Unlock Your Brain

You know, it's really kind of wild to think about, but more people seem to be reading what I write every day than some of my other relatives who used to have pages like this. Does that make me more successful? Haha, just kidding! Even if these readers are strangers, it's totally fine if they enjoy what I'm putting out there.

So, as you've probably figured out, my latest obsession is the English language. I've actually been at it for about two years now. I've got a bunch of programs for my Mac – three parts of EuroTalk, going from beginner to advanced, and then some other discs where I practiced listening, speaking, and writing by dictation. Oh, and I even worked with a native speaker! Haha, it was my cousin, the one who was born and raised in America. I've been studying and studying, and then today, a thought just popped into my head: why not try writing down my own notes? And guess what? I was totally right! My readership has gone up! See?

Oh, I REMEMBERED something else! I noticed this really funny thing. So, in class the other day, I was zoning out, thinking about messages from relatives, basically re-reading them in my head. Then, all of a sudden, my teacher called on me. I didn't even realize my neighbor nudged me. I knew the lesson topic, of course, so I just blurted out what I was thinking, but... I hadn't switched back to Russian yet. Everyone's eyes just went super wide. Then, my internal switch finally flipped, and I was like, "Oh, sorry!" and started speaking Russian. Anyway, the point is, sometimes it takes a moment to switch gears. As I'm writing this now, I'm actually thinking in English. I don't write it in Russian first and then translate; that just doesn't seem to work for me. I just write directly in the foreign language.

Stephie