Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Defeat

Working with the dog...he looks kind of cowed, and all we have been doing is saying firm no's .... he looks sort of sad. GUILT! Though he is barking less.

We tried spraying him with water for a day a while ago; he was so traumatised we stopped it quickly...he was starting to buck and shy everytime we came near him. Issues.

On another note, I have been feeling so defeated by Catalan lately. It is getting me down. I kinda don't even want to try.

*sigh*

I am trying to convince myself that this is the stale period just before I make a breakthrough to another level of skill. I think not though. I am still missing so much around me (hear that with a whine m'kay?) and I still confuse people and make the most ridiculous statements.

Blech.

The fact that I have been to two of the last seven classes doesn't help, and the fact that one of the books hasn't arrived from the publishers doesn't help either as it has the answers to all the exercises, along with the grammatical explanations. Makes it a little tricky to figure out what's going on.

FRUSTRATED.

I have NEVER been good at handling frustration.

Cranky cranky cranky.

The Catalans describe some students as formigas. Ants. They plug along and work really hard, but they don't get very far for all their effort. It doesn't mean they don't get there in the end, but it is a long slog. I am a formiga with languages. I keep reminding myself that I can still get there in the end.

Then I can start on Spanish.

I shouldn't post so late at night. It makes me sound more down than maybe I am for most of the day.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go, Oreneta, go!! your efforts will be rewarded.
It meant hard work for me to reach a decent level in Catalan...and Spanish is my mother tongue! I could/can always interpret things based on Spanish. And so I admire you for being so brave and going straight to Cat...
Don't be discouraged. It doesn't matter if your statements are not always accurate, just don't shut up!
Bon dia i bona hora!
:)

kate said...

Keep it up! You will get there, I promise. Do you ever read the blog "here in korea" (I link to it on my blog if you haven't seen it.) She has been studying Korean (American living in Korea) for awhile now and often writes about her struggles and victories-- you might find it inspiring.

But for now, good luck and try not to get down on yourself!

Anonymous said...

it's ok to sound worse than you might intend .... that's the nature of blogging isn't it?

hope your pooch doesn't hold a grudge!

oreneta said...

Mar, thank you so much....you know what it involves...it means a lot. Thank you.

Kate, thank you as well. I went and checked out her blog, and then subscribed to it and booknoted it....thanks for the link as well. I try not to get down on myself, sometimes are tougher than others. You know all that though.

Anon, nah...he's incapable of it...and has barked less today...aside from the ten minutes I posted about...he's a great dog. We just need to temper the enthusiasm a bit.