aventurera en españa

Christmas!

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:37:37 GMT

Tomorrow I'm off to Germany to spend Christmas with Sabine and her mother--and I am extremely excited about it. She and I are going to have epic adventures (when she's not doing homework and I'm not writing a paper on my methodological stance).

Of course, we do have the weather to contend with (it took her 36 hours, several train rides, a car ride and a ferry ride to get home) and my toe. A glass jar fell on it tonight and it's swollen and sore and I'm not entirely sure I can get my shoes on now. But as my mother quipped, the jar didn't land on my wings so I can still fly.

Did you know my mother also dances?

Don't be jealous, not everyone can have a mom as awesome as mine. True story.

Also, Emma and I had the following facebook conversation about the Christmas episode of Bones:

Emma: So I finally got around to watching the lastet episode of Bones and I thought it was super funny that her sister played her cousin. It made me giggle the whole time. Amyway, I love yuo bunches and bunches!

Sarah: I giggled too--especially at all of the comments that they looked like they could be sisters. It really doesn't take much to amuse me, sad but true. Miss you bunches and bunches too! (ps: we're more awesome as sisters than they could ever dream to be! :P )

Emma: True that! Double true!

So this summer Emma, Anna and I wanted to make our own "episode" of Bones. Emma wanted to be both Angela and the dead person. And she would come up to Brennan and hold up a picture of herself and say: "For some reason, this face rings a bell and I can't quite put my finger on why..."

The three of us thought it was hysterical.

Then again, "snuffalupagus" makes us giggle, so...you know.

And reports are trickling in that my Christmas cards and packages are actually making it to their destinations before Christmas which is great news--I didn't have high expectations of the Spanish postal service, probably due to the fact that everyone working in customer service in Spain acts really offended that they have ~~costumers~~ customers to serve.

Today the first and second graders had their Christmas show at school and they were adorable. I took video of every performance and lots of pictures too--which I won't be uploading online so you'll have to find me when I come home this summer and I'll show you then. Although...I suppose I could upload the staff band playing their songs...oooooh...that would be fun.

I'll work on doing that sometime over Christmas break :D

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll try to record a Christmas-y video-blog with Sabine as my special co-host!

Vlog!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:44:55 GMT

Watch it here if the embed doesn't work

Yes, Mom, if Abby jumped off of a bridge, I would jump too.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:47:35 GMT

Abby did a vlog, so I did one too.

Warning: Potentially very, very boring.

Link.

Drama going down in the publishing world:

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:28:32 GMT

And it all makes me giggle far more than it should.

Also, still rather annoyed that the story I wrote Tuesday night has (according to Melanie) the same plot as not just one, but two different movies. To be fair, I've never seen either of the movies, but still. Very annoying.

And when I rewrote Optimal Social Distance Sabine said it sounds like Sadie is committing suicide--not taking an empowering jump off of a high dive. Woe. I just can't win.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:16:08 GMT

Sometimes it just hits me how incredibly blessed I am to be here in Spain teaching. I absolutely love what I'm doing.

Sure, my lessons don't always work the way I planned them to, or there are massive moments of utter Spanish communication fail and sometimes I get so homesick I want to cry*--but I love it all anyway.

This summer when I nannied I thought I couldn't love a job more. I never dreaded getting up and going to work in the morning. I was worried that I'd never love a job as much as I loved nannying, but I needn't have worried. I love teaching just as much.

You'd think that by the sixth time I get around to teaching the lesson on how birds have feathers, fish have scales and mammals have hair I'd be bored out of my mind--but all I can think is: I have mastered the art of drawing scales on the blackboard. Sweet. and I'm still just as thrilled and excited when my students shout "Eh-SCAH-LAYS**!!!" back to me when I ask them: "What are fish covered with?"

*On Monday I had some rough culture shock. Totally hit that low point in those charts the study abroad office showed us before I went to Sweden. You know, the low point when they talk about how you'll hate everything about the culture you're in. Yeah, totally had that happen to me.

I hated Spain. I hated the metro. I hated how dark it was. I hated Madrid. I hated the Spanish language. I hated the landscape. I hated the weather. I hated giving private classes. I hated the lack of public bathrooms. I hated the lack of drinking fountains. I hated scooters. I hated pretty much anything related to Spain, Spanish and Spaniards.

I briefly contemplated buying a ticket and going home. It was awful.

But I'm better now. Not going to go home. Don't hate everything--although the metro is still On Notice.

Believe it or not, there were times when I hated everything Sweden-related and was downright miserable. In fact, I recall one specific incident in which I loathed Sweden, Swedish and Swedes. True story--I just decided not to blog about it.

**We're working on 'scales'--'spaghetti' too. If I got them all to say 'ankle' in a solid Wisconsin accent then I can get them to say 'spaghetti' and not 'eh-spaghetti.' AND all of my students now understand 'Do you have?' in addition to 'Have you got?' because I can never, ever remember to use the British 'Have you got?' because it sounds so ungrammatical to my ears.

None of them say 'hi' though. Only 'hello'--and often: 'Hello, Sela.'

We're working on it.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:31:05 GMT

Today I asked: "Do budgies eat hamburgers?" 15 our of 20 kids laughed uproariously and shouted: "NO!"

5 kids drew pictures of budgies eating hamburgers.

Way to pay attention guys.

Anna and I had an epic adventure

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:00:24 GMT

Anna came to visit me. Don't worry, there will be pictures at some point. I promise.

She flew in Friday night (or very, very early Saturday morning, whichever perspective you want to take). I picked her up at the airport and we managed to get the very last metro back to my place and didn't have to take a cab. Yay. After staying up until 3am talking and catching up we fell asleep and then slept in very, very late.

We had planned to do a lot of sight seeing (the palace, an art museum, Plaza Mayor, Plaza del Sol) but we got...distracted...by shopping. *ahem* To be fair, it wasn´t our fault, shopping snuck out of NO WHERE and pounced.

We were walking back from the cafe where we had eaten breakfast and saw a plaza filled with cute stalls selling jewlery and scarves...so we stopped. Then we passed all sorts of fun stores walking to Sol...so we stopped. Then we of course had to go into H&M and it was a good thing that we did because we ran into Nina UK and Nicole and Nina´s friend. Then we had to go into the store next to H&M and Anna bought a belt (we now have matching belts).

