Fier de Moi

(Proud of me)

Daniel travaille (is working) in Denver for a couple of semaines (weeks) designing sound for a college’s musical.  And currently je suis (I am) in route to visit him for a few jours (days).  Well most likely I will be there in son petit appartement de crack den (his little crack den apartment) by the time I have internet to check mon français et (my french and) upload this.  So why the trip all the way out to Denver when I have plenty of work?  Because j'ai voulu (I wanted) to.   Daniel et je (and I) have been very much dans l'amour avec (in love with) Colorado, more specifically Boulder, since trios et demi d'années ( three and a half years) ago when we spent our first married été (summer) working for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.  Have you ever been someplace and looked at yourself and how vous étiez (you were) living your life and thought "this is the person je veux être (I want to be)"? That is how nous (we) feel about Boulder.   Which certainly explains pour quoi (why) we returned the deux following étés (summers).   Cet été (this summer) we spent in Conecticut and while a bon été (good summer) je still missed going  out to Colorado.  Daniel worked this gig last année (year) while I envied from home, busy avec le travail (with work).  When the job came up again this year and je was only working deux par á semaine (two days a week) je n'étais pas (I was not) to be left at home again. 

So fier de moi (proud of me), j’ai (I had) a very reasonable vol ce matin (flight this morning)  at 10:20, mais très (but a very) unreasonable quatre heures (four hour) lay over in Atlanta.  Luckily my gate was on the opposite end of the aéroport (airport) which killed dix minutes (ten minutes) only trios heures et cinquante minutes (three house and fifty minutes) to go.  Mon (my) gate was graveyard vide (empty), probably having quelque chose (something) to do with the fact there was un peu de temps avant la vol (a little time before the flight) in fact that whole part of the concourse was dead.  Je decided to take advantage of this vast privacy et quite, and Rosetta Stoned.  If this does not sound dedicated to you, vous n'avez pas (you have not) Rosetta Stoned.

The full premise of this program is it gives you everything, see the picture pour pomme (for apple), while you see le mot pour pomme (the word for apple), while the program dits le mot pour pomme (says the word for apple) et ensuite vous dites le mot de pomme (and then you say the word for apple).  The program then buzzes you si vous dites (if you say) it wrong, et ensuite vous dites de nouveau. (and then you say it again).  So to practice Rosetta Stone vous avez (you have) to be some place you don’t mind les gens (people) hearing you butchering a language over et (and) over again.  The box set come with a dandy headset, which les miens se sont cassés il ya des mois (mine broke months ago), to at least cut down on the noise coming from your ordinateur (computer).  One can not always trouvez un (find a place) that embraces this much noise.  Je ne sais pas (I don’t know) what je sound like quand je suis (when I am) practicing, mais de mon mari (but from my husband's) chuckling and occasional shouting the proper procounciation from une salle différente (a different room) at me, I have figured out this is not something je veux (I want) to put strangers through. 

So je suis fier de moi ( I am proud of me) for finding time to practice français dans  l'aéroport (French in the airport).  While traped in my center sear on le tour plat de quatre heures (the four hour plane ride ) je even typed up this blog entry.

*Sadly it took me trois jours (three days) to get enough internet to post this.

Tonight’s Picture:

Les montagnes que j'ai manquées.

Pervious Picture:

The cafe where I write my blog.

Horizons en expansion

Expanding Horizons

Je (I) continue to roll right along with my Rosetta Stoning, most recently les continents et d'océans (the continents and the oceans) j'ai (I have) tried to expand my exposure to français especially parlé (spoken).  I figure si je ne peux pas comprendre ce que les gens disent á moi ( if I can not understand what people are saying to me) all le lit, éscriter, et parler (reading, writing, and speaking) skills are not going to do me any good.  Je picked up several "Learn Français dans la Voiture" (Learn French in the Car) around the start of last semester, which was tres (very) handy as un de mes travaux (one of my jobs) required un de deux heures (two hour) drive trois fois par semaine (three times a week).  One of the tape sets was acctually fairly useful for learning français dans la voiture (french in the car) the other one was not as effective for learning nouvelles choses (new things).  But my orngial idea was to help enforce my current vocabularity so I could recgonized les mots (the words) when they were not in the same sentences I had heard cents de périodes (hundreds of times before) in Rosetta Stone.

