Learning Spanish--part 2

There have been a few things that I have been checking off my 'to do' list that I created a couple of years ago. Technically my time is up--which means, time for a new list. As I brainstorm, let me go over a few thoughts, particularly regarding the Spanish.

Update on learning Spanish. Language learning software does indeed make learning a language simple and accessible. You have your coursework set up for you. You just have to open an application, and it's all there waiting: grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary. However, I have come across some free websites that have been touted to be fairly effective. I have checked out The Spanish Blog a couple of times, and found that they have extensive material.

One thing I just started was attending a veterinary Spanish club. Scenarios are set up, and the members go around taking turns speaking. It is in a small group, so it is pretty comfortable, and really fun! So continues my journey.

The reason learning Spanish is on my list, and will be on my future lists is I want to visit South America, and Spain, particularly Majorca! Beautiful islands and warm places are all I want to travel to!

Yo estudio espanol.

Okay, so I'm not fluent.

But I did learn a thing or two about Spanish these past couple of weeks. The spelling is a piece of cake compared to French, sheesh! Learning languages isn't such a chore; but I have a computer program (borrowed from a friend) to help me out. I am coming to appreciate more and more my high school French teacher. Actually, a lot of the stuff I'm learning now would not make sense without having learned French first.

Say yes to public education! Okay, I am watching the national convention right now.

Take care, and keep achieving!

Cook with a Local

Hello,

One of the goals on my first list was to visit a tropical island in another country. It turns out that I will be living on one for a while. Also, since I visited a neighboring island belonging to France/Netherlands, I technically have fulfilled that goal twice.

But a smidge more tricky is my goal to learn to cook a dish from a local. I recently checked that off my list through a trip to the mountains. A rasta friend of ours has some land up in the mountains, and the workers (his two friends and himself) usually cook a giant ital (usually vegitarian rasta food (v-ital)) pot of something for lunch.

As the occasion had it, a bunch of us went to visit the farm, and we were in for a meal St. Kitts style!  I had gone up once before, but had not helped much in the outdoor 'kitchen,' but this time I jumped right in, and can say that I contributed to and learned about this meal enough to check it off my list.  Fish stew, coconut rice, and saltfish in a tomato base (I don't know what the real names are-or if they even have names. . .

I'll try it out again at home-and if I can make it consistently, I might work up a recipe to post.

List 2012

Okay, I admit it. These tasks have not been coming along as smoothly as I had hoped. I have consolidated the original list and changed a few goals that I am not as interested in 2 years later. I plan to add to this list too, but I am not sure if I will force 101 things to be accomplished

Now that I have a break coming up, I hope to at least do a few things that I have set goals for. Otherwise, I hope I spend plenty of time on the beach . . . or doing research, whichever.

 Travel

1. Visit islands abroad (Galapagos, Mallorca, etc)

2. Learn 1 authentic dish from a native of that country

3. Learn Spanish!!

Financial

4. Create a small but fun separate source of income

5. Balance a check book for 1 mo

6. Estimate annual spending accurately

7. Figure out taxes

8. Talk to an accountant about investing

Health

9. Be vegetarian for 1mo

10. Try 5 new dishes with guests

11. Go to the dentist regularly

12. Do 3 things on this list when I am feeling down

13. Diva cup

Friends and Family

14. Write snail mail (10)

15. Send care packages (5)

16. Learn my family tree and map it out

17. Register as a Native American

18. Host a party

Professional

19. Speak up

20. Act normal

21. Learn veterinary vocabulary in Spanish

22. Do conservation work (20)

Continuing Education

23. Learn a dance (5 classes or 1 course)

24. Learn to drive stick shift

25. Learn to sing songs (10)

26. Learn to play songs on guitar (5)

27. Learn to fix my bike

28. Read the news 3x/week for 1mo

29. Make puff pastry

30. Learn geography

Recreational

31. Hold an informational interview with a bakery owner

32. Make an estimate of startup costs for a bakery

33. Blog about my goals

34. Take trips out to the city (10)

35. Dumpster dive (5)

36. Make and sell repurposed items (5)

37. Plan forward for the weekend (always!!!)

38. Participate monthly in community service (!)

38. Make a dress

39. Learn about how to grow dahlias

40. Backup photos from mac

Blogging

Okay, okay,

If you had carefully read through my list of things to accomplish, you may have noticed that one of my goals is to blog about the goals I accomplished. So, if I said that blogging was a new hobby, I should not be able to use it in the "new hobby" category, I would have to put it in the "blogging about tasks accomplished" category.

