Before I went into the class for the first time, a teacher, we call them 'Professora' here warmly greeted me in perfect English, in fact she had this very pleasant accent, kind of like British accent, but not too thick. She asked me if I was from the Middle East or do I speak Arabic. I assumed she thought I was since I wear veils and I said to her no but I read Arabic, though I can't understand them. She smiled and said, it's a pity... Then I told her that I'm from Malaysia and blah blah blah, I can't really remember what I told her... Then she told my father that she wants to invite me to her house for lunch. And so I went to her house for lunch on Saturday.
Her house is in the middle of Jujuy city so my sister and I had to take a bus from Palpala to Jujuy. And I don't even remember the name of the Professora. I'm really bad in remembering names. But luckily we had her address and phone number. Finally we arrived at her house and then I can finally remember her name. Professora Ana Maria Halabi. Her grandparents were from the Middle East. No wonder she was so interested on whether I was from there or not. We talked and ate the 'empanadas arabes', 'empanadas de qeso', and 'empanadas de pollo'... Mmm mmm! ES MUY RICO! And since I said that I play a little guitar, her son, which is a musician (he plays jazz) took out his guitar and let me play with it for a while. We also talked about Malaysia since I brought along some postcards and when I showed her the Petronas Twin Towers' postcard, she said: 'The architecture of this building is from Tucuman, do you know that?' (Tucuman is a province in the North of Argentina). No, I never knew that. It's really weird to learn something about your country from a foreigner. But it's one of the thing that happens to me through my AFS journey since hosting the two German students. It makes me more appreciate my own country. And eager to learn more about the world.
Professora Halabi then told me and Abi, my sister, that she is retiring this year since she has been teaching for the past 50 years. 50 YEARS! I was like, are you kidding me? My mom wasn't even born when you started teaching. I think she is an amazing woman. To be able to teach for 50 years straight is not something easy. We talked some more while eating ice-cream and drinking coffee (Argentinian loves coffee). At about 4, we finally went home.
Spanglish. Well, that's basically the language that I've come to speak this past month. I try really hard to express myself in Spanish but at one point I'll be stuck and that's when I'll just mix my Spanish and English and Walaaah! We got a Spanglish!
I also went with my sister to her English institution and talked with the students there. The problem that the students have is that they can write in English very well but since they don't have any means to practice speaking their English, it's hard for them to communicate in English and that's a real pity since they had committed so much time to learn English but can't truly master the language. So the teacher always looks for any people who can speak English to practice with the students. And although I know my English is not even really good it's nice to know that I can help in some way. One of these days, I might follow the teacher to a school to help the students with their English.
Oh! And I also learned how to play pool. Although I can be considered the expert in 'Facebook Pool'. Jaja.
The weather has been terribly cold for autumn. My hands and feet are always cold. Well I am not exactly used to living in cold weather considering that Malaysia never goes down below 22 degrees celcius (except for in air-conditioned room and higher altitudes, of course). And I sneezes every five minutes. It is terrible. I just wish I'll adapt faster to this kind of weather...
The other day, we were watching White Chicks and there's a scene where Tyler Crews sang A Thousand Miles. It was pretty hilarious so I made a 9gag post out of it. Enjoy!
XOXO mArIaNi
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yup yup I am happy to hear from you^^