Living Simple
We rented a condo with two bedrooms (although the girls' bedroom is really the dining room) It is in the second floor, there is no backyard, we are used to that, no garage, we are used to that as well. Here is the simplicity of the matter. In the kitchen there is only two pots, one medium and one small, two pans, one medium and one small. A set of cups and plates, enough silverware for four people and the necessary utensils but not overwhelming like I have in my kitchen I can't even open my drawer!!! There is a can opener, a wine opener, a cheese grater, two serving spoons, one with wholes, (I don't know the name of it) a ladle, a spaghetti thingy, I don't own one of those so I don't know the name of it, but it is kind of handy. There are two small tupperware containers and two big ones, some dish towels, a washer and drier and a box of different kinds of tea (heaven!!) The living room has a couch and two chairs, no TV, no air conditioner, which we don't mind because we never use it.
We brought in our little car: light stuff for camping, some of my kitchen things I can't live without, for example, my Vitamix! (I have to drink my GGS every morning!) my iron frying pan, a wooden spoon, a spatula, a knife, (thank goodness cause there were only serving knives here) and some pinchers. Each girl has three dresses, two skirts, four short sleeve blouses and four long sleeve, a sweater and a jacket, swimsuit, two pairs of jeans/long pants, four pairs of shorts, camping gear, very minimal, some socks and underwear and four pairs of shoes, including the ones they wore on the way here. We have pretty much the same in our suitcases. Although I have six pairs of shoes, which I will tell you later my reflexion about this. We also brought some food staples that we like to have like honey, oatmeal, flaxseed, etc.
We all brought some kind of entertainment, I brought my computer, my knitting (trying to make a pair of socks) and some books I want to read before school starts again. The girls brought one of their American Girl's Dolls and some of their clothes, a chapter book they wanted to read, a drawing pad and their computer. They also brought comfort stuff, like their pillows and blankets, I am missing my pillow! The hubby brought his computer.
So, that is all we brought in our car and it is all we have to survive for a month. Today I wanted to tell you just my reflexions of the first day we were here.
Day 1
We got here on a Monday night just directly to bed. So our first full day was Tuesday, it was raining and we were too tired to try to do anything. The girls found in one of the drawers two barbies, a Kent, a baby and their clothes, not a lot but they were so excited for this, they also found a baby chair, a baby stroller and the baby to go with it. On their bed they found two stuff animals, they have brought two also, the ones they sleep with. I haven't seen my girls playing with these kind of toys for a long time, mostly they play outside, they do have a big imagination. In a matter of minutes they had created this whole world where the barbies had a very interesting life. I felt really grateful that they are used to create their own games, and that they do not need "the screen" to be entertain. But this was only day one, and this are the only toys they have, let's see what happens after a week.
I realized we didn't have anything to eat other than cereal, so I decided I was going to go to the store. First thing I noticed is, most everybody here either walks or bikes to places, and they also always bring their shopping bag. Me and the girls started walking trying to follow google maps, we walked for like it seemed forever, the little street was very active, lots of people, lots of bakeries, people eating outside everybody speaking French!!! So, our first tasks after google map failed was to ask somebody where the store was. THIS IS MY FIRST REFLEXION AS A LANGUAGE LEARNER I was so rude!! I asked in English, because rude me is thinking, well, everybody should speak English, or they better speak it! I felt very bad about this, I felt like a bad example for my girls, I mean, my mom always says, when in Rome do as the Romans, and here I was trying to impose my language on others, I know some can speak English, but they were not speaking English at the moment, and what is it that I said all the time to my students: "If I talk to you in Spanish or you hear me speaking in Spanish you need to use Spanish"
Lucky for me, the lady could understand me and nicely told me where the store was. At the store I made more Language mistakes, and I didn't even apologize, I asked a question in English eventhough the guy said "oui, madame?" The worse of the worse, at the Deli, the lady talked to me in French, and I quickly answered in English and order 1 pound of ham!!! they do not use pounds here!!! they use kilos!! I payed $11 for a lot of ham!! and all because I was feeling self conscious of looking stupid or iliterate, I don't know why. Then the girl at the cashier asked me in french where my bags where and I had to say "what???" and she was kind of rude when she realized I didn't speak French, she quickly ring me and at the end she said something in French I didn't understand, maybe she said bye, have a good day, or maybe she said, go learn French before you attempt to go shopping!! The best part of this day was that my daughters had to return the shopping cart and when they came back they had the biggest smile on their faces, then they told me "mami, a lady asked us in French if she could have the cart and we just nodded and smile and gave it to her and she said merci!" and I was like, how did you know what she said, and they were like "well, we didn't but we infer it cause of the way she moved her hands and all that"! Wow!! TWO LANGUAGE LEARNERS REALLY DO HAVE LOTS OF STRATEGIES TO MAKE SENSE OF LANGUAGES, I have forgotten about this because I have not been in this position for a long time.
In conclusion, one thing I won't make my students do anymore is assume that they understand me fully just because they are in Dual Language, or because their parents are Hispanic, also, to not be rude when they can express themselves in the language I want them to express themselves, because learning a language is hard, it takes practice, it takes time, it takes immersion, and even after all of that, unless you really use it, it won't matter how much Duolingo you do everyday. :) (I still love Duolingo)
Do you know what is the funny part of all of this? I told our host our adventure of the day and (she is from France and can hardly speak English but she tries her best to use English with us) she told me that the grocery store was use right across the street!!!! ha ha ha!!
Comment about my reflexion in learning another language, what do you think?
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