28Dec
Several things happened today:
- I sold one of our dog kennels for $150 and a bookcase for $20 both of which had been sitting around getting in the way for way too long. Ca-ching!
- After we had $170 bucks burning a hole in our pockets we headed to town for some Mexican food at El Pueblito, our favorite place for obvious reasons. (vegie enchiladas for me and carne asada for Paul)
- I picked up a book I’d put on hold at the library - and I’m already devouring it - How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. It’s going to be a quick read, but I can tell it will be an important one for me since he details how to best go about learning languages…and this comes from someone who started out teaching himself Chinese in high school and who now can communicate in something like 18 languages. (the book is in the other room…you wouldn’t want me to have to get up, would you?) I’ll summarize it here when I’m done but I already think it is going to be a big help.
Oh, and in other news…no rain AT ALL today.
-Nancy
25Dec
The first gift Paul opened from me was the book on the left - a hardbound used copy of Casa Yucatan. Then he started to laugh, because the book on the right - a new paperback copy of Casa Yucatan was one of the gifts he’d bought for me! We must know each other pretty well!
The other gifts were several cd’s and tequila for Paul and a cool electronic dictionary for me!
I would call it a very Mexico Christmas. Next year we’ll be there!
-Nancy
20Dec
Ok, I’m not THAT old! But sometimes when my Spanish studying isn’t going very well, I feel like an old dog.
Seriously, I am studying Spanish every day. I am trying to do my own Immersion Course since I know that is the fastest way to learn.
- Even though I have never had the TV on unless I am actually sitting down to watch - I have the TV on one of the two Spanish language channels a lot of the day.
- I listen to Spanish CD’s - some that I’ve had for years…and I realize I am picking up more of the lyrics than I used to!
- Language learning CD’s and podcasts - walking the dog, gardening or cleaning house I listen to the MP3 player, and I listen to CD’s in the car. Since the closest town to us is a half hour away I get a fair bit of exposure this way. I always repeat the lessons out loud.
- I do pretend conversations in my head. This is usually triggered by an interaction like going to the post office or a store. I then replay the conversation but working it out in Spanish.
- I get movies from the library - Mexico travel ones are great, but also Spanish language ones (Santos Peregrinos) or Mexican topics (Nacho Libre.)
- We TIVO and watch Fuera de Serie - a half hour travel show every day. The hosts travel the world interacting with Spanish speakers wherever they are. I am going to start TIVO-ing a half hour of daily news, too.
If my Spanish language competency was rated on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate myself at a 2. I’d be curious to hear from people how they’d rate themselves - and if they are in a Spanish-speaking country now, what change in competency did they have once they made the move.
-Nancy
17Dec
The 227 days that remain on our countdown clock are our guess-timate of when we will be able to leave the Pacific Northwest if everything goes according to plan. Our biggest challenge is the sale of our house, but there are a number of challenges we’ll face along the way.
The first big one for me is making it through this winter.
We just came through three and a half days without power after an incredible windstorm.
We have loved our ten acres, our garden, our pond, and the various critters we have kept and still keep - but - and this is a big BUT - we have had it with the cold.
We had our fireplaces going day and night to keep ourselves, our dogs, and our parrots warm. The temperature outside was in the mid 20’s at night and the low 40’s during the day. I guess we should feel lucky we didn’t lose power when it was colder than that!
Anyway, we are ready to move to Mexico for a lot of reasons. The weather is just one of them.
-Nancy
13Dec
This morning as I took our dogs for a walk I was listening to my mp3 player that is filled with some of the podcasts listed in a previous post. On came a lesson I knew I just had to write about!
This is especially in light of Alisa’s (of Through the Looking Glass) advice to me that I should consider using music to help me learn Spanish. She even gave me a list of her favorites!
It is also appropriate since I’ve been enjoying participating in the Viva Veracruz forum…and La Bamba is an example of Jarocha music which has its roots in the state of Veracruz.
Anyway, if you want to have a little fun, listen to the podcast below.
-Nancy
Viva Veracruz Forum: http://www.vivaveracruz.com/forum/
Through the Looking Glass: http://alisacooper.typepad.com/
Podcast: http://www.instadownload.com/podcast/77-combined.mp3
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