Today I found out that I apparently made a pretty big mess-up the other day in my CE2 class. Not confidently knowing whether or not I would pronounce the word correctly, I tried telling the students they could "baisser les mains," hoping to mean they could "lower their hands."
I accidentally ended up telling they could "baiser les mains," which apparently meant they could "F&*$" their hands. They all started laughing and I thought that I had just said "kiss" instead of "lower." Found out tonight that that is definitely NOT what "baiser" means (not for years anyway).
Anyway, I've been sick for the last week :( For the UMPTEENTH time since my coming to France. womp wommmmp You'd think I would've done some blogging or something in that time, but obviously I didn't. So, I have a little bit of time before going to celebrate a birthday and thought I'd at least post my amazing mistake and my equally amazing (but in a more positive light, to even things out) dinner.
Since being in France it has been on my "to do list" or sorts to make an amazing French grilled-cheese sandwich before leaving. Today I accomplished said task. I went to Carrefour, bought four different kinds of cheese (emmental, brebis, comté, and tomme montagne auvergne...never heard of that last one, but it was good!), got a tradinette (a sort of mini-baguette with pointy ends) at my boulangerie, and set to work. Here is the process and the final product. Nom nom nom!
Someday soon I'll actually update you all on Italy. It was AMAZING. I have SO many photos (I've uploaded a bunch, but not all yet to my photobucket account. Check it out!)
Going to Germany April 16th-23rd to visit my friends Salka and Kathy in Hannover and Bremen respectively. SO excited!
Hope you're all having a great week. It's raining here and everyone is sick, but this weekend should be great and sunny and reeeeally nice! (And I'm going to Versailles and Chartres ;))
Peace, love, and eskimo kisses!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tid-bits
I haven't written in here in a couple of weeks...but I don't really have much to say. Here are some little tid-bits about what's been going on:
1.The other day a child asked me if I was the creator of Dora the Explorer (she teaches English in France instead of Spanish). As I'm probably the only English-speaker this kid knows, I guess it's a valid assumption in the mind of a 7 year-old. It made me laugh! I certainly would not mind having the bank account of the creator of Dora the Explorer, that's for sure.
2.Today was our program coordinator's last day as our coordinator. She's been replacing the woman who usually does it since we got here, but now the woman is back and so she's gone...which is really sad, cuz she has been FANTASTIC!. A few of us got together and got her some chocolates and two girls made a card that we signed. Three of us went to her house tonight to deliver the stuff and say goodbye and she made us tea and then we had drinks and some snacks and two hours later (!) she drove us home. I'm really going to miss her, but she's really cool and one of those people I could just call up and invite somewhere sometime, so I'll probably do that. Also, she may call me someday soon to babysit her son for her (who is SUUUUPER chatty and will be a very intense French exercise for me, haha).
3.I've been reading a French novel called La Premiere Nuit. I've scheduled myself to read at least 10 pages a day, in order to actually finish it at some point...and also because my friend, to whom the book belongs, told another friend of ours that she could borrow it after me...and finally because I want to read something else in French while I'm here! ;) Anyway, the book is goodish. It's a lot like a Dan Brown book (but French), and not really something I'm super into reading right now, but I'm trucking along anway. I'm on track and almost half-way through. I'm sure I'll get lots of reading done over break (airports, train stations, trains...stuff like that).
4.I'm giving a mini-report tomorrow on the north-western regions of France (Brittany, Normandy, and Pays-de-la-Loire...which, apparently, doesn't have an English translation) in my French class. It was neat to learn a bit more about other regions of France...I barely know anything even about the region I'm living in! It did make me wonder, however, how I ever made it through college. Life has been so easy-going here these past 5 months that I sometimes forget what work is. lol
5.Yoga is still going well and I'm still doing it daily (for the most part). Healthy eating still going pretty well. The news watching...not so much. I haven't been turning it on in the morning anymore like I used to...not really sure why. I should do that again, cuz if I don't listen to the news in the morning, I won't do it at any other time during the day. :(
6.Tomorrow is my last day of classes (today, technically, as it's currently 12:19 here) before break. My friend Noelia is coming to Paris from Madrid this weekend to visit Stevy and me! WOO HOO!!! And it's exactly a week from today that I'll be heading off to Italy. Good stuff, good stuff.
7.I've decided to buy a bike/borrow a bike....FIND A BIKE...at some point in order to take a bike trip along the Loire at the end of my stay, which I think will probably be until the middle of May now. I don't want to leave right away. I'm going to Germany for about a week at the end of April and then I'd like to do this bike trip and, if I have time, head to the south of France with Sylvette and Alain. We'll see what happens. Also, it's just SO gorgeous here these days and I'd LOVE to be able to go on bike rides. (Where I will keep this bike, I'm not yet sure...as there is absolutely NO place anywhere in my apt/apt building to keep a bicycle. Meh, I'll figure it out.)
