my reputation precedes me

Kudos to my A-100 colleague over at Fawda Munathema for this astute observation about the reputation of FSOs:

“Conservatives view you as a paper-pushing, overeducated bureaucrat who talks with the foreigners instead of kicking their asses. Liberals view you as a tool of an imperialist, capitalist, globalist machine that kills babies and puppies in poor countries. To the apolitical you’re just this weird guy who volunteered to move from third-world country to third-world country every two years.”

So true.buy propecia in the uk

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how many words do you know?

Some trivia: The average college-educated adult knows about 20,000 words.

Interesting? Absolutely.

Horrifying and daunting to those of us trying to learn a second language? Yes, that too.

But fear not, because there’s more: The average college-educated adult only uses about 2,000 of the words she knows in her everyday speech. Now that sounds much better.

By my completely unscientific calculation, I think I have around 500 French words committed to memory. Of course, recalling and conjugating them at lightning speed will continue to be the challenge, but it’s still reassuring that I already have tucked away somewhere in my brain 25% of the vocabulary I’ll need to conduct myself in French like a somewhat intelligent adult.

Well, aside from the whole issue of my accent. But we’re just going to pretend that problem doesn’t exist for now. Thanks.propecia generic from india

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académie française

Since we started French, we’ve heard a great deal about Académie Française. (Our instructor gets a dreamy look in his eye whenever he finds a way to work it in to the conversation.) From what I’ve gathered, it’s some sort of academic body of French-language scholars who essentially determine what is and isn’t correct French.

If I didn’t like something about the language, well, blame the Académie. If I didn’t like a pronunciation rule, blame the Académie. Abbey was barking at a squirrel the other day and I’m pretty sure I blamed the Académie for that too.

I was curious to learn a little more about Académie Française, so I did some research. (Thanks Wikipedia.)

Some interesting facts:

  • The Académie is made up for 40 members known as Immortels.
  • New members must eulogize the member they replace before taking their seat (meaning sometimes people  turn down prestigious invitations to join simply to avoid having to say something nice about an enemy).
  • The Académie was officially established in 1635.
  • Of the 719 Immortels, only six have been women.
  • One of the Académie’s responsibilities is to issue official dictionaries.
  • They have issued eight dictionaries so far, with the last being released in 1934.
  • They are still working on the ninth edition, but they’re totally almost done, they swear. They just got really busy and then, you know, the holidays were here so no one could work on it. Now it’s been so long and the internet happened, and that’s a lot of new words, so they kind of wanted to start over. But they really thought they sent you a draft. Maybe check your spam filter.

Looking at the list of past Immortels, I’m disappointed not to see any former FSI students. But fear not: I have a plan! I’ve decided that a 3/3 on my exam is no longer enough. I’m gunning for Immortel-dom. Unattainable? Maybe. But remember that few people beyond dreamy-eyed French instructors really seem to care about the Académie Française these days. It may not be too long before they’re begging pseudo-proficient Americans for membership.free trial of cialis

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baskin robbins, eat your heart out

Ever since my friend Anne got us an ice cream machine (!!!!), we’ve gone kind of, well, overboard — not only making but also of course consuming many, many batches, including:

  • Jasmine tea with chocolate slivers
  • Brown sugar cinnamon
  • Spicy chocolate
  • Fresh mint with Oreos

Mmm.

(Any suggestions for future ice creamery are very welcome.)

The ice cream maker is but one of many kitchen upgrades we hope to make before our March 2011 departure for Benin. You’d think moving to the developing world would require downsizing technologically, but I’ve been assured that our house will be equipped to handle anything, assuming of course we invest in the appropriate converters. Bread machine? No problem. Pasta maker? Sure. Deep fryer? Why not.

We’ve already got most of the basics (except for a food processor — that’s probably next up), but what other kitchen gadgets would you suggest? The more bizarre (i.e. the more popular they would make us at potlucks), the better.buy xenical or orlistat

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french, french and more french

Proof we’re taking this French stuff seriously:

  • Abbey now answers to Abi (said with a ridiculously exaggerated French accent, of course), and has also taken to wearing a beret (okay, okay — not true).
  • We’ve accidentally said merci or pardon to random strangers more times than we can count.
  • We speak to one another almost exclusively in French at home, using caveman-like sentences of course, but is that really so different from usual anyway?
  • Andy downloaded a Sherlock Holmes audiobook en Francais and now spends more hours a night doing “homework” than I’m sure he ever did in high school or college.
  • Alex has traded People for Paris Match. (Well, mostly. Paris March doesn’t cover The Bachelorette.)
  • Our idea of a wild night out is the French conversation group at a nearby coffee shop.
  • Our Facebook accounts have been set to French long enough that we’ve got the translations for “wall post” and “…is now friends with…” down pat. (Useful stuff, eh?)

