Thank God for "chinos"...

Hola!

So you're probably about that title.  Well, "chinos" are little or sometimes rather large shops run by Chinese people.  They are open when nothing else is open...today for instance is a bank holiday and nothing here is open-except for the chinos.  It may seem a bit racist but they are all literally run by Chinese people and everyone just refers to these shops as chinos.  Chinos are everything shops.  You can get anything from school supplies to undies to cleaning products, to food to toys...and the list goes on.  My roommate found a fabulous type of nail polish that comes out a thin part on the top of the bottle instead of with a brush...it's great for french tips!  Anyway, chinos are awesome and I had a funny experience in one the other day.

On Sunday, I needed a few things and being Spain, no normal grocery store would is open on Sunday.  In fact pretty much nothing is open on Sundays.  So I took a walk and looked for a chino.  I headed down a street near home and saw that the one I normally hit up was closed because it was technically still siesta time (the Spanish like their meal/nap time anywhere from 3-6ish).  So I kept walking and found another chino on a side street that was kinda hidden.  I headed in and grabbed one of the supplies that I needed and a little girl who was playing with the toys nearby started talking to me.  She asked if I needed this and that and when I said I needed hand soap, she took off running.  Before long, I heard her yell, "aqui!" which means "here!".  So I followed her voice a few aisles over and saw the bars of soap.  I grabbed a vanilla one and made to head for the front of the shop to pay.  The little girl grabbed it out of my hand and placed another one in my hand instead.  She told me to smell it "huelele".  She said it smelled better than the one I had before!  So she and I smell some soaps and she helps me pick the best one.  Then she asks if I speak English.  I say yes and she asks my name, in flawless English.  She says"my name is Susanna".  I was floored!  This girl could not have been more than 7 years old and here she is speaking perfect English, Spanish (of course), and I'm pretty sure she was speaking in Chinese with her mother (the owner of the shop).

I got such a kick out of having this little girl be my personal shopper and take an interest in talking to me!  It made me miss working with children.  They really are hilarious and unpredictable sometimes.  Anyway, I thought I'd share that story with you all.

On another note, I received a nice compliment from my teacher today.  I had taught my second practice lesson to Spanish students and we were going over feed back for all the lessons taught today.  My teacher re-emphasized the importance of giving clear directions and acting them out since our students do not understand English well.  She said, "Ashley is the best in the class at doing this".  I really appreciated the compliment!  I think one of the reasons I quit teaching is because I just began to feel like I was such a bad teacher that I just sort of gave up.  Now I realize that maybe I'm not so bad after all.  And, I actually am finding that I really like it!  I told my teacher that I want to work on having a strong presence and speaking loudly to my class and she said I already have both!  It's amazing how positive feedback can work!  In the past I received lots of negative feedback but not as much positive a lot of the time and ultimately, I think it got to me.  Perhaps I should work on handling criticism more.

Well that's it for now.  We have a ton of work this so I should get to it.  More later.  Hope everyone is well and enjoying the last bit of summer!

Besitos y Abrazos,
Ashlita