ASL update

i haven't posted anything real on my blog in a little over a month now, and it has been getting to me. i keep wanting to, but my pictures haven't been uploaded till now and time just keeps catching up to me. it's already OCTOBER people. october! what? so far my ASL1 class is going well. i realized that the best way to study is by making flashcards... it's only time consuming when you realize this 4 units into the semester. but when you keep up with the units it's much simpler. and i'm all caught up now so it's all good :) i made a friend, a very young friend(a dual-enrolled student that is almost 10 years younger than me, makes me feel quite old), named haley in my class. we're study buddies now. it helps quite a lot to be able to sign back and forth and help correct each other. for sure. so far i am liking it :)

the time has come

if you've been following my blog since the beginning, or if you've known me for the past 6 years... you'd know i've been interested in learning american sign language. after all the talk and no walk, i finally applied to a school and started ASL1 on friday. i don't have too much to say yet, but i love my teacher. she is super nice and enthusiastic. nothing beats that in a teacher. there are about 20 or so students and i'd say only about a 4th of them want to go forward through and become interpreters. i'm still unsure, but that's good enough for me.

our first class we went through fingerspelling(the alphabet) and our next class we will have a quiz on the letters. our teacher, nancy, will visually show us each letter in random and we have to write down which one it is.

i so look forward to being able to communicate through my hands, and meet people with my experience in the deaf community! there are a lot of tasks ahead of me... including writing papers :) we also have a deaf tutor on fridays before class that we communicate with!

so excited!

massage

so as some of you know i obviously took a break from massage because my wrists and hands were in a lot of pain after practicing massage for almost 6 years. i needed some time off and a change of pace... and yeah, i turned to teaching english in europe! i've been missing giving massages more than i realized. yesterday i gave a massage to a grandmother of some children i teach here. she really needed it(she's a nurse)and i really made her feel good. it brings such joy to me to know that i can make a difference in someone's day(or week). it's not often you have a client say "wow i feel really good" after teaching them articles and prepositions.(yeah, those are probably the most common problems with foreign learners) yet, when i massage someone i actually feel rewarded. teaching just isn't my thing, i guess.

anyhow, for my birthday matt and i booked some massages. we had them today. we feel great. it's something you just need every once and a while(every week). the therapist was awesome. she runs a business out of her home just 3 tram stops away from us along the river. it's really cozy and homey. we both got a really relaxing hour and 15 minute massage... definitely well deserved, i'd say. she wants to trade with me, so that's a plus in all of this. she's not far and i would love to get a couple of massages in before our 4 months are up and i come back to florida. she's from scotland and has been living in prague for 11 years. she said she went to the czech massage school here and that it was really tough. she used to be a teacher as well and has moved on to well.... something that pays better. her situation is tight, working out of her home... it's ideal.

on a sidenote... her place is so nice. i loved her kitchen! it was so open and incredible. i wanted to cook as i was sitting there reading during matt's massage. and she had this huge shelving unit filled to the brim with books and movies.

i'm really relaxed right now... and thinking a lot about how tough it may be for me to get back into massage when i move back to the states, but it think it's in my plans. i need to make money again (i can't really say i make much here... i can make the same amount doing massage in a day as i do teaching in a week) and the seagate spa will hopefully take me back and get me back on my feet for my next venture.

i still really want to go to school for american sign language.... we'll see what's next. my only passion right now is cooking. and i don't want to become a chef in a restaurant. so what can i do? hmm.... i've become really lazy as far as work goes and i need a good kick in the ass.

only time will tell.


go get a massage!