First Step

I have not been good with my new years resolutions. Definitely not. But, I did take a first step for one of them....I applied for my passport last night! The San Mateo library has a passport office that is open Mondays and Tuesdays 5pm-8pm, so I decided that once I wasn't so busy with school, I would head on over. And that happened to be yesterday.

It took kind of a long time....beware! There were 3 "people" in front of me (ok, there were two 4-person families and one woman). One of the families was being helped when I got there, and it took them 20 minutes to finish. I was listening in, and they were sitting there filling out forms. And then it turns out that they didn't even bring the birth certificates for the kids (the parents already had passports), so they couldn't even apply! What a waste! The next family was also having some difficulty....not sure why though. Luckily, the woman just needed a picture. So then it was my turn!! I took all of 4 minutes to get my paperwork in, and my signature on the sheet after taking the oath. Woo hoo! She said 3-4 weeks, so after that, I'll be able to explore the world!! Ok, even though I probably won't. But at least it's an option, right?

So, since I was at the library already, I decided to check out the latest book club book, Body Surfing. I haven't started it yet, but I plan to tomorrow on my lunch break! There was one other thing I wanted to look for...books on CD! I make the 4+ hour drive down to Bako about once a month, and since the radio is a little spotty between here and there, and it's a pain for me to go through my iPod like crazy, trying to find a song I want to listen to (ok, I know, I should just make a playlist...silly me), I thought "why not listen to books?!" So, I found the section, but really, there were not very many to choose from.

But then, I saw it! The PERFECT thing for me to listen to! And get this, it's another first step for one of my new years resolutions. Yep, I got a Spanish learning CD! There were different levels to choose from, and I settled on Beginner Part B, since I didn't want to start at the VERY beginning, but at the same time, I didn't want to overestimate my Spanish-speaking/listening ability.

So far I've listen to the first hour of lessons (two lessons...each lesson is 30 mins). I think the level I'm at may be a little too easy for me, but I'd rather start here and review than start too far out. Anyway, I'll be sure to keep you all updated as I attempt to relearn the forgotten Spanish! I hope that Alex was wrong when she said that Rosetta Stone was the ONLY way to learn another language! haha!