School is done (has been for a little while), and summer is here!
The end of the semester brought so many goodbyes. And let me tell you, goodbyes are the worst when you're the one staying put. The first came for those friends I wouldn't see over the summer, which wasn't too bad, thanks to Facebook and phones, and the fact that I'll see them in the Fall. The hardest was saying goodbye to my dearest sister, Abby, for a year. Yes, she is teaching English in South Korea, in Deokso. So exciting for her, and a bit bittersweet for us.
Next was saying goodbye to people at the International House. I think this is the hardest thing about living there. Some of them, gracias a Dios*, I was only saying goodbye to for the summer, as they head to their respective homes (Haiti, Pakistan, Mongolia, etc) for summer break. Others, however, are goodbyes without a visible or set hello again. These are the hardest ones for me. The light at the end of the tunnel for me is that I will, ojala*, study abroad in Spain the Spring of 2014. This means Europe, and my lovely friends in Germany too! So besides Spain, Germany will hopefully be included in that adventure.
That brings me to where I am, and what to do with the 2 1/2 months I have left of my summer. Plans fell through to work at camp this year, so June is free as a bird. I really took this as meaning that I needed to spend a lot of time with my younger sisters, specifically Hope, during this month. Hope is going to Japan the end of the month, and then will only have about two weeks when she gets back before she goes to school. So although she'll only be an hour and half away from me while she's at school, I know she'll be settling in and finding her own place, so I'm going to soak up as much time with her now as I can.
So besides Hopey time, I've compiled a list, giving a brief idea of my summer, from the main things to simply little things I want to do.
- Work at the LIU Summer school program in Chambersburg, where my Spanish skills will be of use.
- Give Mercy Spanish lessons a couple of times a week. It's important to get her learning a second language before the critical age period* is over.
- Read! I've compiled a book list, of which I've complete one book. Sadly, I've lost the other book I was in the middle of reading, so I guess I'll just have to start another. You can view the list here.
- Take a Chinese class. A Taiwanese lady offers Chinese lessons for free on Thursdays at the Library, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of them, at least for the month of June.
- Read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in Spanish.
- Learn some new piano songs. I already have two in mind that are first on the list.I also want to brush up on some classical pieces that I've forgotten from lack of practice.
- Clean my room completely and get rid of a lot of stuff. This is something I should really do every six months at least.
And that's it folks!
*gracias a Dios = Thank God
*ojala = Lord willing, if God permits
*critical age period = linguistically speaking, this is the ages between 2 and 12 in which language learning is best. And by best I mean that only when a language is learned during this time will a person be able to acquire native-like fluency, specifically in accent and native-instincts.
