Updates from May and June!
I never got around to creating a month of May update draft and before I knew it June rolled around and I was too late. In reality, though, it’s perfectly fine to do a combined post of updates but I won’t elaborate on every one. I do plan to write a couple more posts about 2-3 of these topics individually (like how I applied to the North American Language and Culture Assistant program, some places and things that I saw in Chicago, must see places and must-do things in Ohio and lastly, my own evaluation of some of these micro-gig apps I am using to earn an extra income on the side. For now, please enjoy photos of mine from the past two months and read what I’ve been up to lately.
As always, at the bottom I will share prayer requests and praises. Please input your email into the subscribe box on the right hand side if you would like to receive updates from this blog straight to your inbox. Thanks!
1. Explored more of Ohio’s parks and nature activities
The more I talk to friends who stayed or are just visiting the Dayton area, the more things I realize I haven’t seen or done in this area. One of those places was John Bryan State Park just outside of Yellow Springs, OH. I actually went to this park for a picnic during the last weekend of April but I didn’t write about it in last month’s update. It was an absolutely perfect day weather wise and I couldn’t have asked for better company either. The picnic was an IFI (International Friendship Institute) activity and one of the last events of the school year. I enjoyed meeting more new people, getting to know others, playing Dutch Blitz (super competitive and fast card game, not to mention addicting :-P), exploring the park and river nearby and discovering more and more how small of a world we live in. And how any event becomes instantly better with international people in attendance! 🙂
In mid-June, I went canoeing for the first time in a long time with a group from UCIE (University Center for International Education) and IFI at Wright State. The last time I had been on a boat in any sort of water was when I borrowed a friend’s kayak and went out on the St. Johns River by myself one hot day in May. That was definitely a fantastic experience! Canoeing was so fun and relaxing (well, not always, haha) too and it was the first time I had been since being on JU’s Rowing Team. I actually found that I paddle better backwards than I do forwards. After all, rowing requires you to paddle backwards! haha I did scare the friend whom I was canoeing with a little bit when I accidentally turned the boat around and started paddling us out of a tight spot…backwards! Oops, haha. We canoed for two miles down the Little Miami River (with the Little Miami Canoe Rental in Oregonia, OH) and the trip went by fast. Everyone that went decided that we’d all like to try their 6 mile trip in a few weeks. Not only could we canoe longer but we could also enjoy eating lunch right there on the river!
2. Saw my brother Nathan graduate from college!
This particular milestone my brother reached on Saturday May 3rd, 2014 was a long time coming, about 9 years in the making. I was so proud of him but barely saw him walk across the stage that morning as there were SO many graduates of all different majors from WSU walking. It was the first WSU graduation
that I had attended and the number of graduates and people in the arena watching everything completely blew my mind. It also made me appreciate the size and personal attention I got during my own graduation in 2011 a lot more. I am very happy for my brother and proud of all his hard work (both in the classroom and outside of it as he paid for the majority of his tuition costs every year up until graduation). I can’t wait to see where he goes with his degree and beyond! He is a very talented and ambitious person and I am proud to call him my big brother.
I will let the above picture say the rest. 🙂
3. Got my regional and city placements from the Spanish government!
On the afternoon of May 16, 2014, I was sitting in a cafe (Tim Horton’s) up the street from my house working on several things including some worksheets for an online Spanish editing and translation class I was taking through Coursera.org. I got completely absorbed in my work and fascination with the Spanish language that I forgot to keep track of time. I also forgot to check my email for several hours but I knew I wasn’t going to receive an important message that day so it didn’t matter whether or not I kept tabs on it. Famous last words!!!
My mom had called me wondering when I’d be home and also was wondering if I would go get a haircut that day. I said that I hadn’t decided yet on either but I would at least call the hair cutting salon to see if their sale was still on. Well, in between searching their website for a phone number to call and going back to check my email since I had neglected it, I had a very big surprise waiting in my inbox. Before I even moved my cursor over to the Gmail tab I had up, I said to myself, “Oh, I’m sure there’s nothing new in here. It’s not like I got my placement email or anything today.” HAHA! The joke was on me because that was exactly what was waiting in my inbox – my regional placement from the Spanish government! I’m going to my first choice region –> Galicia!
