Saluton!

What am I up to now a days?  I'm participating in Camp Nanowrimo and I'm teaching myself Esperanto.

What is esperanto?  Esperanto is a constructed language neutral international language created by L L Zamenhof in the end of the 19th century.  The idea behind it was have an easier second language to encourage communication.  It was never meant to replace another native language but to be nice second language.

Would you like to learn Esperanto? Heres some resources to allow you to teach yourself:

• A free correspondence course through email: http://www.pacujo.net/esperanto/course/
  There is also a snail mail version but I think it's just like this one except through the mail.  I'm currently on lesson five of this course.
• Computer program that's interactive and such. You can also find a tutor for this one, too.  http://www.kurso.com.br/index.php?en
  I am also using this.  I'm on lesson 4 of this course.  I only just started the tutor on this one.
• Lernu.net. There are mutliple ways to navigate through this one.  I started with the bildoj kaj damandoj.  From what I can tell, it's a poor man's version of rosetta stone.  Then, I found the correspondence course and kurso de esperanto.  After a day or two of that, I tried to tackle Ana Pana which I was able to do after a couple days of more work.  It seems with Ana Pana, I need to go over it a few times/days and then I can grasp it.  Ana Pana also has a tutor ability.
• interpals.net is a great resource to find other esperantists.

Other than that, I have some bad news to share.  When I was at PlayThink, I found out that John had lost his job at work.  I'm the sole provider now.  It seems that I probably will not make it to Flow Camp this year even though it made me cry when I found out.  I also had a great idea which I tested last November for a class I wanted to teach.   I've been spending the last few weeks thinking to myself, "if I can tough it out for the next few months, I'm sure John will have found himself a new job and I can celebrate and spin off all this pain at Flow Camp."  I even already knew I had the time off of work!  Unfortunately at this time, I cannot guarantee that I will have the funds to buy my ticket in time for camp.  So it's 99% scrubbed from my schedule. Other than that, I feel like I've let my personal hoop/flow toy practice fall to the way side.  I just feel so burdened and claustrophobic in my own house that I don't feel like spinning.  Plus I'm having to pick up more hours at work.  Yes, I know the hoop can heal but right now I just feel like being lazy (and maybe a bit woe-is-me). (and I know people have gone through this before and survived and I will survive, etc but can I just feel crappy and stressed a bit?)

  That's one of the reasons I decided to start writing again and learning esperanto.  I may not be able to achieve anything I flippin' want in this life but I can still continue on making myself better.  It's given me such a thrill to be able to learn again.