Unfortunatly not a lot of french stations on la radio (same word in french) around here, so back to more creative ways of hearing french.  I optined for another Disney movie dubbed in français while l'anglais (the english) subtitled roll au bas (as the bottom).  J étais triste (I was sad) to realize mon nouvelle (my new) favorite Disney movie " La Princesse et la Grenouille" ("The Princess and the Frog) did not have a french audio option. Ills (they) set it in New Orleans, which I believe still has a tres fort (very strong) french influence, what sense does that make?  I find when other movies disappoint me, I can always reach for mon vieux (my old) faithful stand by "Robin de Bois"  (Robin Hood, literally translated Robin of Woods).

Mon favorite movie since before je can remember has always been there for me, et y a maintenant il pour moi en français (and now it is there for me in french).  Though je aways seem a bit confused how un lion can be oncle à un renard (uncle to a fox), mais qui suis moi (but who am I) to question animaux de danse de chant (singing dancing animals).  This went a bit better than trying to watch "Up", my advice to you for watching a movie in foreign language for la première fois que (the first time) pick one you have had memorized since vous aviez cinq ans (you were five).  It will save you a lot of time of trying to understand the language and know what is going on in the plot.  Et écoute (And listening) to "Oo de Lally" in a french accent is pretty amusing.   Soon to see what other movies we have with french options.

Ended up watching "La Princesse et La Grenouille" later anyway, what can je dis, je suis (I say, I am) a sucker for a mains (hand) drawn princes movies.

Tonight's Picture:

Le café où j'écris mon blog.

Pervious Picture:

This kitchen will not make crossants.

Une Maison pour appeler nous propres

(A home to call our own)

Ensuite beaucoup d'heures et de semaines (after many hours and weeks) of searching we have booked our apartment! This was hardly a facile (easy) process envolving spread sheets, rounds of rating, rescanning websites ever other jour (day), countless trimming sessions, to only lose deux (two) apartments ensuite (after) having settled on them to people with faster depositits.  Sure the process started out lots of fun but let moi vous di (me tell you), as anyone who as apartment shopped online knows, they all look the same eprès les  trente premiers (after the first thirty).  At one time I believe there was cinquante - cinq (55) options to be considered.  Je (I) would like to say it was just cutting form there, mais (but) there was not a round of cuts that didn't included the addition of deux ou trois (two or three) more options.

As nous (we) were getting down to a half dozen options nous started giving them nicknames so it was easy to keep them straight.  There was divan vert, moderne, et (green couch, modern, and) southwestern.  Très (very) odd to find a southwestern themed appartement in Paris, mais je veux un (but I want a) paris themed apartment in North Carolina, so je guess not all that weird.  Back to the point, the nickname of the apartment we are renting, Très Petit Cuisine (Tiny Kitchen).  Actually the translation is "very little kitchen", je ne sais pas (I don't know) tiny.

Le appartement est très petit cuisine (The apartment is tiny kitchen) as tu (you) can see from the pictures, there isn't much of a cuisine (kitchen) just un table, un évier (a sink), et deux (and two) burners.  Which means un été sans (a summer without) baking.  Mais qui (But who) really needs to bake when tu as (you have) a french boulangerie (bakery) down la rue (the road).  Il a (it has) the most amazing view, though sadly no balcony.  Un grand (a big) plus is a pull out couch for all of our visitors.

Ici est nous petit cuisine.  (This is our tiny kitchen)  Ils y a deux (It has two) burners et no oven or toaster oven.  Lack of oven seemed to be fairly standard in parisian apartments but lack of even a toaster oven will be an adventure.

