seniors

Next week we start our final trimester of language school. We’ll sort of be like the seniors on campus, or something like that. The ones that all of the new students look at and (oh so utterly mistakenly) think “If I could just speak Spanish like THEY do, then I’d be set.” And really, it’s quite the burden, carrying this common misconception around with you everywhere. We know they’re thinking it, because we thought it.

And (sadly enough) we still tend to get caught in this “if just” trap. I find myself all the time thinking “If I could just learn such and such, then I’d be all set, then I’d really be speaking Spanish.” We’re halfway through a 2 week break, and I was convinced at the start of the break that what I really needed was to spend some serious time during the break studying, memorizing vocabulary, etc. And that if I could just do that over the 2 weeks, then I’d be set, never to struggle again, never needing to ask some guy to repeat some simple phrase 18 times before I was able to understand him.

But, turns out, what I really needed (and have thankfully gotten) is some really great rest time – time to just relax and enjoy life with my family and friends, time for some spiritual renewal, and time for the littlest bit of leisurely studying.