Back for the New Year

It's been awhile since I've written. I was back in MN for Christmas and the New Year, and it felt good to be back on my "turf". There was almost no snow and it wasn't very cold (I hear that's changing as I write), but it did snow for Christmas and New Year's, so we got our taste of it.

Things at work are hectic as usual. It always takes some time to get back into the routine after a long vacation. I'll be posting some pictures from our vacation later this week. In the meantime I am still trying to catch up with e-mails and planning our school cycle. Andres and I are trying to get things together for TESOL Seattle, and if that works out then we will be going in March. I would love to attend and just hope the university realizes what an opportunity this would be for our program. Andres will be presenting on Teaching English for FTA's or some other academic-sounding topic, so I'd love to go and see what he has to say about global English, too. (Don't think that just because we are married and live together we actually talk - those days are gone. Now our conversations consist of screaming over a kid's crying or playing or whining or... well, you get the picture. There is little "real" conversation, and much less work-related stuff, going on in our house at the moment).

With the new year I wanted to bring in some resolutions. I've always got more to do, more I want to do, I should say. But I still haven't been able to narrow them down yet. They say that you should only choose one or two do-able resolutions, and so I have spent the last two and a half weeks trying to decide which ones seem the most do-able. Of course, at this rate, my 2007 resolutions will quickly become my 2008 resolutions, so I guess I just need to commit. At the top of my list are (not necessarily do-able, however):

1. get in shape and lose weight/become healthier (I mean, really, it wouldn't be a new year without this one, right?)
2. actually sit down and write, whether it be my blog, work-stuff, a new blog (you know I can't resist!) or just a journal, but I want to exercise my writing hand more.
3. start a blog on Ecuador. Hopefully it would be enough to get me back to those feelings of awe that I had with the country pre-kids, pre-EPN, pre-stressed-out life with mortgage and debts and visa worries. Not ignoring the daily grind, but finding the joy in it.
4. and I guess I could always be a happier person, try to make more friends and keep in touch more with the ones I've got. Maybe try and reach out more at a social level with the Americans who live here and work for us.
5. oh, and I can't forget my work-related goals. Broaden my teacher training experience through other universities and establish contact with other programs, in and out of Ecuador. Start a teacher newsletter, student blog, increase usage and exposure of our wiki, etc. etc.

Now if THAT isn't enough to just sigh and want to give up and wait for 2008, I don't know what is!

Things to do:

(UPDATE 7/6: So, I got through the laundry, but of course have more piled up. Maybe not a great thing to have on a to-do list. I scrubbed one wall, but that pencil is NOT coming off so easily. I guess I'm just getting used to having it there. Did our sales tax forms but not the income tax forms yet. Went to the doctor with baby but need to go again soon. Raked leaves, but again, there are more... and last but not least, I did manage to get over to La Braisilia. I got one more box out of there, got the electricity turned on, saw that at least there are no mice or cockroaches. It's a huge, daunting task, let me tell you.)

1. put away laundry
2. pack up maternity clothes
3. scrub (5) walls... Agustin got loose with a pencil
4. develop pictures
5. schedule doctor and dentist appointments and make time to actually keep them
6. go to the post office
7. wash car
8. rake leaves in back yard... happy to be next to the park, not liking the shedding eucalyptus
9. fill out tax forms for our local taxes... HUGE headache since when we moved everything was misplaced
10. go over to La Brasilia and clean some things out, dust, vacuum, etc. Poor neglected little apartment.

I'll keep you updated on the ones (if any) I get through. (I tend to spend more time writing to-do lists than actually doing the things on them!)