This is nous salle de séjour (our living room). Tu (you) can see la chaise et table (la chair and table)  (from the kitchen photo) for size reference.  Il y a un chambra (There is a bedroom) separate from the living room, il ne pas (just not) photo worthy.

Et c'est le vue de la salle de séjour. (And this is the view from the living room) Such shame there is no balcony et un douce vue (but a sweet view). 

Nous will be living in le cinquième (the 5th) which is apparently still the hip place to live according to mon (my) uncited sources.

Can't wait to post mon (my) own pictures of it!

Tonight's Picture:

Cette cuisine ne fera pas des croissants.

Previous Picture:
The man's house floats up in the sky.

Le Cinéma Français

(The French Cinema)

Ma maman (my mom) has been très (very) supportive on my pursuit to learn français, as elle a (she has) of most choses dans ma vie (things in my life).  In fact it probably kills her that elle ne peut pas (she can not) spell and grammer check these posts as elle a (she has), wether asked or not, anything j'ai (I have) put out in the world.  Une des choses qu'elle a faites pour aider (one of the things she has done to help) is give me movies in français, either a movie je sais (I know) that has a français option or an actually français movie.  

Then elle (she) will ask moi si je les ai regard observés (me if I have watched them).  Well Mom, je (I) watched "UP" la nuit dernière (last night).  I believe this was an Pâques (Easter) or Valentine's Day present from ma maman (my mom).  "Up" holds a special place in mon coeur (my heart), Daniel et je (and I) went to see it on notre deuxième anniversaire (on our second anniversary) et j'ai pleuré (I cried) at the end of the love story comme une fille (like a girl).

So la nuit dernière j'ai pleuré comme une fille (so last night I cried like a girl) again.  Though that might be where the similarities terminer (ended).   I caught extremely peite de la français (little of the french).  Je certainly enjoyed the movie, but honestly j'ai lu l'anglais (I read the english) subtitles a lot.  It was not a complete lost, certains mots (some words) were understood, there may have even been una phrase au deux ( a sentence or two) that made it though mon (my) clumsy oreille (ear).  Daniel summed up the whole experience quite well "It was so rapide (fast)".  This was meant as mots de confort (words of comfort) mais je ne regarde pas (but I did not see) them as such.

Moi: Everyone is going to parlent (speak) that fast.
Daniel: Non, ils vant savoir que tu n'êtes pas (No,they will know you are not ) a (lots of hopping around to avoid saying) "good" french speaker et ills vont parler lentement pour tu (and they will speak slowly to you).

J'ai (I had) flashes of sales clerks taking 10 seconds to say each mot (word) at deafening levels at me, like ever bad "American speaks to foreigner" scene in a movie and did not feel better.

Guess I will be playing the DVD a few more times.

Tonight's Picture:

La maison de l'homme flotte vers la haut dans le ciel.

Pervious Picture:

A little grey kitten visited our house one night.

Miss you

I miss my blog.  Looking at my last entry which is about 10 weeks ago and sporadic for several months before that, I am disappointed.  Life got very busy last semester which was great but made it hard for me to balance all my work and home life (hobbies).  Work has stopped being as much of an issue, I am teaching one class twice a week but other than that I don't have much going on in the work front.  I miss the working a lot, I seem to know how to keep myself busy and productive when I have a job but less so when I have my own time.  And you could say there is the learning french, the blog, the story on etsy, and all these things are true.  I have found once there has been a considerable stretch away from an activity I find it hard to jump back on board.  So I frenched today for the first time in probably a month and a half, and today I posted on line though as I am sure you will notice not in french.

The trip is less than 5 months away and is feeling a bit daunting and trying to reexcite myself is hard work. The french does not come as freely as it did a mere 6 months ago.  But the tickets are booked, the apartment is selected (almost) and I have craved a big adventure since before I can remember, so we are going.  I guess I just might be a little scared.

So maybe I will post tomorrow, or maybe the next day.  I can't depend on Daniel to hold my hand the entire time. What a mistake to never have allowed myself the opportunity to experience a new country by my self occasional.

Time seems to move so much faster than when I was little.

