Our Spanish T.A., Teacher's Assistant, is in Monterey, California and has an Argentine accent. His 'yo' sounds like 'zsho' and every Saturday at 6pm my time, 12 pm in New York and 9 am on the West Coast, he leads us in 45 blissful minutes of oral practice: hablamos en espanol!!!!!
This weekend my Human Development paper was on designing a preschool program for three to five year olds! Heaven. Writing 1800 words on the perfect beginning for little people in a loving, healthy, inspirational world where art and music and yoga are as important as maths and geography and computer science was so much fun! Right down to the very detail of wooden floors, a vegetable garden and wind vane in the back and the foot flush toilet (to avoid germs!)!!!!
I LOVE SCHOOL.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Happy Birthday to me
I will be 51 on Thursday.
I speak two languages and am learning a third.
I live in a charming city in Tuscany and have many jobs I really adore.
I have a nice relationship with my sister, niece and her daughters, my aunts and cousins and my friends manage to love me, too.
I am healthy.
I am happy.
I am Martin's best friend and he is my best friend.
This is sacred Sunday and the sheets are clean, there is fresh fruit and veg in the kitchen and the bells outside are ringing, along with my windchimes. The birthday vine Jennifer gave me for my 45th birthday is blooming tiny, delicate violet flowers.
I have money in the bank, a 4.0 gradepoint average and when I dream, I dream of my travels and sometimes I am flying over Paris or Istanbul.
Marty and I lived in Greenwich Village one summer... and I have celebrated 50 birthdays so far. Wonderful.
Happy Birthday to me.
I speak two languages and am learning a third.
I live in a charming city in Tuscany and have many jobs I really adore.
I have a nice relationship with my sister, niece and her daughters, my aunts and cousins and my friends manage to love me, too.
I am healthy.
I am happy.
I am Martin's best friend and he is my best friend.
This is sacred Sunday and the sheets are clean, there is fresh fruit and veg in the kitchen and the bells outside are ringing, along with my windchimes. The birthday vine Jennifer gave me for my 45th birthday is blooming tiny, delicate violet flowers.
I have money in the bank, a 4.0 gradepoint average and when I dream, I dream of my travels and sometimes I am flying over Paris or Istanbul.
Marty and I lived in Greenwich Village one summer... and I have celebrated 50 birthdays so far. Wonderful.
Happy Birthday to me.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Focus: Narrowing concentration.
This has been an especially challenging time for me.
I have lost a bit of perspective on work projects that have sucked my energy and my school load is particularly demanding this semester.
Each task holds a certain weight and sometimes I tend to give too much weight to some.
I am learning to focus on what is important to me and leave the rest. I am trying to let go of the stuff I cannot change or affect change on, remembering the things that give me wings and hold promise.
The reading (and writing) I am doing in Human Development is soooooo interesting and I love curling up with Martino, my big, fat text, soft number 4 pencil and notebook. I feel so comfortable in that place!
Spanish is a real trip and I love our Elluminate Saturdays, chatting with our T.A. who lives in Monterey, California and connecting with the students on the East Coast. It is really cool.
I think now is the time for updating my Name It and Claim It Project from September 2009:
I intend to work more with my training agency as an instructor in business English (I earn more per hour in these courses).
I am indeed working even more with my training agency and this has challenged me in so many ways. I am dealing with issues of leadership, communication and self/peer evaluation, in some ways, for the very first time. I am not gonna lie. Sometimes it is a drag. The lesson is to learn the lesson and so, I am always looking for the lesson!
AND I intend to work near home (=less commuting by bus to companies outside my immediate neighbourhood).
I am happy to say that this has come to pass and it is one of the best things about this year.
And, more work with my training agency means I will take less private students,
I continue to turn down students. I am actually working tons of hours as it is and combined with school, I need to achieve some balance in this area.
NOW, TIME FOR NAME IT AND CLAIM IT FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, TESTING THE THEORY!
I INTEND TO THROW MYSELF INTO T.O.Y.F. TRAININGS AND EARN, EARN, EARN WHILE FACILITATING A FABULOUS WORKSHOP I BELIEVE IN.
I INTEND TO CONTINUE GOING TO SCHOOL (SUMMER, TOO) AND GET GOOD GRADES WHILE FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK,SCHOOL AND LIFE.
I INTEND TO CONTINUE TAKING CARE OF MY BODY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF FIT AND HEALTHY.
I INTEND TO DEVELOP MY GAME, A PROJECT THAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A YEAR AND WISH TO REALISE BY SEPTEMBER 2010.
I INTEND TO FIND JOY IN EVERY, SINGLE DAY, TO REALLY HEAR THE WINDCHIMES OUTSIDE MY FRENCH DOORS, TO TEND MY GARDEN, TO BE IN THE MOMENT.
We make the world with our thoughts.
Imagine a world where everyone follows their bliss.
P.S. I love Joseph Campbell
I have lost a bit of perspective on work projects that have sucked my energy and my school load is particularly demanding this semester.
Each task holds a certain weight and sometimes I tend to give too much weight to some.
I am learning to focus on what is important to me and leave the rest. I am trying to let go of the stuff I cannot change or affect change on, remembering the things that give me wings and hold promise.
The reading (and writing) I am doing in Human Development is soooooo interesting and I love curling up with Martino, my big, fat text, soft number 4 pencil and notebook. I feel so comfortable in that place!
Spanish is a real trip and I love our Elluminate Saturdays, chatting with our T.A. who lives in Monterey, California and connecting with the students on the East Coast. It is really cool.
I think now is the time for updating my Name It and Claim It Project from September 2009:
I intend to work more with my training agency as an instructor in business English (I earn more per hour in these courses).
