A Month into the 'New Me'--Cheers!

Hello, friends!

I am coming to you from my newly fixed computer! It's a huge relief to have it finally fixed. Now, I can take it to the library and be much more connected to the outside world. :) Here come the blog entries... HaHa, I hope!

I genuinely can't believe it's already February. Time is flying by. I can't decide if it's a good or a bad thing. It's good because the quicker time goes by, the quicker my visitors get here and the quicker I can get to traveling. It's bad because I don't feel like I've done nearly as much as I wanted to by this particular point. Granted, I've had a few financial situations come up that needed tending to, so up to this point, I really couldn't be the world traveler I wanted to be. Now, I'm a little more settled and barring any future falls down the stairs or spills of coffee, I should be pretty set to make a few weekend trips, at least.

As February arrives, I wanted to do an entry updating my progress on my resolutions/confessions. I suppose it's a way to keep myself on the ball and hold myself accountable. 

I'm no closer to finding Mr. Ashley Cook, but that's neither a big deal or of great importance to me at this particular moment. I'm too focused on myself right now that I'm sure if I did see Mr. Right, I would walk right past him. I've done decently at making 2012 about myself.  :) How? Good question. I'm hoping I have a solid answer with credible backing. Firstly, I have booked travel plans. While my move to Spain brought out my desire to travel to places I never would have originally thought possible, I also had to do a little digging internally to make my desires a reality. Making the decision to move overseas was a huge internal battle for me as many of my close friends and family are well aware of. Now that I'm here, you'd think the hard part was over. And for the most part, it is. However, I still have nerves when it comes to traveling to new places, especially when those new places don't speak the same language as I do. So, it's been another personal battle that I have overcome by actually booking the trip(s). That may not sound like much, I suppose, but it's enough for me. It's a rather big step that I am quite proud of.

The toughest resolution that I've had to face is the whole positive thinking, worry less, relax more thing. My computer experience challenged my positivity. Forgetting all the proper documentation for getting my NIE card the first time challenged my positivity. Not getting paid for the first 3 months of working the English clubs challenged my positivity. However, each situation eventually worked itself out and have all been resolved and reinforced that positivity does eventually work out, haha. Although, at the time, I would definitely not be saying the same thing. :)

I have decided that I am going to reapply for a second year. I was always fairly certain I'd reapply just in case. I knew I'd have the opportunity to decline the offer if I figured out this wasn't for me. However, I am reapplying with the idea that I will accept the offer for a second year if they give me the opportunity. There's still paperwork and things that need to be completed and even the possibility that they won't give me a second term, but I'm fairly confident I would get an offer. I don't know all the details and what I would have to do in order to complete the application process again. I believe it's a different process than what I did last year. It's a bit more simple, I think, but I'm not certain. I'm getting in contact with someone who has done this program and even in my village for advice in this area. We'll see what she has to say. :) Second year renewal applicants get first priorty over first year applicants in our particular program. And technically, I could choose to go to another area of Spain. I've thought about that and have decided I am quite content in this little village that I would probably elect to stay here. Nothing is set in stone, of course. I could always change my mind or things just may not work out and that, too, would be fine. Personally, I just feel like I have a lot more to learn. I am not where I thought I'd be in speaking the language and I feel like another year would be vital to my learning. I'd be lying if I didn't say that there were more places I wanted to visit, as well, but that's not the most important thing. I'm much more comfortable that I thought I'd be. I mean, I'll be honest, I had no idea how I was going to react being so far away from everyone and everything I know, but I've done really well. It hasn't been that difficult at all thanks to Skype, honestly. Skype has allowed me to maintain a fairly consisent communication level with my family and that has made being so far away not feel like such a big deal. Now, Dad may not agree with me when I say it's been easier than expected, but he might. He's kind of embraced the Skype thing and I think he really likes it. :) I don't FEEL like I'm thousands of miles away. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that this blog may be my connection to most for the next 18 months instead of 6. We'll see! I'll keep you posted as news comes up in that area.

