Bad News and Turning it All Around

Bad news was received in the form of an email. The Lehigh professor helping me with the Fulbright decided, after looking over everything that I would have a difficult time being able to win the scholarship. My pursuit of a business degree and work experience in advertising didn't exactly hail me as the most likely of candidates, but I feel so passionate about working and "giving back" to the world right now I figured it would be enough. Apparently not. I will find another way or the European Union may just be ruled out for a while at least.

In other news - I have continued my soziety.com interactions. There are a limited number of Americans who speak English on the site so I usually am bombarded with people wanting to chat via Skype. Currently I am chatting with Miguel from Seville, Spain the most often. He works as a financial controller, is 36, likes long walks on the beach...just kidding.

I am starting to consistently talk/IM via Skype with the same people and my only fear is that I may run out of things to say. They want to hear the English words for familiarity and I can't just spit out random sentences because that's not really helpful. Yet, there is only so much of "how are you," "what is your favorite color," "it's Friday night in (European/Asian country insert here) so why are you on Skype learning English and not out having fun?"

I may be delaying my move to Turkey because of an opportunity (to be discussed later as it develops) that may take place during the month of September.

I am continuing to read my grammar books and need to crack open my "Younger Learners" book just in case little ones are in my teaching future. Also, I fully intend to practice my guitar more often than I have been. No more excuses. (I say this more to push myself than as an interesting sentence for the readers).

The Turkey soccer game is coming up soon for the Eurocup and I fully intend to watch! Hopefully some of you will as well.

Some funny items listed below:

One very funny comment I saw on the Facebook SpeedDate application that I had mentioned on Twitter and Plurk - Please read the the 4th comment:
http://ur.lc/1r



more cat pictures



more cat pictures

Be sure to watch the Penguin flying video that I posted from YouTube! Totally the best commercial ever. :)

Learning Spanish: old-school style with new application!

I just found out about this fun site: http://www.soziety.com where you can practice a variety of different languages via Skype. I just registered and plan to try it out when I gain the courage to practice my Spanish. Go ahead and click on the logo and check it out!

After browsing around for a little bit I ended up chatting with someone from Argentina named Diego. He was really friendly and spoke English pretty well. i think he thought I was lying to him, but truly he did a pretty good job. There was just one point where I think he was displeased that I was asking too much about the "command form" of a verb. "No need to worry about stupid things like these" were his exact words. Yet, it was followed by "don't worry about making mistakes or anything, you are doing really well." So, the sting of being called-out for an obsession with verbs diminished and my pride has remained unscathed. We are chatting again tomorrow early evening and I am actually excited!

I found out about this great site via another super informative site that I must give credit to: Spainexpat.com.

Also, I am getting really into the need to up my karma points in Plurk. There is a regular "chat" type demeanor within this application that I am really quite fond of. Though some would say it is a twin of "Twitter," I feel like I use the two applications very differently. Twitter is much more about stalking and reading up on interesting news and random stories. Plurk seems to be about responses and philosophical queries. I heart them both!

Though my Fulbright essay revisions are complete and I feel good about that, I still feel pangs of guilt at any one time for not doing one of many other things. Practicing Spanish, practicing Turkish, practicing English grammar, organizing my mementos, reading up on teaching English, blog writing, ebaying, emailing, plurking, twittering, etc. There is always something I can be doing in preparation for my move and I am not very good about just relaxing and letting go.

Also, with the influx of emails from prospective companies (that normally I would be super interested in) emailing me, I have a constant state of "is changing my current career path the best choice?" I absolutely think it is only because I think I will come back stronger and better than I was before. I feel really good about the impending move and know that though it will be a challenge and very tiring and frustrating at times, that it will forever change me in the best of ways.

TWITTER Whore Part 1

I am not to this level yet...wondering when "Plurking whore" will be be available...