Here’s a glimpse of what they call the Golden Ticket to Spain:
And then, just after I logged onto Profex (the application system candidates use to apply) a couple days later to accept, two weeks later, on a Friday again, I got my city and school placement. The funniest thing was, I had only emailed the regional coordinator in Galicia at the beginning of the week asking if I could be placed in a city called La Coruña. I never received a reply email except for the notice that I had been assigned a school placement….in La Coruña! And what’s more is, I looked up the address of the school and I will be teaching at a school that is near the city center. In other words, I will have virtually no commute! Depending upon where in the city I decide to live, my commute could be at longest a 15 minute walk! 😀 I am ecstatic about that!
4. Reconnected with old HS friends
I will let this picture speak for me with this one. It was so great to see you Lanora and meet your kids! You are doing a fantastic job with them. And they’re so hilarious too!! 🙂
5. Started to really clean and organize each room in our house (my room will still take a lot of work!)
I will elaborate on this more as time goes by but the short version of this update is that we are working hard to organize, clean and simplify several things in our house. I had the idea to first do all of this with my room as I have about 25 years worth of belongings in there now that have experienced a move almost every year for the past 7 years. It evolved into figuring out why we keep the things we keep, why there is so much clutter in certain rooms and how can we live more simply.
My brother came across a website called FLY Lady at the beginning of June and we have taken some activities and philosophies from there and applied it to our cleaning habits. One of these activities in particular is to break up our cleaning spurts into 15 minute challenges. The goal is to get as much done in one spot or one room as possible in 15 minutes. The time frame is not meant to frustrate you but rather challenge you to go through more things quickly and straighten them all up faster. You have to make quick decisions when it comes to throwing away, donating or keeping things. You even have to make sure you use those 15 minutes wisely and clean only the most important areas. We have done a couple per day for the last month and we have made a lot of progress! One of my big projects for this summer that I have yet to tackle is to scan all of my pictures, projects, papers, posters, reports, assignments, etc from school and back them all up on an external hard drive or flash drive. Then….I’m going to throw all of the hard copies away so that I can simplify all of the clutter in my room and life. I realized, while I was packing up my room in Jacksonville, that I can’t move to Europe if I’m going to still be holding onto every little paper I write or print off. I need to consolidate and go digital! (And just because I know I need to is not going to make throwing all of those things away any easier. :-/)
6. Joined several Language Assistant Facebook groups and started to reach out and ask questions
I have been continue to research and join groups on Facebook that are geared for language assistants going over to teach English in Spain. I joined one in particular that is the largest one out there and connected with a couple of people. We have been introducing ourselves to one another, asking and answering questions and starting to make tentative plans to visit each other’s regions. I am also looking into GBU’s (Grupos Biblicos Universitarios, Spanish university student geared campus ministry) Facebook pages up in Northern Spain to see if I can connect with some evangelical Christians there early and hopefully find a good lead and potential roommates in an apartment next year. I’m crossing my fingers for something great to work out! 🙂
7. Worked on getting back in shape
I was inspired by the picture below from an event that was floating around on Facebook. I have been thin my whole life but I haven’t always been fit and in shape. I seriously need to build up my upper body strength which is why I started this challenge at the beginning of the month…but only made it about halfway through.
:-/ Better luck in July I say!
8. Visited Chicago for fun/work including a trial run trip to the Spanish Consulate General
I went up to visit Chicago the city for the first time as an adult from June 6th-9th to visit a friend, do some part-time work, see the sights and locate and plan a route to get to the Spanish Consulate where I will go in person to turn in paperwork to apply for my visa to live in Spain. That trip did not turn out as I had planned but I now know how to plan, budget for and get around the city better than I did! It’s not my favorite city in the world but it was nice to visit.