But upon further thought, if I have a separate blog, that would count as a "new hobby," wouldn't it? Well, just as the previous post reads, I am slowly getting into dealing on the internet. I am not making any money by any means, but I am slowly getting my feet wet in the world of internet. Funny my sudden interest should coincide with Mozilla's summer parties. Mozilla is taking an initiative to encourage gatherings at which people learn to code, modify youtube videos, etc. Unfortunately, I am not in the states and will not be able to participate  :(  I will try the www.

So about the new blog. It is called Healthy Island Living, and it will be about just that.

Health tips (keeping sane, eating healthy, exercise, recipes)
Island (all the cool stuff you're missing out on if you don't live on a tropical island  ;P
Living (a catch all, in case I stray from my blog's true purpose)

What do you think?

Hopefully some of the topics from my task list will spill over to the other blog.

Revisit

Recently I have reading a little bit about online businesses, mainly through TalkBiz by Paul Myers. It is an interesting free online newsletter that gives out pointers on starting, and growing online businesses. The news-letter advocates a 'hands-off' method of generating income through online endeavors. Of course lots of work is involved although I write 'hands-off.' What I mean by 'hands off' is that the newsletter keeps you informed on strategies of reducing your workload and maximizing your 'bang for the buck' if you will. If anything, the newsletter and the initial free "Need to Know" guide for online businesses are at least entertaining and inspiring.

Mysterious description? Well, try it yourself, you'll see.

I think that counts as a new hobby (makes a tick mark on her list). Although I am not even considering making money online yet, I see that there are many opportunities. I like that I can dream about the possibilities. There are no boundaries online--people do not know you and cannot make you conform. You can recreate yourself--like moving to a new place.

For example, at a whim I could scrap this blog, and create another in its place about a completely different topic. . .

Right now, as TalkBiz says, I am creating a 'sandbox', a little blog where I can play around with  ideas and figure out how things work online. If something comes of it, great; if it doesn't amount to much, there is no loss and I will have learned a little more about online business.

Yay!

St. Kitts

Brown out-everything stops but the mosquitoes, blog time. You can hear the music from the neighbors who are likewise cooped, and likely gathered for a drink.


This place is something! Travel to the Caribbean for a trip. Lately, I've gotten to meet some very great people. It's nice because the whole place is small-town and very friendly. The latest are the Rastas. I can't generalize-I met 2. They are the chillest persons on the island (even sober). Talking to them puts you in a calm mood and at home. I've had people tell me this about me, but now I know what they are talking about. I feel kin to these people, and I'll try to learn some more about them.

Work is work. I've been learning and exploring diagnostic imaging. I enjoy it a lot and hope to continue. Different, and fantastic, education from what I would have gotten in the states. A big role as a TA, and creating powerpoints, and doing research. Many interesting cases and opportunities to work with a variety of species.

Life is life ! Fridays are for liming. Hop a bus (large souped up vans that drive like mad) in the afternoon, and you'll hear the latest dancehall music blaring-not only from the bus, but from every street corner. Don't be surprised that you'll take a stop for the bus driver to pay for some delicious barbecue chicken from his (not seen a lady driver yet) window. Take a nap, and it's time to go out-and party until the sunrise. This weekend, we took it easy and left at 3am. There was a birthday celebration on Saturday.

People are born dancing in this country. I had a 4 year old teach me some MOVES! It's all about the hips/butt. Take your average dance move and add some booty into it, and you're set. You can't avoid the music, nor the dance, and why would you?

Lights on, time to read some ultrasound texts!

The Penguin has Landed

Another mango hits my roof as I hide in the mosquito net arranged over my bed. I am staying at an awe-inspiring accommodation. I've been told people here will rip you off every chance you get. I'm cat-sitting for someone, and they offered me a "deal" by having me pay $700/month. I backed out of that one, but I am still paying rent to cat sit. Which is no prob, cats are like nothing. And now I can live like a princess.

All in all, I could only find 6 bites on me, but I'm pretty sure one bite was directly on my eye!

Sunday: the last day of my summer vacation. Vacation is hard to come by these days-so I tried to make the most of it, but that's difficult in place that I don't know and with people I don't know in a country I'm not too sure about. I'm waiting it out 'till orientation tomorrow.

I did get a tour or all that is hip to do. Go down to the Marriott hotel (to walk on the beach its on and shop at the overpriced shops), go to one of the cafés, drive to some of the beaches that we'll play volleyball on.

Finally I went on my first grocery shopping trip. The students weren't kidding-a few essential groceries, some shampoo and some tupperware-80 USD!! What a heart attack! I plan on leaving this beautiful abode (in Sept.) for much smaller quarters that are complete with ducks and a garden, a mountain and an ocean view.

Prepare for Takeoff

Here I go.

