The Friday Five (Freitag funf)
1) Vienna Visit in May ~ plane tickets purchased and apartment rental secured. We used the service VRBO to find the rental and so far it has been an easy and pleasant experience (thanks, MJ, for the recommendation). The apartment is on on Max Winter Platz in District 2.
2) Sorted through books ~ Prior to our move six months ago, I weeded my book collection (librarian-speak for getting rid of unwanted books) so it was rather difficult to take another pass. I keep books. I re-read books. I have some books that have sentimental value. Some that I just plain love and with which I can and will never part. All this said, I was able to reduce my collection a bit. I am also consoled by the thought that a friend of ours is willing and able to store boxes of books for us for an indefinite period, so I don't have to weed aggressively. I have also been advised to keep a good collection; that I may long for the comfort of favorite books in English once I'm living in another country, surrounded by another language.
3) The Closet. I also took a first pass at my weeding my wardrobe. This is a very challenging task for me, although I will brag that I have been very good at keeping my clothing collection current for the past few years. Current does not equal small, unfortunately. Thing is...I have a lot of clothes, but I really do wear them. I swear. This is a big one for me. There will be oh so much more on this topic to come, I can assure you.
4) After a 2-3 week hiatus, I just completed another German lesson on the Rosetta Stone. I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment, mostly with possessive pronouns and still a little lost on learning/knowing the gender of nouns (it's important to know that to get the correct form of the pronoun). Learning the language will require much more time and attention that I've been giving it as of late. Must work on this.
5) I'm trying to do what I can to get An American Girl out there and to establish a broad, interesting and interested audience, share with others and have a forum for writing and learning. This week, I spent time in the blogosphere, looking for other blogs, commenting, linking, making connections. I've also been thinking about my content and approach and how to not only write the blips and blurts of what I'm doing, but widening my scope, making it more relevant for others. Give people a reason to want to read beyond just wanting to check up on my progress. As I figure it out, I thank everyone who is already here for reading and hope that if you like An American Girl, that you'll share it with others and spread the word.
Posts
2 comments:
Hi, there. I feel so grateful to have found your blog. We find out next week if my husband is getting a job in Vienna, in which case, we, too, will be leaving SF for Vienna.
Check out this blog for tips on how to make a good living as a blogger or selling your art: http://chrisguillebeau.com/. I, too, want to write and a friend turned me on his site. He's got some great tips.
Good luck and warm regards, Kasey
Hey! Still enjoying your blog. If you need any help while you're here, feel free to contact me. I also live in the second district, and while I don't know everything about Vienna, I do know where to find a grocery store and what stores sell electronics and so on.
Also, I gotta say... Rosetta Stone German is seriously hard. I spent six months with Rosetta Stone Swedish (that's another story), and made some legitimate progress. Rosetta Stone German is really hard if you have no idea what's going on with all the cases, though. It's too much going on all at once for the uninformed. I would totally recommend taking a break, mixing it up with another language learning tool, and blaming the software rather than feeling overwhelmed. It's all about the attitude! (This from the person who spends have her time disillusioned by her lack of Deutsch skills.)
Kate!
kwise321@gmail.com
Post a Comment