We did go see Plaza Mayor and we walked to the palace and looked at it from the outside and took pictures (I took creeper pictures of people's clothes for my sister, Emma, because she's been bugging me for fashion pictures).

Once we got back to my place Nina US and Aziz had become and unstoppable force determined to have a Halloween party and everyone was going to enjoy it or else. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. Anna and I threw together Halloween costumes (she was a fairy and I was an angel) and although guests had been told to arrive at 8 they didn't show up until after 10--closer to 11.

It was fun. Anna and I ate the frozen pizza I'd bought last weekend and drank my coke and hung out and talked, though by 1am we were both exhausted. Finally everyone left to go out and party (without us, thankfully...I'm not a partier. People need to accept that and move on, seriously. lol) And Anna and I went to bed.

In the morning we got up early and went to El Rastro with Fiona (where we shopped, of course). I had fun with 1euro scarves and we shoved our way upstream and spent a very enjoyable morning. Then we met Mary, Melanie and Steve for lunch at a Gallego restaurant. I tried some cockles and promptly crunched down on some sand which led to an immediate gag and spit-out reaction much to everyone else's amusement. Thanks guys.

Lunch was followed up by more shopping and by the time Anna and I got home we were exhausted. I planned lessons for this week and then she and I went down stairs to the kebab place across the street and got supper "para llevar" which we ate while watching friends with Nina UK and her friend.

On Monday I worked and sent Anna to Segovia by herself. While my texts reached her all day, none of her texts reached me. So when she took the later train back I was trying to figure out who I should call and tell them I'd lost my friend who didn't speak a word of Spanish. Thankfully when Anna arrived in Atotcha she called me and reassured me that (despite getting temporarily lost) she was fine and had made it to and from Segovia in once piece.

Steve had drawn me a map to a good place with tapas so Anna and I headed there. Neither of us had eaten supper so we forwent tapas and had supper. I was a steretypical American and had a hamburger. Which was delicious. I think I need to eat those more often.

Tuesday was a blissfully relaxing day. We slept in and then made sandwiches and went to Retiro and had a picnic lunch sitting by the lake. After being surrounded by crazy sparrows we left. We hunted out the memorial to the victims of the Atocha bombing before walking back to my place. Then we went to Sol and had ice cream sitting by the fountian. Afterwards we found El Botin (the world's oldest restaurant) and took our pictures outside of it.

At 4:30 I took Anna to the airport and we said goodbye. It was an A+ weekend and now my room is so quiet. Sad.

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:11:25 GMT

Small (germy) children have probably gotten me sick. I woke up this morning with a sore throat. This is the second time I've gotten sick in the past three weeks. What is about Spanish germs that just knocks my immune system over?

So the germs in Spain suck, however, I do like that fact that since coming to Spain I've suddenly become tall. It's pretty awesome. I'm the shortest person in my family (as my sisters are keen to remind me) and I've gotten used to being shorter that most everyone I know. Spanish women (and 50% of the men) are usually my height or shorter so I've suddenly become tall and I kind of love it.

It's going to be a crushing blow to return home and no longer be tall. Melanie commented the other day at school when we bumped feet under the table that she'd forgotten how long my legs were and I'm a good few inches taller than Nicole and Nina UK and the same height if not taller than most of the female teachers at school.

This being tall thing is pretty fun.

Yesterday for a few hours we all spoke in Spanish in the apartment. It was really fun. I'd just come from school where the kids chatter to me non-stop in Spanish and I have to respond in English and it was such a relief to actually be able to speak the Spanish I've been unable to speak all day. I have no idea what state my spoken grammar is in (I'm guessing 'abysmal'), but when I'm with people I know I'm comfortable, I feel like I can speak much more easily. I'm still a floundering mess with strangers though.

I've been reading a book in Spanish to practice. It's a cheap (6 euro) translation called 'El highlander indomable' and because the writing in English wasn't anything stellar or complex to begin with, it's fun and fairly easy to read in Spanish. Of course, I was never taught "trashy romance novel vocabulary" in school so there are stretches I skip because I can't understand a word...but I'm thinking that's probably for the best... After a finish this I have a historical fiction that's an actually well-written book and hopefully that will be easier to read once I've finished my highlander book, lol

Video!

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:55:51 GMT

Link

Segovia

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:36:42 GMT

Since yesterday was a holiday (Columbus/St. Pilar day) I went on a day trip to Segovia with Jasmine, Megan, Fiona, Tom and Nicole. We took a two hour train ride there and spent the afternoon wandering the streets and taking lots of pictures.

Segovia is beautiful. This is the city with the massive Roman aquaduct (built in the first century AD without mortar), the beautiful cathedral and the awesome fairy-tale castle. Fiona, Megan and Jasmine went back around five, but Tom, Nicole and I stayed a few hours longer and toured the castle which was by far the best part of the whole trip.

It was an absolutely perfect day trip--except for an amusingly long list of things that went wrong:

- Nicole was winked at by a boy
- Nicole was slapped by a boy
- Nicole was stung by a bee
- Nicole's headphones broke
- Nicole tripped a lot
- A cold Nicole was vigorously fanned by the Spanish woman next to her
- Tom lost his ticket
- Tom had to deal with a scary, angry conductor
- All three of Tom's camera batteries died
- My camera battery died
- I knocked over my coke running away from a bee
- I got chocolate ice cream on my shirt
- We missed the 10am train
- There was a vomiting child who also had blood coming out of her mouth sitting behind us on the train
- ~~Bee Whisperer~~ Fiona dropped her sandwich running from a bee
- The others missed the best part of the day by going back early

Uploaded Videos to Youtube

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:20:10 GMT

I've been uploading videos to youtube. Check them out here.

My Language Learning Model

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:17:18 GMT

aka: How I think people acquire a second language, aka: the shorter gist of second language acquisition for my fellow auxiliares who (understandably) don't have the time to read the textbook I brought.

Second Language Acquisition: The Game

We have been exposed to so many different models of second language acquisition in this class, that creating a model of our own was daunting at first. However, as I began to review the models in preparation for this assignment, I was struck by how similar to a crudely drawn board game each of them looked; thus I decided to create a board game as my model of second language acquisition. As I began to plan my model I was surprised at how easily each of the components fell into place, and while I was limited in my model by the size of my poster board, I also felt free to express creativity in my model.

