Amauta Spanish School ~ No Jeem!

The Amauta Spanish School was a good experience. For Sherry, a writer, teacher and TESOL trained instructor, it was a great experience. And for me too, though my experiences were on a slightly different level.

Dirk from Hilversum in Holland

In my class there were two young lads from the Netherlands. Nice guys actually, though it will be a while until they start shaving, and they picked on me. As well, another older and more seasoned fellow, complete with hat, also from Holland, named Dirk (pronounced Deeerk). And there was a pleasant young woman from Switzerland, named Jennifer (pronounced Jennifer). Our teachers, Magali and Cesar, were both highly professional and generous.

The amazing Cesar. A wonderful teacher.

My classes began every morning with Cesar offering a greeting, and my reply always appropriate and welcomed. That was always a good start. However. Cesar would then offer a seemingly rambling  discourse, in Spanish of course, and turn to me, with an obvious, even to me, question ending in "...Jeem?"




This set into motion a response not always based on the actual question. Sometimes, it is wise to stick to talking points, an agenda, a script if you well. That might not be appropriate to language lessons. Of course if I could understand the question, my answer might have sounded just a bit more sensible, possibly even coherent. And Cesar's response to my answer would not have been, "No Jeem!" Followed of course by another mind-boggling bunch of Spanish.

There was the rather painful situation of being asked if I play sports. A simple enough question, to which I have a simple, one word answer, en espanol, "No." Alas, I thought we were talking about shopping of all things, so answered, quite well I thought at the time, and in my very best Spanish, "Oh yes, I buy groceries at Jumbo and at my local mercado, and I visit the farmacia for toothpaste and antihistamine." Cesar offered a slight pause and then, "No Jeem!" Followed by more confusing babble. In the end, and for reasons unclear to me now, I claimed to be the enforcer on a hockey team, which made the young lads from Holland treat me with a bit more respect.

Roberto and Sherry talk "tango"

And so, while Sherry was having conversations with tango instructors like Roberto, I was offering my very best "Si" response to nearly every question. Sometimes a "No" seemed to work too, though I will never know for sure. Either way, both responses always seemed to be met with, "No Jeem!"

I might have to repeat this class.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2013 by Jim Murray.

Cafe y facturas

The best way to start the day, even after you've already started it: cafe y facturas.

And what better than to sit outside at a neighbourhood cafe, where, if they don't always know your name, they know you.

Tormenta en la cuidad

It was the end to another sweltering day here in Buenos Aires with a high of 33 degrees. Yesterday's late afternoon sky was dark and heavy with cloud. At about 6pm we were walking towards the Subte to go to a play downtown. In the time it took to walk across the street the few drops of rain we felt turned into a deluge. We took shelter in a storefront doorway. These thunderstorms are usually short lived affairs, though this one proved different.

Throughout the city, thunder, lightning, hail and heavy rain caused traffic problems, power outages, and delays and closings to some train and subway lines. Multiple lanes of main avenues, and sidewalks too, were under water.

The national weather service, reported a seven degree drop in temperature between 6 and 7 pm, and 30 mm of rain. Wind gusts exceeded 60 km/h. The storm continued for another hour, subsiding to showers which ended near midnight. Not particularly significant numbers to people from Canada's south-west coast, but obviously a problem here.

Foolishly, in hindsight, we actually ended up taking a taxi to the Teatro San Martin where we were to see Macbeth. Surprisingly we made it in time, but the performance was cancelled due to the weather. We took a second wild and crazy taxi to a restaurant in Barrio Norte. Our taxi driver on this trip drove at a high rate of speed, without slowing for corners. To warn motorists and pedestrians alike of his approach to intersections, he flicked his brights repeatedly as he sailed through stop signs and red lights, it made no difference. His four way flashers were on continuously, negating the need for any signaling. It was a fun ride. The restaurant was forgettable at best, though the wine was nice.

The last two photos on the right are from the newspaper, La Nacion. The traffic jam is on one of the major freeways entering the city, and apparently duplicated throughout the metro region.