Russian

 Doing another Russian class with a Defense Language Institute (DLI) instructor like I did last March/April time-frame. I tried to get six weeks, twice weekly for two hours, but all they had available was six classes of two hours each. Gonna take what I can get.

I think I've been trained to be anxious before these classes due to the year of the Russian Basic Course at DLI way back in 1986. The teachers then, oh boy, God help you if you didn't do all your homework. I had one break into English once and tell me she was going to "fucking smack" me if I kept pronouncing в комнате as /və kom-na-tə/.

So now I don't sleep well the night prior, for fear of disappointing my instructor, who couldn't be nicer of course. I study and read, and study and listen, till I'm tired of the language, then have a great time during the two-hour block. Ugh.

Besides the things I'm doing for class, I'm also listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Russian while reading in Russian (one chapter) and English (the next chapter). So far so good, but I know I won't have enough time before my DLPT and OPI to finish the book; too slow going as I get back to my room so late every night.

Now, I'll finish this short post and get back to reading. Harry & Co. are about to go to the Quidditch World Cup. Nothing bad could happen there, right?