As with all board games, this game begins with each player choosing their piece. With the help of two Barbie dolls and a little modeling compound, I did my best to create two second language learners who were ready to tackle the task of acquiring a second language.

Second language learners, regardless of age, each bring a set of skills and abilities to the language learning and acquisition process. Among those skills and innate abilities are Universal Grammar, first language knowledge, and unique affective domain. It is my belief that all people are born with a Universal Grammar which Lightbown and Spada define as “a specific innate ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p.15). Universal Grammar allows a child to acquire their first language, and later the learner can use this Universal Grammar and their first language as a base on which they can build their second language. In my model, the Universal Grammar and first language knowledge is represented by the base each of the player’s pieces, holding the piece upright.

Along with the base of Universal Grammar and first language knowledge, each learner also possesses a unique affective domain. Brown defines affective domain as “the emotional side of human behavior,” and outlined several affective factors in second language acquisition, each of them unique to each individual (Brown, 2007, p.153). Each individual brings their own unique global, situational and task self-esteem to the process of learning and acquiring a second language, and these unique difference can affect the student’s performance. For example, low task self-esteem can lead to low oral test performance.

Inhibitions, unique to the individual can either hinder or help the student. Brown says it best when she describes the language ego as the “very personal, egoistic nature of second language acquisition. Meaningful language acquisition involves some degree of identity conflict as language learners take on a new identity with their newly acquired competence. An adaptive language ego enables learners to lower the inhibitions that may impede success” (Brown, 2007, p.158). High inhibitions in the form of a language ego with thick ego boundaries can prevent a student from taking risks. According to Brown, “Ehrman has suggested that the openness, vulnerability, and ambiguity tolerance of those with thin ego boundaries create different pathways to success from those with hard-driving systematic, perfectionistic, thick ego boundaries” (Brown, 2007, p.159). A thick ego boundary will not necessarily prevent the student from acquiring a second language, but instead the student may have to acquire the language in a slightly different manner than a student with a thinner ego boundary.

Motivation for learning and/or acquiring a second language can vary from learner to learner as well. Learners can be intrinsically motivated (“...activities...for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself”), or extrinsically motivated (“...fueled by the anticipation of a reward from the outside and beyond the self”) and these motivations are often paired with integrative (“acquiring a language as a means for attaining instrumental goals such as acquiring a degree or certificate in an academic institution”) and instrumental (“learning a language in order to integrate oneself into the culture of a second language group” motivation (Brown, 2007, pp. 174-175, 383).

Each learner also comes equipt with a personal and unique learning style. Brown describes learning style as “a term that refers to consistent and rather enduring tendencies or preferences within an individual” (Brown, 2007, p. 119). Styles range from the ability to learn better from audio or visual stimuli, a tolerance of ambiguity or a tendency for self-reflection. As with motivation, language ego and affective domain learning style varies by individual.

In my model, these differences are represented by the different dolls the player can choose as their piece. While each doll is different, they are all set with their feet firmly planted in a base of first language knowledge and Universal Grammar.

The game begins as each player places their piece on the large square marked Input. They then draw a card. The cards have either I+1, I+3, or I+0 written on them. The cards dictate which path the player starts on.

I drew this part of my theory from Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. Krashen’s hypothesis states that “comprehensible input is ‘the only true cause of second language acquisition’” (Brown, 2007, p. 295). In other words, the input should be “‘a bit beyond’ [the learner’s] current level of competence...If an acquirer is at stage or level I, the input [the learner] understands should contain I+1" (Brown, 2007, p.295). The ideal input is I+1, input that would be beyond the learner’s ability to understand and/or learn from would be I+3 while input that is exactly at the learner’s level and thus the learner would not learn anything new is I+0. The I+1 path is the most direct path to the next stage of the game, while the I+3 path meanders and is longer, and the I+0 path stops and sends the player back to Input to draw a new card.

The next stage is Comprehended Input. If the learner can not comprehend any of the input, they cannot move onto the next stage of the acquisition process (and the next stage of the game). As each player lands on Comprehended Input they draw a card which indicates their previous language knowledge. The cards tell the player to move their piece anywhere from 1-4 spaces forward and to roll again. This represents the knowledge that the learner brings to the table when learning a second language. The pathway to Input is also littered with time pressure and analysis level cues (see the explanation of Gass’s factors which influence intake below), upon landing on them, the player is to follow the directions on the space. The single path from Comprehended Input leads to Intake.

Gass notes that “not all input that is comprehended becomes intake,” and she goes on to stress that “intake refers to the process of attempted integration of linguistic information” (Gass, p.405). Gass also notes two factors that influence whether or not input becomes intake, time and the level of analysis. She points out that an analysis of meaning is not useful to a learner as an analysis of syntax and that time pressures on the learner also hinder intake. (Gass, p. 405). I propose that previous knowledge of the linguistic element(s) in the input also influences intake. If a learner has already been exposed to, for example, the subjunctive tense in Spanish, they will be able to more easily recognize it and thus they are more likely to begin the process of integrating the subjunctive tense.

For the purposes of my game, each player draws a card dictating their previous knowledge; the card tells them how many spaces forward they can move their piece before rolling again (ie: a student who has been exposed to a grammatical concept before will integrate it faster than a student who has never been exposed before).

From intake there are three paths the players can take. The path is chosen for them with the drawing of a card. They can either follow the path of Big Social Distance, Optimal Social Distance or Small Social Distance. Brown explains social distance as “the cognitive and affective proximity of two cultures that come into contact within an individual” (Brown, 2007, p. 196). He goes on to say that if “learners perceived themselves as either too close or too distant from either the target culture or the native culture, they fell into the category of ‘bad’ language learners as measured by standard proficiency tests” (Brown, 2007, p. 198).

If a player takes the Large Social Distance path they will follow the longest path to the next stage symbolizing the greater difficulty a learner has when they have a larger perceived social distance between their native culture and the culture of the target language. The player who follows the Small Social Distance path will find themselves running into fossilization and will have to sit out a turn, representing the difficulties a second language learner who is too comfortable in the target culture and has thus stopped acquiring the language. The quickest and most direct path is the Optimal Social Distance.

