Am I the only one who dreads paperwork? Does anyone else put it off so long it's just plain ridiculous, not to mention painful? It took me ALL DAY LONG to finish the monthly expense reports. Yes, reports plural. 'Cause who on earth actually does them monthly?
The paperwork looms large...e-mails, working on a prayer letter, inputting the rest of the contact information into the address book on our Mac, thank you cards, appointee reports... Does.It.Never.End?! Yeah, I know it's not that bad but a girl has to have a little drama in her life.
So tonight we realized we need to get crackin' on some things. Last year when we went down for five weeks we stayed in the one-bedroom walkout apartment at the home of my future language tutor. And initially that's where we'll be staying this time but the cost will be different since now it will include Spanish instruction and other fun stuff.
Seriously, it IS fun stuff! Here's what I get to do (and try not to be so jealous, okay?):
~Cooking course: once a week (around 2 hours). Typical Argentine food from different regions. Main course and dessert taught by a professional chef.
~Outings (once a week Friday or Saturday). Visits to: Córdoba City (Jesuit area, university, areas of cultural interest, shopping mall); Estancia Santa Catalina, Jesús Maria, Colonia Caroya; Valle de Punilla (visit to a typical English town); Estancia Jesuítica Alta Gracia. Valle de Calamuchita (visit to a typical German town); Peña (place where people gather to sing and dance folk songs); Córdoba Main Theater
Now, the things I'm not too thrilled about...
...learning Spanish. After 2-1/2 years of college level Spanish, I understood not one single word when we first got to Argentina last year. NOT ONE WORD. I thought, "I've just wasted 2-1/2 years of my life!" And I wanted to cry.
But I did not. Not 'cause I'm a big girl, but because I was too busy to cry. Lands sake, but our co-workers kept us busy! Very high energy people! (I wonder how they'll adjust to working with pokey old me?)
And then by the end of our trip I was catching enough words that, although I couldn't follow the conversation, at least I knew what they were talking about. But I know how hard it's gonna be and I would by lying if I said I don't dread the language acquisition part. Marcela (my tutor) will work with me two hours every day and then expects me to do homework! She's expecting me to do things like read the local newspaper, watch the news on T.V., shop by myself, make phone calls... I'm counting on lots of folks spending lots of time down on their knees for me and the Spanish!
..."using the target language all the time" when on those fun field trips. *sigh* Suddenly I'm thinkin' they might not be so fun after all.
On the bright side, think of all the me-learning-Spanish posts I'll be able to write!
Anyway, we need to get back in touch with Marcela and finalize the details. And I'm not writing this post simply as a ploy to put off a little longer that bit of paperwork. I'll get right on it!
2 comments:
Came across your post on Google's Blog Search. If you'd like a way to reduce the time you spend on expense reports, you might want to take a look at http://paybackable.com. It makes tracking reimbursable business expenses super simple. And it's free for individuals to use.
Hope it helps.
I am soooo jealous. I can't believe that you get to learn Argentine cooking with a professional chef!!! (Do you think you could video and let me peek in on the experience?)
On the other hand, I'm not the least bit jealous over the paperwork, or having to learn a different language.
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