Although we of course wish progress would come more quickly (Can’t we just be fluent already?), we’re actually doing pretty well. Our class shrunk to five people at the beginning of this week, so we’re getting more conversation practice than before. And we both have a good enough grasp on the grammar we’ve been taught that we’ve been moving ahead to more difficult stuff on our own. (If only there weren’t still like 1,343 tenses left to learn…)

It’s easy to push ourselves that extra mile when there’s so much at stake.

My motivation: my job depends on it.

Andy’s motivation: the millions that await him when he’s fluent enough to create a universal translator app for the iPhone, à la Star Trek. (Yeah, yeah. I know. But let’s let him have his dream.)

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give me five

So far, French has had its ups and downs. There have been sessions where I thought I was really getting the hang of things. Then there were others where I couldn’t understand the homework at all. And by that I don’t mean the homework was difficult, I mean I literally could not understand the French my teacher was using to tell us what the homework assignment was.

Today, though, was a first. I wish I could say it was the first time that I found myself thinking in French instead of translating, or that it was the first time I made it through a class without any pronunciation problems. But it wasn’t either of those things. Today was the first time my teacher gave me – gave anyone – a high five for excellent French.

Why did I get the high five, you ask? Well, during an exercise when we were practicing ways to tell someone that you did not understand them, I found myself unable to figure out a way to rephrase my question in another way. So instead I simply told my speaking partner (in French, of course) that I would repeat myself, but more slowly. And then I began to repeat myself, more slowly.

Alex thinks I got the high five because the teacher was impressed with me. I think it’s because I finally said something right and he was throwing me a bone.

Either way, I think a high five should be worth at least half a point on the final exam. I hope I can cash it in.lowest price levitra

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benin in the news

A peak into what’s going on these days in Benin…

CNN: “Accusations of child witchcraft on the rise in Africa

BBC: “Benin – democracy, the Chinese way – or voodoo?

Bloomberg: “Benin’s government seizes cars, buildings and money from executives of ICC

Afrique en Lingue: “Benin lifts dissolution of national football team

NPR: “A Russian Milestone: 1st Black Elected to Officecheapest propecia us

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3 weeks down, 21 to go

For the first two weeks of French, Andy and I were in different classes held at different times. Well, no more. Our two larger classes were rearranged at the beginning of this week into five smaller ones, and despite my pleas to the powers that be, we ended up in the same class. (Kidding. There were no pleas. No casual requests even.)

Truth be told, though, I was a little worried about how this all would go.  Would I get frustrated if Andy caught on more quickly than I did? Would we get sick of spending all day every day together? Would Abbey rip the carpet to shreds in retribution for being abandoned by both of us at once?

Much to my surprise, it’s actually turned out fine. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s turned out well. We’re pretty evenly stacked as French learners: I remember more vocabulary and grammar than Andy, but his pronunciation doesn’t draw our professor’s ire the way mine does. (Side note: I’ve made no progress in Operation Conquer the French R.)

I’ve even discovered some perks to sharing a class with Andy. Like, if I finish my Coke Zero, there’s another one there for me to steal.

As for Abbey, she’s been sleeping her way through our absence just like before.

So, all is well. Well, everything except the fact that we’re supposed to be speaking real French by the middle of December. (My end of training exam date is officially set for December 14.) I still don’t see how that’s going to happen…

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ouch, my knee

I finished my second triathlon over the weekend.

Congrats! You came in #1792!

It’s strange to think that by next year I’ll be far away in Benin and couldn’t participate in the NYC Tri even if I wanted to. Not that I want to. My old man knees are crying out for retirement.

Alex and I are eyeing the Marathon de Paris, however. It would be a great way to see the city, although I think my knee just gave me a dirty look.

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