I've visited some of the cool people in my life and I'm off to a new page of my life. Nothing like an internship in the middle of nowhere to teach you what really matters in life. So this next year for me is meant to set things straight. Collect all the things that I deem essential-friends, good food, sanity. I will miss you all-you know who you are (especially if I didn't get to say goodbye).

I've gotten to visit Davis and Ashland in the past week. My strategy of buying additional essentials in these cities has backfired, with me ending up with 3 more pairs of shoes/sandals than I anticipated, and at least a few new dresses, and a few items of non-essential clothing. I definitely cannot help it. And everything is cute to the very last non-essential item.

Aside from the shopping, it's great to be back on the West Coast. Running into the hippies, and the tattoos, the sexually liberal that make the area spectacular. I took the time to take some extra bike-friendly photos to hammer in the bike-hugger attitude here. In Indiana, I was yelled at at least 5 times by people in cars. My location on the street/sidewalk did not matter. People would straight-up yell angrily at me and my poor Sabine (http://www.nickbantock.com/Gryphon/Griffin_and_Sabine.html). Today I toodled around with Cristina's Fuji bike-a pretty sweet thing. What happens? A resounding "Hells yeah!!!" from the athletic gentlemen in the SUV. That's right-welcome to Ashland.

There were a couple of big fails out here as well. I took the Greyhound from Davis to Ashland. Well, the bus does not stop in Ashland, and drives straight past to Medford. To get to Ashland, you need to wait for the bus going in the opposite direction. In my case, they wanted me to wait 5 hours for a 20 minute commute!! So I took the local bus.

Porkolt

It's been half a year since I blogged, busy with work is my usual excuse. But a lot has happened, and I cannot say that I've been fulfilling my goals. I think I will make it a point to do something today-like blog about what I've accomplished.

Here is an international dish I have made-now many times. It is pretty freaking awesome, but none as good as the first time I made it. Which means I should follow the recipe more often. http://hungarystartshere.blogspot.com/2007/11/prklt-stew.html

The recipe is pretty simple, and I learned a couple of things from it:
caraway=fennel
marjoram=oregano
So you juuust might have those ingredients afterall. . . .














Speaking to the woman who taught me the recipe-who is in Hungary, by the way, I learned that the onions should be cut smaller (minced), and the dish should look more 'red.' I tried adding a ton of paprika to the dish, but it just seemed gritty. Maybe more oil would take the color from the Paprika that's already in the pot? Let me know if you find out.

East by Midwest

So, I'm not much of a biker, compared to the average Davis-ite. But now here I am in the Midwest. I refused to live further than a bike-ride from work. I even chatted to the friendly bike-shop people about the dirth of bike racks on campus. But when it comes down to it, I've never worked on my own bike. I pawned past projects on others who needed to borrow a bike. So it made my list to learn to fix mine.



A great guy, who's rommate screwed me over for housing (rant), gave me an awesome old-fashioned road-bike, that I love already, though I haven't ridden her much. My first love of a bike. I popped an inner tube on my first effort to commute to work :( and today, with the help of a roomie, I changed it out! Ha, no prob, it went w/out a hitch, except I bought the wrong inner tube initially, thinking that Target must have all the imaginable sizes of inner tubes, and that my bike tire must be mistaken. 26 x 1" with the tricky air pump opening. Go figure. I knew they were really thin from my former Davis life.








No bike-lanes on the bridge to cross the river. It's probably pretty dangerous to bike around here. A friend will mail my helmet soon. This life, I will wear it. Getting used to going so fast. And learned what a hill was. But in reality, Lafayette is flat. Almost killed a tree today (see pic). They need more bike racks is all I have to say. You think I would have killed more trees by now. . .

So, busy busy internship. I have tried to make a start at these tasks, and considering my messy move to Indiana, I think I did alright. I probably stretched for 3 days in 1 week, but I won't count that 'till I keep track. I commuted to school for the first time, fixed my popped inner tube all on my own (w/Betsy's guidance) and am about to post some thank-you notes by snail-mail. I even chatted up the nice folks at the bicycle shop (Virtuous Cycles) (they noted the similarity in name to Bike Church). Haven't done much, but I'm ready for the weekend!

101 Things in 1001 Days

Mission:
Complete 101 noteworthy tasks (that may not otherwise be completed) in 1001 days.