9. Obtained a few extra freelance projects and sharpened my translation skills
My portfolio and skill sets are slowly getting built up the more extra projects I do. I have had three so far and while they have not paid a whole lot, they have definitely helped me to supplement my income. I have also challenged myself to translate about 100 words a day for the whole month of June which would come to a total of 3,000 words. I tried this challenge for many reasons but only successfully translated 1500 words. I tried this because I wanted to increase my speed and accuracy, build my vocabulary and read more articles in Spanish. I will aim to do this again in July and possibly in August to see if I can find just 20-30 minutes a day to set aside to translate any 100 word text from Spanish-English every day. Maybe in September I will do the opposite and go from English-Spanish. That will be a bit of a challenge for sure!
10. Started watching the World Cup 2014!
Last but not least, I am watching most of the World Cup games. Since I’ve been exposed to people other than those from Hispanic countries and I’d love to go to Brazil some day, I’ve been trying to watch almost every game. I don’t particularly like to watch soccer (I’d rather play it to be honest) but I love to see all of the action on the field, how wildly the fans are cheering and how creative some people are dressed and how they go all out for their team! I even have the FIFA World Cup app on my iPhone and can follow the nitty gritty of each game if I want to.
And yes, I’m still tuning into it even though my beloved ‘La Roja’ has been eliminated from the brackets!!! 🙁 I’m very pleased to see how well the USA Men’s team is doing and hope that they go far!
Praises
-I’m making progress on organizing and simplifying my belongings. It has taken some time to really feel like I’ve settled in here but I think after three months I feel as settled as I possibly can be.
-I received my regional and city placements a month earlier than I thought I would! And I got my region of choice –Galicia!!!
-Also, a huge praise that my school placement is in La Coruña proper and not in a small town 30-45 minutes away from the city. I will have virtually no commute and will save money on transportation costs during the week! I only thought this would be something nice to have happen to me but totally didn’t expect it to happen. I’m already thanking God for being placed at this school and I haven’t even gotten there yet! 🙂
-My brother graduated from college without a hitch and receive his diploma in the mail on June 27th. Very happy and proud of him!
-I got to go take a mini-weekend trip and not only explore a new city but do a trial run trip to the Spanish Consulate in Chicago. When it comes time to book my appointment there I will know exactly how to get there and where to go!
Prayer requests
-For my expected budget for Spain (Visa, background check and start-up costs, plane ticket, potential deposit on an apartment, personal expenses). There have been some setbacks or challenges as I try to earn the suggested amount I budgeted for but I am continuing to pray that I can get to half of what I need by mid to end of July.
–For an early placement hopefully in the northeast region of Spain (Galicia) and a school placement with little to no commute. <—An answer to prayer right there!
-For a fairly easy and routine experience with the Spanish Consulate when I go to apply for my visa. I’m finishing up the background check process and will work on getting my medical exam during the early part of July. I will have to wait at least 10 days for the background check to be sent off to the State Department in Washington D.C to be apostilled (internationally notarized) before I can go apply for the visa.
-To keep using my time wisely and being able to take a couple of trips this summer. One in particular is our family vacation out to Nebraska to visit family. We are already experiencing schedule conflicts but pray that we will be able to make the trip together instead of separate.
*Updated*
-Health-wise I have been struggling for the past few months. And by struggling, I mean showing signs of carpal tunnel in my wrist (right arm). I type anywhere between 2,000-4,000 words a day for my copywriting/marketing jobs and projects, I write on this blog for relaxation, I message people, send texts and IMs and type other short notes and emails throughout the day. I really only get a break from typing on the weekends. I haven’t always sat at a desk and typed long posts or emails which is bad for you know. I also know that my bad laptop etiquette has contributed to my pain but I didn’t start to correct it until earlier in the spring of this year. I’m making progress in reversing the symptoms but it is going to take a lot more time to rehabilitate the wrist. I also won’t have health insurance coverage until October (with the Spanish government) so I can’t exactly just up and visit a physical therapist and pay out of pocket costs. I would just appreciate prayer for healing and more down time for my wrist.
If you or anyone you know has had (almost) carpal tunnel before and can recommend some exercises, stretches or products I could buy (specially designed mouses or laptop stands/holders), I would sincerely appreciate it!
Thanks for reading and investing time and prayer into my life!
Ata a próxima/Hasta la próxima/Until next time!
(Galician) (Spanish) (English)
Besos y abrazos,
Sarah
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