I Spent More Time On Quizlet Than I Would Have If I Were Studying For An Exam

Obviously, as this was my first day off of school to work on this project, I had a lot of tasks to complete today. None of them had to do with my Senior Project.

It's my mom's birthday today. Which is very exciting, but, like with any birthday, there's a fair amount of preparation that goes with it. And my dad didn't think to do any of it (or ask me to help him with it) this weekend. Why would he need to, though? He's got a kid who's skipping school all week and is totally and completely free to run a plethora of errands and complete an abundance of mundane little chores! And I woke up to a text with list of those things that I needed to do this morning.

Because I'm an excellent daughter, I did everything he asked me to do, but I apparently need to clarify that I'm actually doing important, academic things this week.

While today wasn't as productive as I would have liked for it to have been, I did get in a lot of Spanish practice. Before and after I took my mom out for her birthday lunch at Rio Bravo (I ate fresh tortillas while there, so maybe that counts for some cultural immersion?), I went through old quizlets of "Getting Around the City" and "Travel/Vacation" vocabulary. Obviously, being able to navigate Xela (or Quetzaltenango - I'll be using the two names for the city interchangeably throughout the course of this blog) and the airport/bus is going to be super important, so I'll go over those two vocab lists at least once a day before we leave.

I also started reading this amazing book while I was waiting to pick my sister up from school: Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. I figure that reading a book I already know and love in Spanish will be a great way for me to test my Spanish skills and improve grammar and vocabulary at the same time. It's going really well so far, and it definitely helps that I know Harry Potter forwards and backwards. I've been able to use what I know about the story to figure out some new words. For example, did I know that "taladro" meant drill before today? Nope. But I knew that the company Mr. Dursely worked for made drills. So, so far I'd say that my 1st Grade Spanish reading level is coming in handy.

I'll keep reading Harry Potter tonight, and tomorrow I'll start to delve into Guatemala history and culture.