My Fascinating French Fries...

Hello everyone! Again, it’s been awhile since my last e-mail. I hope this e-mail finds you all well and in good spirits. Especially those of you in Jersey, where I hear the weather is more beautiful than it is here along the Mediterranean. What gives?

Nothing too exciting has happened since the last e-mail. I just had a day of teaching, which proved to be a pretty good day. I decided to give them a quiz-like thing, but not for the purpose of grading. It was more for the purpose of seeing what I needed to continue reviewing, and what they really weren’t getting. But it was funny, because the poor French Fries were petrified about the prospect of the quiz (even though the week before they were begging me for one, which I thought was the weirdest thing in the world). But anyway, it took forever for them to simply understand the concept of the ‘quiz’, and then it took an even longer time to make them understand what they were supposed to do with them (who thought matching could be so friggin’ complicated?!). But upon reviewing most of the papers, I can clearly discern that my teaching is completely subpar, because they don’t even know their numbers . But they all seemed to do really well with colors, which was sort of weird.

But anyway, along with the quiz, I started teaching shapes. And to make it a little more entertaining for them, I made up a sort of Tangram sheet, where they had to color the different shapes certain colors, and then cut them out and then make anything with the shapes. Anything their imagination could afford them. I demonstrated my lame house, but I was sooooo pleased by some of the things they came up with. I took pictures of some of my favorites so you could see them .

So, over the course of the last week I gave all my classes my e-mail address, in case they wanted to ask me questions or wanted to practice their English (and I wanted to be able to practice my French, as well). So that’s when they all recognized the fact that they can use my yahoo name with MSN Messenger, so the next time I signed into MSN, there they were…15 requests for new online contacts. And since then, I have had some gems of conversations. I even included a couple excerpts from them for your entertainment. The first girl always asks me questions about Hollywood and movie stars. It’s so cute, and somehow all conversation comes back to “Desperate Housewives”, which is absolutely fine with me! I thought you should see their cute attempts at English, too.

The second student is one of those that I am going to keep around merely for self confidence resolution.  You’ll get it when you read it.


Student says:
hi
Dina says:
hello
Dina says:
how are you?
•Student says:
hay am happy and you
Dina says:
I am happy! And I am tired. Are you tired?
Dina says:
sleepy?
Student says:
happy and you
Dina says:
I am happy
Dina says:
comme ca
Student says:
yes

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Student says:
hello dina c'est my susan !! (It’s me, Susan!!)
Student says:
har way you ? (how are you)
Student says:
tu connais le restaurent "kfc"? (you know of KFC ?)
Dina says:
bien sur! c'est tres populair en amerique (of course ! it’s very popular in America)
Dina says:
tu l'aimes?' (you like it ?)
Student says:
oui il est très bon je laime trop et le macdonald aussi ! et toi ? (yes, it’s ver good, i like it too much and McDonald’s too ! and you?)
Dina says:
oui! mais j'essaie de n'y manger pas trop! (yes ! but I try not to eat there too much !)
Dina says:
mais je l'aime beaucoup (but I like it a lot)
Student says:
moi des fois jy vais beaucoup de soirs et puis après j'ai plus envie dy aller !! (sometimes I go there a lot of evenings and I still want to go there !!)

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Student says:
Coucou (Knock knock)
Dina says:
:)
Student says:
ca va dina (It’s going, Dina ?)
Dina says:
Oui (yes)
Dina says:
et toi? (and you)
Student says:
OUI (It’s going)
Student says:
TU ES TROP BELLE (You are very pretty)
Student says:
DINA
Dina says:
merci beaucoup!!! (Thank you very much!!)
Student says:
DERIEN (You’re welcome)


So that’s the fun school stuff. Aside from school, things have been pretty quiet for me. I was sort of sick last week, so I didn’t go out too much. However, last night we went to Monaco to celebrate Sapna’s roommate’s (Elena’s) birthday. It was pretty fun, but we were going with a large group, so it just got a little out of hand with trying to get everyone together, and finding something that everyone wanted to do. But I voted Elena got first pick, since it was her birthday. So we went to the same club we went to last time, Karrément. I have some pics for you from last time we went there, and it was pretty much the same, except maybe a little more crowded. It was funny though, because I ran into my Italian acquaintances whom I tried to convince I spoke Italian to. They didn’t believe me this time either, when I pretended to speak Italian. They’re good.

So here’s some more By The Numbers for you.

4 times this week that I was downwind from an old man that decided to offer up some flatulence.
1 old lady sitting next to me who looked at me and cracked up with me on occasion #4

2 times this month that the bus Control boarded my bus to make sure everyone paid for their voyage.
2 people that were kicked off the bus and fined a whole lot of money for not having a pass.

5 students that asked if I had a webcam when I gave them my e-mail address
5 students I lied to and said I didn’t have a webcam.
1 student who kept insisting to the point of asking if I had a phone he could call.
1 gullible student who believed I didn’t have a phone.

4 glasses of apple juice I had at bars in the last 3 days. I’m sort of on a kick.
6 Airborne tablets I took in two days. I may suffer from Vitamin C poisoning.

1 person who made fun of me at Karrément for going all out and rocking to Offspring’s “Self-Esteem”
3 people who started rocking out with me.

5 blisters I have on my feet from my stupid shoes last night.
25 years it looks like my feet have been professionally dancing with the Russian Ballet Company. (They’re pretty horrid).

9 e-mails I received from you guys since the last bloggy e-mail thing. Thank you!! I love receiving them.

50 times a day I realize how much I miss all of you.

1984 is a great year because I was born, but also a really depressing book that I just finished this week here.

38 days until Megan comes!!

Ta-Da!! I am finally finished with this epic e-mail. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I miss you so very much!!

XOXOX,
Dina