I am indeed working even more with my training agency and this has challenged me in so many ways. I am dealing with issues of leadership, communication and self/peer evaluation, in some ways, for the very first time. I am not gonna lie. Sometimes it is a drag. The lesson is to learn the lesson and so, I am always looking for the lesson!
AND I intend to work near home (=less commuting by bus to companies outside my immediate neighbourhood).
I am happy to say that this has come to pass and it is one of the best things about this year.
And, more work with my training agency means I will take less private students,
I continue to turn down students. I am actually working tons of hours as it is and combined with school, I need to achieve some balance in this area.
NOW, TIME FOR NAME IT AND CLAIM IT FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, TESTING THE THEORY!
I INTEND TO THROW MYSELF INTO T.O.Y.F. TRAININGS AND EARN, EARN, EARN WHILE FACILITATING A FABULOUS WORKSHOP I BELIEVE IN.
I INTEND TO CONTINUE GOING TO SCHOOL (SUMMER, TOO) AND GET GOOD GRADES WHILE FINDING THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK,SCHOOL AND LIFE.
I INTEND TO CONTINUE TAKING CARE OF MY BODY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF FIT AND HEALTHY.
I INTEND TO DEVELOP MY GAME, A PROJECT THAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A YEAR AND WISH TO REALISE BY SEPTEMBER 2010.
I INTEND TO FIND JOY IN EVERY, SINGLE DAY, TO REALLY HEAR THE WINDCHIMES OUTSIDE MY FRENCH DOORS, TO TEND MY GARDEN, TO BE IN THE MOMENT.
We make the world with our thoughts.
Imagine a world where everyone follows their bliss.
P.S. I love Joseph Campbell
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Spanish at one am...
Last night I set my alarm at one am to be able to participate in an oral practice with my Spanish professor on Elluminate, a fabulous live exchange in real time technology used at ESC. Real time in New York: 7 pm.
You can 'raise' your hand, 'applaud' (which I did, when one of the students said he was running a theatre in Brooklyn and studying for a degree in Arts Mangament. How cool is that!) and give a 'sad face' or 'thumbs down' gesture if you are lost or, just simply disapproving, using the icons on the panel controls.
There is a white board where el profesor scribbles and draws, outlining the construction of Spanish sentences and a message system to type in questions or comments as you go.
Considering the hour, I was a little slaphappy but managed a few cool phrases like,
el gusto es mìo and estupenda.
Please note that the accent on mìo is going in the wrong direction, but I am using my Italian keyboard for I am too lazy to get out the little chart that gives ALT commands to spelling in Spanish as well as those crazy, upside down question marks and exclamation points.
Of all the things I have studied so far, my brain wants to resist language. That is why I never really learned to read music proficiently or speak Italian, for that matter. Or do well in mathematics. These are all languages and I resist patterns which are different or foreign or organised strangely or where I have to learn completely new alphabets.
Oh, hey, that is not entirely true. I learned the cyrillic alphabet with gusto (not gusto) and ease back in the days of studying Russian. Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this thing about not being good at language...
Off to break some patterns.
You can 'raise' your hand, 'applaud' (which I did, when one of the students said he was running a theatre in Brooklyn and studying for a degree in Arts Mangament. How cool is that!) and give a 'sad face' or 'thumbs down' gesture if you are lost or, just simply disapproving, using the icons on the panel controls.
There is a white board where el profesor scribbles and draws, outlining the construction of Spanish sentences and a message system to type in questions or comments as you go.
Considering the hour, I was a little slaphappy but managed a few cool phrases like,
el gusto es mìo and estupenda.
Please note that the accent on mìo is going in the wrong direction, but I am using my Italian keyboard for I am too lazy to get out the little chart that gives ALT commands to spelling in Spanish as well as those crazy, upside down question marks and exclamation points.
Of all the things I have studied so far, my brain wants to resist language. That is why I never really learned to read music proficiently or speak Italian, for that matter. Or do well in mathematics. These are all languages and I resist patterns which are different or foreign or organised strangely or where I have to learn completely new alphabets.
Oh, hey, that is not entirely true. I learned the cyrillic alphabet with gusto (not gusto) and ease back in the days of studying Russian. Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this thing about not being good at language...
Off to break some patterns.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Development: The act or process of growing or progressing.
I am taking Human Development and Spanish. Second semester at ESC.
Spanish is challenging me. The Romance languages are difficult. All that Latin, ya know.
Enjoying the reading and lectures in the Life Span course on Development.
My dog is a saint. He faithfully sits next to me while I study-even if he would prefer to play B-A-L-L.
Here is to the development of my brain.
Spanish is challenging me. The Romance languages are difficult. All that Latin, ya know.
Enjoying the reading and lectures in the Life Span course on Development.
My dog is a saint. He faithfully sits next to me while I study-even if he would prefer to play B-A-L-L.
Here is to the development of my brain.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
BLUE MOON: THE SECOND FULL MOON IN A CALENDAR MONTH.
TONIGHT! A BLUE MOON!
& MORE MOON STUFF FOR LUNATICS LIKE ME! MOON MONIKERS
The Farmers' Almanac lists these Algonquin Indian names for the full moon of each month: January: Wolf Moon February: Snow Moon March: Worm Moon April: Pink Moon May: Flower Moon June: Strawberry Moon July: Buck Moon August: Sturgeon Moon September: Corn Moon October: Harvest Moon November: Beaver Moon December: Cold Moon Source: www.farmersalmanac.com& MORE MOON STUFF FOR LUNATICS LIKE ME! MOON MONIKERS
IMAGE FROM YAHOO
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