The List:

Travel
1. visit an island abroad (Galapagos, Majorca, etc.) (St. Christopher, what what?!!)
2. learn 1 authentic dish from a native of that country
3. visit Chicago (+++)
4. visit New York (sorta)

Financial
5. make a fun fund (an account for fun activities and funded by extra-curricular activities)
6. balance a check book for 1 mo
7. estimate annual spending accurately
8. learn about investing (speak to an accountant)
9. invest a percentage of my income
10. figure out taxes
11. investigate on money from the city  fun fund

Health
12. meditate 20 min/d for 5 consecutive days 3 times (0/3)
13. be vegetarian for 1mo
14. learn 2 gluten free dishes 0/2)
15. learn 2 vegan desserts (0/2)
16. learn 5 new vegitarian dishes (1/5-coconut dumplings)
17. stretch 3 d/week for more than 5 min. for 6 weeks
18. buy an electric toothbrush (1/1)
19. modify the head ;)
20. go to the dentist regularly
21. visit a nutritionist or start taking a multivitamin
22. get 7 h of sleep for 28 consecutive days.
23. don't chat online past 1am (non-food reward for every time I do this)
24. call up some girlfriends! (:
25. do 3 things on this list when I am feeling down (1/3)
26. diva cup

Friends and Family
27. make 5 great lasting friendships
28. write snail mail (5/15)

• vet school classmates (4)
• Indy

29. send 5 care packages (4/5)

• to Aus
• to WA
• to OR
• to CA

30. become close friends with 2 family members (0/2)
31. contact 3 old friends that I haven't spoken to in a while (0/3)
32. learn my family tree +/- map it out
33. register as Native American
34. take a trip with family members
35. host 1 big party
36. call extended family (0/6)

Professional
37. speak up
38. stop saying um
39. stop saying like inappropriately
40. learn veterinary vocabulary in Japanese (visiting JP students, anatomy terms, JP client!)
41. learn veterinary vocabulary in Spanish (working on Spanish)
42. conduct one self-motivated presentation (U/S!)
43. do conservation work (0/20)
44. do emergency work and contribute money to the fun fund!
45. learn about surgery/anatomy/radiography of birds (+)
46. learn about surgery/anatomy/radiography of reptiles (student presentation) (+)

Continuing Education
47. learn up to 5th grade kanji
48. develop my Japanese grammar (vet stuff. . .)
49. learn a dance (5 classes or 1 course)
50. learn to drive a stick shift
51. teach a skill to a person or a group
52. learn to sing 10 songs
53. learn to play 5 songs well on guitar
54. learn to fix my bike (changed inner tube, multiple, multiple times, brake adjust)
55. read the news 3x/week for 1 mo (hmm)
56. learn 5 dishes from another (the same) country and perfect them
57. make puff pastry (0/5)
58. learn geography (working on it)
59. become ambidextrous

Personal Growth
60. become more chatty
61. i (no interest-resolved)
62. c (the K crew!)
63. do 6 things consciously out of my ordinary (0/6)
64. clean house regularly twice a month (0/12)
65. make my bed on 28 consecutive days (+)
66. get rid of stuff (1/1-nothin' like movin to an island)

Recreation!
67. go on 3 overnight camping/hiking trips (2/3)
68. knit a sweater or cardigan (+)
69. have brunches every mo for 20 mo or 20 total (0/20)
70. hold an informational interview with a bakery owner
71. make an estimate of startup costs for a bakery
72. come up with a working menu (see fb post, and help me with this!)
73. blog about completed goals (some)
74. watch 5 award-winning films (3 int'l) (0/5)
75. take 10 day trips or nights out in the city

• Chicago (3)
• Indy (a few)

76. dumpster dive 5 times (0/5)
77. learn 20 cheap date ideas (0/20)

• take me geocaching!! or letterboxing (No Way! There are some in Lafayett!!!)
• downtown tour by architecture or historical society
• school/college's observatory!!
• university events
• GORP has a list of hikes in North Am, World Hiking has links to local directories
• sled/snowman/snowball fight/igloo
• botanic gardens or greenhouses at the uni or in the city
• space.com and starrynight.com can tell you what you're looking at in the sky. See nightsky report on space.com
• set up a treasure hunt
• oh wait, I need a date first-sigh
• hiking/beach/picnic
• go to the playground
• guys…If you want to cook dinner, remember, she doesn’t care what you make.
• make a dinner 'menu' complete with the event or restaurant name, what is being served and a nice note about the occasion
• make chocolate-covered strawberries (with tuxedos!), or chocolate fondue, or CHEESE fondue!!
• decorate pillow-cases?? Caramel cows for sweet dreams!
• 5 more . . .

78. make and sell 5 items out of re-purposed items (0/5)
79. invent something
80. develop 2 new interests (2/2) cycling, entrepreneuring
81. plan forward for the weekend (2/20)
82. participate monthly in community service (3/24?)
83. make a dress
84. speed up (working on it)
85. learn about and grow dahlias

• they don't grow well in Indiana. .. :(

86. backup photos from mac


15 Additional