Wait, it's almost August?
Well, my trip to Canada was awesome. I had a really relaxing week. I slept for over 9 hours the first night we got there, which is a lot for me. I thought that would be a one-night thing, and that I just needed to catch up on sleep, but I ended up sleeping 9 to 9 1/2 hours every night for the whole week. Oh man...sleep is so good. I don't know why I stay up late in Illinois, especially when I have to get up early the next day. Silly me.
We caught a bunch of fish, and although I'm not a huge fisherman (the fish is definitely not the main reason I was looking forward to this trip), I had a fun time. We caught a lot of smallmouth bass and walleye. I also got to spend a lot of time with my dad and brother. We played a lot of card games, talked, ate a bunch of junk food, and all of that other good stuff I associate with Canada. I got a lot of reading done, too. Adam teased me because I often brought a book on the boat when we went fishing, but I had a good time, so I don't care!
The weather was beautiful. We had at least some rain almost every day we were there, but we had a lot of sun and cool weather (about in the 70s). The sunsets are always beautiful up there, too. For example:
Yeah...Awesome.
I'm amazed at how quickly this summer is going. Only 3 more weeks and training begins for the incoming TAs! 4 weeks until classes start! Wow.
My ASL summer class is almost done, sadly. I have thoroughly loved it. My mom and I were actually talking today and I told her that I had recently remembered how I had to visit an audiologist when I was very young. She told me that I had a lot of ear infections as a toddler and that I was sick all the time, and that I was hard of hearing until I had surgery to fix it. My grandmother actually took professional classes in sign language and taught me some signs, which I had completely forgotten about, but I was amazed when my mom told me that. I had the amazing opportunity to learn ASL in college through Silent Praise, when I learned how to interpret worship songs. I found myself really drawn to that group, and now I am only beginning to realize how much I took those experiences for granted. My signing experience here at NIU has been so amazing because of it. Even though I'm taking an introductory class, it's really like I've been signing for 4 years, so I've picked things up really quickly and I have an intuitive sense of the grammar I've been learning. I really have Silent Praise to thank for all of that.
I realized this past week, when I was reading through the second half of my ASL textbook in Canada for fun (I had to work on homework while I was there to make up for missing class), that I really want to continue with this. I already checked the schedule for ASL 2, and it doesn't fit with mine, but I'm thinking about asking if I can do an independent study. I have a feeling that it wouldn't be hard to work out the logistics, and I'm sure I can handle it, especially if we're moving at a slower pace than we have been this summer. That would be so cool!
This upcoming weekend is the wedding for Andrew Steiger and Emily Chapman. I am super excited. They are two of my closest friends, and I'm a groomsman in the wedding, so I am really pumped about it. I'll let you know more about how it went after next weekend!
I hope your summer is going well, that you're enjoying yourself and what you're doing! Peace.
We caught a bunch of fish, and although I'm not a huge fisherman (the fish is definitely not the main reason I was looking forward to this trip), I had a fun time. We caught a lot of smallmouth bass and walleye. I also got to spend a lot of time with my dad and brother. We played a lot of card games, talked, ate a bunch of junk food, and all of that other good stuff I associate with Canada. I got a lot of reading done, too. Adam teased me because I often brought a book on the boat when we went fishing, but I had a good time, so I don't care!
The weather was beautiful. We had at least some rain almost every day we were there, but we had a lot of sun and cool weather (about in the 70s). The sunsets are always beautiful up there, too. For example:
Yeah...Awesome.
I'm amazed at how quickly this summer is going. Only 3 more weeks and training begins for the incoming TAs! 4 weeks until classes start! Wow.
My ASL summer class is almost done, sadly. I have thoroughly loved it. My mom and I were actually talking today and I told her that I had recently remembered how I had to visit an audiologist when I was very young. She told me that I had a lot of ear infections as a toddler and that I was sick all the time, and that I was hard of hearing until I had surgery to fix it. My grandmother actually took professional classes in sign language and taught me some signs, which I had completely forgotten about, but I was amazed when my mom told me that. I had the amazing opportunity to learn ASL in college through Silent Praise, when I learned how to interpret worship songs. I found myself really drawn to that group, and now I am only beginning to realize how much I took those experiences for granted. My signing experience here at NIU has been so amazing because of it. Even though I'm taking an introductory class, it's really like I've been signing for 4 years, so I've picked things up really quickly and I have an intuitive sense of the grammar I've been learning. I really have Silent Praise to thank for all of that.
I realized this past week, when I was reading through the second half of my ASL textbook in Canada for fun (I had to work on homework while I was there to make up for missing class), that I really want to continue with this. I already checked the schedule for ASL 2, and it doesn't fit with mine, but I'm thinking about asking if I can do an independent study. I have a feeling that it wouldn't be hard to work out the logistics, and I'm sure I can handle it, especially if we're moving at a slower pace than we have been this summer. That would be so cool!
This upcoming weekend is the wedding for Andrew Steiger and Emily Chapman. I am super excited. They are two of my closest friends, and I'm a groomsman in the wedding, so I am really pumped about it. I'll let you know more about how it went after next weekend!
I hope your summer is going well, that you're enjoying yourself and what you're doing! Peace.