Language Scores

Wanna know my language scores?  Well, remember the blog has moved, so to the new site you must go.  But yes, after 85 days, the scores are there.

http://strainingtowardtomorrow.blogspot.com.es/

I've Moved

2014 is a year of changes, including for this blog.

Keep following my journey at

Straining Toward Tomorrow

7 Years Later

Can you believe this blog has been active for 7 years?

But it is time for a change!

So, this is the last post here, but not the last post.  I invite you to join me at my new home Straining Toward Tomorrow as I figure out what "tomorrow" will hold.

Where has the month gone?

Really?  The calendar says it is November 26, but I still working on my to do list from the first week of November.  If this is any indication of how the rest of 2013 will be going, I should just forget a December to do list.

In October I started teaching just one class.  You teachers know that the first year you teach any new class it takes 3 times the amount of time to prepare your lessons.  Add to it that the class is 12th Grade English, British Literature, and I was sunk. 

Then, of course, there was the whole language proficiency exam (that happened last week) and the fact that I have no aptitude for learning a foreign language (I am sure what I am saying is what they are saying, but why do they look at me with that "I have no idea what you are saying" expression?  Could it perhaps be that my pronunciation really is no where near right?)  Desperately wanting to pass the exam this time I had tutoring four mornings a week (1 on 1) and then a group class for 10 evenings.

And oh yeah, then there was the whole let's see how many times we can go to the doctor in one month and how many different medicines will fit on the kitchen counter part of the month.  It started with a simple low grade fever, followed by the flu, then a cold, then a sinus infection, then an upper respiratory infection, and finally ended with bronchitis. 

Yep - that pretty much sums up my November. 

Everyday I would stop and think of what I was thankful for and be determined to write it here on the blog, and then.... well, just re-read the top.

So, so much for the daily thankful list... instead I think I will be thankful for an extra cup of coffee this morning and enjoy the fact that I am headed to the mountains this morning with Scott (so craziness equaled my forgetting all my cooking utensils at English camp (I taught a cooking workshop) a couple weekends ago and since I have 25 at my house for Thanksgiving lunch on Saturday I must go reclaim them.  But hey, the camp is in the mountains, there are bars (coffee shops) all over Spain, and it is only 28 degrees outside right now. 

And tomorrow, maybe I will write about other things for which I am thankful. 

Catch Up Day

The best laid plans were led astray by a sinus infection and upper respiratory infection.  After not feeling good for a month I gave in and went to the doctor this week.  Between starting a new exam prep class, new medications, and fighting this infection I got way behind on the blog.  But today is catch up day in so many ways - laundry, cooking, studying, correspondence, and yep, blogging.

Evangelical Christian Academy

#4  My students - I am thoroughly enjoying being back in the classroom.  I forgot how much I enjoyed teaching!  These 8 students are fabulous.  Each have their own story to tell - some are missionary kids others are not.  Some have lived more time in Spain than in the US, while others began their lives in other countries, including Morocco and Mexico.  Two of them are learning English as a second language and one is here only for a 6 month intercultural mission experience.  I am learning more from them than I think they are learning from me.

#5  Doctors and Medicine - Although I try to avoid the medical system here, it is actually very good.  I avoid it only because dealing with a foreign system while you are sick is just incredibly taxing, however, when I finally give in and go I am thankful.  I am thankful that the doctor understood my need to feel better quickly (exam is less than 2 weeks ago) and was willing to aggressively treat these infections.  I have been on a regimen of drugs for four days now and am finally beginning to feel better.  Now praying that this is the end of being sick and that I catch up on all I let go.

#6  2nd Chances - So many times I "mess up" and am so glad that God and life offers second chances.  I failed the Spanish proficiency exam last May and will be taking it a second time on the 22nd.  I am so glad that I am not judged on my first attempt.

#7  Flexible Husband - In preparation for taking the exam a second time I am taking an exam prep class.  It is from 7 to 9 PM at night and is in the town where I teach, an hour from our house.  As a one car family this has created a need for flexibility and creativity.  I am thankful for a husband who has been willing (and will be for another week and a half) to be creative in our daily routine.

#8  Fellowship with Friends  - As a result of the class I am taking I have not been home every night and have had lots of hours to kill.  Sophia and the Davis family have opened their house to us, allowing either Alex and I both or just Alex to crash at their house throughout the week.  Friday I got to have lunch with a group of 7 friends, some new and some old.  Then we went to a fellowship with a few teachers and their spouses.  The host even made a bed for me and let me crash for an hour so that I had the energy to enjoy the party.  I am so thankful that God created us to be relational people and then put beautiful relationships in our lives.

#9 - Sunshine  - It is November so the temperatures have dropped but today the sun has been shining.  Although I am always thankful for the sunshine in the winter I am especially thankful today because it means I might actually master the laundry pile this weekend.  Without a dryer I either depend on the sunshine to dry my clothes or allow 3 days for them to dry inside.  After a crazy week of classes with another crazy week ahead I don't have three days, so I am thankful that God blessed me with sunshine today.