Ecuadorian Dinner

Buenos Dias,

Join us for a four-course, traditional Ecuadorian dinner!

Spanish!!

Hola!

I am really pleased with how Spanish is going.  As I mentioned earlier, I am doing two different programs (Rosetta Stone and Primsleur) and taking an adult ed. Spanish class in order to be as "fluent" as possible before going to Ecuador.  I will get so much more out of the experience if I can talk to and understand my host families and converse with all the amazing people we will likely meet on our journey.

It is amazing how well each Spanish program fits with the others.

Music

I spent many, many hours last week trying to figure out how to put music on a blog and finally figured it out.  I was stuck because, although everything else I was doing was right, I didn't know that both the music hosting websites I tried (Box.net and Filefactory) didn't allow direct linking.  I finally found one that does called Kiwi6 and I'm really excited because I can finally share my music!
I've been improvising and composing on the piano for around 7 years and am only just getting out in public.  My dream is to be a film composer and I'm still managing to squish a few hours a day of composing, even with all the fundraising and my other academics.
It would be awesome if I could use my musical passion and skills to fuel my fundraising goal so I am planning on really trying to get the word out about my music and hopefully get some good jobs playing for parties and weddings.
I am also making a Album/CD!  I've been kind of working on one for a while but It's hard when I lose interest in the music that I composed the month before.

Adios,
Clayton

Invasion of blond-headed relatives

Buenas Noches,

Brothers, cousins, friends, and I enjoying this wonderful winter.

For the past week, our neighborhood has been overrun by an army of little blond boys. My Aunt and Uncle came up from Virginia for a surprise visit this past week, bringing their four boys (add that to my family and you have 7 blond boys on the loose) and two dogs to enjoy the Maine weather. I took a bit of a break from fundraising and spent the week snowboarding, skiing and "dog-sledding." The dog-sledding involved harnessing their dogs, Moose and Bear, and having them pull us at exhilarating speeds to reach Uncle Matt and his pocket full of treats. Moose had to go before Bear because if Bear caught up, he would nip at Moose's ears and the sled ride would halt in a tangle of leashes and wrestling dogs.

Photo Flop

Hello,

I was just informed of an amusing/embarrassing mistake I made in my blog.  I was told that the beautiful picture I have as the banner to my site is actually a picture of Machu Picchu in Peru.  I just checked and sure enough, my informant was correct.  That's what I get for googling Ecuador panoramas and not paying close enough attention to the image info.
Darn!  I really liked that picture.
Hope I can find one just as good.

Previous photo

Clayton

Spanish

Buenas Tardes!

I am learning Spanish this year in preparation for Kroka and I'm really enjoying it.  I learned some Spanish last year but my incentive to learn a language was to get high school credit.  Now I am finding it so much easier and more fun because it is my own passion fueling the lessons and not simply another boring academic that I have to do (though, I still found it fun even then).
I have been doing Rosetta Stone for a few weeks and am listening to the audio of a program called Primsleur.  It's nice having two different teaching styles.  Rosetta Stone teaches through pictures and has no translations.  Primsleur teaches through conversations between characters with lots of translation.  I like both programs and they really back each other up nicely.
I am also taking an Adult Ed. Spanish class on Thursdays with my dad.
Hablo Espanol un poco!

Adios,
Claytonio