Monday, November 5, 2012

Goals



HAPPY NEW MONTH! 
My 2012 resolution was to celebrate the beginning of every new month, and along with that, make monthly resolutions. I went astray in October, but, can you really blame me? I was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing in Spain. 

Well, now I’ve got the first month in Spain under my belt, and I feel stabilized into a schedule. My November resolutions are to 

  1. get back to baking [MADE-FROM-SCRATCH PUMPKIN PIE, HERE GOES NOTHING...] 

  1. decorate my room (YES I am finally moved in...). Specifically, there is this monogram mosaic project I have envisioned for my wall...we'll see how this goes. Here is a sad picture of how my room was given to me:


I decided it’s also time to take a moment to set some goals for the remaining 7 months here! We did something similar with IES Granada, and I thought it was really neat to look back at your goals at the end of the stay and see how ya did. So I’ve thought of several categories for goals, along with some of the categories IES Granada provided us:

Learn something new:

  • FOOD: There’s a ton of things I’d like to learn here, mostly related to cooking. I’d like to learn how to make a Spanish tortilla, Zorza, octopus, and tuna empanada. Homemade croquetas would also be ideal.

Delicious octopus empanada in the front, patatas in the middle, croquetas in the back!
  • DANCE: Also, I want to take a dance class. From Granada I learned to be an EXPERT flamenco dancer (lololoolol) but Galicia doesn’t appear to have the equivalent type of traditional dance. However, I have seen posters for Latin dance classes that I would be able to sign up for in January, so that could be fun/embarrassing/worthwhile.
  •  
  • LANGUAGE: Gallego is quite intimidating, but I think it'd be a shame to go home and not know a few key phrases. So far I've got boa noite (goodnight), hoxe en dia (nowadays), falar (to talk), ano (year), foi (went), tamen (also)... other than that, I just furrow my eyebrows and hope I can catch the general meaning when someone is speaking Gallego.


Continue old hobbies:

  • SOCCER:  I have done an okay amount of running since I got here, but I haven’t yet gotten on a soccer team. Truthfully, I am a bit worried that my knees wouldn’t hold up if I were to get into the routine of practicing multiple times a week. But I also find myself getting so anxious whenever I watch soccer on tv, when I come across pick-up games in the plazas, when I watch GWS soccer, anything. I WANT TO PLAY. So it’s worth giving it a shot.

  • RUNNING: I kind of mentioned before that I am doing a 10K this month. I’m feeling pretty excited about it. I already went on a 10K run a week or so ago just to make sure I wouldn’t keel over and die halfway through, and I survived! It’ll be a challenging race, apparently there’s a ton of people in this San Martino 10K and lots of ‘em are hardcore. But, I can be hardcore too!!!!  Aside from this race, I’d like to run at least 3 other races over the next 7 months. Hopefully all of them at least 10K. Apart from running, I have only done plyometric exercises once...my big ol' biceps must be dissipating. I actually don't think I'm going to end up getting a gym membership...which is not something I ever thought I'd be saying here! But the fact of the matter is that even if I got a gym membership the only times I'd really be able to utilize it would be the weekend. If over the next couple of months I find that my body is starting to simulate the consistency of the doughnuts I often purchase, well, then maybe I'll reconsider...

  • FRENCH: I. MISS. SPEAKING. FRENCH. When we were in Portugal over the weekend (which I will describe in detail in a later blog post) I felt great comfort in the two instances I heard someone speak French instead of Portuguese. I UNDERSTOOD FRENCH BETTER THAN PORTUGUESE. I hope I haven’t lost all that I learned last year. So, I’m hoping to at least get back on this online Busuu.com French thing I’ve done. Also, a lady contacted me who I’d previously asked about French classes. I don’t think I can afford private French classes at this time, but that’s something to strive for!

Give back to the community:
I am struggling with this! I’ve found myself so busy recently, mostly trying to fit in clases particulares at every waking moment. My schedule has stabilized and I’m keeping my eyes peeled for volunteer opportunities. I noticed that my work is right next to a residency for elders, I wonder if I could find something to do there! We’ll see, I just feel the need to find something for sure. I remember at the end of my time in Granada I thought to myself “Wow. I have been granted this wonderful gift of an experience by Spain. I want to find a way to give back.” Still looking!

Career advancement
As it turns out, when I come back from Spain I won’t have a job lined up. I’m not freaking out about it yet, but I am aware of a looming deadline for starting the process of figuring out a job or other way to preoccupy my time post-Spain. I have not completely let go of the idea of Peace Corps. By the end of November, I will have enough teaching experience to reactivate my application, so I think it could be worthwhile to do that!

Along with the affinity for the French language that I have mentioned before, I have also not totally let go of the idea of teaching English in France for a year after Ourense. I’m not convinced my level of French is sufficient, but, my desire to learn counts for something, right???? I refuse to go my whole life without having lived in France for a year, so maybe next year will be my time to do so.

Regardless of how either of these applications/ideas go, I need to start looking for jobs in the Chicago area by February. EEK. JOB. REAL LIFE.

Travel: 
I have a fairly humble goal of visiting 3 new countries during my time in Spain. My focus is to maintain most of my travel within Galicia. I want to know all of Galicia like the back of my hand! I’ve gotten the chance to see lots of countries while I was in Granada, but I did not get to know Andalucia as well as I should have. I have no excuses for not knowing all of Galicia by the time I go home next June. 

We recently made a trip to Lugo, a city in Galicia. It was a nice little visit, and it propelled me onward in reaching this goal of getting to know my local area first and foremost! Here are a few photos from that trip: 

The wall that surrounds the inner part of Lugo

lol.



Cloister of a museum we visited


Pretty Cathedral!



Money/Budget: 

This. 

This is tough. 

I think I have been doing okay, I haven’t made any huge shopping purchases. But boy have I been ready to! We make 700 euros/month and my goal is to use only 500 of those euros and save the other 200 for either longer trips or, just money so that I am not dirt poor when I go back to the States. I have been keeping an excel spreadsheet with all my expenses, which is certainly helpful but at the same time depressing to see all the money it's necessary for me to spend! The plus side of the spreadsheet is that I am also keeping track of the money I make from clases particulares, and that amount always puts a smile right back on my face.

Diet:
I've maintained a very rigorous diet my whole life, always picking the stalk of celery over the cream-filled pastry...

NOT.

Sorry, dear body of mine, but I am in no way going to suppress my desire for trying any and all food (and double that amount of desserts). So here's hoping I stick to my work out goals!

I will keep adding more goals to this list, I think. If anyone has any suggestions as to some other goals I am all ears!


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