Saturday, October 3, 2009
A Nanny Becomes Him
So yes, I'm going to become a nanny. But I'll leave you with that for now and explain later :)
Friday, October 2, 2009
21 Hours Complete
21 hours of French language instruction down, 294 to go.
I've had quite an interesting week, I have to admit. I was more than a bit skeptical about what type of courses I would be taking at l'ILCF, whether they would be taught in both French and English, whether there would be large or small classes, or whether I was even signing up for live instruction at all versus computer labs with a French aide to help us with our self-instruction. (I think I had a dream/nightmare about that last one.. not that the concept is scary, just that c'mon, I wouldnt want to be spending my time in a computer lab all day teaching myself with some software.. but it at least shows you the complete lack of understanding I had about what I was walking into).
I can therefore calm your nerves by saying that we have small classes, typically 16-18 students, with a dedicated French instructor who speaks only French during the lessons. These students range anywhere from the USA, to Spain, Japan, Mexico, China, Portugal, Brazil, England, Taiwain, Egypt, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and probably elsewhere (but I forget..). What's interesting about the range of nationalities is that we all speak French at our own varied levels, but we have no other common language. Sure, many people speak English, but not as their mother language, so we really have to speak French to communicate. Even though the conversations can be a bit confusing and broken from time to time, it's an amazing way to learn.
Well.. Alix and I found an amazing little place this week for movie lovers called Le Forum Des Images.
We went after finding a small advertisement for one particular part of the Forum, Les Salles de Collections (the Collections Room). This little out of the way discovery is run by the Mairie of Paris and therefore free to the public. It's a personal cinema with access to over 6500 movies, and its setup in a great room with individual couches, television screens, headsets, and a dark, dimly lit atmosphere bathed in red lighting. It was fantastic. Now of course, streaming movies and on demand entertainment is becoming more and more common, so the need for a place like this is diminishing, but at the same time it was nice to get out of the apartment, to discover something exciting, and to dedicate ourselves to sitting down and watching a movie. It's too easy at home to get bored or tired or hungry and leave yet another movie half watched. So we watched "Trouble in Paradise," a movie from 1939 I think which was about two jewelry thieves preying on the ex-depression rich in America. Verdict? See it. Great movie!
Past that we finished our Obama puzzle! I had found an incredibly tacky "Yes We Can" puzzle at Barnes and Noble back in December for $1 on clearance, and since Alix and I had ritualized puzzle building with a tacky $1 Spiderman puzzle last year I thought it perfect for us. It took us almost 9 months to get around to it, but we finally did! Overall it's about 30" wide by 22" tall, and it will make a great addition to our slowly but surely American themed apartment. (Did I mention that I threw up an American flag as a shade for our mezzanine? Or that I put up my Muji New York City wooden buildings set? Yeah.. I did.. love it).
This weekend we're taking the train up to Lille, our ex French city, and then the tramway over to the town where Alix grew up. We'll spend the weekend with her parents and I'm sure talk all about our school life and our experiences in Paris and so on. It should be fantastic. And next weekend my mom and my aunt come to visit! Already! It seemed like it was so far on the horizon, but it's practically here. I can't wait to see them! Alix's mom will also come back to join us for the weekend, and for the first parental introduction. I love how unorthodox we are :)
That's all for now. Tune in next time.
I've had quite an interesting week, I have to admit. I was more than a bit skeptical about what type of courses I would be taking at l'ILCF, whether they would be taught in both French and English, whether there would be large or small classes, or whether I was even signing up for live instruction at all versus computer labs with a French aide to help us with our self-instruction. (I think I had a dream/nightmare about that last one.. not that the concept is scary, just that c'mon, I wouldnt want to be spending my time in a computer lab all day teaching myself with some software.. but it at least shows you the complete lack of understanding I had about what I was walking into).
I can therefore calm your nerves by saying that we have small classes, typically 16-18 students, with a dedicated French instructor who speaks only French during the lessons. These students range anywhere from the USA, to Spain, Japan, Mexico, China, Portugal, Brazil, England, Taiwain, Egypt, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and probably elsewhere (but I forget..). What's interesting about the range of nationalities is that we all speak French at our own varied levels, but we have no other common language. Sure, many people speak English, but not as their mother language, so we really have to speak French to communicate. Even though the conversations can be a bit confusing and broken from time to time, it's an amazing way to learn.
Well.. Alix and I found an amazing little place this week for movie lovers called Le Forum Des Images.
We went after finding a small advertisement for one particular part of the Forum, Les Salles de Collections (the Collections Room). This little out of the way discovery is run by the Mairie of Paris and therefore free to the public. It's a personal cinema with access to over 6500 movies, and its setup in a great room with individual couches, television screens, headsets, and a dark, dimly lit atmosphere bathed in red lighting. It was fantastic. Now of course, streaming movies and on demand entertainment is becoming more and more common, so the need for a place like this is diminishing, but at the same time it was nice to get out of the apartment, to discover something exciting, and to dedicate ourselves to sitting down and watching a movie. It's too easy at home to get bored or tired or hungry and leave yet another movie half watched. So we watched "Trouble in Paradise," a movie from 1939 I think which was about two jewelry thieves preying on the ex-depression rich in America. Verdict? See it. Great movie!
Past that we finished our Obama puzzle! I had found an incredibly tacky "Yes We Can" puzzle at Barnes and Noble back in December for $1 on clearance, and since Alix and I had ritualized puzzle building with a tacky $1 Spiderman puzzle last year I thought it perfect for us. It took us almost 9 months to get around to it, but we finally did! Overall it's about 30" wide by 22" tall, and it will make a great addition to our slowly but surely American themed apartment. (Did I mention that I threw up an American flag as a shade for our mezzanine? Or that I put up my Muji New York City wooden buildings set? Yeah.. I did.. love it).
This weekend we're taking the train up to Lille, our ex French city, and then the tramway over to the town where Alix grew up. We'll spend the weekend with her parents and I'm sure talk all about our school life and our experiences in Paris and so on. It should be fantastic. And next weekend my mom and my aunt come to visit! Already! It seemed like it was so far on the horizon, but it's practically here. I can't wait to see them! Alix's mom will also come back to join us for the weekend, and for the first parental introduction. I love how unorthodox we are :)
That's all for now. Tune in next time.
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