missing words and the zoo

FAIL
I discovered today that my dictionary is missing pages 467-546, that is everything between "légende" and "nirvana." To clarify, I can not verify spelling or gender of any words in between. I found this out in the middle of a written exam when I desperately needed to confirm the gender of the word "logique." FML. *See Update!!

WIN
Heard during my "Stuck in New Jersey" activity with the high schoolers (the idea is that their car breaks down in NJ and they have to think of fun ways to pass 4 days in Atlantic City except they can't agree with each other):

A: We are not going to see Britney Spears. We have to go to the zoo and we can see the tiger.
E: But Britney is a tiger. We must go see her show.
P: No, E. Britney is a cougar.

My students = on their games.

*Update: I got the gender right! Take that, dictionary with missing pages!

worth a thousand words

i took this photo of my pretty spring flowers to send to T, but then i really looked at it, and it turns out you can tell a lot about a person's life from what is in their room! i've been here six months today, let's talk about what i have accumulated.

i. flowers: every flower has a story behind it. i got them as a gift when i left the spring roller skating event last night. it was so much fun! kids and their parents and the generally unbalanced falling down everywhere. one dude almost fell and then caught himself on his hands and did five push-ups. one dad tumbled over his kid and did a somersault. i also had the pleasure of going skating with my roommate B who had never done it before. so fun to help her get out there and watch her take off!

ii. empty wine bottle flower vase: the tulips were a special gift that only i got, i think because i offered to buy one of the pots of flowers before i realized there were crates of them at the exit as gifts. guess they thought i was nice. and as for the vase, i'm broke and in france. what do you want?

iii. an anais poster. EEEEPPP!! my favorite french singer, been listening to her for the past four years and i can't believe i actually get to see her in concert. and on WEDNESDAY!!!

iv. my new jersey sticker on the wall. miss it.

v. the buneke's valentine from last year! one of the best i ever got. they always pull out all the stops those ladies.

vi. my immense university binder full of work that i should be doing right now. five exams this week and a presentation to prepare. eeffffff.

vii. if the flowers weren't enough to show you, and you look really really closely, you can see my heavy blanket rolled up on the chair, meaning not on my bed, meaning SPRING IS HERE!!!

10 things i learned/ remembered/ otherwise thought about this week

1. eating pizza hut to celebrate pi day is a good idea. eating FIVE slices because you are excited and nostalgia ridden is not.

2. my european friends aren't into pi day like i am. it's normal, since they don't write the date the way we do in the USA and there's no 31st of april. thank god whit is american and i had someone to celebrate with.

3. i got a 20/20 on my contrôle in compréhension orale! this means i will probably fail miserably on the compte rendu tomorrow. life is all about balance.

4. i have 10 to-do lists piled on my desk, just from this week. i keep gettng things done and realizing they are not even on my list, so i don't even get the satisfaction of ticking off a line item. please tell me other people do this.

5. people who live in a wet normand town really, really appreciate beautiful weather (i did too and ate lunch on the castle lawn today)

6. i am coming home in 13 weeks. i am happy and sad about this fact.

7. my students make me want to teach more and more every day.

8. i have not had a day without anything to do in a very long time. this is equal parts amazing and stressful.

9. OMG KINDER BUENO IS AMAZING and i really should never eat another one of those.

10. i should not have written this blog post because i have so so so much homework and sleep would be nice tonight.

Student win, an anniversary, and an addiction

Student Win
This week I had my students work on the Proust Questionnaire - a 35 question exercise to get them talking in class. I told them to give me super-long Proust-like answers. This is speaking class! One word responses will not do!!

Me (to student): Who is your hero?
Student: Tyler Durden.
Me: (annoyed face because clearly this is not a long Proust-y answer)
Student: I would like to give you more information about this, but the first rule about fight club is I can't talk about fight club.

Instant chouchou status.

An Anniversary
Yesterday T and I celebrated one year together with a date in front of the Skypes wherein we ate dinner together by candlelight and then talked about grammar for an hour, especially the differences between "who," "that," and "which," and whether or not animals can be "who" too. He is so perfect for me.

