Dear Loyal Followers,

As many of you know, I usually post every weekend, usually on Sundays, but NOT last Sunday. This is on account of—a busy week and not much unusual happening. It is also due to the fact that a certain organ of mine was preparing The Monthly Torture Chamber. During such times of preparation I tend to be rather emotional and it is best for me to keep my thoughts to myself.

Now that preparation has ceased and Torture has commenced, I am in much better spirits. The wave of homesickness has, for the most part, passed and I am THOROUGHLY enjoying the packages that arrived from home. Do not worry, Kimberlea, enjoyment of your package consists of just gazing at it longingly and being excited for Christmas morning.

In other news, I have become much more Spanish. This is because I finally, with Astin’s help, chose a pair of boots. Unfortunately the lady gave me the wrong size, so I have to take them back and hope for the best. Now all I need is a dreadlock mullet.

My students continue to crack me up, especially my 6 and 8-year-old girls. Although we have been learning food for three sessions, the 6 year old continues to pronounce “bread” as a very nasally “bron” and carrot as “zano.” This is a great improvement over her usual method which is, “Look like you’re concentrating really hard, open your mouth and utter some kind of sound. Whether this resembles any language known to humankind is unimportant. Just get a sound out at the same time you make a really focused-looking face.” This is the same child who sneezed all over my sticky tack and later on the desk we were using. I thought that was neat.

I have two new students, both adult females. This is very nice because we do things besides oversized flashcards and ridiculous games. I also have a new teenage girl with a really high level—Advanced Level 1. Advanced Level 1 is ludicrously far from “False Beginner.” I tell you this to point out the irony of the “Student Info” card that my work gave me. I arrived with cheesy beginner level games and then spent the whole class speaking with an almost-fluent student. Also neat.