These past two weeks have been challenging. This is mostly because I've had my first, (and second) wonderful bout with food poisoning, (or something of the sort that makes you want to curl up and never consume anything ever again). And I also got to experience my first REAL bout of homesickness since.... I don't know... I was 7 years old at Camp Sloane. I wasn't surprised that I wanted to be at home, generally when you get any kind of sick you just want to be somewhere you feel comfortable and cared for, but what I was surprised about was how hard it hit me. I wanted to be at home, in my parents room (my sister and I have always relocated there when sick, and still do to this day), sleeping, reading, listening to classical music, and eating chicken noodle soup from lifethyme. However, not only was this in no way possible, last week I also had my mid-training language exam.
It did not go well. The 15 minutes I spent blundering my way through the georgian language was filled with long silences, more than a fair bit of russian, and the feeling that I was about to become the first trainee to empty the contents of my stomach on my testers lap. Not a good situation. Somehow, though, I managed not to totally mess it up. Thank goodness.
That was two weeks ago, and lucky me, this week I got sick again. I am not sure what it was that got me sick, but boy did it hit with a force. After missing two days of school, feeling disgusting and being totally down in the dumps, I decided that I needed to not only continue to get myself healthy, but also in better spirits. The medicine that the Peace Corps doctors had given me had begun to take effect, and I was feeling better enough by Saturday morning to not spend all day in bed. Also, I had a fair bit of catching up to do in terms of language class, so I settled into study. Enter Lil Wayne.
In college it took me a while to figure out which music I needed to effectively study Russian. Doing vocabulary and verbs I had a specific playlist that was fun and funky. For essays and such it was all Classical, (mostly Tchaikovsky because I thought it would give me good Russian juju). So I put on my Russian study mix, and got to learning. After about 4 hours of studying on my porch, I felt exhausted but successful. I would add the song that I kept on repeat but my internet is too slow, but if you want a good study song, or just a good song in general, youtube Lil Wayne "La La La". It made me feel like I was back in Gelman (GW Library) on the 7th floor, at my favorite table, just back from a starbucks run. After lunch with my family I went back to studying for a bit, but come night time I was still a bit down in the dumps. Enter The Sound of Music.
First of all, when most people find out that I grew up on the black and white movies of the 40s and 50s, they think it's cute. When they find out that I really don't like disney they look at me as if I have 8 heads. Now I know a lot of people love The Sound of Music (Shley), but for me when I remember watching movies as a kid, I mostly remember the set up. It was either, a) late at night watching AMC with mom after I Love Lucy (!!! so late!!!) and popcorn, or b) setting up all of the umbrellas in the living room with blankets and watching with Nora. I have a particularly fond memory of watching duck soup this way with Nora. I have no idea why umbrellas were involved with watching movies. Anyway, so last night when I was still feeling all blah blah blah I decided to watch an old movie that would make me feel like I was back at home, on 18th street in the living room, with the umbrellas everywhere, watching a movie and singing along. So I watched The Sound of Music. If Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews defying the Nazis while singing about it and falling in love cannot get you out of the doldrums, nothing can. And if you're watching this movie, while eating one of the Tim Tams that your fabulous mother has sent to you in a care package that costs waaaay too much money, there is no way earthly possible that you can still be in a bad mood.
So last night I went to sleep feeling way better, humming "I have Confidence" in probably the most clique way ever possible. But I do. So thank you Christopher Plummer, Lil Wayne, Tim Tams, Mom and Dad.
P.S. The Peace Corps Doctors are possibly the nicest people on this entire planet.
P.P.S. Photos of our amazing American Meal to follow soon!
It did not go well. The 15 minutes I spent blundering my way through the georgian language was filled with long silences, more than a fair bit of russian, and the feeling that I was about to become the first trainee to empty the contents of my stomach on my testers lap. Not a good situation. Somehow, though, I managed not to totally mess it up. Thank goodness.
That was two weeks ago, and lucky me, this week I got sick again. I am not sure what it was that got me sick, but boy did it hit with a force. After missing two days of school, feeling disgusting and being totally down in the dumps, I decided that I needed to not only continue to get myself healthy, but also in better spirits. The medicine that the Peace Corps doctors had given me had begun to take effect, and I was feeling better enough by Saturday morning to not spend all day in bed. Also, I had a fair bit of catching up to do in terms of language class, so I settled into study. Enter Lil Wayne.
In college it took me a while to figure out which music I needed to effectively study Russian. Doing vocabulary and verbs I had a specific playlist that was fun and funky. For essays and such it was all Classical, (mostly Tchaikovsky because I thought it would give me good Russian juju). So I put on my Russian study mix, and got to learning. After about 4 hours of studying on my porch, I felt exhausted but successful. I would add the song that I kept on repeat but my internet is too slow, but if you want a good study song, or just a good song in general, youtube Lil Wayne "La La La". It made me feel like I was back in Gelman (GW Library) on the 7th floor, at my favorite table, just back from a starbucks run. After lunch with my family I went back to studying for a bit, but come night time I was still a bit down in the dumps. Enter The Sound of Music.
First of all, when most people find out that I grew up on the black and white movies of the 40s and 50s, they think it's cute. When they find out that I really don't like disney they look at me as if I have 8 heads. Now I know a lot of people love The Sound of Music (Shley), but for me when I remember watching movies as a kid, I mostly remember the set up. It was either, a) late at night watching AMC with mom after I Love Lucy (!!! so late!!!) and popcorn, or b) setting up all of the umbrellas in the living room with blankets and watching with Nora. I have a particularly fond memory of watching duck soup this way with Nora. I have no idea why umbrellas were involved with watching movies. Anyway, so last night when I was still feeling all blah blah blah I decided to watch an old movie that would make me feel like I was back at home, on 18th street in the living room, with the umbrellas everywhere, watching a movie and singing along. So I watched The Sound of Music. If Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews defying the Nazis while singing about it and falling in love cannot get you out of the doldrums, nothing can. And if you're watching this movie, while eating one of the Tim Tams that your fabulous mother has sent to you in a care package that costs waaaay too much money, there is no way earthly possible that you can still be in a bad mood.
So last night I went to sleep feeling way better, humming "I have Confidence" in probably the most clique way ever possible. But I do. So thank you Christopher Plummer, Lil Wayne, Tim Tams, Mom and Dad.
P.S. The Peace Corps Doctors are possibly the nicest people on this entire planet.
P.P.S. Photos of our amazing American Meal to follow soon!
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