Quick Update

Well, now that I have a nice, spanking, brand-new blog, I might as well use it, right?!

It's June, I'm in Middelburg, and things are going pretty well. The weather could be more cooperative, but I have a job that I love, friends in town for a while still, and I've been productive. I read Jane Eyre last week, I've been reading a couple of pages of Harry Potter in Dutch, and I've even been writing fiction - something I always say I like to do but never really... do. I think my problem is mostly that I have tons of story and novel ideas, and sometimes I start them, but soon I get distracted by other ideas.

Another good thing is that since I've started working, I have experienced the very pleasant realization that I actually understand a pretty good amount of Dutch! I'm sort of at that pre-understanding stage, where the sentences are just a little too fast, and my vocabulary is just not quite big enough, to understand. But I can follow conversations much more than I would have expected.

That's good, because right now I'm surrounded by Dutch, English, and a lot of German. I'm trying to remind myself that I speak three languages and that's pretty good, but I feel a little clueless right now since two of those three are pretty useless in my current situation! A little more quality time with Harry Potter en de Steen der Wijzen and I'm sure I'll be checking off another language by the end of summer.

The one thing I haven't been doing is research for my Independent Research Project. This is something that I really need to get started on, because I have to write 10,000 words on "The Blog and the Book" next semester and it's always good to get a head start. Also, I have the possibility of continuing work into fall, and if I can get a lot of research done before the semester begins, I'll have more time to work. And since I love working, it seems like a good idea.

Well, today I'm free - no work or anything, so I guess I'll spend it reading, writing, and just maybe doing some background IRP research. Or, at the very least, order the book I'll be studying, Petite Anglaise. Nothing unusual.