Centre Pompidou, mid-day Thursday
Same spot, less shadow. It is okay if I refer to these sculptures as "cute"?
Because they are.
I think this is my favorite Paris picture so far. This little guy hangs out in a drapery shop just down the street from me. A real-live doggie in the window -- but he always looks so worried! :/
Through the MICEFA, I've met some students who will be studying at UT next semester. Yay Texas!
On Friday I went back to ParisTech (you might -- but probably don't -- remember them as the engineering school which hosted the English workshop a couple months ago) to visit James' English class. It was pretty chaotic and sort of reminded me of a few courses I took in high school. For at least the second time, I got the whole "you're from Texas? Are you the daughter of President Bush?" thing. WHEN are people going to get over that? Regardless of my political beliefs, this question is unoriginal, dated (umhello, we have a new President now!), annoying...and statistically, highly unlikely.
I later informed the student that we Texans easily tire of hearing this reaction to our...nationality, let's say ;)
His response: "But it was a joke. I just wanted to see your reaction." Okay, so when you first meet someone, do you always start the conversation with a potentially-insulting "joke"? If that's the only thing you know about Texas...ferme ta gueule!
Thanks.
But the bigger issue here, and the problem I've noticed in general, is that I am sometimes seen as an English-speaking object and not a person. I'm not here to be talked at. Just because you CAN say something in English, doesn't mean you should. At ParisTech's workshop, some of the students were conducting interviews with English-speaking tourists. The question they kept coming back to was "if you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?" I don't know about you, but if I were vacationing in Paris and agreed to participate in an on-camera interview for some rowdy French students, I would consider that question a little invasive.
Learning a language isn't just about learning the grammar and the vocabulary. You need to think about what you're saying.
Okay, I'm done! :)
Italian literature test tomorrow; I'll be happy in approximately 22 hours. Even if the test goes badly, at least it will be over!
Wish me luck,
Alina :)
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