Learn Something New Everyday

So just as a testament to my undeniable desire to learn French, I would just like to point out that I am currently downstairs watching The Mentalist with Linda. Now normally, TV shows, even if they are American, can only be watched in French. This one however , for some reason or another, is being offered in English. ... BUT i am not caving. French Mentalist, it is!!!

Despite my progress in speaking French, I feel like my brain can only hold so much knowledge. And so, in order to make room for all this new information I have slowly been accumulating, i have simultaneously been LOSING other knowledge that was already in my brain. FOR EXAMPLE... there are words that exist in French that are "loan words" - some call them "borrowings"- of words in the English language.. ( or maybe the other way around.. not sure on some of them) but ANYWAYS.. pretty much its the same word/ same meaning but of course is pronounced differently and consequently written differently because it had to cohere to the phonetics of the language into which it was adapted,........UNFORTUNATELY, I am slowly forgetting which ones are the french spellings and which are the English spellings.

ENGLISH /FRENCH
address/ adresse
apartment/ appartement
government/ gouvernement
chair/ chaire
tomb /tombe
department/ departement
dance/ danse

Anyways, you get the picture. I'm starting to forget which is which,,... and it gets quite confusing when i'm typing or ever writing anything on the board for my kids.

Speaking of my kids, I am apparently becoming quite popular at my middle school ( the one I like- where Mme Giordono works) because all the English teachers have asked if I could come to their classes at least once before I go home. Apparently MY kids are telling their friends about the American who works with them and now their friends want to meet a REAL-LIFE American as well. lol... that's right. Real-life American here. At you service. =) Anyways, I have so many different classes lined up ( which granted, screws with my schedule but most teachers are all willing to come and get me) that I dont even have to go to my REGULARLY scheduled hours next Wednesday. Cause, I am only allowed by French law to work a certain number of hours. So because I am doing these supplemental hours, I can't do my normally scheduled hours. Just for NEXT week though, so no big deal.

All my plans with dad are not yet 100% finalized but it looks like we have decided to go back to our ORIGINAL plans and go to Milan to see the Last Supper (yay!!!) and then fly out from there to go to Amsterdam. So No Berlin... but.. I would much prefer to NOT be rushed and NOT have to take so mnay planes. That gives us a full week in Ste. Maxime.. and assuredly, we will get bored after day two probably but there are some villages around here that I have not yet seen which would make good full-day trips for both my dad and me. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!! Two weeks and 2 days. Roughly. 92 ish days left (if i come home late April) til I come home for good. To see ALL of my family, my fiance, HIS family ( which i guess should be considered MY family now too -almost). I CAN'T WAIT.

(***** WARNING***** this is about to get a little deep!!)

I seriously have the best family in the world. I know I have said this before but SERIOUSLY!!! I DO!! I have to see all too often what it's like for some of the assistants who live here (mentioning no names) to NOT have the full support and pride of their family behind them. Honestly, knowing that I have my parents and my grand-parents and my brother who are all at home, thinking bout me and bragging on me every opportunity they get (which I KNOW is the case for Gigi and Papa lol - I LOVE YA'LL!!!) - THAT gives me the courage and the strength to fight through the homesickness and the familysickness. I truly believe (as i believe my family believes) that this experience is truly going to take me places in my career- give me opportunities i would not have othewise been offered. And make me a MUCH better teacher. Now, granted, it's a pretty freakin cool experience at the same time... but certainly a LEARNING cool experience. AND, i just wanted to thank you all... ALL of you.. for seeing that. Alot of people have had to sacrifice alot in order for me to be here... and NOT ONE of you have complained about it. AND.... (i'm tearing up over here).. I can't imagine any luckier girl in the world.

I hope I will be able to pay it forward. I hope I can be like Mr Suffren was for me and inspire others to want to learn other cultures and other languages. I feel so lucky to have found a job that I have such a pasison for .. and alot of that is thanks to my teachers. I hope my meager little teaching salary will allow me to send MY children on a study abroad program OR even a teaching-abroad experience =) They dont have to become teachers though lol.. I'm not saying that ( even though that seems to run in the Mulroy blood huh lol ?)

