Day 23 - First Spanish Class

Since Sarah and I were down to just pasta noodles and some Special K bars, we went to the Martinez this morning to do some grocery shopping.  We also went to the market across the street from there to get a few other things.  I felt like one of those bargain shopping moms because I was calculating everything so that I could get the most for what money I wanted to spend. I splurged and did spend 1.500 cfa on some dark chocolate from Belgium though...mmm so good!! We beat the mad rush of people by going in the morning, so that was a plus too!!

For the rest of the afternoon I just wanted to lock myself in my room and get my proposal finished...after all I couldn't make Jake wait very long since he has to read it and approve it and what not...which I did finish...YAY!!! I don't think it is half bad either for the resources I could access from here.

When I was finished all of the volunteers were here and so I took some of them out around the town! It was me, Victoria, Leslie and Miguel.  I took them to all of my favorite spots...well the ones I have after only being here for a short time...and showed them the mercado central and all of the cultural centers.  We also passed one of the political buildings and they were doing something...I think the president is in his palace outside of the student house...or at least someone very important is there.  We couldn't see anything, I was bummed, but it did sound cool! Too bad I don't know anyone involved in the Equato-guinean government.

Victoria is the volunteer from Philly and she invited me to play on her kickball team over the summer.  They play in Fairmount Park and I can't wait...I love kickball!!  Networking is really helping me here. Some other things I picked up more on today is that whenever the kids here see a white person, especially the little girls, they think you are Chinese...because a lot of Chinese people live here...and they just yell "china" and "chino." It's actually pretty amusing.  And I also have noticed that there are a surprising amount of fancy cars here...Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes Benz...I really did not imagine seeing this many.

Around 5:00 we said bye to everyone who was flying back to the States tonight and headed to the apartments about Candy bar/restaurant to meet our Spanish teacher, Carmen.  She has the penthouse apartment there...it is so nice! It overlooks the port and is really spacious.  But anyways, I am overwhelmed to say the least.  She understands English, but spoke all Spanish with us and only a few English words...I feel like it has been forever since I took any type of Spanish class!! She just thrust us right into it.  But then again, I guess this is perfect for me since I was kind of spoiled and just spent the last couple of weeks with a lot of people who spoke English.  Needless to say, I came home and before eating some dinner I took out my textbook and started practicing!!

And now, the first time to experience the night life in Bioko with some of the people who only leave tomorrow!!

Hasta luego,
Lindsey