with one of the professors. I was super nervous, and really didn’t get much out of my mouth except “yo estudiado español para cuatro semestres, pero durante el verano pasado se me olvidó todo”…meaning: I have studied Spanish for 4 semesters, but during the past summer I forgot it all. That all came out...and I tried to get around explaining where I worked when she asked. FAIL. Everyone else’s interviewers told them what level they had placed into immediately. Mine decided not to…so I found out during our “welcome fiesta” tonight at the pub. It looks like I’ll be joining the beginners.

After the oral exam we went back to Jardines. We watched some TV in the common room…Spanish-dubbed The Wizards of Waverly Place (Los Magos de Waverly Place) and Boy Meets World on Disney Channel, as well as some Fresh Prince of Bel Air. We then ate lunch (at 2:30) in the Comedor, which was cooked by our chef, Scarlet. It was Spaghetti and meat sauce, which I think Paula told them to make to try and help us adjust. Regardless, it was really good! After that, we met up with everyone again at one of the (many) local plazas for a small tour of the important landmarks (AIFS office, post office, banks, etc.). The thermometer on the outside of one of the banks read 40o…go look that up. Following our walk was our "welcome fiesta" in which they ordered a LOT of pizza (from…DOMINOES!) and had it delivered to a pub. We also were given drink vouchers for either beer, sangria or coke. I felt bad for the people who had been in there before us, because there were over 50 of us, and some people got a little wild.

Well, now I’m back in my room. We have meetings with our respective class placements tomorrow morning, and then the rest of the day free to explore. I think I’ll end up buying a cell phone tomorrow…it’s cheaper than just buying a pay-as-you-go card for the phone I have now! The four main companies here are Vodafone, YoiGo, Orange and Movistar…most people have gone for Orange, but that was before Paula told us they don’t have that great of service between the tall buildings. Hmm…I’ll have to Google those.
Hope everyone is doing well!
M

p.s. I never mentioned that we had a little visitor in our room yesterday. It was a tiny lizard, about the length of my index finger. I have no idea where he went, but Merete and I are hoping he’ll come back to say hi. OH, and there’s this plaza near Jardines that is FULL of bats in the evening. You can hear them from a block away (and smell them). Regardless, it’s pretty fascinating!