Lunes, 06/03/06

Whew, I’m tired. It’s been a lovely end to a longish day. I struggled through class this morning. Lots of information and it’s tough to keep up. I’ll make it though, but there’s a lot to remember.

Came home after class, relaxed for just a little while and then headed up to the Bagel Barn to check email and upload the blog and website, and whatever emails I’d written lately, but I’ve lost track of that… there might not’ve been any, I’m probably falling behind, but I should be able to catch up tomorrow, no matter how rough class is.

Spent the afternoon in my room studying, and then went to a place nyama knew about, called café sky, and watched the sunset. I’m kicking myself for not always carrying my camera around because the rooftop view from there is incredible. I’m definitely going to frequent it around sunset time as opportunity allows.

Now I’m back in my room and will study a bit before bed, but I’m beat. A week ago I was enjoying my going away dinner at the rudnick’s and being and being ferried to the airport by aliza… it seems so long ago and so far away… well it is far away.

When I let myself, I miss you all horribly, but I don’t often let myself… just when I’m very tired.
I’ve got to take a picture of that volcano from the rooftop… volcan agua (I know, sounds kinda oxymoronic, I’ll explain it one of these days though), haven’t mentioned it yet, but it’s an interesting story and a fantastic landmark and awfully handy when it comes to knowing where south is.

Hmmmm, goodnight.

Martes, siete de marzo

Funny how these days really get away from me, you’d think I’d have all kinds of time on my hands, class is only four hours in the morning and even if I spend a couple hours with homework or studying (and aside from yesterday, I seldom do) that ought to leave plenty of time, but it really doesn’t. I mean obviously I’m taking it pretty easy and the Spanish thing is really a lot of effort, but boy does the time slip by.

Class wasn’t so rough today, so that was a relief, nevertheless it’s a pretty steep learning curve I’m on, reminds me of learning to deal craps because so much of it is not just learning, but practicing so that it becomes second nature, which is tough to hurry… it just takes time and immersion. Oh well, enough of that.

Went for a burrito after class and study time, took a walk, got some cash from the atm, checked my email in the park, but didn’t respond, just downloaded it for later. Came back here, read for awhile and studied verbos. Headed off around 6:30 to meet nyama and jaron at café no sé, had a couple beers and a game of scrabble. Jaron’s suffering from allergies, partially he thinks brought about from the altitude and volcanic activity___ two of the three local volcanoes have erupted a bit in the last twenty four hours. Anyway, makes me feel a little better because I’ve had a bit of a sore throat today and have been worried I was catching the cold that seems to be going around__ a lot of people at school sneezing at me, etc… but now I’m hoping I’ve just got some kind of volcano dust throat, which matches the symptoms of feeling like I just smoked a whole lot of cigarettes (which I haven’t). we’ll see. I’d hate to get sick, so I hope it’s just the volcanoes.

The sky was clear and the stars were bright and beautiful tonight as I walked home. That’s all for now, I’m gonna get in bed and read for awhile. I wonder what all of you are doing right now.

Miercoles, ocho de marzo,

I can’t believe I’ve got a cold. The sore throat got worse all night and by an hour into class this morning, I was sneezing. I learned that the sneezer says, “pardon,” and the sneezee says, “salud.” So I got that much out of it. On my way home after class, I stopped off and bought a couple liters of jugo concentrados de naranja.

I walked up to the park to download email. I’ve got the system figured out now. I sit at the bench to the southeast of the central fountain, turn on the computer, send and receive my email and then pack up and head home. I get about seventy pieces of spam a day, so if I skip a day it takes quite awhile to get it all, and the longer it takes, the greater the risk of getting disconnected, and when that happens the whole process has to start over. It’s a good excuse for an afternoon walk, which I’d take anyway, and even though the glare makes it all but impossible to see what’s going on on the screen, it’s better to do it during the day, I think. Antigua seems pretty safe, but I think it’s probably a reasonable precaution to not carry my laptop around at night… ne sense in tempting fate… or thieves.

Anyway, I grabbed my email__ had very nice letters from aliza and michelle, they made me feel good, appreciated and missed, which on a day like today, having my first Central American cold and being loaded down with a whole stack of handmade verbos de cambio flashcards to memorize, I really needed.

It’s not quite three, I’ve gone through the flashcards twice, but I haven’t done my homework yet, I guess I should do that now, but maybe I’ll take a nap. The water’s off for some inexplicable reason, which is a drag because I’d like a shower and I was planning on doing laundry. The laundry can wait until tomorrow though, because I do have one more clean shirt___ but it would be nice to be able to flush. Hmmm. My tolerance fades when I’m feeling rundown.

The good news is that even though my nose is runny, and I’m tired and achy, the sore throat is gone! I hope the rest of the symptoms pass as quickly. I can’t believe I didn’t pack all those leftover emergenC packets… not too mention a few rubberbands, binderclips and more notecards. Live and learn.

later: water's back on, whew!

Jueves, 09/03/06

I’m feeling a bit better today, but still under the weather. I slept a lot and pretty well last night and that helped. Struggled to get up and go to school today, but once there, I felt pretty good. Class wasn’t as hard as I'd feared, only seventeen irregular verbs and they weren’t too bad. I’ve got a lot of studying to do this weekend though___ and a lot of convalescing. Gotta be better by Monday, that’s my goal.

Tomorrow Spanish class is a fieldtrip to a church, practicing conversation on the walk there. Should be good. Alejandra suggested I bring my camera.

Tonight it’s time for bed. It’s not really late, but I’m beat and need the sleep. Sorry for the lamo entries the past couple days. they'll get better once I'm healthy.

G’night.