Aligning chakras and chacras

This week was a pretty chill week if I were asked to describe it or if I decided to write about it in a blog to share with my people. By the way, I appreciate all of you who have been consistently (or not-so-consistently) keeping up with my posts. Although none of you are by no means obligated to read these (even if I remind you to read them and I reference them to force you to read them) and although I would probably write them if only 5 people kept up with them because writing these are rather cathartic, I feel kind of famous with my 50 - 60 weekly readers. Like who are you and why are you so interested? Are there actually just like 4 of you reading the posts over and over again? What makes me so special?

Putting this picture here randomly so that the cover photo of this post isn't the first picture in the post.

Anyways, this week was pretty chill. I went to class, went to the gym, went to a chemistry class, and went to a farm. Ya know, normal things. As a reminder, I assist with 7 classes:

Monday: no class

Tuesday: Phonetics 3 (8 - 10pm)

Wednesday: an introductory level English language course for those not quite attending classes yet (6-10pm - same students with two different teachers) --> every other Wednesday from 6-8 we have speaking club where people from the community come to chat and practice speaking English

Thursday: Language 2 (6-8) and Language 1 (8-10)

Friday: Language 3 (6-8) and Didactics (8-10)

That ends up being about 14 hours at the school. Technically, I think I'm supposed to be working only 12, but I don't know which class I'd drop, and, honestly, coming from a very, very jam-packed grad school schedule, I think I can survive the extra 2 hours in class.

In Phonetics, we do a lot of reading out loud because the students are learning how to read transcriptions but also how to combine and chunk groupings of words to, essentially, sound more like a native English speaker. If I am going to be honest, which I usually am here no matter who I've convinced to read my posts, it could teeter on being a little colonialism-y if not done correctly. I see the value in basic phonetics and phonology, especially for those who want to teach English, because English is wild and kind of sucks. Additionally, when we speak a foreign language, we all want to sound kind of like native speakers, right? The worst is when your accent outs your non-nativeness even if it is inevitable because we all come to a new language with our own unique accents. It must require a very special, talented human to sincerely teach phonetics/phonology because English is such a complex language. The varieties of English spoken vary so much that it's impossible (and icky) to declare one version the correct version. I suppose it all comes down to the purpose of your language use and how communication will serve you...Also, this topic is far more complex than I'm making it out to be in this tiny little paragraph. These are just my observations and thoughts thus far.

In the language classes, we do a lot of reading, speaking, listening, and writing. I assist with three different language levels, which I find fascinating because I can observe and compare the different English levels of the students. I'm excited to see how all of the students improve throughout the year because they all are so impressive already.

This past week in speaking club, I think 6 people attended, including Sol's daughter and husband, which is fun. I enjoy this time I get to spend with random people who want to practice there English because we get to do just that - sit and chat and maybe play a game or two. This week, I am helping some girls who are in their fourth year plan activities for the next speaking club because why not and because I have some feelings about how this past one went. I always have opinions/feelings about how things go, if you couldn't tell, so I'm just going to leave it at that...feelings.

In the didactics class with Sol and Sonia, we sit and look really bored and tired because it's Friday night and we want to go home.

(Sonia is in pink and black and Sol, who I don't think any of you have "met" yet, is in yellow and gray)

Kidding! Kidding! This is actually my favorite class of the week, and I'm not just saying that because I've convinced Sol and Sonia to read my posts. In this class, we are currently slowly trudging through chapters on learning theories, which happen to be tricky just generally, so I can't imagine how tricky it must be if you are simultaneously learning English and learning about learning theories and individual differences, etc. I enjoy listening to the students discuss and how they interpret what they read because just about a year ago, I was in their shoes learning about different learning theories and how to apply them, so it's kind of exciting!

For those curious - the sizes of the classes range from 3 to maybe about 14 or 15? The largest class is Language 1 and the smallest is Language 2.

This week, I also went to the gym, and it was a pretty big gym week, like pretty monumental. For some context: I usually go about 4 times a week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Saturdays, it's only open between 9 and 1, and on Sundays, it's closed. As I've gotten to be a bit more comfortable in the gym, I've gotten more comfortable making eye contact and saying hello to fellow lifters. While I sound super hesitant about being there, I'm always a little hesitant in new gyms, no matter where I am because you really don't know what the culture and vibe is like. With that being said, I've really been enjoying this gym. The people there are really nice, or at least I'm assuming they are...it's not like I'm a gym chatter...AND there are lots of women that workout there, which is super nice. Of course I don't really mind working out with lots of "masculine" men but knowing that the people there are chill with female lifters is super nice.