The final stage before output is Learning. While there are multiple ideas of how the actual process of learning takes place, for the sake of simplicity I have decided to concentrate primarily on meaningful learning and rote learning. Brown defines rote learning as “the process of mentally storing facts, ideas or feelings having little or no association with existing cognitive structure” and meaningful learning as “anchoring and relating new items and experiences to knowledge that exists in the cognitive framework” (Brown, 2007, p. 389, 385). An example of meaningful learning would be a language learner using their food vocabulary to buy groceries while rote learning could be seen in a learner copying out a verb tense multiple times. It is my personal belief that meaningful learning builds stronger ties than rote learning, but that both can lead to the acquisition of a second language. One important process that Brown talks about in regards to meaningful learning is the process of forgetting, of which Brown says: “forgetting is really a second or ‘obliterative’ stage of subsumption, characterized as ‘memorial reduction to the least common denominator” (Brown, 2007, p. 94). For example, a student who once knew every rule for the use of ‘por’ and ‘para’ in Spanish will eventually forget the specific rules while still retaining their ability to use the words correctly. Each player draws a card which sends them down either the path of meaningful or rote learning. At the other end lies the goal: output.

Output is “the process of producing language (speaking and writing)” (Brown, 2007, p.387). By the time a second language learner has moved from input to output, they have completed a myriad of processes, and steps, however, their work is not done. Just as each card a player draws upon reading output sends them back to an earlier point in the game, so does a language learner use their output to assist them in the various processes and steps of second language acquisition. Output can be used at the input stage, to negotiate meaning or to ask for native speaker modification. It can be used at the comprehended input stage to explain a learner’s previous language knowledge. It can be used at the intake stage to help formulate and test out hypothesises or language learning and it can be used at the learning stage to practice the learner’s intake.

In the same way that the Game of Second Language Acquisition can never end, a learner’s work in acquiring a second language is never at and end. They are constantly adding to, modifying and pruning their existing knowledge with the help of new input, and all of these modifications influence the learner’s output. From input to output, the process always continues.

Works Cited:

Brown, D. H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5th ed). San Francisco:
Pearson Education Inc.

Gass, S. An Integrated View of Second Aanguage Acquisition. Retrieved December 5, 2007, from http://people.uwec.edu/cumminad/sla/downloads/FLG378Gass14.pdf

Lightbown, P. M.& Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learned(3rd ed.). New York:
Oxford University Press.

Video!

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:57:17 GMT

If I'm not updating it's probably a good sign...

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:20:31 GMT

...it means that I'm too busy to sit down and type up an entry.

Technically I'm busy right now, but I'm multitasking. I'm simmering some chicken noodle soup which I plan to freeze because I love chicken noodle soup and Spain does not do soup-in-a-can (or if it does, it does it in El Corte Ingles with the fresh milk and the peanut butter and my minutes for my phone. I really hate El Corte Ingles). I'm making the soup by what I remember of how Holly made her chicken noodle soup this summer. So far the broth tastes pretty good even though I did random seasonings. Random because (1) I couldn't remember what she used; (2) I was never taught spice names in Spanish class and (3) we have a random selection of spices to begin with. I added something green that smelled soup-y and salt and pepper. And of course there is celery in it because celery magically makes everything taste better. No lie.

Today and yesterday we had orientation which was extremely boring and mostly useless. I did like three of the presenters and I forgive the lady from the embassy for freaking us all out with stories about date rape drugs, pickpockets and terrorists because she kept forgetting she was in Madrid and thought she was in Rome AND apparently in Rome pickpockets sit in the trees and throw ketchup at you and when you look up to see wth is going on they steal your purse.

We got a lot of information about the program we're in. Did you know that one out of every four schools in Madrid is a bilingual school? 50% of the students' day is totally in English starting right away in first grade. The teachers who teach in English only speak English with the kids and the reason we auxiliares are forbidden from speaking Spanish is because they want the kids to practice English with us and they want the kids to see us and think: Oh, that's Sarah. I have to speak English with her.

They talked about some of the ideas behind the program and they talked about communicative competence, linguistic objectives, content-based L2 instruction and communicative language learning--all things that are A+ in my book.

The only downside is the fact that of everyone I've talked to I'm the ONLY person with any formal TEFL training at all. And the 'training' they gave us...really sucked. Tom (from PA, he went salsa dancing with us on Friday--btw, I went salsa dancing last Friday) taught in Korea for two years (he has a teaching Spanish degree) and we sat together and mutually cringed at it.

(I think I just burned my tongue on a carrot. Sad.)

Tonight I'm going out for tapas with the other auxiliar from my school so we can meet and get to know each other and then tomorrow we're going to the school to meet the teachers and be shown around. Thursday we officially start. I'm so excited. It's going to be AWESOME.

Our landlady's sister-in-law is staying with us with her husband in the empty bedroom until Thursday morning. She's very, uh...talkative. And she told us she's not supposed to drink when she's on her medication but she does anyway. It's been an interesting week, let's just put it that way.

Anyway, my soup is now cooling on the stove and once it's cool I'm going to freeze it so I can have food to eat next week.

I really want my life to settle into a normal schedule. I have this story I've been writing by hand and I want to type it up and get it into my computer so it's easier to write but I don't have the time (technically I could have done that instead of doing this, but talking about myself was more interesting, lol).

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:52:08 GMT

Late last night Nina and I got back from a three day vacation in Valencia. It was magnificent, but I am glad to be back in Madrid. Valencia is lovely, but it's not Madrid and I'm partial to Madrid.

For example, the metro system of Madrid is cheaper and far superior to the metro system in Valencia. I really loathe the Valencian metro system. I could go on at length at how much I hate it.

We took a nine o'clock bus to Valencia and got in around one thirty or two. The bus ride was beautiful. I napped the first hour and a half and then the landscape was too interesting to sleep. Closer to Madrid treeless rolling hills covered in fields stretch as far as the eye can see. The colors are beautiful, but almost surreal for someone from lush, green south-central Wisconsin. There are fields, of what once must have been some sort of golden grain, shorn short, and there are fields of pink, reddish-orange dirt and fields of shriveled sun flowers that are bent over like miserable old men who have given up on life.

