Peace Corps Goodies and Learning Le Français

Here is a picture of some of the goodies I received in my nomination packet. Look how pretty. There are very important documents (read congratulation letters), a page with some quotes, a couple of keychain-compass-light gizmos, two super schweet magnets, a highliter (which rolled off the table before I took the picture), a luggage tag, a static cling decal, and an awesome patch. I am pretty excited about it all, but I'm most excited about the patch. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to sew it on just yet. The fridge is most excited about the magnets.

I have begun learning French. I guess the two years in highschool with no practice kind of wears off, but the amount that has come back already is exciting. Lindsay and I keep ourselves entertained with it. This week will mark week two (so don't be impressed yet). We are using the Pimsleur audio method which we checked out from the library. Each unit in the Pimsleur course is approximately 30 minutes (it reccommends to move on to the next unit only if you responded about 80% of the time correctly--we occassionally have to do a lesson twice). It's also nice that you only do one new unit a day, but the trick is to do it every day. We are also taking advantage of Netflix and renting French films. If anyone out there has any suggestions, please let me know. In addition to this we have labelled the majority of the stuff in the apartment--la lampe, le frigo, la table. Do you know what these mean? If you said "the lamp, the fridge, the table" then you are absolutely right (unless I'm wrong, corrections requested).

By the way, I'm doing this as extra learning. The Peace Corps will teach me any languages that I need to know. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to get a head start on it. Maybe I'll be able to dedicate some of the time during my three months of training where I would be learning/studying French to learning the local language or reading the new Harry Potter book--don't hate, you love Harry. If I leave before it is released I expect someone to mail that over pronto and I mean this in the nicest way possible.

At this point, I still don't know anything new about when I'm leaving for Africa, what country I'll be going to, or what specifically I'll be doing. However, I do expect my medical packet by the end of the month. Doctors and nurses beware! I can't wait to find out how many times I must get stuck with a needle. Dad, I know you'll be thinking about me.

Hooray for the first picture post and thanks for reading and thanks for your support. Since this is the first message going out via the e-mail service, let me know if it works/doesn't work, if you like it/don't like it, just give me some feedback so I can work out the kinks.

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Update: Correctly spelled "la table". Tip of the hat to Brannon.

New Features Mini-Update

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post (I just didn't want to spoil you before I leave). There is not much new with my progress, but I've got some exciting new features for the blog to tell you about today. There is now a subscription service (Yeah), an interactive map (Yeah!), and I have shared some others' Peace Corps blog entries (YEEAAAAH!!!).

Ok, I know that all ten of the readers of my blog have been thinking "Well, gee golly, it would be nice if I could get a message every time there's an update to this fancy shmancy blog so I don't have to keep checking back every 15 minutes for a new exciting story." Well, ladies and gentlemen, problem solved. Now you can just subscribe, sit back, and relax knowing that every time I update you'll be notified. The subscription service is provided by feedburner.com and is totally free, so there's no excuse not to do it. You can subscribe by email (just type your email address into the box on the right) or use your favorite feed reader (click the orange icon underneath the email subscription box, you know the drill).

On to the interactive map, I will hopefully be able to stick a virtual thumbtack in the map to show you exactly where I am. You can also zoom in/out and drag the map in any direction you like.

My favorite new addition to the site is the shared items from my Google Reader (my favorite feed reader). With it, I have been able to share with you some of the stories of people who are currently blogging about their Peace Corps experiences. It should be a different list of stories every time you visit. After you are done reading about me still being in The States, you can read their exciting and touching stories from abroad about celebrating holidays in Africa, fixing a flat tire with local food, or babies being born. Stop by their blogs, read about what they are doing and tell them that they are doing a great job.

Well, I hope that you enjoy these new features, and in my next post, which will be soon I promise, I'll tell you about the Nomination Packet I received this week. Thanks again for reading and again, thanks for your support.