Polyglot or Bon Vivant

I watched a video about twins from England who are polyglots. Each one speaks more than six languages fluently. And here, I've been patting myself on the back just for wading through Spanish.

The video shows one of the twins demonstrating his extraordinary skills. I noticed that he cycled from Hebrew to French to Catalan to Spanish to Portuguese. Listening hard, I tried to understand him in languages other than English or Spanish and heard many similarities in the romance languages. I've been thinking about trying to learn a third language, though I'm not sure which it would be. Where would I most like to visit next? That would be the biggest motivator for me because I plan to keep traveling.

In a travel article I recently read, the author listed eight reasons that travel can make you healthier. Among them were pleasure, sense of purpose, and challenge to keep the mind sharp. Also, smiling for all those selfies. Apparently, just the act of smiling sends the "happy" message to your brain. It's hard to feel down when you're smiling.

Between practicing for my selfies and tickling my brain with new information, I may live to be 112. Wonder how many languages I could learn by then.

~~Sally Rose
Author of Penny Possible & A Million Sticky Kisses
iamsallyrose.com

Coming Soon

Ever since my first volunteer visits to Chile, I've been threatening to publish a book about my experiences.

That was back in 2009 and 2010. The story was written then and has sat, forlorn, in a computer file until now.

Last September, I returned to the US to publish this book. Little did I realize how long it would take to actually get it done. I was blissfully ignorant of the endless edits, the delays, the waiting. The revisions. I have read and reread the manuscript until I am cross-eyed.

Now, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I've approved the cover and the final "big" revision is done. "A Million Sticky Kisses" is now being formatted.

It's a good thing, too, because I want to have this book in my suitcase when I board the plane to return to Chile. With less than three weeks to go, I feel like I am playing Beat the Clock.

Coming soon, very soon, "A Million Sticky Kisses," the story of a gringa teacher in Chile.