| ugh |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|02:47 pm] |
Last night was a lovely night. Been sick all weekend and last night had a mental beak down over all the things I have to get done, many of which I probably should have been getting done earlier, but convinced myself it'd be OK to do them in September (which has come and gone).
I took my Spanish test on Friday and didn't pass. I got a 3 in reading, which is the score we need. But only a 2+ in speaking, basically I know what I'm doing but made too many mistakes. I think my main problem was when asked about the G20 summit, I didn't know what to say in English let alone in Spanish. So it looked like I didn't have the vocabulary I needed, but in reality I didn't have a clue. Totally different problem. But because of that I have to continue with Spanish. I can either go to class for 4 weeks or start up my next training class (how to do interviews for visas) and take a one-hour one-on-one class at 8 a.m. every day before my visa training class. So I'm opting for that, but I have to get my career development officer to sign off on it. And, of course, they changed my CDO without telling me so I have a new one, and I e-mailed her on Friday to see what I should do and still haven't heard back. Yeah!
And my breakdown last night was the list of things I need to get done:
1. Buy car. We found a car and now just need to get a loan. So today, my day off between Spanish and my other class, I went down and joined the credit union and applied for the loan. So hopefully that will work out and tomorrow I can call the car place in Indiana and buy a car. Yippie! I hate cars. I don't want a car!
2. Get passports and visas. I've been waiting till I get Ken added to my orders, as per our new change in rules, but it's taken forever. Last thing is to have Med Unit clear him, and then the above mentioned CDO has to issue a new paperwork thing I can take to get dip passports and visas. So hopefully that'll be soon, otherwise I'll just go get mine and we can get Ken's later.
3. Send intro letters. Yes even though they know I'm coming and I've e-mailed my boss, I have to send hand writen letters to my boss in Mexico, her boss the head of the consulate, and the embassador in DF to say hi i'm coming in December.
4. Get shots. Ken and I have to get shots, luckilly nothing fun like maleria, but just like hep and tetnus (so we can go visit Hobbit I suppose)
5. Get my med clearence. I have to get my med clearence updated. I sent in the form and just haven't heard back. So hopefully that's OK.
6. Do all this while doing my classes! yippie!
And to top it all off, all my friends are leaving for post, I have to go visit my great aunt for her birthday, and I might actually be going insane.
Good things about now: We'll soon be visiting the hobbits for a long weekend! |
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| girly fun |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|05:10 pm] |
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so today Ken was supposed to babysit for our friends who have an 18-month-old daughter while mommie had a doctor's appointment. Since he had to go up to MA, I ended up going in his place. Babysitting was uneventful, she slept the whole time. But when mommie got back she was in tears. Umm oh no she's dying, I thought. No it turns out she might be pregnant, which is ok with them. The problem was apparently during her last pregnancy she gained 50 pounds which she lost right after birth, apparently water weight. And her doctor back home was OK with that. This doctor, however, apparently told her she couldn't gain that much weight and he would make her talk to a nutritionist if he needed to. And to top it all off, he didn't have an ultrasound person there today so he couldn't say 100% she was pregnant. So she started bawling and stormed out. And was crying when she got home. Luckily I didn't point out how crazy she was being! ;) |
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| Hola |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|03:25 pm] |
Hola from Spanish-land.
So since we don't have class on Friday, being as it's a holiday and all, I had to have my one-on-one hour with my teacher today after class instead of before lunch on Friday. So now I have to wait around yet another hour for the shuttle bus home. The main problem with that is I'm used to sleeping at 3:30 and not used to being up! Aye carumba!!
Happily, Dr.K is now settled in and already causing problems! What a diva, wanting to move his Spanish class back from July to September! Oh woe is to him who does not take enough Spanish to learn the past participle subjunctive passive case! How will he talk his way out of a carjacking without it!?!?!
But all is going well. We should be having our next evaluation in a couple weeks, so we'll see how I'm progressing. Apparently my language coordinator who does the testing was saying to my teacher that last time I did my frist test I couldn't talk in complete sentences!?!?! WTF! Anywho, I'm determined to either a. rock the test or b. bitch slap her.
My class softball team continues to lose, though we play with such determination, spirit, and heart. Just as you'd expect a team called the Care Bears. Yesterday we played our interclass team rivals, Team B (Our class was so big we made two teams) and of course lost. But Dr.K was there to cheer us on! And it was followed by much drinking.
Well, I should probably go and try to look productive and think about studying some Spanish I suppose. But I wish I were home! Stupid 4th of July taking my Friday morning one-on-one away from me!! |
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| no mas, no mas |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|10:44 am] |
I must say, I'm sick of learning Spanish. I think I'm at the point where I'm ready to learn anything else, another language, how to weave baskets, how to run a sports betting ring, anything else. I just want five days with no Spanish.
