Make friends in a foreign country, in a foreign language.... [1]

1.  Resolve that TODAY, you will meet some new people.  Remind yourself that friends are incredibly important.  Remind yourself that it took a long time to find your previous friends, who are all wonderful.

( Step Two! )

So last night we wandered over to La Defense to watch some of the acts in the Street Circus Festival.   This is a three day festival put on by - the city?  the county? - and so it's free.  Public art, I guess, which I'm always a fan of.  There will be a son-et-lumiere show later in September that I am definitely looking forward to ( Read more... )

of language learning.

As some of you may recall, I amuse myself (frequently!) by mis-reading signs and enjoying the hilarity.  Of course I can't think of an example, right now.

But today on the bus, I read a sign that said (in French):  "Smile!  You're on fire!"

*boggle*

Oh, wait.  It says, "Smile!  You're on camera!"

Hee hee.

(vous êtes ( Read more... )

Today's random adventure was a purely Big City one.  Today I was initiated into my first [1] Obscure Food Sourcing Ritual ( Read more... )

We went to Sainte Chapelle a little while back. This is Notre Dame's younger sister, in a way. Consecrated on 26 April 1243, located on the Île de la Cité at the center of Paris, not far from Notre Dame, it was built to house relics and serve as the private chapel of Louis IX, called the Pious (mostly because he built this chapel).

( It's not a verbal experience ... )

As some of you know, I am held together with baling wire and chewing gum. This works well enough, but of course you have to reapply the baling wire and chewing gum from time to time. Fortunately, France has an EXcellent medical system. Also, there are pharmacies everywhere. Wherever you may be standing in the Greater Paris Metropolitan Area, ( Read more... )

So, sure enough, I was on the bus the other day, almost to an empty seat, when the bus suddenly surged forward and I just flat fell on my butt. Bruised my dignity severely, but many people were very kind and I recovered quickly. *sigh ( Read more... )

I'm taking a French intensive class these days. It's ... well ... intense. My French is really improving, as much as anything because if I want to talk to my fellow students, we have to talk in French, because we come from all over the world ( Read more... )

Alas, our favorite French teacher has taken a job somewhere else, so we will not have lessons with her after the end of January. Too bad she didn't teach us any swearwords, 'cause I could use some right now!

And apparently I can't get Pandora.

On the upside, it's snowing AND I'm warm AND I don't have to go anyplace!

Not earth shattering, but both of them are interesting ( Read more... )