As much as I love the company of Alabí, I’m beginning to grow tired of her teaching style. While I think it holds some value I don’t feel challenged by it and I don’t feel like I’m learning as much as I should be at two classes a week. I don’t know how to tell her that I’d prefer not to have classes anymore and I’d rather just hang out with her and have coffee from time to time. Any suggestions would be well received by me because I have no idea how to say “your teaching style just isn’t doing it for me”.
I am going to look for some formal grammar classes that assign homework and scare me a little more because it is more of a challenge and I have to work for it. I’m not sure where I will find such a class here since I can’t imagine there would be a class here that teaches Spanish grammar in English and Spanish (which is what I truly need). Alabí is more of a friend that likes to chat about random things than a strict grammar teacher. I need someone who can challenge me and provide me with many examples of how to use certain grammar so I can turn around and use it in conversation with my friends or in practical situations.
I am getting better with my conversational spanish but I still have a hard time remembering the conjugations for important verbs like dar, decir and pedir. I’m also not very comfortable with the verbs llegar and llevar yet. Much practice on my end is still needed.
I was supposed to have my first yoga class tonight but classes were cancelled because today was the holiday for the Virgin Mary. Instead, I went to Gabi’s business and painted names on t-shirts. When I asked her why she doesn’t use spray paint she said “it doesn’t work with this type of shirt”. I am not sure I believe that…Also, appliques are apparently expensive here so that is why she doesn’t use those either. If she were to ask me, I’d tell her to charge a bit more for the appliques so that she produces a better product and doesn’t spend so much time painting these shirts (she has literally been painting the same shirts for 2 weeks). I’m still learning how their minds work here and why they take the slow road with everything. I mean, I think the slow life is good in some parts of your life but when it comes to making money I don’t think you should opt for the slowest option just because it is the cheapest.
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Autumn's Adventures 
Maybe cheaper labor means lower returns to capital?
You should get a book called 501 Spanish verbs. It will really help with the conjugations. Maybe you can get a grammar book and teach yourself.
Comment by Bob October 21, 2008 @ 10:29 pmyeah i dunno. all i’m sayin is that is not how i’d do business, but i can’t really comment because i come from a prosperous country with better (but not the best) economic policy and cheaper resources. who am I to judge? haha
I have rosetta stone and a few verb conjugation books. i’ll look into the 501 verbs book as I can always use a few more.
Comment by akbrookmire October 21, 2008 @ 10:36 pm