It is time to report of my everyday life! Meanwhile I have a lot on my plate. I mean, yes, sure, I have big plates – so why not putting a lot of food on it? But hey, I tried to use an idiom! An English expression! I am not native – so isn’t that great? But just in case my idiom isn’t an idiom and all of you just think I eat a lot…here we go: I’m quite busy! Have a lot do! Got it? Good 🙂
Tuesday & Thursday – Marte & Lotte
Tuesday and Thursday I spend with my two little friends Marte & Lotte.
Wether summer – fall – winter…
…they always feel good:
Feeling good on the playground!
Feeling good indoor!
Feeling good to shoot a selfie!
Feeling good while reading passionately!
Not only feeling good – but also always good for a laugh!
on the left Lotte – on the right Marte
On Fridays I really eat a lot. I mean – I have a lot on my plate, you know, I am busy!
1. 9:30 am – 10:30 am: Sally
On Fridays I sit in the classroom beeing teached English idioms (ha!) by pensioner/retiree Sally. This is part of the program where Stanford dependents can participate for free. (The Dependent: the partners of Stanford’s employees are called Dependent as they can only stay in the USA as long as their partners – they are dependent on their partners visa!)
Free lessons with a pensioner – that doesn’t sound too exciting. But only if you do not know Sally! Who knows the “Golden Girls” from the TV? They are nothing against Sally! After one hour with her my face and belly aches of all the laughing! I would even go so far to say: Knowing Sally is an enrichment for life!
2. 11:00 am – 1:00 pm: English Class
Ater my class with Sally it is usually time for the Friday Morning Coffee, which takes place only a few rooms further. Although I’d (meanwhile) like to go – I can’t, as, you know it already, I am too busy… I need to go to Palo Alto Adult School for my paid English Class to improve my English even more. I like the teacher, I like my class mates. But. Although this class was announced to be for advanced students I have to do group works with beginners. Therefore I’m not learning as much as I wanted to. But it wasn’t that expensive and as I mentioned before: the people are nice and in the end any excercise is better than no excercise…
3. 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Leisure time
Afterwards, I meet one of my new friends for a coffee, or, just like today, I spend my afternoon in the library accompanied by my laptop.
I “must” stay near to Stanford because of:
4. 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm: Movie Time with Bob
Friday night is movie time! Every Friday at 6 pm at Stanford, there is a small (free) dinner (actually it isn’t that small as you will find: salad, rice, pasta dishes, meat, wraps and for dessert: ice cream and/or cookies) and that follows a movie. Even if the film selection does not always suit my taste so it is nevertheless one of my favorite events here! And it is open to the public! Between fifteen and thirty persons of all ages (the youngest is twelve, the oldest ninetytwo) take part. First we eat together, then we watch the movie, and then we discuss about it. Bob (by the way also a pensioner), the organizer, plans this event with so much love (he cooks personally!) – I even like films I usually wouldn’t like. Our Mexican friends Maria and Omar, are always here as well and so we sometimes go for a drink afterwards.
Wednesday: Conversation, Conversation, Conversation in the Mitchel Park Library! You can find a lot of free programms and classes in nearly every library in the Bay Area!
Another Mexican friend, Marisol, (when exactly Trump is going to build this wall – it seems there ARE a lot of Mexicans in the country 😉 😉 😉 On the other hand, maybe it would be even smarter to build a wall al around the whole US? Because there are also quite a lot of Asians here. And Europeans!) told me about a program of the Palo Alto library. Every Wednesday ESL people meet native speakers and talk. ESL people? English as a Second Language … There is one nativespeaker and five ESLs at each table – one hour of conversation to a specific subject with the goal: to speak, to form new vocabulary and to learn more about other cultures. Of course, the nativespeakers are volunteers and once again this is program free of charge.
It is also free of charge if you want to borrow something from the libraries. You pay neither a yearly fee, nor a rental fee! You can easily borrow DVD’s, CD’s, magazines, audio books or, of course, books. You can also find a seat on a comfortable chair or, as I do today, sitting on a small nice table and work on your computer. And sitting here is almost even more comfortable than in a cafe (unless you want to order coffee).
After this I meet with Renate. Renate is my English In Action Partner. What’s that? This is another program from Stanford, or more precisely CCIS. Of course – free of charge. The training partners are volunteers… The dependents usually do not have English as mother tongue and mostly don’t have a job (at least at the beginning) and so it is even more difficult for them to socialize. So Stanford recruits volunteers with whom you can meet weekly for conversation. This not only improves your English but you also have the opportunity to learn about your new environment and culture. A fine program and Renate is nice.
The only drawback: she is German … She speaks English fluently since she was an English teacher and she knows the Bay Area as she has been living here for over thirty years, but with a partner from another culture it would have been more exciting…
And on Mondays?
Sometime I attend a workshop, or it is time to clean the apartment, or I write on my book…!
What else?
Last Sunday there was the Super Bowl. An event that also includes non-fans! Like me…
We are invited by Johanna, Matthias’s work colleague. She prepared a typical American Super Bowl food! Fantastic!
As there are commercials every few minutes we also find the time for a little chat and so it is less boring than feared 😉
And how is the weather? I have the feeling that it was more rainy here in January than in a whole year in Vienna! Sometimes it pours for several days, every single minute! But not only a few drops, no, it’s a WATERFALL! Sunshine State California, where are you? According to the weather report there will be four sunny days, starting by tomorrow, before the rain returns 🙂
But right now I have to go. It is Friday evening. Movie time!
PS: You wanna socialise? Anywhere in the world? Go there: Meetup!
PPS: Video of the week:
You’ve been really busy! Like your stories in English too.
Thank you 🙂