1344 At a small grilly type restaurant near flat, can't see name from here. Getting churrasco with chorizo. School OK, felt a bit at sea when teacher was explaining some stuff re subjunctive but think generally will get on OK with him. Spoke to a couple of other students in the break. This afternoon's activity was salsa so didn't ask about joining in. :-) The teacher also seems to be a guide for hiking etc, not entirely sure I liked him telling me about his services but might be useful. School has an excursion to some sort of hot springs (not necessarily the well-publicised Fuentes Georginas I see all over the place) this weekend but I don't intend to go, I don't feel comfortable being half-naked in public. I might do it solo but with a group of students I've only just met I think it would be a bridge too far.
1403 Won't eat here again. Salad is covered in some filthy white dressing so it's inedible, and being plonked half over everything on the plate most other stuff was been contaminated. Couldn't eat half the bread or frijoles as a result. Steak not bad but not huge (lot of fat). They did ask me how I wanted it cooked so I said "medio" , which I think is wrong but I can't remember why. First place which has asked, and as I said the steak and chorizo weren't bad. But I still feel hungry.
Was thinking I wouldn't go out tonight but I might. I don't know. I don't think I'll try the pub quiz at El Shamrock or the karaoke at K&Q, I wouldn't recognise most students at new school and in the unlikely event there was anyone from old school it would be potentially a touch awkward. I might just go and have a beer at one of the bars in Pasaje Enriquez, not go out too early or stay out late and if I happen to get into conversation all to the good. I probably shouldn't go out TBH as I will probably do something similar Friday and Saturday but meh.
There is some sort of "conferencia" activity at new school on Friday, not sure what time which might make it awkward re meeting owner to pay for next week's accommodation, but I should probably go to it. Meh.
Aha, this is Asadera La Costeñita.
1420 Let's get bill and clear off.
1521 Bill was 30, made it 40.
Epic walk to get cash, the 5B machine in shopping centre near flat was out of order, the Banco Industriale and BAC machines wouldn't work with my Starling debit card (though BI got as far as telling me they'd charge a USD4 fee before 'cancelling' the transaction - which is about same as the Q31.20 fee at 5B, all this on a Q2000 withdrawal) so walked into centre. Not a big deal but mildly annoying.
Had a quick look at Baristas coffee place on central park which teacher recommended to meet people (he's not so keen on me meeting people in bars) but apart from having a lurking MoS in doorway it looks a bit expensive and was empty. I seriously struggle to believe someone might just start talking to me if I am 'responsive' to a casual "buenos tardes" but ought to try it. I am blowing hot and cold about going out tonight; beer is tempting but don't want to risk stinking of booze/sweat tomorrow (won't be able to shower after) and I was out Tuesday night. *May* compromise by walking into centre and having coffee there if it's open but we'll see how I feel. I could instead/as well try somewhere like that on Sunday afternoon.
2304 Didn't go out, couldn't be bothered. E-mailed owner to ask him to come round and collect rent and asked if I could get the sheets on bed changed, he came round and brought me some to swap out (he came back for dirty ones 10 mins later) and didn't charge me, which was good. Having been forced to fully remake bed instead of trying to patch it up may also help it retain its integrity while I'm in it.
Pissed evening away inadvisably reading shit on Twitter, because I'm a fuckwit sometimes. I didn't really want to do the homework, which doesn't bode entirely well, but I just did it. Feeling a bit pissed off about (incomplete) lists of conjunctions and trying to avoid accidentally deflecting my annoyance with the existence of these lists onto the teacher. (They *are* divided into three groups which seem totally arbitrary, different to the groups in the textbook photocopies I got from old school and I have no idea why I would in practice care what the groups are, as long as I understand each individual phrase.)
Teacher's well-meaning and indeed semi-well-received advice re meeting people and how it would be good for me to meet locals to speak in Spanish with has also annoyed me a bit; it's not like I can just step out onto the street and meet people, otherwise I'd be doing it anyway. His advice on how to meet people is not entirely unhelpful but hardly a step-by-step infallible dummies' guide and it stirs up my concerns about social activity or lack thereof during trip.
Plan for tomorrow and Saturday nights is to try some live music venues and/or K&Q (I just might try for a repeat of the locals' karaoke night I wrote about two weeks ago, not sure) and if I meet people all well and good and if not not the end of the world. I am feeling a bit "wasteful" in that I don't have any tourist activities planned for the weekend and I kind of feel (rightly or wrongly) I've exhausted most of the novelty of just walking round town. I am also a bit unsure what to do about arranging a hiking trip with a tour agency myself given a) the possibility the school will do something like this b) the somewhat vague offer of my new teacher of his services as a guide - I don't really want to go off with him just the two of us, somehow, but I don't know anyone at the school yet to propose a trip with. I think since my plan (prior to the expedition this Saturday with old school coming up) was to give myself four weeks to acclimatise, I won't worry about this this weekend and once I see the school activities for next week on Monday I can decide if I'm going to book a private tour for the following weekend or what.
I am feeling it would be good to do the paragliding in Panajachel on the way back to GC at the end of the trip, subject to weather and insurance. I probably already said that anyway, but FWIW.
Don't want to shave or clean teeth or shower but I will force myself and then go to bed. It's already a smidge late (I was yawning a bit in class today and am yawning now). Guts feeling a bit bunged up in some hard to describe way, nothing major but I need to make a point of buying and eating a decent quantity of fruit at the weekend. All the salads I've had eating out the last few days have been inedible (dressing today, PdlJ seems to have got a job lot of pickled beetroot in and just dumped that on the plate as salad last two visits, and I hate pickled beetroot) and I kept forgetting to buy fruit when I went to supermarket for hot dogs and/or soft drinks. Hey ho.
No comments:
Post a Comment