je pense, tu penses, il, pense...

One of the best reasons to have a roommate is having someone to practice foreign languages with. Helen, thankfully has studied as many of years of French as I have, and has the same sort of interest that I do in recapturing and retaining it.

We've been busy bees here, playing with Rosetta Stone (thanks a million, Lloyd!), watching French movies, reading en francais, listening to tapes, etc.


Here's what I think works, and what doesn't.


5+ years of study YES, WORKS but if 6 or 7 years go by without practice, you lose a lot.

Rosetta Stone Program Yes, helpful. IF you already have the background, I think this is a fun way to refresh your vocabulary. Without the background, good luck. Conjugations are barely covered, if at all!

French In Action video series YES run to the nearest library. Radically good for verbs, adjectives, and nouns.


This week we also watched Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, two classics.


The book I've been reading is a collection of short stories by various classic French writers, and it's sort of hit or miss. While I liked L'Etranger well enough 9 years ago, now Camus leaves me wanting... something. His plots are not just sparse but invisible. I just finished L'Hote (The Guest), and while I get it, I just don't get it.

Still working on The Atheist's Mass by Balzac. Slow going, that Balzac.


Anyways, it's almost my birthday month. Why did that seem funner before I typed it?

"It's like, what is this? The Love Connection at 5:30 with Travis Short?"

Many funny things were said during study time today. That one (above) has got to take the cake, and I wish it'd been me that came up with that quip.

See, there are these two people in the front row, directly in front of me and to the left a bit, that have this nutty chemistry. They're always, like, poking each other with pencils and someone today said he's picked her up before to crack her back (???) and they just have this... vibe. It's hilarious, really, except they are both seeing other people, somewhat lackadaisically. I pretty much put money down that they get it together at the midnight hour, and go out after our final Tuesday night. Unlike Madonna in that movie where she's on a deserted island with her one true love?

I don't know, I've never seen that movie. I'm just talking.

I did, however, watch I'll Never Be Your Woman and Knocked Up over the past few days (due to cutie Paul Rudd being in them both).

I could win THAT challenge

Is there or is there not some kind of chickpea eating contest out there? I really think I'd have a shot. Oh, not quantity, sorry; I mean constancy. I could probably eat them everyday for, I don't know, 2 months? forever?


Anyways, that has nothing to do with this but I am watching a movie that Drew left with me a year and a half ago. Remember that guy, Drew, that I dated? He was the friend of one of Cassie's friends. He said, "Oh, watch this (The 40 Year Old Virgin), it's really funny!" and I couldn't bear to, for all this time.

But it took watching 'I Love You, Man' (with Jason Segal and Paul Rudd) last night to make me google Paul Rudd (because he looks JUST LIKE my future colleague, Krebs) to see what else he'd been in. And apparently he's in this movie that's been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 2 years.

And that has very little to do with this, except it's hilarious, too.

this one's for the nerds in the house

So, last night, when I had gotten as far as I could stand it with unraveling U.S. Govt public policy and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (paper writing season), I popped in this documentary, Spellbound. It follows 8 gifted spellers from their homes to Washington D.C. where they were all competing in the National Bee. Anthropologically it was entertaining to see what effects socioeconomic status, schools, families, hopes, and fears had on these children.

Helen and I both LOVE words. And nerdy competitions. I just really felt for these kids, I really got into it. That's not to say that I didn't fall asleep halfway through (I did), but when I woke up at 6:30 for no apparent reason other than finding myself still downstairs, on the couch- I found where I had drifted off and watched another 20 minutes (before I fell asleep again).

Oh, mystery! And finding our personal rhythms.

[Ugh, the U is feeling weird on my keyboard, sort of thick and slow.]


So, last night I rode home from school/work/school and tossed myself onto the living-room floor like a dead fish. I know at least a couple of you reading this have seen my dead fish move; it's hot, I know. Helen and I HAD had plans to cook dinner together and then do French manicures, but we both ended up in our bedrooms doing the alone thing. And I really needed it.

Don't misunderstand- I love my roommate and I utterly enjoyed seeing so much of Bill this week, but I have become adjusted to my own time-space continuum. I'm just not a clingy type girl, I suppose? And a night sans enfants is the perfect chance to catch up reading blogs, doing chores I don't want to do when I have company over, etc.

Funny enough, my alone night ended up very closely resembling the Tues night-in we shared this week; I got cozy in bed pretty early in the night and watched funny stuff until my stomach hurt from laughing so much. The difference? I did have more space to stretch out in, but I missed his legs nestled against mine.

Anyways, things are new enough in the relationship that we are still exploring the lay of the land and finding our rhythm. After a couple of days without talking/texting, and laying in my bed missing his laughter mingling roundly with mine, I sent him a little one, just saying hi.

A few exchanged in the ten minutes after that, and we decided to spend some time together tonight, but I have no clue as to what/when. I decided to leave it up to him a bit, and he said he'd call with more info.

In the meantime (since I'm so keen on hanging out with myself), I'm thinking about going out in pursuit of food; I happen to have a coupon for one free entree at a local restaurant. I'm hungry but starting to feel tired of riding every day with no car option for chilly night outings. It's not a physical tiredness, it's more psychological. I have to hold myself steeled to the fact that any moment a car can wipe my slate clean when I'm riding. No matter how careful or visible, complete obliteration is a real possibility. And all I want is some dinner!



---EDIT--- I ended up walking around some hilly parts of Clearwater with my friend Mike. After a good walk, we were eating potatoes and drinking beer (practicing for St. Patrick's day??), which was way funner than my original prospect of riding in the dark, alone.

what we´ve been doing

I took the kiddos to see Wall E last night. It made me tear up, and we had some really interesting discussions about it. Since there isn´t much speaking in the movie at all, I don´t think the kids missed anything due to the language barrier. Besides, they are now accustomed to watching cartoons in spanish, anyways.

They still don´t speak much at all. Other than the basics; hola, ciao, buenos dias, buenas noches, chocolate.

I like taking them out by myself. I can pretend to be a local when no one is acting like a tour guide. Of course, when people actually take me for a local and I have no clue, my ruse is up, lol.

We´ve done lot of things... storytime at the library, El Museo De Oro (Gold Museum), la Merced (Cali´s oldest church), the Cali Zoo, the nice malls. My first week here, I also went to an outdoor market (without them, @ abuela´s request), and that was really really cool. They should have been there.

There is a circus in town right now, but you know how I feel about circus´s... I´m more interested in joining the PETA protesters and buying an arepa outside the circus than I am in going to see the show.

For today, I am thinking about heading to La Galleria again, where you can find traditional stuff. We still need to go to San Antonio (another historic distric) and to La Parque de la Cañe (Park of the Sugar Cane... it´s a water park with slides and everything), and I want to see the sugar cane processing museum, but I have no idea where it is.

I'm blogging here now, because myspace ads drive me nuts

ARGHHH!

Anyways, it was a good Sunday at work. I think that's it folks, except that I read about a new Muppet movie (by Jason Segal) on Perez Hilton yesterday.

Do you love the Mups like I do? I love Miss Piggy being blamed for stealing the baseball diamond and she and Kermit kissing when he visits her in jail. I love when they fall from the sky in their pet shipping crates, into the pond of an English park. I love Kermit playing a banjo.

Helen likes Dark Crystal.