Some of my extra time has been spent working on things for Clint and I's summer trip. We're trying to work on some of the details that need to be taken care of in advance. We've booked all our flights. We'll only have 6 weeks to travel Europe so we've had to narrow down our list of countries. We've chosen Ireland, Greece, Netherlands (Amsterdam), Italy, and Spain. The bulk of our trip will be in Greece and Spain. Part of our journey in Spain is to experience San Fermin (aka The Running of the Bulls) in Pamplona. Well, hostels and hotels are outrageously expensive for that week in or near Pamplona, so we looked for alternative options. I found an option that we decided to go with. We'll be camping as part of an all-inclusive package in San Sebastian. It's a little over an hour from Pamplona, but the package offers us rides to and from Pamplona daily to participate in all the activities. Our campsite is a 15 minute walk to a fantastic beach on the northern coast of Spain and there is a vinyard on the other side. It comes with tons of amenities... DJ on site, all you can drink for 5 euros/day, warm showers, luggage storage areas (since we'll be traveling, this is a huge deal), among other things... Not to mention, the variety of people we are going to meet at an experience like this... it's going to be so fun! Another highlight of our trip, in Amsterdam, we'll be going to see Pearl Jam. Clint is doing his best in educating me as much as possible via the world wide web. :) I'm not an idiot, but I definitely don't know nearly as much about them as I do about, say, Eminem? :) If any of my readers would like to suggest places to see or things to do in the countries we are visiting, I am open for any suggestions. You can make comments here or e-mail me. We'd love and appreciate any advice, especially if it comes from personal experience. Thanks in advance!!

I've mentioned our English clubs many times. We have one that is a group of 3-5 years olds. We have 9-12 students every day. We've primarily been focusing on introductions (My name is...), colors (I brought in a simple little tune that they love to help them practice their colors), and shapes. Joanne has some fantastic flashcards that combine colors and shapes that have been really helpful. We've also came up with simple little games that we can play outside that seems to really excite them. This week, we are going to start introducing fruits. There are a couple kids that get the rest of the class a little rowdy at times, but for the most part, they are a very good group of kids that are eager to learn. And they get excited about the simplest of things, like stickers. They love getting stickers at the end of the class. Here are a couple pictures from the little ones class:

The other English club that we just started doing is the 6^th grade class. We are supposed to reinforce what they are learning in their English language classes. Currently, we're working on adjectives. This class tends to be a bit rambunctious (is that how you spell that word?). They're really good kids, quite funny. They are the type of students, like most students, that rush through their assignments and hope that they have free time, so we've had to do our best to have activity after activity for them to work on just to keep them semi-quiet. :) When we have class contests, it is nearly impossible to get them to settle down, haha. It's pretty obvious that they are much smarter than they let on sometimes, too. They act as if they don't understand some of the words, but when you ask them a question using that word, they answer properly. They know more than they let on. :) Both clubs have their drawbacks and both have their positive qualities. For the most part, I'm happy we've chosen to take on the 2^nd one. In a few weeks, I'm sure all the kinks will be worked out completely and we'll have established a consistent routine.   A little update in this area... On Monday, the lady that cleans the school checked in on our class when she heard how loud it was.  She went and told some of the other teacher who asked us about it on Tuesday.  I don't want to be the teacher that tattles, but I'm also not going to lie when asked about the situation and I was honest in letting them know that it wasn't the most pleasant of times simply because it's hard to get them to quiet down.  Anyway, we had the class again today and one of the directors of the after school programs came in and gave them a very good talking to.  They now have one more opportunity before it goes to the headmaster.  They were really well behaved today, haha!  :)  It's good to know that we have people to go to if things aren't going well and that it will produce results.  I hope the students don't hate us for too long, haha! 

Alright, I think I've given you a bit of reading material to end the first month of 2012. While time has flown, I am overall quite satisfied with the results of this month and look forward to the next one. I'll speak with you all soon!! ¡BeSoS!