Checking In

Hi there!

I haven't posted in a long time. This is for the usual reasons: I have other stuff to do, my life is pretty boring anyway, can't think of anything clever to say, etc. etc. But I still have almost an hour before I have to leave for my first class of the day (which is at 1pm, at an office only about 10 minutes away from my apartment), so I thought I'd check in.

After class yesterday, one of my students told me how much she likes my "creative" lessons, and that she thinks she's getting better and better at English every week. It's so nice to hear this every once in a while. Most of my classes work from ESL books, so all I have to do is take them through the exercises. This student wanted a one-on-one conversation class, so I have to prepare topics and activities every week. Sometimes I think I'm not doing a very good job, and I'm sure my students can tell I'm not a "real" teacher, so it's nice to get some positive reinforcement. She's a great student too, very committed, so it means a lot to have her approval!

I'm making slow progress with my housemates. They're really nice, but mostly only speak Spanish, so I've been pretty quiet/intimidated around them. We've had some short conversations recently, so I'm happy about that. I guess the solution is to hang out in the kitchen ALL the time and wait for people to come in. We don't have a living room or anything, so the kitchen is the only common area.

I should be getting paid this week. I'm trying to live frugally, but it will be nice to have a little extra. It's pretty boring to be poor, there's not a lot to do besides wander around, read, and watch 30 Rock reruns online. I think the BAFICI film festival is going on this week, and I'd love to check it out. It's not too expensive (I think), and I should be looking for cheap cultural activities like that.

I'm working on thinking less and DOING more. This is hard for me for many reasons. I'm coming back to the U.S. in May (May 20 to be exact), and once I made that decision, I started to check out a little bit, even though that's still almost two months away. I DO NOT want to waste my last two months here, I need to take advantage of BA while I have the chance. I'm getting really excited about the move to San Diego (and everyone knows I love making travel plans), but now is not the time to live in the future. At least I haven't been mugged in a few weeks, so I'm less apprehensive about going outside! Lol.

So that's me lately. How are you guys doing? I talk to some of you on a regular basis, but in general these one-sided conversations feel weird (and more than a little self-indulgent). Miss you all (unless for some reason you're in BA, in which case, hopefully I'll see you soon)!