ANYWAYS... that was my deep thought for the day. Let's Review:

IN SUMMARY: 1) my family is the best
2) I love French
3) My children don't have to be teachers lol

On Tuesday, I got to school and Deirde (Irish teacher) wasn't there because her mother passed away last weekend. So, I had an extra three hours until I had to teach again, so I profited from the pretty weather (which has been hard to come by around here lately-lots of rain and grey skies) and I walked to the CASINO GEANT. (Giant Casino)... which is a grocery store, btw, .. not a real casino. That was very confusing for me when I first got here. Anyways, I bought every American thing there that I found. lol. They have a better selection there than at the grocery store next to my house. So, i found FROSTED FLAKES, OREOS, and a small box of Ritz (tiny box). I was quite pleased with my success.

Linda and I have recently seen commercials advertising "Mr France" for next thursday. Linda and I are exceptionally excited bout it. PURELY cause we want to make fun... not to oggle. HOWEVER, apparently no other French person in the world shares our enthousiasm. Anytime we bring it up to anyone, they have no idea what we are talking bout. What a shame.

OUR sink is finally fixed. Sorta. Just have to add Draino, but our landlord came by today and fixed the leak. He then invited us to his house for an "aperitif" so I got to see their new baby, Lisa. She was SO BEAUTIFUL. Made me miss Stephen and Jane. I told them I would be willing to come by and do some babysitting whenever they wanted an evening out for just themselves....I even offered it for FREE.... I am in THAT desperate of a need to coddle a child. AND a dog for that matter. I need a dog around to wrestle and cuddle with.

I have several things in mind in so far as my weekend is concerned ... I am not sure if any of them will become concrete. But, Linda is going to Paris to see a friend... I was going to visit either Nordine or Adrienne. ( in east france/switzerland) but they arent free this weekend. SOOOO... that leaves me traveling around this area by myself. Which doesnt bother me.... I just can't decide exactly where I should go and how far and for how long. I think I might go to Avignon.. whhere the popes fled to from Rome for like 100 years. I think there were like a total of 5 popes who reigned from Avignon. ALSO, there is a bridge there called "Pont d'Avignon".. and a song is written bout it:

"Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse.... l'on y danse
Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tout en ronde"

"ON the bride, we dance we dance
On the bridge, we dance all around"

So of course, i want to go danse on the bridge! and take pictures of myself dansing on it lol. It's like a 2.5 hour train ride from my house.... so that's probably where i will go this weekend. I want to become like a "Provence Expert" .. and be able to truly say that I lived and expereinced the region. This area has SO MUCH history. Seriously, I had no idea. I just thought it was supposed to be a pretty area... with beaches. BUT not true. Well, i mean it's TRUE but theres so much more.

OH.. momma sent a care package today for me!! I AM SO PUMPED!!! Ok , so I have been needing some sort of creative outlet since I have been here. I enjoy reading and of course taking pictures but... At home, I am used to having all my scrapbook stuff, paints, etc as a TRUE creative outlet. SO... one day my mom mentioned that she could send me some cross-stitching patterns to keep me busy... AND i took that one step further and found these really cute cross-stitch Christmas stockings online. So, mom ordered one for me and one for Erin, and THAT is going to be my project for the upcoming months- making Erin and myself our very own, very personalized, Christmas stockings. Here's my only concern: I am going to stitch our names on the top... and these are stocking I want us to use our entire lives, before and after we have children. Is it going to be weird for our children that our first names are written on the stockings and NOT "mom" and "dad"? LOL... Cause i certainly dont want to go ahead and already stitch "mom" and "dad" on our stockings... Thaaaaaaaattt would be weird. Real weird.

ok ... well I will leave you with this. I have begun adding "fat kisses" at the end of my facebook messages that i write in English... and i think people are beginning to think that thats weird ( and i don't blame them ).. but "fat kisses" is the translation of "gros bisous" which is VERY commonly said at the end of messages written among the French.... so... yet another example of how I am getting mixed up! lol..... It will be a full 2-3 months back in the USA before i quit using french vocabulary in my day to day .. and i gain back a sense for the ENLGISH sentence structure...

k . LOVE TO ALL AND GROS BISOUS ( not fat kisses)