Dominican Republic Day One {honeymooning}

Rome, Italy (Day One)

waking up to this was so surreal

((the essentials..

my family lives in russia.. this is what they asked me to bring them..)

 ((((using selfie sticks before it was cool ;) #AD21stcentury #ultimatehipster))))

Lo Que La Vida Me Robó: Capítulo Uno

I've started watching this telenovela and calling it mission prep.

That counts, right?

(I tried watching El Chavo del Ocho, but I wasn't too into that one.)

I've seen one episode of Lo Que La Vida Me Robó and here is everything that has happened (that I understood..):

**Spoiler Alert**

The main character is Montserrat.

+She is engaged to a rich man whom her evil mother, Graciela, is forcing her to marry.

+...but she is really in love with an army captain named Jose Luis. She can never truly be with him, though, because she is wealthy and he isn't.

+As often happens when one as two lovers, Montserrat's fiancé catches her cheating on him & breaks the engagement off.

mission prep: el chavo del 8

I am preparing for my mission

spiritually by reading my scriptures, prayering & going to church meetings.

physically by running, buying mish clothes & packing

culturally by practicing Spanish, talking to people from different Spanish-speaking backgrounds AAAANNNDDD...

El Chavo del 8

My super cool Puerto Rican friend introduced me to El Chavo del 8, a popular Mexican TV show that ran from 1972 -1980.

It was a Mexican sitcom, but it was popular all over South American, Spain and America. As my super cool Puerto Rican friend puts it: "You're not truly Hispanic if you don't know what El Chavo del 8 is."

Challenge accepted.

This counts as "mission prep", right?

SoCal.

Mission calls really do come!

California Los Angeles Mission

Spanish speaking.

Mexico MTC.

Leaving July 23, 2014.

I wouldn't have chosen this mission for myself, but the more I learn about the California Los Angeles Mission, the more convinced I am that it's the perfect mission for me. I AM SO EXCITED I CANNOT EVEN TELL YOU.


Here are some things I cannot wait for:


I adore Spanish..

LOS ANGELES.

I will teach and learn from people all over the world.

And not just investigators - my mission teaches in eight languages and has missionaries serving from over 25 countries.

I will get to simplify my life and just focus on the people I meet, my spirituality and missionary work for 18 months. 

SoCal 100% fits my personality.

Apparently, sixty degrees is considered cold. No more Iowa winters. Goodbye wearing seven layers of clothing and still being freezing!

Maybe I'll just move there post-mission?

I cannot stress enough how happy I am to be serving in a warm climate.

...and way more things


I am GOING ON A MISSION. Can you believe it?

estoy practicando mi español

en específica, mi español médico

ahora, sé las palabras:

/ tener tos

/ las gotas

/ escalofrios

/ el mentón

/ tener manreos

/ la ceja

/ tener ansiedad

/ senale

/ ¡y más!

Россия

I'm learning Russian.

(Well... I'm trying to learn Russian.)

WHY?

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

My family

is

moving

to 

Россия.

(AKA

RUSSIA).

Crazy, right?

А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я

"About The Russian Language

Some people say that the Russian language can be hard to learn. This is not really true, learning Russian is no harder than learning other languages. The main difficulty for a lot of people is learning the new grammar structure. If you have learnt other languages before you will already be familiar with some of these grammar concepts, such as gender and cases.

In fact, there are many things that make Russian easier to learn than other languages. The key is to use these things to your advantage. Here are some things that make Russian easier.

1. Once you learn the alphabet, you can pronounce almost all words quite accurately. With Russian the pronunciation is normally quite clear from the written form of the word.

2. Russian does not use complicated sentence structures like English. You can normally say exactly what you want with just a few words. For example, in English to be polite we would say something like “can you please pass me the salt”, however in Russian they would say something simpler like “give salt please”. Speaking so directly may even feel unusual for an English speaker, however it is perfectly normal, just add the word ‘please’ to be polite. This makes it easy to say what you want in Russian, and it will probably be correct. Less words also makes listening to people easier, as you can just pick out the important words.

3. Russian uses the case system. Instead of having a strict sentence word order like in English, you just need to change the ends of the nouns. This makes Russian a very expressive language, because you can emphasise a point by changing the order of the words in a sentence. It also helps you understand what people are trying to say.

4. Russian does not use articles. (Like “a” and “the”)

5. Russian has fewer tenses than English. Russian does not bother with the difference between “I was running”, “I had been running”, etc."

- russianlessons.net

Let the Russian language learning begin.