Those were a lot of long tid-bits. Hmm. I'd better try to sleep, as I am getting up in 7 hours.
Hugs and Kisses!
1.The other day a child asked me if I was the creator of Dora the Explorer (she teaches English in France instead of Spanish). As I'm probably the only English-speaker this kid knows, I guess it's a valid assumption in the mind of a 7 year-old. It made me laugh! I certainly would not mind having the bank account of the creator of Dora the Explorer, that's for sure.
2.Today was our program coordinator's last day as our coordinator. She's been replacing the woman who usually does it since we got here, but now the woman is back and so she's gone...which is really sad, cuz she has been FANTASTIC!. A few of us got together and got her some chocolates and two girls made a card that we signed. Three of us went to her house tonight to deliver the stuff and say goodbye and she made us tea and then we had drinks and some snacks and two hours later (!) she drove us home. I'm really going to miss her, but she's really cool and one of those people I could just call up and invite somewhere sometime, so I'll probably do that. Also, she may call me someday soon to babysit her son for her (who is SUUUUPER chatty and will be a very intense French exercise for me, haha).
3.I've been reading a French novel called La Premiere Nuit. I've scheduled myself to read at least 10 pages a day, in order to actually finish it at some point...and also because my friend, to whom the book belongs, told another friend of ours that she could borrow it after me...and finally because I want to read something else in French while I'm here! ;) Anyway, the book is goodish. It's a lot like a Dan Brown book (but French), and not really something I'm super into reading right now, but I'm trucking along anway. I'm on track and almost half-way through. I'm sure I'll get lots of reading done over break (airports, train stations, trains...stuff like that).
4.I'm giving a mini-report tomorrow on the north-western regions of France (Brittany, Normandy, and Pays-de-la-Loire...which, apparently, doesn't have an English translation) in my French class. It was neat to learn a bit more about other regions of France...I barely know anything even about the region I'm living in! It did make me wonder, however, how I ever made it through college. Life has been so easy-going here these past 5 months that I sometimes forget what work is. lol
5.Yoga is still going well and I'm still doing it daily (for the most part). Healthy eating still going pretty well. The news watching...not so much. I haven't been turning it on in the morning anymore like I used to...not really sure why. I should do that again, cuz if I don't listen to the news in the morning, I won't do it at any other time during the day. :(
6.Tomorrow is my last day of classes (today, technically, as it's currently 12:19 here) before break. My friend Noelia is coming to Paris from Madrid this weekend to visit Stevy and me! WOO HOO!!! And it's exactly a week from today that I'll be heading off to Italy. Good stuff, good stuff.
7.I've decided to buy a bike/borrow a bike....FIND A BIKE...at some point in order to take a bike trip along the Loire at the end of my stay, which I think will probably be until the middle of May now. I don't want to leave right away. I'm going to Germany for about a week at the end of April and then I'd like to do this bike trip and, if I have time, head to the south of France with Sylvette and Alain. We'll see what happens. Also, it's just SO gorgeous here these days and I'd LOVE to be able to go on bike rides. (Where I will keep this bike, I'm not yet sure...as there is absolutely NO place anywhere in my apt/apt building to keep a bicycle. Meh, I'll figure it out.)
Those were a lot of long tid-bits. Hmm. I'd better try to sleep, as I am getting up in 7 hours.
Hugs and Kisses!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
French Journal
So, my friend Tara (another assistant here) and I have decided that in order to write a bit more in French durin our time here, we will start writing French journal entries to one another every week. In talking about said journals today, we gained a new member to our mini journal club (if you want to call it that), Tom, another assistant.
The entries must be:
-written in French.
-under 500 words, but over 350.
-related to that week's topic (for example, this week's topic is...yoga!).
-emailed to the other journal participants by no later than Wednesday at midnight (so, technically, Thursday).
It's 9:41 and I have yet to start mine...or to lesson plan for tomorrow. So, of course, I decided to watch a yoga documentary and post a blog instead.
I really am excited about this though. Especially this week's topic! :)
The entries must be:
-written in French.
-under 500 words, but over 350.
-related to that week's topic (for example, this week's topic is...yoga!).
-emailed to the other journal participants by no later than Wednesday at midnight (so, technically, Thursday).
It's 9:41 and I have yet to start mine...or to lesson plan for tomorrow. So, of course, I decided to watch a yoga documentary and post a blog instead.
