Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:58 pm

I just realized that it is past time for an update post.

I'm looking for a new series to watch as I've finished La Casa de Papel. Season 2 isn't on Netflix yet and I'm bummed about that. I was browsing through Netflix last night and saw a series called "Mar de Plastico". It seems interesting so I'll give it a try starting tonight. If anyone has recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

I've slacked a bit in reading/listening to VienteMundos.

Pimsleur is getting old. I've been doing 1 lesson per day during my commute and I don't know how I ever managed to finish all three levels years ago. I think that as I use Spanish on a daily basis with native speakers, I found that I tend to say things differently than what Pimsleur is expecting for answers. Also, my default is the tu form, as I normally speak with people I know. The majority of the course is more formal. I'm not sure if I want to continue with Pimsleur. Maybe shadowing something like Assimil Spanish would be more fun. I have the book but I have never done the course.

I've managed to keep my language wanderlust under control, which is a good thing. I'm still 100% focused on the SIELE.

EDIT: Fixed typos - it's early and I'm still sleepy :)
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:05 pm

It's been a busy, hectic few weeks and I've negelcted this log and my language studies. But things are slowly getting back to normal though. At least for a while.

Two weeks ago I started a new job, which has taken up a lot of my time and energy. By the time I get home at night, I've been too tired to do much language related, so, my prep for the SIELE has gotten way off track. Unfortunately, it will be that way for a while longer as I will be out of town for 2 weeks soon.

My Spain trip was cancelled too. Clara ran into visa issues and instead we will spend a week in the Caribbean and then a week in Miami. I expect to hear some French and Spanish, in the places I'm going. Maybe I'll count that as study time :)

OK, that's it for now. Just a quick update to say I'm still alive and mostly a slacker in my language prep right now.

Until next time, whenever that may be...
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Sat Mar 31, 2018 2:10 pm

One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post.

Last weekend I had to visit the local AAA office and the person that helped me was Italian. He and I spoke a little bit about where he was from, which turned out to be southern Italy. He also told me that he lived in Milan for a while too and, because of that, he was accustomed to the horrible weather that we have here.

I mentioned to him that I'm a huge fan of ancient Rome and that got him talking. We chitchatted for a good while about Rome and Italy itself as well as its long, wonderful history. I could have sat there and talked all afternoon.

I rarely meet Europeans here so it was interesting to meet someone from Italy in my sleep little town. So much so that I had to fight off the urge to dust off the Assimil Italian book :)
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:16 pm

Catching up on the last few weeks
Last weekend, Clara and I returned from our 2 week trip. And an eventful one it was. This will probably be a long post with some good news at the end.

We flew to Miami and caught a shuttle up to Ft. Lauderdale in order to meet the cruise ship. We spent 7 nights sailing in the eastern Caribbean.

The first stop was St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. There are many beautiful views to be seen here, although it wasn't exactly what I expected. When I think of USVI, I picture a playground for the rich and famous. It really wasn't like that. In fact, there isn't much to see or do there but the views alone are worth the trip. The rest is, unfortunately, a bit of a tourist trap.

We had a wonderful tour guide on St. Thomas and had the fortune of arriving late and getting to sit upfront in the truck with him as there was no space left on the benches in the back. He and Clara were speaking in English, both native speakers of Spanish, and I pointed out that both of them (as well as myself) spoke Spanish. They talked the entire 2.5 hour tour in Spanish. We got to hear a lot of stories, insights and the chance to know about him personally due to being able to speak his native language. He's certainly lived an interesting life.

The island itself still showed some signs of damage from last year’s hurricanes. We saw the occasional building that was destroyed or damaged as well as the occasional FEMA tarp covering roofs of houses.

The next stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. I can't say enough good things about San Juan. The people are friendly, the weather is great, the food is outstanding and the city is wonderful. We had about 6 hours to explore Old and New San Juan and managed to visit old forts, a couple of beaches with lovely views, saw Rick Martin's $2 million penthouse apartment, visited the place where the Despacito video was filmed, and learned about the history of the island. Only a small amount of hurricane damage was visible to us, I was expecting more. With the exception of 1 building, the city was in excellent shape.

Our tour guide told us that the cost of living is cheap in PR, a nice 1 bedroom apartment can be rented for $450 and a house can be had for as little as $750, he said. Clara and I liked it so well that we talked about moving there. As you can guess, there were lots of opportunities to speak and use Spanish (and English, everyone was bilingual) while we were there.

The third and final stop was Laberdee, Haiti. Laberdee is a private Royal Caribbean resort located on the northwest coast of Haiti. The place itself was beautiful. Great beaches, lots of sun and plenty of beautiful views. Unfortunately we heard no French or Haitian Creole at all as the resort is segregated from the rest of the island by fences and security guards. We enjoyed the 8 hour beach day we spent there and we recommend the trip to anyone. Although, we wished they would have spent less time docked here and more time in Puerto Rico instead. We didn’t feel like we had enough time in PR and felt a bit rushed to see everything.

Now, about the cruise ship. We were on Harmony of the Seas, an 18 deck floating city. That really is the best way I can describe it. It held approximately 8,000 guests and 2,000 crew. The guests and crew were from all corners of the globe. English was the dominate language but surprisingly, Portuguese was also very wide spread. Perhaps more so than Spanish, which we also heard a lot of as well. Portuguese was so prevalent that I wondered if I made a mistake not learning it. We also heard a handful of French speakers (all Quebec), a good amount of Russian, the rare German speaker and a couple of languages that we couldn't place. We had a good time listening for, and eavesdropping on, speakers of other languages.

