I’m right here!

TaiPan was asking over in the conversation section where I had gotten off to. I explained there, for those who missed the thread, that my day job is now blocking access to the ChinesePod site and I’m limited to my nights and weekends for all my real living. Those hours get awful crowded, I can tell you! Of course, I’m still a constant presence on the site, even if I don’t always respond. In the immortal words of Michael Jackson, “Just call my name and I’ll be there.”

Now… I know why you’re really here. Oh, yes. Did you think I had forgotten? I’m still living off the high of it myself. I am, of course, referring to my free Practice Plan session with Aggie! (Which I won by playing Movie Madness. You’re playing, too, right?)

The call exceeded all my wildest dreams. It was my first time using Skype during the Practice Plan sessions and it went extraordinarily well from a technology point of view. Beyond the technology, there were just two old friends talking.

It’s funny when I think about it, but it was a loooooong time ago when I did that first stint with Aggie (look for those escapades under the “Octagon” tag). I was still a Newbie when I started with her! I had graduated into Elementary lessons by the time we were done. She’s THAT good! And now look at me! I’ve begun to swim in those murky Intermediate waters. What a difference a year makes!

After all my preparation for the lesson, we barely talked about it at all. We touched on it briefly, but really it just turned out to be a launchpad for a great conversation. Aggie complimented me far too much for my verbal skills and I know she was just being kind. I couldn’t help but feel bolstered by the confidence I felt after the call, though. I didn’t realize just how far I’d come!

But before I break my arm patting myself on the back, I did make some really elementary mistakes. She had to talk pretty slow for me to understand her, too. It’s not like she was hitting me with native-speed Mandarin. She still had the kid gloves on!

All in all, though, it was a great experience. You can bet you’ll find me on Movie Madness every week trying to win another practice session until I can afford to pony up the cash and buy a whole month’s worth!