It's 20 June 2015...so much for my thoughts of blogging after my birthday :-)
I have to smile and laugh at myself...as I reflect on where I've spent my time and energy since 12 April.
Mostly taking two beginning Spanish classes at City College of San Francisco from January to May. Three nights a week..two hours each night. What great classes even with the homework, language lab, posting en español on the class internet-forum. Great because I am taking this class to learn the language not to satisfy some requirement. I reminded myself of this (as did Tom) whenever the old thoughts creeped in before taking a test. The test results just showed what I had learned and what I had not -- that's all. I do not need to make an A. And taking the classes showed me that as with all things...practice assists with getting it in my bones.
Mostly I write simple present tense sentences so that covers my writing practice. And what I have learned this far -- we ended the semester with preterite (past) tense and I am still wrapping my brain around the conjugation!
Conversation is another story--¡estoy nervioso! And have not gotten a fluent conversation buddy...yet...to challenge me.
Next month will challenge me -- I will be in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, México. Most of the time will be in cooking class (City College of San Francisco's culinary study abroad program) --taught in English. And when there is free time -- practicing my Spanish conversation! I find when I am immersed in a place where English is the second language...I fair much better in conversation.
Yes...practice makes things easier...and less daunting. I have found that with a lot of things. Cooking for one. Replacing old non-beneficial habits with beneficial ones is another.
Cooking -- I consider myself an improv chef now. Mostly because some nights I look at what's fresh in my icebox and put together a meal of mostly protein and veggies...healthy :-) ... pleasing presentation .. tasty ... easy to prepare. The other night I had tilapia, so I mixed up 2 TBS of avocado oil and 1 TBS of goat milk yogurt and put the tilapia fillets in that mixture. Then dredged the oil/yogurt coated fillets in a mixture of pecorino cheese, dry chervil (since I did not have fresh or dried parsley), and paprika. Baked at 400 degrees for about 15 or so minutes. The veggies - raw summer squash and carrot spaghetti tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper. I must remember to take photos of what I cook :-) Definitely in cooking class :-)
Replacing old non-beneficial habits -- that's a whole other blog post :-) The short version: this article Walking Your Talk: The Path Of Personal Integrity...certainly had (and has) me reality check -- are my deeds and words in sync? Am I allowing the Inner Bully, the Inner Doubter to rule my deeds and words? And what about the External Bully or External Doubter? As I like to say...Awareness Is A Great Teacher...and I continue to learn from this awareness. And practice replacing old non-beneficial with new beneficial.
Link To Article
Next stop....Oaxaca CIty...
Cooking -- I consider myself an improv chef now. Mostly because some nights I look at what's fresh in my icebox and put together a meal of mostly protein and veggies...healthy :-) ... pleasing presentation .. tasty ... easy to prepare. The other night I had tilapia, so I mixed up 2 TBS of avocado oil and 1 TBS of goat milk yogurt and put the tilapia fillets in that mixture. Then dredged the oil/yogurt coated fillets in a mixture of pecorino cheese, dry chervil (since I did not have fresh or dried parsley), and paprika. Baked at 400 degrees for about 15 or so minutes. The veggies - raw summer squash and carrot spaghetti tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper. I must remember to take photos of what I cook :-) Definitely in cooking class :-)
Replacing old non-beneficial habits -- that's a whole other blog post :-) The short version: this article Walking Your Talk: The Path Of Personal Integrity...certainly had (and has) me reality check -- are my deeds and words in sync? Am I allowing the Inner Bully, the Inner Doubter to rule my deeds and words? And what about the External Bully or External Doubter? As I like to say...Awareness Is A Great Teacher...and I continue to learn from this awareness. And practice replacing old non-beneficial with new beneficial.
Link To Article
Next stop....Oaxaca CIty...
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