Happy New Year's Eve! And other stuff!

Hola! I promised myself that I'd write another post within the week, so here I am!  This week has been pretty lazy.  We have done some wandering around, some shopping, and I've been keeping up with cooking. Though I hate to admit it, since it's been warmer this week, and because I have been sleeping in later, I failed to run on Friday and on Monday.  Admitting it here is the first step to motivating myself to get out there today! I am beginning to think that perhaps I should give up my aspirations of ever being a morning person and instead commit to running in the evenings.  Hopefully that will also discourage overeating at dinner and excess dessert/wine consumption... :-)  Aside from exercise, below are some topics that have been on my mind!

Spanish

I did well this week using Duolingo (username jenkc04 if you want to add me!).  I would say that Spanish (language in general probably) has actually been the most difficult subject I have tried to learn.  I took four years in high school and a semester in college, but it was always a struggle. In fact, come to think about it, the only class I ever dropped in college was intermediate Spanish II.  I'm pretty sure I chickened out after the first week.  That being said, I am living in a country where only 9.5% of the population (as of their 2012 census) speak English, and so I am going to do my best to be able to fumble my way through some Spanish by the time I leave!  Duolingo is a great start/refresher for me, but it's not great for stuff that is actually useful immediately.  One example:  El perro negro bebe vino en los sabados (The black dog drinks wine on Saturdays). This is not yet helping me at the market or grocery store.

Data Science

Next Monday I will be starting back up with my Coursera Data Science specialization.  I'm glad that I took a break with the holidays and moving, but I have to say, I'm also glad I will be getting back into it.  This was a project that I finished for the last course I took, Reproducible Research.  I looked at the health and economic impact of US weather events between 1996 and 2011.  Nothing too sophisticated stats-wise, but I am definitely becoming more comfortable with R.  It is a bit overwhelming knowing how much room there is too grow though!  I've been meaning to go back and try a few different projects with that dataset (like looking at tornado deaths over time).  Next week I'll be back at it! Statistical Inference here I come.

Reading

So in a desperate attempt to meet my GoodReads yearly goal of 50 books, I have been doing quite a bit of reading since arriving in Santiago.  It looks like I will fall 5 books shy of my goal (so close!).  While I think the goal should totally be total pages or words (the Wheel of Time series really put me behind), I am glad that I spent more time reading this year than I had the previous year.  I'm also glad I read some books that I had really been meaning to (looking at you Wheel of Time).  The worst of the year goes to Divergent.  I did not enjoy that book... the second two in the series were redeeming, but I would not put myself through that again.  My favorite reads of the year were Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fears by Patrick Rothfuss (respectively #1 and #2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles).  They hooked me right away and I am very eagerly awaiting the third in the series!  I am super excited about the Barnes & Noble gift cards that I received for Christmas!  I have big plans for this year... I promise to post my "To Read in 2015" list as soon as I finish it!

Cooking
 
It has been tricky adjusting to frugality, availability of ingredients, and not having a stocked pantry.  A few of my favorite homemade items (my "birdfood bread" and granola for instance) won't be happening because the ingredients will be expensive if I can even find them all.  Also the kitchen is not super well stocked... I am going to be seriously excited when I finally get back to my kitchen items!  I think I will be working on recipes that include more beans and lentils, which I had never worked with much from dried. We will also undoubtedly eat plenty simple meat and veggie dishes, which are always easy!  Some meals I made this week and other photos:

Christmas dinner:  Pork (cerdo) tenderloin medallions with brown rice (arroz integral), and onions (cebollas), green peppers (pimientos verdes), carrots (zanahorias), and pineapple (piña)

Leftovers from the vegetarian tacos!  Black beans (frijoles negros), lentils (lentejas), and brown rice (arroz integral) with avocado (palta), tomato (tomate) and cilantro (cilantro!)

Mooore leftovers - similar to above but with lettuce (lechuga)

Providencia’s Santa Maria Market - Where we go on Sundays (los domingos) for fruits (frutas) and veggies (vegetales)!

As mentioned previously, some streets are closed on Sundays for pedestrians and cyclists. Super awesome!

Spaghetti (espaquetis) with homemade green pepper and tomato pasta sauce and chicken (pollo) and zucchini (calabacín)

Well, that's all for now.  I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve!  We hope to be in bed before midnight so that we wake up early for hiking tomorrow... Since South Korea rang in the New Year about an hour prior to me posting this, I'll just pretend I'm with Missy... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Does that mean I can have a glass of wine now?