just one of those weeks

I had a rough start to last week in terms of Luganda work. I did a little bit of Quizlet work on Monday, and then on Tuesday... Luganda just got lost. I don't really know what happened, and it hasn't happened in a long time, but I didn't really do anything on Tuesday other than exchange a couple of texts with a friend. (I barely remember Tuesday, so I assume the chaos of other classwork just took over? I don't have any other analysis to offer.) The lapse in work on Monday and Tuesday forced me into action the rest of the week - I felt guilty and behind, and wanted to make up for it.

On Thursday, Simon and I were set to meet at 9, and I was looking forward to feeling like I was fully back on track. But then he called ... and there was no sound. We went back and forth over Skype for about a half hour trying to fix the problem, but nothing seemed to work. While I waited for technology to function properly, I did lesson work and listened to music, so that the time didn't feel like a complete waste. But when we decided to call it a day, I felt kind of deflated.

Friday. SAME. THING. Except this time poor Simon tried for over an hour to get the sound working. Nothing! Around 10:30 we finally bid each other goodbye via the chat box. Again, I tried to make the most of the downtime, and did other Luganda work in between failed Skype attempts.

Approaching the weekend I knew that I would have to put in some significant effort if I was going to meet my Omuzannyo goal for the week. And so, even though I had lots of other things to do, I prioritized my Luganda and was able to - just barely - meet my goal.

Saturday I spent a significant amount of time creating a crossword puzzle fully in Luganda. I was surprised at how challenging it was and how many different skills were required. For example, I had to circumlocute to give clues, but I also had to ensure that my noun class agreement was in order for the clues and the answers. It was a really fun challenge, though, and I want to make more! I think it may be more useful to create them on a theme - could be a good resource for someone learning vocabulary about specific topics and may also make coming up with clues and answers slightly easier!

Here is the daily breakdown:
Tuesday: Texts to a friend
Wednesday: 1 hour lesson work, 1 hour radio
Thursday: 1 hour lesson work, 3.5 hours listening to the radio, 2 emails to friends
Friday: Read 2 Bukedde articles, did 150 words on Quizlet, texts to a friend
Saturday: Created a website page, Quizlet
Sunday: Re-read grammar book (30 minutes), 2 hours radio, Quizlet
Monday: Radio, Quizlet quiz

I have had many good weeks this semester, so I am trying not to be too disappointed about how subpar this week felt.

Unfortunately, this coming week is going to be a tough one, too. I have a lot of assignments due throughout the week and am taking an extended weekend trip to Ireland for a close friend's wedding. (Special circumstances warrant such an extreme action, I promise!) While weekend travel to Europe may sound glamorous, it's actually just stressing me out!

I am implementing some of the tactics we have discussed in the past to try and set myself up for success during this crazy week. I am scheduling specific times for Luganda study, and am trying to do smaller tasks like Quizlet before starting other projects. We'll see if this is sufficient!

Finally, I have also started experimenting with time tracking in hopes of being more disciplined about how I use my time generally. So far, I have had some of the same issues as some of my classmates: forgetting to turn the tracker on; forgetting to turn it off, etc. Small steps!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

(not) The End

animal week!

nose to the grindstone