¿Cómo Estás? at 92

First day was a blast. I came in early, 30 minutes before the class has started, looked for my name on the lists posted on each glass door, and alas, found my nómbre on Aula Siéte. I was supposed to go in right away, but due to my high anxiety levels, I decided to wait outside. Well, what could I say? It was my first day.

The class started late by 10 minutes and we met our professor, Sandra. When she walked in, she said, “hola! Buenas tardes”, at least I understood that one. However, when she asked us, “Como te llamas?”, we didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what como means nor te llamas. And to our amazement, she kept on speaking in Spanish and my seat mate asked me, “I thought we’re in a begginers’ class?” Nevertheless, we apparently knew that she was asking about our names as she drew a lot of figures on the board. She didn’t try to translate these Spanish words into English as she didn’t want us to do English translation if we try to speak Spanish. We got her point of view – a lot more difficult if we translate Spanish to English than learning the language by itself.

We started by simple words and phrases. Good thing that Filipino language is so akin to Spanish (not all the time, but, at least). We started with the word ‘hola’ with no H (eych). Then cómo estás, and the different words on how to answer back – fenomenal, muy bien, bien, asi-asi, mal, muy mal. Then, she taught us on how to introduce ourselves in Spanish. Let me try again:

¿Cómo estás? Buenas Noches. Me llamo Jermaine, Y tú ¿cómo te llamas? Soy de Ciudad de Davao, pero, vivo en ciudad de Mandaluyong ¿dónde vives? Mucho gusto, hasta pronto.
¿Cómo se escribe Jermaine? Jota, e, erre, eme, a, i, ene, e. ¿otra vez? No. Descausa pausa.
Gracias. Buenas noches, otra vez.

How as it? Good? Muy bien!
Afterwards, Sandra taught us the use of Yo, Tú, El, and Ella. Then she shared a lot of most commonly used words in Spanish. She even asked what carné means. We confidently answered, MEAT. We laughed our hearts out as we knew that it means “card” as she was informing us to get our library cards next week. That was so hilarious.

The whole afternoon was full of fun. Met new friends, my seatmate Vange, and my co-avid fan of Manchester united, Stephen. We had our snack at Wendy’s, then I headed towards intercom hotel to workout.

Now, I am decided to complete all the levels at Instituto Cervantes. The teaching is good. The school is very nice. The students are awesome (I even asked my friend to pay me a visit at school, I guess you know why). Lol.

Hasta la semana que viene.