Back on land, we spent the following week staying in Miami. We soaked up the sun, spent a couple of days on Key Biscayne, caught a movie or two and generally relaxed. And I had many, many opportunities to use Spanish while there, not just with Clara.

I also took the opportunity to officially ask Clara to marry me and did so in Spanish. I think I was more nervous about getting the Spanish right than I was asking her to marry me. Funny enough, I did get the Spanish right and I’m happy to report that she said "Si!" :)

So, now we start the long 4-6 month legal process to get her to the US permanently. Cross your fingers for us that it goes smoothly.

Language updates
Other than speaking Spanish on the trip, I haven't really done any formal studying. I'm slowly getting back into the routine now that vacation is over.

After hearing so much Portuguese, am I wondering if I should try to learn it. It seems very widespread not just on the ship but also while we were in the Miami area. I'll have to think about this a bit.

French has been on my mind too. Perhaps it was the Quebec speakers we heard or the fact that Macron is currently in the US but either way, it's appealing to me again.

Or, perhaps I need to get control of my language wanderlust again :)
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:04 pm

Sgt Schultz wrote:I also took the opportunity to officially ask Clara to marry me and did so in Spanish. I think I was more nervous about getting the Spanish right than I was asking her to marry me. Funny enough, I did get the Spanish right and I’m happy to report that she said "Si!" :)


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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:14 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Sgt Schultz wrote:I also took the opportunity to officially ask Clara to marry me and did so in Spanish. I think I was more nervous about getting the Spanish right than I was asking her to marry me. Funny enough, I did get the Spanish right and I’m happy to report that she said "Si!" :)


Congratulations!


Thanks! Now starts all the legal stuff to officially get her here.
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:37 pm

Time flies, it’s been over a month since the last update. So…

What have I been doing in Spanish?

A fair amount. I decided that I wanted to go back and do a review of the basics prior to taking the exam. Once a year (ish) I go back and re-do MT Spanish Foundation and Advanced in order to re-enforce basic grammar points that I might have forgotten. I’ve been doing this during my commute only and have just about finished the foundation course again.

In the evenings I’ve been reading Spanish books in the B1-B2 area.

I frequently speak/listen in Spanish with Clara. I believe that I’m not giving enough time to listening. It’s still the one area that I feel needs work. It’s also possible that am just never satisfied with my listening skills :) Either way, I need to find something else to listen to.

I’m back on track for SIELE. I plan to start preparing specifically for the exam soon. I wonder if anyone has taken it yet or is still planning on taking it?

Other stuff

The past few months I’ve been focused on writing and finishing a writing project. I’m happy to say that the book is finally finished. It’s a mystery called "Murder in Magic City" and will be available on Kindle (and paperback) on June 18. I’m half excited and half nervous for it to be launched. I won’t post a link because I’m not sure what the rules are but you can find it easy enough on Amazon if you are interested.

I still have issues with wanting to resume another language. German (still!) and French keep popping up. So far I’m managing to keep those distractions at bay.

The legal process with my soon to be wife, that I mentioned last time, is going smoothly so far. We’ve gotten all the documentation to the government and the lawyer doesn’t expect us to have any issues. But, given the current administration, you just never know. We’re hoping for the best.

One final note, I’m going to commit to updating this log more regularly now that things have calmed down. Ideally, once a week or so.

Until next time…
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:39 pm

Just a quick update for this week...

I've finished MT Spanish Foundation. I don't think I learned anything new but the extra practice time during my drive was good.

I've moved on to MT Spanish Advanced and I'm about 11 tracks into it. I expect it will be finish in the next week or two (only doing it during my commute).

This morning I saw a post about the current Super Challenge and decided to join. I've just registered on Twitter, in fact. My current level, as judged by a Cervantes placement test is B1.4 (so so close to B2). By the end of this, I'd like to be a solid B2, approaching C1 in as many skills as possible. I hope to boost my listening skills especially.

OK, that's it for now, time to get the work day started.
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Sgt Schultz
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby Sgt Schultz » Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:55 pm

Keeping with my promise to update at least weekly, here is my latest update...

I've been doing MT Spanish Advanced since my last update and I'm currently on the last disc. I should finish it today or tomorrow as I'm only about 5 lessons from the end.

So, since this is about the 10th time I've re-listened to MT, did I learn anything new or re-learn anything I had forgotten in re-doing both MT levels again? The answer is no. It turned out to be 100% review and some speaking practice in what would otherwise be dead time during my commute. Which I guess isn't a bad thing.

I will probably switch to a podcast of some sort for my commute. I'll update with what I end up picking.

As I mentioned last time, I joined the Super Challenge. I have a few books lined up and some Spanish shows on Netflix that I will start soon. I've been a little slow getting started because the past week has been a bit hectic.

On a personal note, my book released this past Monday. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. This whole process has been an interesting experience. So far the feedback has been positive, which is nice to hear after investing nearly 9 months writing the book.

OK, that's it for this update. Have a great week!
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Re: Sgt Schultz knows nothing!

Postby rdearman » Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:10 pm

Sgt Schultz wrote:On a personal note, my book released this past Monday.

Congratulations. :)
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