Our current teacher is nice, but she's very "sharp" I guess is the right word. So when she corrects you, though she doesn't mean it, it comes off as "you're stupid and don't study, no wonder you don't know this stuff." Which is very depressing. I mean, I can't pronounce stuff. Yes I know, so what should I do. Her advice is to read outloud to myself in Spanish, but since I don't know how it is supposed to sound, how is that helpful?
Anyway, today I was supposed to have my one-on-one hour with her, but her son is sick so she ran out to help him. And then this afternoon instead of class we're going to a restaurant for a fieldtrip. Yippie. Only problem, we're going at noon and normally we eat lunch at 11 so I'll be so darn hungry! I might just eat some lunch before we go! Maybe some cookies and chips? Hummm we'll see what there is. |
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| New favorite quote |
[May. 17th, 2009|11:15 am] |
So for some reason I'm watching Daisy of Love on VH1 and I have a new favorite quote:
"He ripped his pants off and shook his banana hammock unlike anyone I've seen shake their banana hammock before." |
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| Random thoughts |
[May. 11th, 2009|10:36 am] |
So it's time for us to go to the language lab, but today I'm in no mood. So I thought I'd just hang out in the library for an hour before lunch and goof off. My brain is just not kicking in today. So I thought I'd share some random thoughts:
1. My improv class is in a very hippie artsy gradeschool. And we're in like a kindergarden room, so they have students' names next to their little cubby wholes. There's the common assortment of Yvonnes and LaShaws etc but one kid is apparently named Querit. Poor little guy!
2. This past Saturday we went embassy hopping. The EU embassies had open houses and you could go visit them. We went to Ireland first, they had little step dancers out front and a long line. Once you got inside the Philipino maid gave you bread with butter and some blood sausage. That was it. Boring! Next we went to Romania, which was cool but their food wasn't coming till lunch time. Latvia was a neat old building, very recotry like. Cyprus was the only place with real security, they had me empty my wallet out of my pockets to show it was indeed a walet, and they made us sanitize our hands for the flu. But they had this rockin' carmalized grapjuice snack which was delicious and a very good embassy spokesperson talking about the Turkish occupation (Cyprus is the size of connecticut and there's 40,000 turkish troups occupying 30% of the country!). Bulgaria was hip and happening. They had a band on the porch and gave us wine and snacks! They also gave us random assorted Bulgarian olympic team pins from the past couple olympics. I'm apparently a member of the ice skating team from like 1998! Yippie! Then we went to Italy, which was a beautifuly designed modern building with Lamborginies parked outside. They had gelato, yummy. Our last stop was Belgium which was the best! Well organized and very happy folks who gave us chocolate, waffles, fruit juice, and beer! Yummy!!!
3. Also saw Star Trek on Saturday. Was way better than I thought it would be. Drama/comedy/excitement, all packed into a film that wasn't too long! I had downloaded Quantom of Solice the night before and it sucked, way to jumpy with the camera and fast edited so you couldn't see what was going on. I was afraid Star Trek would be like that, but no it was beautiful! Top rate!
4. Spanish class is going well. Each day is like a week of college class, cause we have two hours of class, then an hour in the lab, then a lunch hour, then two more hours of class, followed by homework. So I'm surprised at how much we actually have learned, given that it's only been about three weeks! We can actually have little meaningful conversations, what fun.
5. I'm headed up to NYC for memorial day! YEAH!!!
6. I just got a raise! Yippie! Well not quite just yet, but our post in Mexico just saw its hardship differencial (which is a bonus they pay you for difficult to live places) go up from 15% to 20% whoowie! The joys of drug violence! |
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| Macy |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|04:32 pm] |
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| schedule |
[Apr. 23rd, 2009|11:08 am] |
So today is our first regular schedule day of spanish. And it's 8 a.m. to 10 in class, then 10-11 it's lab time or study on your own time (cause she gave us homework) then 11-12 lunch, then 12-2 back in class to go over what she told us to read. Fun fun fun, but it'll take some getting used to 11 lunch rather than the 1 lunch we were on.
Any way, gotta run! Miss y'all mucho! |
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| hola |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|01:19 pm] |
Day 2 of Spanish is going well, though I still can't breath because of allergies. I wish these trees would stop having sex, so the air would not be full of their pollen! I swear, I miss the city where there were no trees!
Anyway, I though all y'all would get a kick out of this video we were shown in our lab class. Be sure to also check out both episodes:
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| hola |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|03:32 pm] |
Today was the start of Spanish class. What fun! Our classes are only 6 people and we meet from 8 a.m. to about 2. And then we have homework. I have homework already, yeah.
