It's Thursday night, almost midnight, after a long, long week. This was the week where I finally got into gear and found a tutor; something I should have done a couple months ago. Alas, I didn't, but now that I've found one, I've been going every day.
My tutor, Caty, is a lovely woman who moved to Cambridge from France a couple years ago. She's funny and remarkably easy to be around. I told her that I just wanted to practice conversation, rather than work on grammar, and she rattled off a list of topics that we could discuss. So far (I've visited her three times this week), we've covered politics, education, immigration, racism, and book reviews. It is exactly what I need to be doing right now.
I found Caty using Craig's List. I can't remember who first told me about it, but this was the first time I used it. It only took me two hours to find my tutor (start to finish); the community worked very well for me and I recommend it highly.
Today, Caty pulled out a tape recorder and we recorded parts of our conversation. I detest hearing my voice on tape. I think that it sounds nasal and funny, and not in a good way, and this is when I speak in English. Throw in some "uhs" and "eees", some pregnant pauses, and a horrific American accent... let's just say it wasn't very much fun. That said, it does help to hear yourself speak, as there is no better way to improve your pronunciation than to hear what a mess of things you are making right now. When I was recounting the plot of the latest book that I am reading, she said that I sounded like a storyteller on the radio. That made me smile.
My flight arrangements have been made, my test dates should be finalized soon. Passing these tests will be a big deal for me; the alternative is to press "Pause" for nine more months, which will be extremely difficult to handle. No matter; failure is not an option.
11:44:57 PM 
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