Goals

Goals for my time in Tajikistan
This post is really for myself, so I can articulate some goals and strategies for achieving them, as well as being able to look back at the end of the program and see how many I was able to achieve.

• Stay caught up on vocab! Sometimes with school and taking multiple languages, I have found myself not prioritizing building vocabulary, thinking that if I know the grammar and constructions I will be fine. This always ends up not being the case (Sorry, Mr. Conolly and Mr. Cohee). Obviously, I will quickly fall behind and struggle to communicate if I don't keep vocab at the forefront of my mind. In addition to the benefits of being in an immersion environment, I will set aside time every day to write new vocab on index cards (using both the cursive and print Cyrillic), as well as reviewing the index cards from earlier lessons. Unfortunately, without internet access, I won't be able to use my trusty Quizlet (though I have put together a much of helpful Quizlet sets here that I have been using before I leave).
• Emphasizing speaking: It has been a while since I have learned a new living language. I started ancient Greek in eighth grade and Latin in ninth. I did take Spanish from roughly sixth grade to ninth grade, but Spanish has felt so natural that it is hard to remember what it was like first stumbling through the simplest of sentences. So far on the pre-program course, I have found the written assignments much easier than when we had to make a video talking about what we're excited about. I struggled to pronounce words. It will be easy for me to become paralyzed if I get caught up on the little details and not speak a lot. In order to combat this, I will make sure to speak as much as I can and lean into mistakes. (brainstorm more actionable strategies!).
• Leave my comfort zone: Almost inherent in undertaking a trip like this is a departure from one's comfort zone. But I still worry I won't push myself to speak and take my host family up on offers of engagement like going to a market or whatnot because I'll be afraid I won't be able to communicate or just feel anxious. There is the model of growth I like to use and will occasionally quote at people only semi-ironically (see picture). It was one of the many lessons and models I have carried away from my beloved sleep-away camp of summers past. The idea is that in order to really learn you have to leave what you know, but if you go too far it becomes too paralyzing and you stop learning. I need to be careful to know my limits but also challenge myself. One thing in relation to this I am quite a bit nervous about is having to eat meat since I have been a vegetarian since somewhere around second grade, but immersing oneself in a culture is definitely a learning experience, but I also have these values. I don't really know what I am going to do about that. 
  (image credit:  http://www.thempra.org.uk)
• Living in the moment: All too often, as is the case with many young people in generation I think, I get an almost-workaholic attitude and feel anxious if I am not constantly working a new a project. When I went on a school exchange trip to Spain, I found myself falling into the same trap, creating and implementing new projects for myself. I really don't want that to happen this time. The lack of internet connection will help too. Yet already in the week or two since school has let out I have been almost-feverishly planning and conducting outreach for a conference I want to organize for next year. It will be difficult to let that go and trust my automated-vacation response email will do the trick of maintaining those connections.