A quick update

I just want to write something quick here to keep this blog alive. I have been busy, but I don´t want my blogging habit to fall by the wayside again. It feels like I´ve been working a lot: Mondays and Fridays only some days only three hours each, but Tuesday to Thursday I end up being out of my home for work from 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning until 9:30 at night, so these days are fairly tiring. I get between 1 and 1.5 hours of free time in the afternoon between classes during which I can be at home, and another 1.5 to 2 hours of free time in the evening between classes during which I can come home. Other than that I am out of my flat/apartment, either moving from one place to another, teaching an English class, or waiting for my next class to start. It can be exhausting, but I enjoy being busy. As long as I can find time for the things I prioritize (at the moment, mostly languages) I am quite happy with a busy schedule. I also am happy to know that I am earning enough to not only make regular payments on college debt, but enough to save for potential future travels or other expenses.

Over this past weekend when I got my computer back from the shop I decided to spend 30 minutes each day on reading Spanish, reviewing Spanish grammar, studying Russian, and doing Chinese-to-English translations. Although having four different languages bounce around on a daily basis is kind of fun, I don't think that I have the time or energy to stick to such a schedule, and attempting the impossible is a sure way to kill motivation and happiness. I think that I will put off my re-focusing on Chinese until I get my Russian to where I want it, and I will focus more on Russian than on Spanish for now. If I can commit the time to Russian, I should be finished with it in a few weeks, and then I can return my focus to Spanish and Chinese.

Although I have found LaoShu to be inspiring and some online language learning sites to be interesting, I am gaining the most results for the effort I put in from Pimsleur's and from Teach Yourself Russian. Listening to Pimsleur while I walk somewhere or cook something is a very low-stress way to get some words and phrases, and Teach Yourself Russian has surprisingly good grammar explanations (in the first few chapters, anyway, since I am a beginner). Naturally, Anki has also been great, especially since Gus's blog post finally convinced me to spend the money to get the app. Although at 15-20 US Dollars it is the most expensive app that I have ever bought, the ability to review the flashcards mobily and have the results synced back to my computer is a great study aid.

English class in 13 minutes. Thank goodness I live two blocks from the academy. Gotta go!