The campus at Olympic College has changed so dramatically since I attended there in the 80″s that the only building I recognize is the Administration building. As a result when I went to school for my first day of class on Tuesday I knew which building was the Humanities Bldg where my class was to be held, but my registration sheet gave a number that I thought would be the room number but of course BIG Mistake. As I stood around looking totally bewildered a young man, a very young man, asked if he could help, I explained my dilemma and he then took to the registration area logged on to the computer used his ID number since I didn’t know mine and located the room number and showed me where the room was. I was impressed! How helpful was that, I wish I’d gotten his name. As I walked through the halls I couldn’t help but notice the variety of ages of the students and no I don’t look out of place. There are many of us Seniors on campus. But we dress a little more conservatively than some of the young ones. I couldn’t help but notice a platinum blonde, so platinum that it was a silvery shade. At my age that’s a shade I avoid like the plagues, but she was very young so I guess silver was OK. She wore ripped and almost shredded black tights, a short skirt and a black T shirt with a fur cape draped around her shoulders. I assume the cape was mink. Muy interesante,but not quite my style.
My fellow students are a mix of ages, with a couple comfortable enough in speaking Spanish that I’m sure they have just completed High school Spanish. Most of us are a bit tongue tied when asked to say or repeat something in Spanish. This has always been my short coming, I can read and write Spanish far better than I can pronounce it. That is why I choose this class with this teacher as she is all about speaking. At this point my head is swimming , I’m correcting a few bad habitats I have collected over the years. I try to offer my self up as the guinea pig, to volunteer to speak when a question is asked in Spanish and I must reply in Spanish. But then my answer gets critiqued until I get it right. The written work and the reading work at this point is a not a problem, but I know as time goes on it will get much more difficult. What was I thinking!
Zihuathyme 