Amigos: the third week, the frost

Three weeks down at Amigos, one more to go. This week was very different for me: because I had one-on-one lessons instead of group lessons; because there was a sombre feeling with many people leaving, and with the school being very quiet; and because I'm starting to feel, for the first time, that my Spanish is reaching a semi-fluent level. The one-on-one lessons have been intense and draining (despite being 3 hours instead of 4 each morning), but they certainly have boosted my Español like never before.

I had Merly for the first three days of this week; and despite being a bit apprehensive at first about private lessons with her, we turned out to be a great team. True, she does spend a lot of time just chatting, and she does go off on tangents easily; but she knows her stuff as thoroughly as the best of them, and I feel that my constant pushing to move ahead complements well with her constant holding back and wanting to do things more slowly and comprehensively.

For the last two days of this week, I had one-on-one lessons with Jesus. Exactly why this happened is a bit of a long story — we were going to go to the Valle Sagrado ("Sacred Valley") together on Thursday and today, but that's now happening this weekend instead, and Jesus already told Merly to give herself a long weekend — but anyway, I'll be back with Merly for all of next week. Jesus is a very good teacher, but he has the same desire as me — to push ahead at full throttle — and because of this, we really wore each other out. I also don't feel particularly comfortable having lessons with him, as we've been hanging out together as friends (along with various other students) so frequently over the past few weeks, and as I don't think it's healthy for him to teach me as well.

I covered a lot of new ground this week — speaking in past tense, using direct and indirect pronouns, reflexive vs. direct / indirect verbs, and using the gerundio (immediate present tense) — and although I still need to get familiar with all the new material, I'm feeling a lot more confident and able to say what I need to say, when I need to say it, in Español.