Santiago, February 24, 2020

The primo day we have anticipated.

First day of school. Escuela Bella Vista. First things first. We arrived early at 9:15 a.m., in order to go through pre-class placement assessment. We were neither surprised nor offended with Beginner class (kindergarten). Actually we were pretty relieved we even made it to that level.

We came to class ready, alert, attentive and open. We also came a little anxious. Our class consisted of only four students. . Stan and me of course, but also Ludwig from Sweden and Tim from Germany. I have never met another person in the entire world named Ludwig and I remember only knowing of one other person and that was Ludwig Van Beethoven. Our fellow student, Ludwig, is about 24,, tall, full of personality and apparently well-heeled since he is on a multi-month holiday, no plans from day to day and no booked trip home. Same for Tim from Germany. When asked their profession their answer was something like, I am experiencing life. Man, what if way back in the late 60's this might have been a possibility for me or for Stan . . .

In class, we worked! We swept musty cobwebs from the tiniest, long-ago visited corners of our brains. We made the gray matter work! We have not been this attentive since, my Lord, maybe 1985??? Actually, I cannot remember being so keenly engaged in even my most challenging venture in my career. My brain felt electrified. Even Tim said, my head is smokiing!!! This stuff is hard!!! With no prior training, it's outrageoulsyly challenging!!

Yo soy, tu eres, ella es, nosotros somos, ellas son ???? I think this means . . . I am, you are, she is, we are and they are. I'm not sure I will ever truly get this.
I will just say this. We are learning bit by bit but we have such a long, hard way to go.

Homework was a big ole bear. Back at it tomorrow.