Updates and stuff

Baby Jessica? (Am I dating myself here?) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7314792.stm

In other, more important news (i.e., new about me), here is the latest info. I received job offers from a school in Santiago and a school in Quito. After much deliberation, I have tentatively accepted the job in Quito. There are a lot of aspects of the move/job which will, overall, make it more challenging than teaching in Santiago, but in the long run I believe that it will move me forward professionally. Anyway, I invite your comments--as long as you don't tell me that I am 1. stupid or 2. crazy. Okay, you can tell me I'm crazy, but a good crazy, not an insane, irresponsible crazy.

and Other than that... still not much news. I don't know yet when I'll be leaving, but I will be heading back to the Midwest before I leave for Quito. The Spanish class is going well. I feel like I'm finally reaching the point where things... not make sense, because they have always made some sort of sense, but where the language and my brain are starting to click. Vocabulary and grammar are becoming easier to learn and remember, and I'm starting to feel like I can string more than two words together. I always think this is kind of an exciting place in the language learning process. Everything before is so frustrating: I feel like I can spend an hour studying ten words and not remember anything the next day. I was just hitting this point with Czech when I left Prague. Of course, in the Spanish class, it really helps knowing French. Especially when we got to Conocer and Saber, the two "to know" verbs. They work pretty much the same as Savoir/Connaitre in French, so today during jeopardy I was totally kicking ass in the Saber vs. Conocer category. Everyone was like, "how do you do that so fast...?" And once again, I led my team to a victory. (And not just any kind of victory. One of those wipe-the-floor-with-the-other-team victories.) Not that I should brag, because the French class is, for some reason, touch and go. I think the problems are that 1. It has been so long since I've taken a French class/spoken French and 2. The teacher just does not know what to make of me. I'm not disrespectful, but I... I don't know. I guess I'm just in a completely different place than the other students in the class (who are all 20 or younger). I'm really, really, really trying, though, to keep my more, ahem, familiar French out of the classroom--which is a challenge because although I may have studied French in a formal classroom environment some at University, I acquired my French through conversation. Informal conversation. Very informal conversation. Ahem.

Sheesh, and hold your horses on the pictures of my super awesome fabuloso dress. First, it needs to get just a little warmer. Second, can we just take a minute to talk about how much adult acne sucks? Like, really, really, really? I did shave my legs yesterday, though, so that is a step towards pictures. I promise.

TTFN, and enjoy Spring. Unless you live near Ottawa. If that is the case, you may want to consider hopping in a car and driving south to enjoy Spring in, say, Maryland.