The farther we went, the hills became bigger, the ground shot through with gray/red crumbling rocks and rotund dull green bushes spotted the landscape. Then we came to the MOUNTAINS. I like MOUNTAINS. They aren't like the Alps--think Appalachian sized mountains without the deciduous forests. There are trees on these mountains, but they're more along the lines of shrubs. We drove past the most beautiful mountain lake created by a dam. The water was a stunning aqua blue and the sunlight glinted off of the surface of the water which was a full mountain's distance below us.

After the first set of mountains we drove into a valley which appeared to be much more fertile than the fields which preceded the mountains--and by 'much more fertile' I mean more dusky green shrubs and olive trees and grape vine and less slumped sun flower stalks.

And before I forget I must mention that on the crest of the mountains was a field of wind turbines swinging their slender arms through the breeze. It was really breath taking. If you've never seen wind turbine before, they're huge. And a whole field of them rotating along a mountain ridge? Breathtaking.

Before coming to Valencia we drove through some more mountains, but these mountains were less beautiful than the first. Whole mountains had been carved and chipped away in gigantic ugly quaries. Their bases were ringed with desolate-looking factories coasted in a patina of reddish-yellow dust. In fact, the whole highway into Valencia was lined with factories and warehouses. Some had been long-ago abandoned, but others were still in use. They were ugly and after the beautiful landscape seemed like a blight digging into the land along the road.

The city of Valencia is pretty with ornate old buildings in a style that reminded me of those romantic movies set in Havana years ago. You know, the sort where the beautiful, sultry woman and the dashing American become embroiled in Cuba's fight for freedom? The fact that there are palm trees at every turn helped cement that idea.

That first day we went to the beach. We didn't have towels or swimming suits, but we sprawled out on the sand and using our purses as pillows lay there. I lay there, thinking how comfortable the sand was and then my thoughts skittered off wondering if it would be practical to sleep in a bed of sand and the next thing I knew I'd constructed an entire story revolving around some people who slept in beds made out of sand--it was highly entertaining if you ask me.

I also got up and walked along the surf. The waves rolled and rustled as they tumbled over each other in impatience to reach the beach. The water curled around my ankles and splashed my calves; the sand shifted beneath my feet--all of it trying to pull me into the sea.

I found a piece of sea glass which tickled me pink. I wrote a story about a piece of sea glass. I held mine up to the light and looked through it, but all I could see was a hazy distortion of the horizon. No magical worlds lie within my piece of glass.

On the second day we returned to the beach. The sun was brilliant and everything was so bright. The sand was too hot to walk on comfortably and as we padded across its expanse towards the water I wondered how any one could bear to walk across hot coals. Then again, I am a total wuss.

We spread out our towels and lounged. I'd bought a bikini for two euro from a beach side stand so with Nina helping hold my towel to preserve my modesty I changed into that. I don't even know how long we lay there, but I dozed and hoped that the sun would coax my skin into a tan. Nina and I took turns swimming in the Mediterranean.

I can't actually remember swimming in an ocean/sea. I know that I have, but I was six at the most then, and don't remember it at all. The water was so warm--which surprised me. Warmer than any lake I've ever been in. And I floated with hardly any effort at all, the buoyancy of the salt keeping me afloat. I floated and swam for a while, but the weather was changing and after the second wave crashed down over my head and I got a mouthful of (salty) water, I gave up swimming and returned to my towel.

With rain looming, Nina and I gathered our things and set off in search of paella. We had paella valenciana at a swanky looking restaurant. It was delicious. Both of us were expecting lots of sea food, but ours had chicken and hare. It was delicious. The rice? Fantastic. We had bread and we scooped up the rice on the bread and Nina practically licked all of her bones clean. We ate until we couldn't move.

Then we lingered over cafe con leche (for me) and red whine (for her) and talked. We were so supremely relaxed and refreshed by the end of that meal.

The metro system displayed more of it's incredible capacity to suck on the way back, but I won't dwell on it.

We wandered the streets around our hostel until we stopped at a restaurant that smelled delicious. It was probably close to ten by that point. I had a bocadillo (sandwich) and Nina had a lentile soup which was delicious and if I could do it again I would order in a heartbeat.

On day three it rained. And it rained a lot. The hard, pounding rain that renders it impossible to see more than three feet in front of you and drenches you within seconds of the sky opening.

We went to La cuidad de artes y ciencias which is an examples of some incredible architecture--even if we were dodging rain drops. We spent a good part of the afternoon in the science museum checking out all of the exhibits. We both lol'd a little at the heavy anti-drug exhibit and I was annoyed that the 'climate change' exhibit totally glossed over the fact that without the greenhouse effect the earth would be an ice ball, but whatever.

We caught a six thrity train back to Madrid and got in a little after eleven.

It was a blissfully relaxing vacation--and my only vacation so far this year. Today I've done nothing much except try to get things in order around the apartment. I went grocery shopping then made tuna salad and tomorrow I'll have the adventure of doing my laundry and hanging it out to dry out our fifth (in the US it would be the sixth) story window. And with my fear of heights there will be fun times ahead let me tell you.

Oh, and on day three we saw the Holy Grail, as you do.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:26:55 GMT

I have an piso/apartment! Nina and I moved half of our things in today. Then we went to a mall in which one of the anchor stores was an IKEA. I have never been in an actual mall in Europe. It was so surreal. My brain associates malls with the US.

Anyway at the IKEA I got a duvet and pillow, cookie cutters (with a MOOSE and a SQUIRREL) and cactuses. I need names for my cactuses. My previous cactuses have been named Linnea, Pippi, Lars, Lars Jr., Gunilla and Astrid. What should I name these three new ones?

Our piso is south or Retiro Park and in a nice, quiet neighborhood. Young families and elderly couples live there so there aren't wild parties and its safe to be out at night. There are also lots of little shops and markets tucked away everywhere. There are five bedrooms. One has been rented out and the other two are empty but the landlady (Courtney) isn't going to rent those until after October.

It's by no means a new and shiny place and it needs a good dusting, but a cleaning lady is coming tomorrow morning and we found where the vacuum is so we can always give it another going over ourselves.

Tomorrow is Nina's birthday and we're going to try our hand at cooking pigs' feet (and Nina makes pasta, so yay) and then we're going to hang out and probably go out.

Last night we went out for tapas with a tapas crawl organized by the hostel. The tapas were good at the first place, 'eh' at the second and okay at the third. Afterward the others joined up with the pub crawl but Nina, Britta, Peter, a random Canadian and I wandered around (we stopped at a bar that offered free beer--which was gross) before ending up at the first tapas bar.

