Nivel Tres Nightmare

We've been informed that the morning class for Nivel 3 has been dissolved since only 8 students signed up. Damn it! Why?! Why must this happen to us? If only we're not 2 students short (yes, I'm talking to you Aie and Bingo!), we would've retained our class!

So anyway, the rest of the gang decided to just transfer to the afternoon class. I went to Instituto a bit earlier since I still have to get my copy of the receipt and schedule. Elvie, the admin staff, told me that our new professor is Sir Bobby. I asked her if he's a patient person coz he sure needs a lot of patience with us. Fortunately, the answer is yes and Elvie told me that from what she heard, he's a brilliant prof. Nice to hear that then, but can he handle us? Hehehehe


Danielle, Isel, Bam and JC went inside the room first and I just asked them to save a seat for me. As I went inside the room, I already noticed this guy sitting near the door but didn't pay much attention to him. My initial thought is, 'is he the professor?'. But I just shrugged it off and crossed the room towards where Bam is seated while talking in my not-so-loud but everyone-can-hear-me voice.


As soon as I planted my ass on my seat, the guy stood up and started bombarding us with Spanish questions! FUCK! He IS the professor! Sneaky bastard (*joking! Es broma!) I looked around, of course there are a lot of new faces. It's a different feel compared to when I first set foot on the classroom during Nivel Uno. You can tell from the other students' faces that they're in here for some serious business! Gahd!!


"Welcome to Nivel Tres", a little voice from my head said. Sir Bobby is still speaking....IN SPANISH, if I may add. So here we are trapped in this tiny room with this professor talking PURELY in Spanish. He reminds me of Sra. Hidalgo but Sra. Hidalgo still speaks in English once in a while (when she's making jokes). He then started checking attendance.


He didn't call our names since we're still not on the list. Then a guy came in (I think his name is Nick - an Ateneo Student. Can't believe he's a teenager, he's tall...Okay, nuff said) and he handed his registration form to Sir Bob. Danielle and I did the same so that we can be put in the list and that surprised him (I can only tell by his expression, not by what he's saying because he's still speaking in Spanish. *sigh* I'm officially a 'movement/action-reader' now).


He then stormed out of the room followed by his Spanish phrases which nobody understood. As soon as he went out of the room, I looked at Bam, Danielle and Isel (JC is stuck at the other side beside Jovy) and we started laughing. I told them I only understood 50% of what he's saying - NOTE: I'm not really good with 'approximations' so when I say 50%, expect it to be 100% wrong. Ooopps, just ignore my estimation shit. I don't understand him, PERIOD.


We continued talking animatedly about this whole new experience. Fortunately, everyone shared the same sentiments. I told them that when Sir Bob was in the middle of his long speech, I almost blurted out 'No hablo español!'.. Then I heard another classmate telling her friend that she only understood 10% of what the professor is saying. I wonder if she's not that good in 'approximation' as well.


The professor entered the room again and there was an immediate silence, probably in fear of being asked and having to answer in Spanish. It turns out there are 21 students in his class and that's really a lot. Anyway, he continued with the lesson and the first thing that we did is introducing ourselves!!! <*insert Twilight Zone theme song here>


He scribbled the questions on the board to guide us in introducing ourselves and as soon as he was done writing, I swear I thought I heard all our rusty brains making a clanking sound as it whirls around trying to come up with something to be able to answer those seemingly easy questions.


1. Presentarse / ¿Para qué estudiais español?

2. ¿Qué normalmente haceis todos los días?

3. ¿Cosas que te gustan y no te gustan?


OH EFFING HELL!!!! What should I do? I grabbed my Spanish Dictionary in full panic while trying to come up with answers to those questions. Meanwhile, Sir Bobby is already introducing himself, answering all the three questions with ease and even throwing some jokes while doing this. Yeah, I so wanted to listen to what he's saying but right now, my mind is in a state of emergency. Somebody please HELP MEEEE!!!


It was my turn to introduce myself. So I told these strangers my name, my age and my address. I didn't really want to divulge this information but if you're in a tight spot like I do, you just say everything that comes to mind. Heck, I would even recite my ATM PIN in Spanish if push comes to shove, since Spanish numbers are the only area I'm confident at - never mind the fact that anyone can easily get my dinero due to my stupidity.


Everything seems to be going rather smoothly until I arrived at this statement - 'Trabajo en Taguig..' The professor cut me off and asked me 'Donde en Taguig?'..Errrr..Okay, 'donde' means 'where'. So he's asking where in Taguig am I working. WHERE indeed?!!! ARRRRRgggHHH!!! I'm not even sure where! My mind completely went blank when he suddenly interrupted me with that deadly Spanish question of his! Heaven help me! I am a heartbeat away from a full blown heart attack!!!!!!


"Ahmmmm.....<*silence>....En The Fort..En Global City...??", I answered.


<*crickets>

<*crickets crickets>


"Ah, Si.", the professor finally said.


Phew!!! Note to self: You are working at The Fort, dammit!