Unrelated, I got a lovely junk e-mail today with this fabulous subject line:
train and interact with your own pod of dophinls - only $19.99
Sounds like a bargain to me! |
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| Swearing |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|10:46 am] |
So yesterday was the end of our basic training class. We had our lovely swearing in ceremony, at which we were sworn in by former Secretary of State Eagleburger. He's one crazy old coot I tell you, with quite funny stories. And he got choaked up telling us how wonderful America was, awwww.
My mom, sister, and little niece came out to see the swearing in. We had a good old time. Though my sister decided to wear new high heals and carry her 27 pound baby. Not a good mix. She ended up walking back to the subway barefoot while I carried Macy.
Well, toady we're going to go out and seeing the sites with the baby. What fun! I must say, I apparently am the only one in my family who got the travel light gene. As my apartment is now a war zone filled with dirty diapers, crumbs, clothes, and dirty dishes. Fun fun fun! |
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| improvtastic |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|12:33 pm] |
So I started my new Washington improv class last night. It was a lot of fun, and interesting since I decided to take a lower level than I'm probably at. I thought it would be easier to get into the mindset of this new group if I started at a lower level than if I tried to go higher. So I'm reviewing my basics. The good thing about that is I just rock! lol
Well, I should probably think about getting back to class. We have to give speeches today. I decided to give mine on President Adams and how he lost and left the White House, and how Hugo Chavez should do the same. It's supposed to be 5 minutes and it's like 2.5 pages double spaced but when I read it out loud it only seems to be about 4 minutes. So I hope I read it slower this afternoon. Otherwise they'll ask me random questions of which I don't want to answer. |
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| JA vs. BSG |
[Apr. 2nd, 2009|11:57 pm] |
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So I'm writing a speech for my public speaking workshop on John Adams. And while I'm practicing it I keep saying colonialists (ala Battle Star Galactica) rather than colonists (ala Americans in the 1700s). Hummm I hope no one notices when I give my speech tomorrow. |
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| 2 Hours! |
[Mar. 26th, 2009|11:23 am] |
Today for some reason we have a two hour lunch! Yippie! Not that I can fill two hours with lunch and it's rainy, so I can't go for a walk around the grounds. Oh well, maybe I'll try and get some reading done or something. I wish they had a nap lounge that would work.
Oh people are going out to eat, maybe I'll go with them. |
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| Cheezy |
[Feb. 24th, 2009|03:48 pm] |
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So my bosses took me to lunch today to some fancy shmancy place called Artisanal, which is basically all cheese. It was a cheese fest -- cheese puffs and the salad with cheese and the mac and cheese and the cheese cake -- and so very good and yummy but now i'm in a cheese coma. So if you ever want to spend like $50 on lunch, I recomend it, but only if you're not anti-cheese. The one funny thing was the place smelled of cheese. |
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| Oh my turn! |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|11:09 am] |
What are your middle names?
William and Thomas
How long have you been together?
Since June 2001
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
A couple weeks
Who asked who out?
Mutual decision
How old are each of you?
I count backwards so I'm 27, he's 39 and will celebrate his 25th birthday this year
Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
His are closer
Do you have any children together?
not biological
Pets?
nope
Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Time, busy work schedules and grading
Did you go to the same school?
Nope
Are you from the same home town?
Not even same state
Who is the smartest?
Humm, he is when it comes to some things (literature, architecture, design, repairing things, animal husbandry) but I think I am when it comes to everything else
Who is the most sensitive?
he is
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Hummm, so many choices. Most often I'd say is Chips, a mexican place near our house, or Dee Thai, also in our new neighborhood
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Prague
Who has the craziest exes?
I guess his, since he had one who thought jogging was better than sex
Who has the worst temper?
I'm told I do, so now I must go beat him
Who does the cooking?
He does! YEAH!!!! And he's good!
Who is more social?
He is, but I have more outside work place friends
Who is the neat-freak?
Hummm, I say me since we're swimming in various piles of randomly saved paper
Who is the more stubborn?
For sure not me! NOT ME I SAY!!!
Who hogs the bed?
I don't think anyone hogs the bed, I seem to always have plenty of room
Who wakes up earlier?
I don't think I've ever ever ever woken up before he has
Where was your first date?
Ollies
Who has the bigger family?
He does, both nuclear and extended
How do you spend the holidays?
Regular holidays (such as Presidents' Day or Arbor Day) lounging, big holidays up at the farm usually
Who is more jealous?
Eh, I'd say he is cause I'm so fabulous! ;)
How long did it take to get serious?
Date two
Who eats more?
I plead the fifth as I don't want to get yelled at
Who does/ did the laundry?
A nice mexican woman who simply loves him
Who’s better with the computer?
Me fo sho
Who drives when you are together?
I hate driving! So luckily he doesn't seem to mind, or is at least smart enough to pretend not to mind. |
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