By then we were tired and it was cold so we went back to the hostel and hung out in the common room for a little while and then we went to bed.

Time in Spain passes so oddly. Everything happens so much later and no one does anything in the middle of the day. It's kinda nice though.

btw, it is so wonderful to be in a country and to be able to speak the language (and read the signs).

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:49:53 GMT

I'm here. I'm alive. I found a roommate and we're going to see an apartment at 11 this afternoon. Which is...erm...4am central standard time? Something like that?

After posting my yesterday morning I went down to my room in the hostel and sat there trying to make the internet work in the room. The door opened and Nina and Brittney walked in. Nina is one of the girls I've been facebook messaging and since we both knew we'd be arriving early we'd decide to meet up and look for a place to stay together. Brittney was another girl staying at the hostel. She's backpacking through Europe right now.

Nina had an appointment to look at an apartment, and Brittney was going to tag along and I came with too. We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon. We walked down to Sol and searched out a post office for Brittney (in the third building we looked at, in the basement of the basement in a parking garage--no lie), then we saw the piso and then we went to Retiro park and sat there for a few hours.

The park is absolutely AMAZING. There are huge, huge trees, gardens, fountains, places to walk, peacocks running around. It was amazing. We talked a lot and Nina and I really hit it off well. Her minors? Sociology and Anthropology and she also loves linguistics so we got kinda geeky together.

Oh, and before the park, we got coffee. I don't normally drink coffee and Spanish coffee is very STRONG (so strong they serve it in miniature cups) so I was pretty awake very though I hadn't slept in well over twenty hours, lol.

Cute story: A cute old man with Alzheimers told me that he loved me and he kissed my hand. His wife explained that he was confused and when I we just smiled she asked if we spoke Spanish so I said that I did, I was just really tired because I'd been up for twenty hours and that it was my first day in Madrid and she was so sweet and said that I was doing well :)

Other than that I haven't really had to use my Spanish yet. At least not in terms of speaking. I've just been listening. Though the times when I've had to speak I've done so without making a total fool of myself and everyone I've spoken to has been nice so I will continue to be brave because that will foster language development--and the fact that everyone talks so fast (and holy crap the accent!) will hopefully prevent fossilization, yay!

Anyway, Nina told me about this other apartment she'd seen that she really liked in the same neighborhood and it sounds perfect and it's in a great location as far as the metro goes and it should be nice and straight forward to commute to my school.

After our time in the park we went back to the neighborhood where our hostel is at and stopped at a restaurant to have something to eat. I decided to be brave and pick something at random (just because I know what the words in the food title mean does NOT mean I know what the food will be, lol!) I got 'pimientos de padron' which turned out to be these little peppers cooked in lots and lots of salt and olive oil(?) and they were quite possibly the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. And Brittney's salad has tuna and she doesn't eat sea fish. But Nina's gezpacho was A+ and the bread was delicious. So we all sort of ate a little bit of everything.

We went back to the hostel and said goodbye to Brittney (she was headed to Paris) and then Nina and I talked with Peter (he's from the UK) and putzed around on the internet for an hour or so and then I got to go to bed!

But before bed there was showering in the shower with the clean glass doors. That was...lovely.

I slept well (even if my body kept waking me up at all hours of the night) and woke up around 8:45. I grabbed some tea and toast and then camped out here to type up an entry.

Nina and I are going to see the apartment today and hopefully we can move in immediately!

x-post to my personal journal

Let's see how coherent I am!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:59:35 GMT

I've been up for twenty one hours as of right now. I want to crawl into a bed and sleep for a further twenty one hours however the very thing that I want I cannot have. If I sleep now I'll just make my jet lag worse on another day.

My flight went very well. I sat next to a theology professor from a university in Chicago. He was super nice and gave me his business card but I am too tired right now to try and find it again and find out what his name was (Luis? Maybe?) and what university in Chicago he's from.

When I got here this morning I took a taxi from the airport to my hostel (where I am currently). I had to carry my bags up three flights of stairs and I'm so tired and was having so much trouble breathing I almost puked when I got to the third floor--which would have been so embarrassing. I checked in and then ate the free breakfast that they provide.

My room is on the first floor but as I was carrying my bags back down again a guy named Tony (from Canada) took pity and me and carried my bags to my room. The girl from last night hadn't checked out yet so I left my big suitcases there (the door locks) and I went to the second floor where they have a lounge with couches and I emailed people to let them know I was here.

Jasmine, a girl who I know through facebook messaged me that she was just waiting to hear back from the agent about the apartment and she messaged me her phone number. Tony was in the lounge with a guy he'd met named Michael and Michael (who's from Birmingham--England, so not like the 'Burning Ham' song) let me borrow his cell phone to call Jasmine. Michael was super, super nice too.

Jasmine said that she'd send me a facebook message when she heard back from the agent. Call me a total wimp, but if left entirely to my own devices, I'm too tired to formulate an exciting agenda for the day and will probably stay at the hostel, staring blankly at the wall unless someone more awake than me thinks of something to do.

There are other things I wanted to say, but I am so tired right now. And I'm just going to get more tired. Sad times.

In three hours I will have been up for a solid 24 hours and then I still need to stay up for at least another six hours before I can crash.

Less than 24 hours to go...

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:32:12 GMT

Everything is packed. I've checked and rechecked my list. All I need to do is pack my laptop and print out my flight information and I'm set to go.

I'm unbelievably excited, but at the same time, I'm going to miss my family and my friends a lot. Tonight I'm going out to supper with my parents and Anna. Emma's at school and I asked Dan to come, but he said he wanted to clean his apartment and study, so he's not coming. :(

The following will be a cliched sentence: It doesn't seem real that I'm leaving tomorrow.

Cliched? Yes. True? Yes.

I don't think that it will sink in that I'm really leaving until I have to go through security and say goodbye to my parents and Annie. Until then it'll seem just as far away as it's felt all summer.

God has been doing some really wonderful things this summer--throughout this whole process. A year ago I thought that I was going to go to teach in China and I was dreaded it. Now I'm going to Spain and despite the surreal feeling, I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway, I guess that I don't really have anything important to say except: I LEAVE FOR SPAIN TOMORROW!

