Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

Went to bed at 10:15 but was awakened at 2am by another large thunderstorm.  I was able to get back to sleep relatively quickly so I felt refreshed when I got up at the usual 6:30 this morning.

Did my yoga exercises, had my coffee, read my Chicago Sun-Times, then left for Exito.  I bought another bag of milk and with the extra money my brother sent me I bought another bottle of instant coffee.  Only this time I bought Juan Valdez Café Premium Colombian decaffeinated instant coffee for 11,250 ($6.25).  It’s a 95g (3.3oz) bottle with large granules while other was more like powdered.

On the way back I bought a small package of cookies from a lady on the street corner for 200 pesos (11 cents).  (Even if there is a 100% markup, she has to sell 20 of them to make a profit of $1.  What a way to make a living!)  There are 4 little cookies in the package very similiar in size, shape and taste to a Salerno butter cookie.  In one place on the package it says in English “milky cookie”.

So for breakfast I had Fitness cereal with milk & strawberries and for dessert I had cookies & milk.  

I downloaded a Rosetta Stone Optimizer to facilitate my audio connection.  My Rosetta Stone (RS) purchase on 5/13/13 included 3 months of online access to TOTALe.  Today when I went to begin my training session it suggested that I schedule a live training session.  So from 10-10:30 I was online in a group session with 2 others and a RS live instructor.  She showed us pictures and asked us questions in Spanish like “Que es esto?”  What is this?  “Es un caballo” It is a horse.  “Tiene un caballo?”  Do you have a horse? “No, yo tengo un caballo” No, I don’t have a horse.  It was pretty interesting and over time I think it will be very helpful.  

Just as I’m leaving for lunch I hear rain on the roof.  It wasn’t more than just a mist but I put up my umbrella anyway.

I had the Fried Chicken combo #3 at Frisby: 1 chicken breast, 1 wing, beans, 2 small arepas and a 16oz. Pepsi for 17,100 ($9.50).

2:40 and more thunder in the area.

In desiring to give you more information as to what RS TOTALe is, I Googled it and spent hours reading different reviews of RS.  Anyway, RS says TOTALe is:

A personal approach to instruction.

Throughout your study, our state-of-the-art speech recognition technology provides immediate and ongoing assessments of your speech, helping you pronounce syllables, words and sentences correctly. After every other lesson, you’ll be ready for live conversation sessions with a coach who is a native speaker. Sessions are designed to use only what you’ve learned—and offer you a stress-free, fun way to build confidence speaking your new language.

Join others for an immersive experience.

Learning a language should never be one-dimensional. We created Rosetta World^® to introduce active learners to an online community that could extend their immersion experience. Interact with others by playing games or opt for one-on-one practice sessions in order to perfect your conversational capabilities.

Connect with your new world, conveniently.

Surround yourself with your new language in an instant. Our software suite turns your personal computer, tablet, smartphone or other web-enabled device into your portal to on-the-go language learning. By bringing Rosetta Stone along, learners can make any moment an opportunity for mastery.

For dinner I went to Laureles Mall and had the Bostonianos (beans with sausage) including a small arepa, a slice of avocado, and a glass of mango juice for 11,400 ($6.33).

9pm and I hear thunder nearby!

I finished Columbus: The Four Voyages by Laurence Bergreen.  Good book!  I tried to figure out what to download next to my Nook.  I finally settled on Toward the Setting Sun: Columbus, Cabot, Vespucci, and the Race for America by David Boyle ($10.19).  I guess I’m still in the explorer mode.