Five things you don't know about me

I'm stealing this meme from Litlove and Charlotte because it looks like a lot of fun. The "you" from "five things you don't know about me" obviously doesn't include the Hobgoblin; to come up with five things he doesn't know about me would be very, very hard. Actually, I may have mentioned some of these things on the blog before or in comments on other blogs, but I can't remember, so I'm assuming you don't know them.

1. I'm the oldest of seven children. Sometimes when I tell people that they look at me and say, "Yeah? I'm the youngest of eight," or "My mother is from a family of 13." But often they are amazed and want to know if I'm close to my siblings -- which I'm not -- or if I had to do a lot of babysitting -- which I did. Being the oldest of seven children has a lot to do with why I don't have a child of my own. Not that it wasn't a good experience, because it was, but I know exactly what it's like to raise children and I'm not excited by the prospect.

2. I come from a family of very committed evangelical Christians. The other question people ask me when I say I'm the oldest of seven children is whether I'm Catholic or not. No, I'm not Catholic, thank you, and how tactful of you to ask. I'm also no longer Christian, although I don't tell my parents that. I am very fascinated by Christian subcultures, though, and I love to read about religious history and theology. I've become an annoyingly vague "spiritual" type of person, of the sort that would have irritated my younger self to no end.

3. I was an English major in college, which you probably knew or would have guessed, but I was also a German major. I spent a summer in Germany, but never learned the language as well as I should have. I'm pretty good with languages, but I needed more time to get really comfortable with it. And since I haven't used German since college, I've forgotten a ton.

4. I was homeschooled for three years -- from 4th-6th grade. This has something to do with coming from an evangelical family -- the horrible things kids learn in public schools and all -- but I think it also has a lot to do with my mother being a bit bored by the housewife role and wanting a challenge. With a bunch of kids it was kind of hard for her to go to work, but she could take on the task of educating us. I learned a lot in those years, but you can imagine how hard it was to go back to school in 7th grade. There's a lot of stuff -- non-academic stuff -- you learn in 4th-6th grade that I had to learn all at once, in a big, awkward rush.

5. I hate potatoes. This is a bit of a problem, as the Hobgoblin is Irish. And he loves potatoes. This is more of a problem for him than for me, as he kindly refrains from cooking potatoes unless he provides me with a rice or bread alternative. Isn't that nice?

Okay, that was fun. Anyone else want to try?