Well, I'm sort of packed.

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:04:32 GMT

(You may have noticed that I changed the layout of my blog again. I also changed the title, 'aventurera en españa' means 'adventurer in spain')

With less than a week to go before I leave I spent my morning today running last minute errands. I should have everything that I need now and tomorrow I'll begin the process of actually trying to fit everything into my suitcases!

While I was out getting traveler's checks and finding some more of the European power converters (I hope I still have that adapter from Spain stashed away somewhere...) I also collected things and took pictures of things that I thought would be fun to show the students. For example, I stopped at Piggly Wiggly and took close to one hundred pictures. American grocery stores are just so different than European grocery stores. There were these old ladies who were shopping and they gave me the strangest looks.

I also pulled over and took a picture of the sign welcoming people to my hometown and hunted for something along the lines of Packer/Badger stickers in four different stores. I finally settled on Packer and Badger bumper stickers and a Brewers air freshener! Oh, and I grabbed the sales flyers from Walgreens and Target because I figured that those would be interesting for the students to look at too.

I stopped at Frugal Muse (a used bookstore) to look for a few children's books to bring--possibly the hardest thing I've had to find to bring with me. I only have a very general idea of the language competence of the kids and while I think that the eleven and twelve year olds could understand the content of about 60% of the picture books they probably would not appreciate being read to from a picture book. Then again, I thought about how interesting it was to be read to from silly picture books when I was in high school in my Spanish classes.

I also had to skim the books to see what slang, idioms and other really culturally based words and expressions were used. If it had too many (more than would be feasible to teach--especially since the school doesn't want me to use any Spanish) I put it back on the shelf. However, I wanted books that introduced new vocabulary or reinforced vocabulary and phrases that I thought they would most likely be learning.

The books I settled on:

~ Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss (the only Dr. Seuss in paper back--otherwise I would have gotten more)

~ Wee Sing & Learn ABC by Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp (okay, I pretty much adore anything and everything Wee Sing. I'm bring a Wee Sing cd and book with me so when I saw this I was all over it. The structure is great: [Letter] [Name] the [animal] plays the [instrument] The book looks brand new but has a stamp on the inside cover that says 'Mrs. Kendhammer' Mrs. Kendhammer, thank you for selling your book to Frugal Muse so I could buy it)

~ I Can Dress Myself (a wee Little Golden Book featuring Grover. I love Grover. The book has great sentences with different verbs associated with different articles of clothing. 'I can pull on my boots' or 'I can buckle my belt')

~ White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresslet (the story is easy to follow, the sentences are straight forward and there is relatively few crazy vocabulary items. Only down side? The text is a pain to read. Black text on dark gray background? Really, Scholastic Inc? Really?)

~ Abigail Adams: Eyewitness to America's Birth (this one is a Time for Kids biography. I thought that although it may be a level or two above what the oldest kids can comprehend, there is a lot of interesting information and if I read it aloud verbally and explain the difficult parts, the kids should be fine. I did look to see if there were any of these on George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, but then I thought: Abigail Adams kicked major butt. And they've probably never even heard of her. I'm getting the book on her. So there you go).

I am so excited and I can't wait to leave.

Long time, no update:

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:19:32 GMT

Enthpenthka Update:

When I last left you I had been preparing a Swedish poem to read at the International Poetry Reading and some of you may have heard last fall that I was planning to teach in China. Well, have I got a surprise for you:

In less than one month I will be combing Madrid looking for an apartment and roommates to live for the next ten months as I teach English at a preschool-elementary school in a suburb to the south-east of the city.

I can sense your confusion. You're thinking: But, Sarah, you were going to go to China? What happened to those plans?

Teaching in China was something my TEFL adviser recommended and with her help I applied. At first I was just relieved that I could graduate on time and have a job once I graduated, but as more time past and I prayed about China more and more I began to feel increasingly miserable. I was absolutely dreading going to China. The more I prayed and asked God to give me peace about China the less peace I had.

Then in January the Center for International Education on campus emailed out their (sorta)-monthly newsletter and in it was a plug for a program called North American Language and Culture Assistants. Native English speakers would be paired up with a school to teach English to the students as well as aspects of our culture. I applied for the program and in April found out that I had been accepted.

I was so excited I started jumping up and down in circles and did not stop until my asthma forced me to some ten minutes later.

Since then I've applied for my visa, bought my plane ticket (found one for $435—which if any of my readers have flown to Europe recently know is an amazing price for a ticket), found out which school I'll be teaching in and started to amass all of the things I want to bring (so far I'm super excited about the Wee Sing cd and book I got).

I still have no idea where I'm going to live once I get to Spain nor do I know what church I'll be going to in Spain, but God has provided for me so far throughout every step in this that I know he'll continue to do so.

More evidence of God's provision and goodness can be seen in the wonderful new job he blessed me with.

That's right, a new job. No longer am I a cashier!drone. Now I am a nanny.

The family I nanny for has six kids ages infant to thirteen (my future students will be ages 3 to 12—I see what you're doing there, God). Five girls and one boy and they definitely keep me very, very busy. Let me introduce you to the kids who have immeasurably blessed my summer:

13 Year Old: She is very artistic and creative. Her drawings and paintings are all super good. We painted with some acrylic paints and she painted this picture of a panda and it was AMAZING. She is a careful, deliberate and thoughtful artist driven by an innate sense of beauty and order and a healthy dose of creativity. The other day she made animal masks for her sisters out of paper plates. 5 year old was running around with this mask that looked like a lion and 7 year old was a zebra. It was really cool.
She also likes to read (though only in the wee hours of the morning) and play with paper dolls and American girl dolls and when she plays with her younger sisters she really directs the play and structures the story. In that respect she reminds me a lot of myself.

The past few weeks she and I have been working on math homework in preparation for her going to a new school this fall and she hates math only slightly less than I hate math. I've had to stifle my loathing of the subject and approach it with enthusiasm for her sake or between the two of us we'd never do any of it!

10 Year Old: She's probably the quietest of all of the girls and usually displays grace and maturity beyond her years. This means that when I do catch her being naughty, I'm surprised and momentarily thrown off kilter. She's very sensitive and caring and there is barely enough room for her to squeeze into her bed at night there are so many stuffed animals piled high on it.