I really am excited about this though. Especially this week's topic! :)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Language
I've been reading Frankenstein lately. Yes, in English...but it's the last of the English books I brought with me and once I'm done (which I almost am) I'm finishing Le Petit Prince and then moving on to La Premiere Nuit. So I will be reading in French soon!
Anywho, as I was saying, I've been reading Frankenstein, and it turns out Frankenstein's monster learned French in less than a year simply by observing a poor family of three and reading a few books. Absolutely impossible, BUT pretty cool all the same. In the story there is a lovely section of the monster's monologue to Frankenstein, during which he's telling the Dr. about his life up to that point and talks about how he felt about his discovery of language. I'd like to share it with you guys, because I think it's really beautiful and really captures at least how I, personally, feel about the beauty of language.
"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and the countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it[...]. Their pronunciation was quick; and the words they uttered, not having any apparent connection with visible objects[...]. By great application, however, and after having remained during the space of several revolutions of the moon in my hovel, I discovered the names that were give to some of the most familiar objects of discourse[...]. I cannot describe the delight I felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds, and was able to pronounce them."
Good Stuff :)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Two silly anecdotes from the day...
1. In arriving at one of my schools today a teacher said "Bonjour, Meg!" and I immediately responded with "Hola." Oops. Had a good laugh over that one. (I've been doing that a lot lately...speaking Spanish instead of French by accident...the other day our apt. maintenance guy was in the hall and asked me "Ca va?" and I replied with, "Oui, como esta?" Hmm)
2. This report was on the BBC this morning. How French.
Have a day! :)
2. This report was on the BBC this morning. How French.
Have a day! :)
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Take the good with the bad
As per the title's promise, this entry brings both good news and bad news. I'll begin with the bad, as it happened before the good.
My neighbor's apartment was broken into Friday morning and her new $1200 Mac Book as well as her most valued jewlery were stolen. There was no forced entry, so the intruder obviously had a key to her apartment, as the door was locked when she left for work in the morning. We don't know how this person got ahold of a copy of the key, being that the only supposed people with the key are she and the landlord, who also confessed that he does not change the locks on the doors whenever someone moves out. Yes, it'd be work to change the locks everytime someone left, but I do feel it the necessary duty of the landlord to make sure his studios are secure before renting them out to young foreign girls. Luckily she has renter's insurance here in France which will hopefully cover some, if not all, of the loss. I certainly hope no one has a copy of the key to my apartment. (Her lock is now changed, btw, so this will not happen again *knock on wood*...although they'd have to have some nerve to come back and try it again.)
And the good news...I got a tutoring job! Sylvette works with a man whose son is 10 years old and has two penpals in the U.S. The family will be going to Washington D.C. in October to meet one of them and they want their son to be ready to understand and speak American English. Sylvette told them about me and they contacted me earlier this week. So, today I went to meet the family and it turns out they want to pay me double what I asked just to chit chat and play games in English with this kid once a week! Thanks, Sylvette! :-D
My neighbor's apartment was broken into Friday morning and her new $1200 Mac Book as well as her most valued jewlery were stolen. There was no forced entry, so the intruder obviously had a key to her apartment, as the door was locked when she left for work in the morning. We don't know how this person got ahold of a copy of the key, being that the only supposed people with the key are she and the landlord, who also confessed that he does not change the locks on the doors whenever someone moves out. Yes, it'd be work to change the locks everytime someone left, but I do feel it the necessary duty of the landlord to make sure his studios are secure before renting them out to young foreign girls. Luckily she has renter's insurance here in France which will hopefully cover some, if not all, of the loss. I certainly hope no one has a copy of the key to my apartment. (Her lock is now changed, btw, so this will not happen again *knock on wood*...although they'd have to have some nerve to come back and try it again.)
And the good news...I got a tutoring job! Sylvette works with a man whose son is 10 years old and has two penpals in the U.S. The family will be going to Washington D.C. in October to meet one of them and they want their son to be ready to understand and speak American English. Sylvette told them about me and they contacted me earlier this week. So, today I went to meet the family and it turns out they want to pay me double what I asked just to chit chat and play games in English with this kid once a week! Thanks, Sylvette! :-D
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The World of French Pastries
France is filled to the brim with amazing pastry delights such as: le croissant, pain au chocolat, croissant aux amandes, pain au chocolat aux amandes, le torsade au chocolat, les suisses, etc... My amazing friend and neighbor, Pat, recently posted a video that he found, which I would like to share with you. This video will probably make you wish you lived here and, indeed, it makes me want to take a trip to the patissier around the corner! I never knew just how much work went into these things...but I also didn't know that the same dough was used for just about all of the bakery goods. Awesome! Anywho, enjoy your little trip to France with: Crossants...how to.
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