Week Two in US of A

After a whole week of doing NOTHING in Grundy, VA while Leigh finished up her job at the locally owned greenhouse, we headed south and east for a week at the beach with my parents. Let me clarify that it is Bike Week here in Myrtle Beach, but luckily we have only seen a handful of bikes. Let me also clarify that I don't normally enjoy vacationing at Myrtle Beach for a number of reasons (too many people, too much food, too much time in the car, too many children, just - too- much!), but my parents have a condo here and Leigh had been wanting some beach time so we decided it sounded like a good plan all around.

I can't complain too much, but I can complain just a little bit. There's a serious lack of activities for people who don't have small children, motorcycles or are not members of fraternities (can you say beer, free t-shirts, sun burns, crass jokes and bad southern accents?) on vacation with their "boys." So Leigh and I have done a fair amount of sitting around, getting sunburned, eating too much (this is kind of a big deal considering that we are finally really healthy and don't want to have a major set-back), and doing A LOT of shopping. I have a nice sunburn now, a few new, much needed, clothing items, a very full tummy and am ready to move on from here... but we still have two more days. I see a lot of put-put golf in my near future.

Next week I'm basically repeating Week 1 in US of A, except I'll be in Ferrum, VA instead of Grundy and will have access to a car and some more facilities nearby such as the pool at Ferrum College. I might even drive up to Roanoke for some reminiscing: i.e. Hollins University (even though everyone is gone for the summer now), Brewster's Icecream, downtown shopping, coffee shops and parks area, etc. I also plan to do a lot of reading, prepare for our cross-country trip and seriously take up studying French again and start on German Level 1.

Speaking of learning French, I recently purchased Talk Dirty French: Beyond Merde, a book explaining the best ways to speak French lazily, crassly, and to sound cool or at least a tiny bit like locals/French rap artists. It has everything from street lingo, rap lingo, curse words (and their etymology), bedroom speak, etc. It's fascinating on so many levels and I really wish I'd found this book BEFORE moving to France and working with teenagers, rude bus drivers, etc. It would have made my experience very different, I think. Also, the authors of the book live in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Leigh and I once changed trains. Number 11,457 Cool Things About Europe is that once you've seen a good portion of it you can sort of relate to tons of little connections like having a vague idea of the city where the authors of a random linguistic book currently live. Love it.

I'm planning to get through German Levels I and II this summer, which is a pretty good chunk of information. My strategy includes buying a Drive Time CD to listen to during the drive across country. German is a very different language from French, and even from English in some pronunciation rules, so I think it's important to hear how it sounds generally before trying to learn it from a book or tutorial on my own. Then this summer I'll use some books and online tutorials to get a good knowledge base. After that I'll see how much progress I make over the course of the next year before enrolling in a language school after my clerkship ends. In the mean time I will continue to work on my French, which I believe is at a real crossing point and I just need to keep pressing forward toward some sort of fluency. Plus I'll start going to French discussion meetings once I get to Seattle, and then in Anchorage also. Practice makes all the difference.

But for now I'm stuck in the South. I don't mind completely, it's great to see my family again and reconnect, but I think this is the first time I've realized that I don't really have a life here anymore aside from visiting my parents. Kind of sad, but it will only encourage me to press forward and try to find a place of my own to make my life. I'm ready for my Seattle Summer followed by my First Real Job in Anchorage. After Anchorage I've been given the green light from Leigh to look for everything from a full-time, full commitment job in Alaska, to a contract position in law or business or fellowship abroad or a stage or anything of the sort, really. As long as I'm working and learning and growing it's going to be just fine. The rest will sort itself out in the end.

Until then, I have more southern heat and beach time to enjoy the next few days, then lots of planning and packing....