Happy Belated Earth Day!

Yesterday I was away at meetings and then I had my French class until 9pm. By the time I got back to my empty home (Dave is away on a business trip and the cat has turned into a teenager who only graces me with his presence when he wants to be fed). Anyways, I got back so late and immediately crawled into bed for my seventh (or eighth I've lost count) viewing of Phantom of the Opera before falling asleep.

As a side note my head was about to explode after learning the use of the pronoun y in french class. I'm just impressed that I can say that I am going to the mall (Je vais aller au centre commercial). I really don't feel the need to learn to say I am going there (J'y vais). While it is shorter and easier to say I think I'll just stick with my longer version, k thx bai.

Anyways, back to topic at hand: every Earth Day I like to do a little something to better my footprint (somewhat like a green resolution). Last year it was installing bamboo floors instead of normal hard wood. That actually wasn't too difficult since the bamboo floors look pretty awesome (although more expensive).

This year I had 2 green resolutions.
1) Stop drinking out of plastic water bottles
2) Convert from plastic grocery store bags to re-usable bring your own bags.

I must admit my two newest resolutions haven't been difficult to implement only because I found such cute replacements.

For the water bottle I went with a Sigg aluminum bottle (no toxic plastic nalgene bottle for me). Not only is it super stylish (they have a million designs available) but it keeps my water colder longer and doesn't spill when tipped over (how it does that I have no idea. Magic). I highly recommend a Sigg water bottle to anyone who is looking for a cool new bottle. They even have cute designs for little kids which makes me want to give these out next Xmas as gifts. I have 3 so far (they keep adding cool new designs and I have to have just one more ...)



For the shopping bags I bought some cheap plain bags from greenbag.info ($1 each). As well as these super cute ones from GreenWorldBags.com. They are cute enough to not be boring but not too girly that my hubby wont use them when he goes grocery shopping.

Frustration

I worked late tonight and didn't have enough time to go to the gym. I was away at a meeting last week and missed my last French class. I tried doing the weekend's French homework tonight. It was too hard so I gave up. Instead I read blogs and ate ice cream with caramel sauce. I am fat and frustrated. Foux da fa fa.

Look Ma! I Can Translate

I love them California Cows. Even more so when I can actually understand what they are saying in the commercial.



Bob the Bull: Ladies, My Name is Bob
Diane the Cow: Hello my friend! Have you lived in Paris?

PS - Today's high? 80. What happened to winter???

Le cours de français

Mistake: While talking with the lady behind me who is also taking the class for fun and plans to travel to Nice, loudly exclaim "this class is so fun and so EASY! I actually look forward to coming to class each time!". This will result in the rest of the class who is obviously not finding French to be fun or easy to turn around and glare at you.

My how much changes in just a week or so. I've been taking 2 weeks of French and already the cobwebs have begun evacuating my brain and making room for a new language. I have a job in which I am thinking/evaluating/analyzing 85% of the day yet the learning portion of my brain had obviously been ill used since college because on my first day of class the terms and phrases which were very basic were bouncing off me and falling on the floor. No matter how hard I listened I couldn't absorb any of what the teacher was trying to teach us and I began to worry that I was in over my head with this class. Since then I've studiously reviewed material and completed homework and have found that my brain has re-opened for business and is easily accepting all of the French vocabulary. I honestly do look forward to each class and the possibilities of what I will learn that day. I've always been naturally good in school (graduated from college with honors even though I spent half the time inebriated and in my pajamas) but have lacked the motivation to actually apply myself and study. I think I am finally at the age (and maturity) where the idea of cracking open a school book and reading isn't repulsive. If only I had this motivation back in college, imagine what I could have done with myself.

I'm sure French will become more complex as the semester passes but I am incredibly proud of myself for sticking with something that was out of my norm. I'm also really pleased that my brain is working again. Continuation of my studies for fun will definitely be on my calendar in the future. It was quite scary to see how little information I was able to retain on that first day. I can only imagine what my brain would have been like had I waited 10 years before I took another college course.

In slightly french related news, tomorrow night's dinner is Coq au Vin (pronounced coke ohe vah). YUM!


And in other slightly less french related news, I was re-watching the series finale of Sex and the City where Carrie goes to France. Holy cow, I had forgotten how hot Mr Big was. I think he made my loins flutter. YUM YUM!

Bonsoir! Je m'appelle Cori

One of my biggest regrets after living in the SF Bay Area was that I never took advantage of the nearby UC Berkeley and the extension classes offered. So after moving to San Diego (home to 8 major universities and dozens of smaller colleges) I promised myself that I would continue my education (for fun) and try to take a class every semester. I've lived here for almost two years and have yet to take one class (although in my defense I did register for a class last semester and it was canceled at the last minute). A few months ago I bit the bullet and signed up for a French class at a college that is 15 minutes away from my house. I wanted to take French because I've always been interested in the language and we might need it should we ever commit to a long stay in Switzerland (location of Hubby's International HQ).

My first class was last night and already I am feeling overwhelmed and debating whether I should quit. Maybe it's because I am feeling a little rusty and the book learning portion of my brain hasn't been used in 5 years. Maybe it's because the French language is much harder then I imagined and very few words are actually pronounced how they are spelled (example number 4 = quatre but pronounced like kat). Maybe it's because my bilingual mouth keeps confusing Spanish and French and what comes out is a Spanish French English hybrid (example: soy suis Cori y quero deux kittens). Maybe I am just burnt out after the fires and I need a few months where I can work til 4pm, go to the gym, come home and JUST VEG for the rest of the evening. Or maybe I am just being a big baby and if I keep at it for the next few weeks I will begin to really enjoy myself and the fact that I am becoming tri-lingual. What do you think? (see poll in side bar and VOTE! I really am confused as to what I should do and would love advice).