Of all of the girls she probably plays by herself the best and if she's tired, she'll take the initiative to lay down in her bed and take a nap. She is also the only child to ask me spiritual questions. She wanted to know what heaven was like so we read the end of Revelations and part of Issiah together. She wanted to know if her friend who was Lutheran was going to go to heaven (we talked about Romans 10:9) and she asked me about Purgatory (I said: “I think you should ask your mom and your dad about that, they know more about it than I do.”)

7 Year Old: Her nickname in the family is a play on the word Cowabunga. It fits. Trust me. 7 year old is very passionate—about everything. She passionately hates making her bed. She passionately loves to play on the computer. She passionately whines that she's hungry. She passionately refuses to help me put wet clothes into the dryer. She throws herself into whatever she wants/needs/is doing at the moment. Her mom often watches 7 year old tear through the house and wistfully says: “I wish I could bottle her energy and drink it.”

She doesn't self-entertain very well so she is always searching for someone to play with, or the computer or the tv. She and 5 year old like to play princess together—but whenever they're playing the kick me out of the room! She's exceptionally bright, her reading ability is on par with the ability of the third graders I read with over Christmas break. She soaks up the random facts I share with her and can add huge numbers together provided she doesn't need to carry—though I have absolutely no doubt that if I taught her how to carry, she'd pick it up in a heart beat.

She also bites.

5 Year Old: Picture a little impish pixie with brown eyes and blonde hair and you've got 5 year old. She loves all animals (she is violently affectionate towards Lucky the cat—and one day she sprayed him down with tub and shower cleaner. Poor kitty had to take a bath. He prowled around the house glaring at everyone for the rest of the day while his fur dried) especially horses and lambs. Most of the time she pretends that she's a horse which is very cute—except when it's a meal time.

Of all of the girls she's the one who will walk up to me and want me to hold her. Or she'll want to sit in my lap and hug me (and blow in my face). She's also a determined perfectionist. The other day she's thought that she couldn't draw ice cream so she started crying and flailing. It's hard, because I don't want her to be upset, but at the same time, I know that she needs to do it on her own. I think kindergarten will be an interesting experience for her!

Oh, and I have to mention how meticulously she makes her bed. The blankets are all straight, the animals are all sitting next to to their friends in neat rows or sometimes in a circle. She has this painting that 13 year old made that she often props up at the head of her bed.

She bites too.

2 Year Old: She had three great loves in her life: blank-y, pacey and Baby Brother. Her favorite pastimes include watching Little Bear/Elmo/Hot Dog (aka Mickey Mouse Club), saying “Nononono Share-wuh!” complete with an out-stretched waving hand and waiting for Baby to open his eyes at which point she declares “He oh-n eye!”

At naptime she likes to sleep with no less than five blankets and she must have her pacifier. She also wants me to sing either Little Bunny Foo-Foo or Where is Thumbkin before she sleeps—that's if she decides to sleep that particular day. Despite being exhausted beyond lucid thought, there are some days in which she refuses to sleep.

This summer she went from saying that every color is pink to being able to reliably identify green, blue, white, black and purple and she gets yellow, red, pink and brown right 80% of the time.

If you can't tell, I love my job to pieces and I am so, so, so blessed to have it.

What else is new in my life?

Well, today I bought special cactus soil for my three cacti (Lars Jr, Gunilla and Astrid). Gunilla and Lars Jr have been without dirt (just a cactus with roots sitting in a pot) all summer, so they're probably having their little cactus minds blown right now. Sadly I can't take my cacti with me to Spain so I will either need to go to Sweden to retrieve Linnea and Pippi or I will have to purchase more cacti once I'm in Spain.

Oh, and I sent out one of the stories I wrote to 5 different literary magazines. So far two out of the five have responded and both have been rejections. I'm actually okay with that and am hoping for three more rejections. I really want to rewrite that story and incorporate some of my experiences from this summer into the story.

Look! A voice post.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:35:36 GMT

SARAH READS IN SWEDISH.

LISTEN. BE AMAZED (or, cringe if you actually, you know, speak Swedish).

I am easily persuaded by my roommates.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:01:49 GMT

This is all Maria's fault.

My university is hosting an international poetry reading. Students are encouraged to bring and read a poem in any language other than English. Maria is bringing a poem in French. She's mentioned a couple of times that I should bring a Swedish poem and tonight she found the perfect poem for me. And by "poem" I mean: reading exercise from my Swedish textbook.

So...I typed it up and emailed it to the coordinator along with the English translation. If he asks me to read it then I'll have to hit up Laila for from pronunciation help because I have a feeling that after two years of not having anyone to practice my Swedish on my pronunciation will be dismal.

My "Poem":

Det här är Steve.
Han studerar svenska och kemi i Lund.

Han tänker mycket.
Han röker mycket.
Han känner många studenter.
Han köper många öl.
Han ringer till många kompisar.
Han tittar på många videofilmer.

Han läser sällan.
Han klipper sällan håret.
Han vaknar sällan före tio.
Han tycker att livet är skönt.

Förra veckan var Steves farmor i Lund.
Då rökte han inte så mycket.
Han köpte inte så många öl.
Han tittade inte på videofilmer.
Han klippte håret.
Han ringde inte till kompisar.
Men han läste mycket.
Och han vaknade klockan halv nio.
Han tyckte att förra veckan var jobbig.

This is Steve.
He studies Swedish and Chemistry in Lund.

He thinks a lot.
He smokes a lot.
He knows a lot of students.
He drinks a lot of beer.
He calls a lot of friends on the phone.
He watches a lot of TV movies.

He seldom reads.
He seldom cuts his hair.
He seldom wakes up before ten.
He thinks that life is nice.

Last week Steve's grandmother was in Lund.
So he didn't smoke that much.
He didn't buy that much beer.
He didn't want TV movies.
He cut his hair.
He didn't call his friends.
But he read a lot.
And he woke up at eight thirty.
He thought that last week was hard.

JAG FÖRSTÅR INTE

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:32:25 GMT

So...I understand most of the lyrics. That being said, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS SONG.

Questions about writers:

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:49:13 GMT

What makes a person a writer?

Do you consider yourself to be a writer?

What qualities does a writer posses that other people do not?

Is it possible to be a writer but not fit into the stereotypical idea of "the writer"?