February 20, 2004 10:09 PM - It's been a while since I last wrote. Yes, I know. I'm well aware of that. I apologize for this. After the first few months of review in school, the homework has started increasing in length and amount of time required to do it. There have also been plenty of projects, quizzes, and test, even though I don't really study for quizzes and tests, unless I sense it is going to be a tough one or the particular teacher is known for giving tough quizzes and tests. Plus, I can always study a bit in school - while we're waiting to go to our lockers, during homeroom, and... SPANISH CLASS! Spanish class is really awesome. The teacher, Mrs. Cotroneo, is a very cool teacher. She lets me disco and do some cool dancing stuff for the skits and stuff. In class, I sit closest to the board and her desk up front. I have to say she really knows her stuff and we sure learn a lot about grammar in Spanish class, perhaps even more than in language arts class. Then again, she's a Spanish major and English minor from Montclair University. At the beginning of the year, I thought she had absolutely no emotion at all and was practically a robot repeating words over and over again. But as the year progressed, I have discovered that she is a very radical teacher. Her normal voice is this light, airy, calm, but firm voice, which is alright, but when she yells, as she does almost every class (due to certain students), she changes to this monster, with this raging voice and her face crinkles up and all. And she implies to us that she's quite old (I guess that means she's over 50?) by one time when I was like, "So if you weren't married, would we call you Seņorita instead of Seņora?" and she responded, "Well, no, you would still call me Seņora because I'm already passed a certain age of which you would always be called Seņora out of respect." And one time, someone was like, "Did you like go to school in the '50s?" and then she was like "Well... let's see... actually, I was." And she definitely knows her Spanish history and culture and language and all. She is definitely a better Spanish teacher than Mrs. Klauber (with no offense meant to my 7th grade Spanish teacher), probably due to the fact that her family came from Spain, and I doubt Mrs. Klauber's family did, based on the fact she is blond - I don't think native Spaniards have blond hair... Anyways, a lot of things Mrs. Klauber taught us in 7th grade, Mrs. Cotroneo corrected us in 8th grade. Also, Mrs. Cotroneo teaches us a lot of extra words and gives us extra vocabulary and phrases that she feels we should know. After all, she did grow up in a Spanish family and spoke Spanish at home. Once, when I asked her, "Where did you grow up?", she responded, "In the US, here in New Jersey." So then I asked, "Did you go to Spanish school or American school?" and she replied, "I went to American school, but I spoke Spanish at home." And so I thought to myself, "Aha! No wonder she's so good at Spanish. It's sorta like how I'm fluent in Chinese speaking because I speak partially Chinese at home." She tells a story once in a while when we come across some topic that triggers a story or when we're assigned a project (we've been assigned 2 so far (the second project is the one I'm working on right now (due March 1))). I remember once she mentioned how back in the '60s, she travelled back to Spain while the dictator, Francisco Franco, was still alive and in rule. When she went to see her family and were chatting, no one dared to speak about Franco. She said that while Franco was ruling, he would have Spanish troops marching down the streets, and so there was virtually no crime. Franco was born in 1892 and he was a Spanish soldier and political leader who led the Nationalists and rebel armed forces against the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and was victorious. He then ruled as dictator from 1939 until he died in 1975. Upon his death, the Bourbon monarchy that used to be was restored. Hurray! I am all for democratic systems and COMPLETELY oppose fascist governments. Alright... anyways, enough with the history. I just particularly find history quite interesting. I could tell you a whole bunch about history that I've heard or read about. Ms. MacCabe sure tells a lot about American history, which I find is quite interesting, being the country I am growing up in. Ms. MacCabe tells a story at the beginning of every class, and they are usually either stories about Presidents or First Ladies (the President's wife). Sometimes she tells us a story about a person important to the time period we're studying or stories about people not mentioned in the textbook. She shows us a lot of pictures and sometimes those picture films. She also brings in antiques and replicas or certain items. For example, she brought in real cotton and passed it around to show us. Alright... uh back to Spanish. Well, anyways, there's so much more I could tell you, but I suddenly got a craving to play chess, so I'm gonna cut this entry short. Perhaps some more tomorrow :-). Goodnight. ~Erwaman~