I'm registered to take the FSOT on October 4th (next weekend!). I had to sign up to take the test in Waco, but that's not a big deal– it's three hours round trip, and I already have plenty of audiobooks about the U.S. government queued up for the drive. I don't feel prepared for this at all, but I know I never will be. And the best way to prepare is to just take the plunge and see what this test is all about!
Work has begun to seriously affect my study time, but it's also provided a lot of excellent opportunities that will help me on the personal narrative questions and structured interview (if I ever make it that far). So far, I've organized a very successful summit meeting for ESL parents, delivered a presentation in Spanish (a huge, nerve-wracking moment for me!), presented important community resources, and done a lot of translation work (mostly in Spanish, but a little bit of French, too). I've also delivered training to my colleagues about legal compliance related to teaching ESL students while trying to keep abreast of all the changes that have taken place since summer vacation ended. Also, the principal nominated me to be on the Campus Improvement Committee, which is something I absolutely don't have time for but am still willing to try! And, of course, I work with kids from all over the world on a daily basis. I really love my job– sometimes it seems crazy to pursue anything else.
It hasn't even been a month since school started back up, and I've already accomplished so much. Obviously, that doesn't leave me much to report on the studying front. I did manage to finish Postwar: A History of Europe after 1945 yesterday, which I've been "reading" (via audiobook) since sometime in May. It was interesting, informative, and huge. I'm happy to be able to move on to something else now.
My language studies have fallen by the wayside. I was doing weekly 1-hour conversation classes on Skype with a teacher from Mexico, but I stopped a couple of weeks ago to plan the parent summit. I hope to pick them back up after the foreign service exam.
In the debate between Korean and French, I finally decided on French– mostly because there seemed to be so many instances where speaking French would have made communicating with my kids from the Congo so much easier. But then again, they seem to mostly speak Lingala, and their French is very difficult for me to understand. I think I'll continue with French simply because I've already invested a lot of time into it, and it isn't that difficult for me to pick up. Korean is my secret love; maybe I'll try jumping into it next summer.
I'm way behind on reading The Economist, and I can't say I'm completely up to date with current events. I wish I knew more about IS and the US response, but I only manage to catch snippets on the televisions at my gym. Oops.
In the midst of all of this, we adopted a dog (Oona!) and started the process of refinancing our house. And we're having our floors re-done. And I'm going to have my first doctor's appointment in about 10 years (oops again!). And a million other things, some exciting and some worrying.
Okay, I'd better get back to panicking about the upcoming test!
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