french

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International exchange

I think I’ve mentioned before that I am on a website that allows you to communicate with “penpals” from other countries in an effort to learn about cultures and practice various language skills. One French girl I communicate with encouraged asking each other what is “weird” about our respective cultures. I wrote her and asked for her view on the U.S.! Her response was precious:

“Yes i was in US (NY, Brooklyn) for a month and a half during end of May, June and July. And NY is a crazy city. I am in love with that city.

What was crazy ? Haha you’ll not believe me but two people propose me to married, have american nationality and see if we will want to have a future. BUT in my head it was the contrary haha,  first you know the person and after you marry him haha (of course if you like him)

Hmmm Cotsco is BIG and crazy for us. I also saw Diet Burger haha.

I was near sunset park (*I think she means Central Park*) and there was asian people who practiced tai chi, juwish was running in suit, Porto Rican people was with their kids playing or eating food (smell so good) and at night every old guy of all nationality played chest together.
In that moment, i realized that i can see that, only in NY.

I was very happy to live in that area.”

I’m not even from New York and this oddly makes me kinda proud!

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So what have I been up to…?

I have been in Georgia for exactly 3 weeks now. Honestly, that move from NC feels like a million years ago already. Does that mean time is flying, or dragging? I get confused.

Anyway, boredom/insanity has not hit yet, which is such a relief. Somehow I manage to keep busy with random things every day.

The not-so-random things I’m finding to do are giving me structure and something to look forward to! Primarily, I am learning French and loving it. I’m using both Rosetta Stone and a program called Duolingo, which everyone should check out if you are at all interested in learning a language. It’s fun, efficient, and FREE. I take my lessons right on my iPad. I’m curious to see how advanced it gets, but so far, I’d say it’s moving a little quicker than RS, yet is somehow equally as thorough.

As for RS itself, I’ll have to see how it plays out. Since I already have a base in French (I took it for 3 years in high school), I’m not sure what I will think of it once I’m truly learning new material. It’s great, but I’m interested to see if it’s worth the price.

To get real-world practice and supplement the textbook version, I created an account on InterPals, for a French pen pal. It has all the risks one might expect with an online chat service, but it’s pretty easy to weed out the crazies. I found some good connections, and have only been offered three marriage proposals 🙂 The Egyptian who quoted Phil Collins for me was super hard to resist… right!!!

In other news, classes on the base gym are just $3. I signed up for Butt & Guts, which was cancelled, so I took spinning instead. I HATE spinning. It was a good cardio/leg workout, but talk about boring. Let’s just say I won’t do that one again… but I WILL go back!! Just for something else.

Otherwise, September wedding planning/logistics is just about finished, so I’m ready to tackle the October weddings. I applied for two jobs, just for kicks and to see what happens (probably nothing). Chuck and I recruited another couple from his class for some whitewater rafting this weekend (yay!), and I leave for lovely Breckenridge, CO next Thursday for my sister’s nuptials.

Moving right along over here…!