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One step closer

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts yesterday--it was a rough one.

I realize that this is going to be something that we must get accustomed to, this being a distance from the nucleus of our lives. Over the past 2 1/2 weeks, there have been several methods of staying in touch that I've used, with WhatsApp being the most common. I've also used iChat and Facebook messenger a bit, but default to WhatsApp.

During the week, I get done with classes right about 1:00 local time, which is 7:00am in Atlanta. My routine has been to WhatsApp with C and voice chat with him during my afternoon walks. If I'm lucky, at least one of the boys will be in the car with him on their way to school, and we have a chance to talk about what is happening for the day ahead. On the weekends, when C isn't running kids in the car, we will video chat and I turn the camera around so that he can see what I am seeing. I cherish those moments and love hearing the excitement in C's voice when I turn a corner and I (we) am (are) smacked in the face by something astonishingly beautiful.


However, this morning when we spoke, C was alone and he sounded stressed. Combined with yesterday's news, we were both feeling less than happy on the phone. I am at the mid-point of my 5-week trip, and we are both unravelling just a little bit. Between work, the boys, and the house, C has a lot on his plate. As for me, I am lonely and miss my family.


Please don't get me wrong, I am loving Valencia.; this city is a gem, and I cannot wait to get back here with everyone in July. I love the adventure of this all, but I want to be doing it with C and the boys. Without any doubt, C is my perfect partner in this crazy life. I am also looking forward to next Saturday (not this upcoming weekend, but the following), when my Mom will be here with me. We should have a lot of fun walking around and truly getting the pieces of life put into place.


With regard to classes, I had a trial run of the DELE today, and I hope that when I get the results I will have performed well enough to pass the test. I believe that you need a 70% overall to pass, and I'd like to think that I'm in the high-70s. Assuming that I didn't completely blow it, I will have some confidence going into the last week of classes. If I blew it, I guess I have the last 7 classes to remedy where I'm off track.

There are 4 parts to the test: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written essay, and oral communication. The writing piece is a 70-80 word essay for which they give you a vague scenario that you get to fill-in with details. For today's sample test, we got to discuss a school trip, and I created a one-day trip to Barcelona. C and I had a fantastic trip to Barcelona 4 years ago, so it was easy enough to riff off of the things we did and ate. When I got back to the apartment, I found one of my favorite pics of the two of us that happened to be taken in Parc Guell.


It made me smile and remember that this is just another step in getting us here, together.

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