Jusqu'á ce que nous nous réunissons de nouveau (Until we meet again).

Se Dessiner

Taking Shape


Choses (Things) have been moving along avec notre voyage (with our trip).  Billets (tickets) have been booked for our vol (flight) there, late Mai (May) et (and) booked le billet maison (the ticket home) by way of Amsterdam, qui (what?)?   yup.

Change of Date
 Nous avon (we had) orginally booked our vol billet (plane ticket) around ma soeur's (my sister's) best guess for sa date de marriage (her wedding date) which was looking to be mid Juin (June) There has been un petit (a little) change to the plan since then, Christine va être une jeune mariée de Septembre instead du una jeune mariée de Juin (is going to be a September bride instead of a June bride). A combination of coordinating familia (family) schedules and finding a location lead to the shift in date.  Maintenant (Now) the date is set and the venue booked, as well as florist, caterer, cake, and something else, il est (it is) an interesting combo booking place.  Si vous avez (if you know) Christine vous (you) should ask her about the venue, it is like une femme (a woman) is trying to create her own personal wedding world piece by piece.

Amsterdam vous dites (you say)? Amsterdam je dis ( I do say).
Voler (flying) back by way of Amsterdam just kind of happened.  Booking avion billets (plane tickets) with miles takes some work, not just in acquiring the miles but also actually finding a vol (flight) that they will let you book takes some patience.  J'étais (I was) losing patience while trying to find un vol (a flight), and suggested we could leave from anywhere in Europe for un billet de train bon marché (a cheap train ticket).  Nous (we) picked cinq villes (five cities) at random compared train cost, available flights, and pretty pictures et (and) landed on Amsterdam.  Hooray! Windmills!   Je (I) was actually getting mon coeur (my heart) set on Vienna, mais il était trop (but it was too) far away.  Nous (we) had thought about seeing a couple of pays (countries) while there, so ce n'est pas (this is not) completely out of gauche (left) field.

Daniel didn't waste any time researching appartements (apartments).  Je suis venu á la maison (I came home) et il a eu quarante-cinq (he had forty five) links for moi (me) to look at.  Ce soir il voudrait (Tonight he would like) me to do le deuxiéme (the second) combing through to compare nos deux listes (our two lists).  The range of rent is only deux cents (two hundred) euros from the cheapest to the most expensive but widely different in personality from un petit studio with a hot plate and divan (couch) that doubles as le lit (the bed) au centre de la ville (in the center of city) to un deux chambres avec la grande cuisine et balcon (a two bedroom with a large kitchen and balcony) on the edge of le ville (the city).  So there is lots to think about.
Daniel is particularly excited about appartements avec (apartments with) pull out couches.  Il est (He is) just dying for someone to come visit.  Well I should get to the apartment list.

Tonight's Picture:

Un petit chaton gris est venu chez nous une nuit.

Pervious Picture:
My sister and I with our grandmother. Today is her birthday.

Or at least le jour (the day) je posted the picture was her birthday.

Je vous ai manqué

(I have missed you)

Life has been a bit busy since l'été a terminé (the summer has ended).  Dans sous trés peu (In very short) une semaine ensuite (a week after) coming maison je started working trois (three) jobs, which je suis trés (I am very) thankful for as ils sont (they are) all theatre jobs.  This combined with just getting set up back in the house has put moi off my blogging.  J'ai (I have) been frenching and le Roseta Stone has been aller been (going well).

J'ai été (I have been) missing mon blog quite a bit, and je believe mon grammer has been missing it as well.  Mais, je suis (But, I am) back et (and) hopefully vous êtes (you are) back avec moi (with me).

Trip Update:

Exciting change Daniel et moi avons (and I have)  moved up our trip to Mai et sommes trés (May and are very) excited plus sur (more on) that to come.

Bienvenue en arrière (Welcome back)

Tonight's Picture:

Mon soeur et moi, avec notre grand-mère a un mariage de famille.  

Aujourd'hui est son anniversaire.

Pervious Picture:

This girl is going to Paris!