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I've taken two weeks of Spanish classes so far. I think I'm making progress now, but it's been frustrating. Not like this was entirely unexpected, but still...

I should have learned from my summer class that I really can't say or understand much of anything, despite how much I have "covered" in grammar. I also should have taken the time to systematically "relearn" the grammar and vocab from my UC Extension classes, but of course I found plenty of other things to do this summer instead. Finally, I should have told Escuela Bellavista that I had studied Spanish but didn't remember much, rather than telling them how much grammar I knew. But I didn't do any of these things, so I've spent the last two weeks in "Basico IIB" (recently advanced to "Intermedio IA") with people who speak and understand Spanish a lot better than me.

It's been up and down. From the beginning I knew there was a lot of basic vocabulary/conjugations that I didn't remember, but at least it seemed like the two other people in my class didn't speak all that well. Greg the other grad student could do interviews and ask for data in Spanish, but in class he didn't sound so great. Anna de Suecia can understand her Chilean fatherish-inlaw but doesn't like to say much. I knew I needed to study at home, but hey I'm smart I'll work hard and pick it up. Then Anna de Alamania joined the class, who talked a lot with her big street vocabulary and made all of us sound dumb. The third day we had a different teacher for our morning class (the substitution of teachers at this school can be annoying and stressful, although I suppose there might be some pedagogical benefits over time), and our activity for the day was reading an article about internet crime and discussing it. That convinced me that I needed to move down a level or two--I need to be spending my class time practicing simple conversations about my weekend and my life, not pretending to discuss the future of internet crime. So after class I asked to move down, but it didn't turn out as I had hoped. I only had a brief conversation with the school director on Wednesday, because I had to leave to go on a school-sponsored excursion to the market, and on Thursday morning he said that he "had talked to my teachers and they said I should not move down but I should study more at home." Or at least I think that's what he said. It's true that I need to study consistently at home and spend time memorizing vocab, but if I were in a lower class I could do all that while simultaneously being totally on top of the homework and hopefully feeling less stupid in class. It would be más tranquilo. However, I did not say any of this and instead went back to my higher class, partially because I didn't feel like I could express myself in Spanish and partially because I don't like challenging people anyway.

The rest of the week went by. It was ok, although I thought I was so incomprehensible on Friday when the school director taught our class that for sure he would move me down. But he didn't. I studied some over the weekend but not a ton. The beginning of this past week was more of the same. Not too painful but not too productive either. I went on excursions with people from school on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, which was good for my knowledge of the city and for my social life but not good for my Spanish. Upon getting home at 7:00, I had no energy to seriously study. Thursday was horrible. I hadn't done all of the homework, the class was disorganized, and Anna de Alamania was being especially annoying. I became extremely frustrated with my placement and annoyed that I wasn't sure I was getting my money's worth. I knew that both the school's stubbornness and my own initial misrepresentation of my abilities was to blame, and I was mad at both. The good thing is that as a result of this experience, I came home and launched systematic re-studying of all I should know but don't. I felt better on Friday, and I'm still motivated to study.

So the current situation is this. On the street (or in a shop, restaurant, or cab) I can understand almost nothing, and I still try to avoid situations where I might have to speak, although I did manage to buy coffee in the market the other day after several minutes ridiculousness and I still got the wrong grind. In class or in social situations with Chilenos, I can generally get the gist of what's going on but definitely miss important details. I think now that I've started systematic studying I'll slowly but surely get better at talking in class, but there's so much to do--everything from basic vocabulary to phrases that trigger the subjunctive. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be happy with my placement because I will be constantly challenged to learn more grammar and complex stuff as I simultaneously practice the basics. But at the same time, I'm sure I would have gotten more value out of the past two weeks if I had been in a different class. It's water under the bridge at this point but still... So much depends on who's in the class, and it will be interesting to see what it's like next week. Anna de Alamania will be gone, but we might get someone new or they might switch everyone up. At any rate, I have lots of time to study this weekend and hopefully that will help. I know I need to practice my speaking in real life situations, but I also have to shore up the base.