El Instituto

I have started my intensive spanish course. The good news - I'm still alive to talk about! But, no, in all seriousness, my first 2 days went fairly well.

Monday, I had to be at the institute at 8:30am to take an "entrance" exam. The conversation part was taken when we had to introduce ourselves, then our grammar was a written test. The introducing part wasn't my favorite because I don't like speaking in front of groups in english, let alone spanish. So I ended up talking really fast and praying I wouldn't be asked any questions (which I think I was only asked 1 and I don't even remember what it was...). The written exam wasn't too bad. I had learned everything on the test, it was just a matter of remember it all.

The schedule for classes is grammar for the first hour (and a half) and conversation for the second hour (and a half). I must not have done too terribly bad on my "entrance" exam because I was place in the highest class for both grammar and conversation. This was very surprising to me. I thought maybe the second highest, but not the highest. I know this will be a great challenge for me, which is what I want. (I have quite a few people to help me when I get lost or confused or frustrated.) My grammar class consists of 4 students (including me) and my conversation class has 5 students (including me). I think this is a great size class because it is small enough that it's almost 1 on 1 attention, but large enough that I'm not called on for everything!!

I am one of the younger ones at the institute. This was surprise to me because I thought there would be more younger people. In my grammar class, there are 2 adults (with kids about my age), me, and 1 guy whose a couple years younger than me. In my grammar class, I am the youngest, all the other students have kids about my age. It is different being in a class with adults, I'm much more used to college age kids. It is just a different dynamic in the class, with conversations (in my conversation class) that are different than what I would normally talk about with people my age. Again, not bad, just different.

I would just ask that you keep me in your prayers. That God would help me to remember what I've learned and that I'll be able to absorb new information.

(Also, a correction, I'm not keeping up with all the ministries I was involved with during my time at the institute. I am not teaching english during this time, but I will be keeping, for the most part, my weekend ministries, mostly for my insanity, but also because I enjoy doing them!! So please be praying for this as well!!)