An Addiction
I should never have asked the post if it is true that I can send books home for a reduced price. It is true. 5 kilos for 13 euros. I now have 10 kilos of books and will probably be visiting the Memoranda religiously. Already three times in less than a week! This is the mother of all used book stores. I am telling you, it's like DR's apartment. Stacks of books so big and vast you could make furniture out of them. Grammar books, dictionaries, classics, poetry, I even saw Stephen King's "ça" in a pile on the floor!

saturday i'm in love

best week(end) ever is back, and it's only saturday. on the quick, a recap.

-yesterday, since my douchenozzle grammar professor established early in the semester that she's not going to teach us said subject, the nerd grammarian in me took herself to the used bookstore (caen is known for having lots of them) and bought exercise booklets in grammar, conjugation, and spelling!!

(i promise, the rest of the weekend is more exciting for those of you who don't find the self-teaching of grammar titilating)

-this morning i fell down my own stairs and didn't break my ankle. win.

-today included lots and lots of walking around caen, no earbuds, appreciating the beauty of doing errands in such a nice city.
*the most exciting of those errands was buying my ticket to munich!!! june 1st will be very very sad, as it is the day i am leaving caen, but at least i can look forward to an awesome last week in europe.

-this evening sylvia showed me how to make some bavarian recipes including knoedel (bread dumplings), mushroom sauce, and a very yummy salad.

-i finally saw the artist. go see it. so, so, so good.

-and finally, i am now ending my day by chatting T about all the movies we are going to watch when i am home. i'm so high on this beautiful little thing called life.

hello, march!

march came a little late this year, cause yesterday we had a little gift from the gods called leap year. among other ambitions, i want to start a lobby to make leap year a national holiday. actually, that probably already exists. when the fates give you an extra day once every four years, the last thing we should be doing is working!

speaking of ambitions, let's do a five-month check in on my goal progress!

1. Get healthy physically, mentally, spiritually: Getting there! I did a cleanse a while back that really balanced me out. I'm working yoga back into my schedule and now that it's nice out I can start running again! I've also been ab-ripping like a champ.

2. Run 5k nonstop by March (the 3k track is literally right outside my door): Officially failed. Because there's no way I'm going to be able to do this in 31 days. I'm going to revise this to the end of May.

3. Find yoga and do it at least weekly - I was on the wagon for a bit, but I fell off again =( But all is not lost! See number one.

4. Eat seasonally: Success! So much easier here.

5. See Germany: Going to Volksfest in May!

6. See south of France: Not sure this is going to happen. I think Giverny may be as far south as I can get. I had to budget and prioritize. The south has always been my dream to see, but I just couldn't make it work.

7. Perfect my french: On my way! Classes have been helping incredibly.

8. Cut down dairy/sugar consumption: Yes and yes. Dairy has been easiest to reduce, and sugar has been slow and steady.

9. Write poems weekly: Still unsuccessful. Lots of inspiration, but now I need to set aside time to actually write!

10. Try other forms of writing/arts: Got crafty on V-Day and am getting back into the book-making scene.

11. Create lessons that I can use later as a teacher: Coming along handsomely!

12. Save money: See south of france. I've made a budget and am sticking to it.

13. Make awesome friends (already cracking away at this one!): Done and done.

14. Talk to family as often as possible: No trouble there.

15. Translate some French poems: Been really focused on reading them, will translate when I'm inspired.

16. Complete National Poetry Month in April (write a poem a day): I don't know how this is going to be possible, but I'ma give it my best go!

17. Volunteer: Unfortunately, this one is gonna have to be let go. Well, unless you count the free English lessons I give to some of my friends!

18. Complete advanced degree of french studies: Immersed in classes right now, and when I finish I will have not one but two degrees!

19. Handmake Christmas presents: Executed and well-received!

So, getting there, though I've had some steep hills along the way. Is that even an expression?