Anyways, this week, I'm pretty sure I graduated to gym bro. One of the guys I see quite frequently asked me to spot him. In retrospect, now that I'm writing about it, I'm thinking, "Did he do so with weight he knew he could lift just to impress me?" Maybe. Probably. Super likely. Nonetheless, I spotted him, and he spotted me later in the week, so that means we are gym friends now. Unfortunately, he was not there to spot me when I needed help with the leg press. I usually ask for help on the last set of my leg press because I want to go as close to failure as possible, and I need help when I finish the set because the leg press is made for people with legs like 3 inches (7.62 cm) longer than mine. I normally ask the guy who works there because he's nice, and I know he knows that I can lift. He was super busy this day, though, and was running around helping everyone and their brother, so he asked this random strong looking man to spot me. I told the strong looking man that I can do 6 and that I just need help at the end because I'm too short. He took this to mean, "This girl cannot do any unless I help her." Mr. Strong Looking Man pushed the leg press thing where you put your feet the entire time. The. Entire. Time. Even before I had started the set, he had his hands on the press. I was far too nervous to say anything about not needing that much help, so I let him push half the weight for me. Funny enough, I was able to do more than 6, which he seemed surprised about...sigh. Needless to say, I missed my spotting-friend-who-may-have-asked-me-for-help-just-to-show-off.

However, what I lost in confidence then was gained back when I reached besito level with my new gym worker friend. That is, instead of fist bumping, we do the Argentina one cheek kiss now. Basically what I'm trying to tell you is that I have become a part of the gym. I am one with the gym. Will I ever be that person lifting sans headphones? Absolutely not. But, I am now friends with one of the guys who works there so there's that.

At this point, I can hear most of you thinking, "Leslie, of course all these gym guys are chatting with you and want to be your friend. You wear leggings to the gym and lift heavy weights. They're probably impressed and think you're cute."

Please don't rain on my parade. I have already had these thoughts. Sol has already alerted me that this is probably the case. Please just let me think that I am a part of the gym now.

To continue on this week's adventures, on Thursday, I woke up and did the Wordle really early because Sonia took me to the school she works at to observe students in a chemistry lab. The kids were middle school aged, 12ish, and were completing an exam. The task was to figure out the density of an object their teacher gave them. The students were given the object and were told to go for it. I was so impressed with how comfortable these students seemed in the lab. Labs can often be super scary and intimidating and can often cause a lot of anxiety, so watching these students complete the experiment with such ease was wild. I can't wait to bother Sonia about going again because I had so much fun with the students and their teacher.

Later on Thursday, on my post-gym walk, I sent Sol a fun little text mimicking the pictures she had sent me the previous day which I titled "Puerto Madryn Trivia".

She later told me that she was shook seeing this message after just having woken up from a nap. However, for some reason, she doesn't hate me and my annoying self yet because she invited me on a little trip to her chacra, her farm, this weekend. She'd been telling me about it for ages and had me convinced that it was like three olive trees in a field but, as it turns out, it's more than that. It's many olive trees and plants in a large field.

Neither of these pictures really does it justice but just believe me when I say there are lots of trees. There, we hung out and snacked, and Sofi (Sol's daughter) and Claudio (her husband) introduced me to some new music.

They are all very photogenic.

It was actually incredibly rewarding to hangout with her and her family because I could see the progress I've made with my Spanish. A little more than a month ago, if you remember, I brunched with her fam and went to her son's rugby game. At that point, I understood some of what they said, but this past weekend, I understood basically everything. I can't quite say the same about improvements in my speaking abilities; nevertheless, it was exciting. I'm grateful for their patience and Sol's determination to practice Castellano with me.

Speaking of gratefulness, this week I also spent a lot of time thinking about gratitude and how grateful I am to be here. I miss my mom and am sad we did get to eat vegan treats together on Mother's Day, but I am grateful that she likes to listen to me go through detailed explanations about every picture I take. I am grateful for my Argentine mom who goes above and beyond every day and teaches me about tomatoes, offers to "speak" (lol) with the people at the gym to make sure they are treating me well, and always says "Hi Lezzz! How are youuuu?" before realizing she's speaking English. I'm grateful that I get to walk on the beach every day and watch the sunset. I'm grateful for my Gilly who watches Netflix with me with TeleParty. I'm grateful that the girl at Casa Hulpe remembers that I drink almond milk (even if that is kinda her job). I'm grateful for all the beautiful, lovely, wonderful people who I've met here.

Sunsets

TeleParty with Gil

My Casa Hulpe latte

One of my students, Ludmila, who is a sweet, sweet human

The people with whom Yani is abandoning me as she leaves to explore Buenos Aires this month

Also, like I said in the beginning, I'm grateful for you for following along! :)