What can I say, I’ve been given the gift of a study sabbatical. I know I will be forever grateful to the DOE for giving me this opportunity. Its a time for me to reflect on my life, take rigorous courses that would assist me when I return to my job, to learn new things, remember past things, to increase my awareness of my surroundings and to PARTY HARDY! After 30 years, i’m back in the classroom taking college credits for my sabbatical. Needless to say, the first thing I noticed was that I was much older than everyone, including the professors. The second thing I noticed, was that the student desks got smaller. I don’t remember the desk coming right up against me or the seat being so small. hmmm, could it be that students are smaller now than 30 years ago? The first course I attended was an anatomy and physiology course. Whatever possessed me to think this would be a breeze. It was all medical terminology… what did i think it would be? lol Being required to memorize all these parts is not going to be easy after thirty years. I have enough trouble remembering what I ate for breakfast this morning, let alone, memorizing medical terms.
The second course was Spanish I.
The professor walks in and is speaking Spanish at a pace I will never comprehend nor understand unless I tape myself in fast forward. I looked around the classroom, thinking, maybe I’m in the wrong class. I asked the kid next to me if this was Spanish I and he responded “si”. I certainly know what that means. It means I’m the only one in the class who speaks English.
The teacher handed out some papers and a sylabus. One of the papers stated, “NO SPEAKING ENGLISH IN THE CLASSROOM” we were only to use the words we have learned and communicate in Spanish. I think to myself, just great! Bien! Toda, whatever.
I learned the alphabet in Spanish. Now if I can only forget my French, Yiddish and Hebrew, Spanish would sound a bit clearer to me. The funniest thing was there are five of us in our 50’s and we were the only one’s sitting there with our textbooks…lol everyone else had not yet purchased them……kind of funny but i guess when i was 18, i didn’t buy the books until I had to study for my midterm.
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