I live in...

Aleta and I had an entire conversation in French yesterday. It was about coats. We talked about how I was cold outside because I didn't have a raincoat or a regular coat. Aleta was like "I don't have a raincoat, I have a coat." It was really entertaining. Yesterday in class, We started a unit on the house. I need to go thorugh and write all the french words on duct tape and stick them on things like the 'fridge. Yeah, I know I have no life. Wanna know how much of a life I don't have? Here you go.

J'habite dans une boite

J'habite dans une boite dans le jardin.


The first one means I live in a box The second one means I live in a box in the garden. Both of these phrases will be put in the "GTUP" Which by the way there is a link at the bottom of the page on the left that says places. Under it, is a link to the Guide to Useful Phrases. I just thought I'd let you know incase you want to get there fairly easily.

In Russian yesterday, We got lists of new vocab. Lots of clothing! It's a hard language because they don't use the same alphabet we do. Grr... Aleta is thinking about dropping Russian. I don't want her to!!!

Spanish phrases that I learned the other day that are pretty interesting:

En su sueños

Puedo ir al baño?


The first means In your dreams. The second one means Can I go to the bathroom? I'm thinking I should really start a guide to useful Spanish phrases but I learn so few of them that it doesn't seem worth it. French is a different story. I learn an interesting phrase in that class almost every day! (touts les jours)

Oh and while I'm thinking of it. Last night, I had been thinking about French a lot and I started singing this song from Annie get your gun A play I was in a few years ago. What was scary about it was I was singing in English but for some reason my head was still in French Mode so every time I came to a phrase I knew in French, I would sing it in French. Rather scary, non?

Essay En Français and Two Poems

OOh I had so much fun in French on Friday. I dislike how we always have to write out sentences that are basically what the language books tell us to write. On Friday, we got to write Essays!! It was exciting. Except that I didn't get done which made me sad. It takes me a long time to write essays in French. I'm not sure why. I think maybe it's because I have to think about otherways to say what I want to say becuse I don't always know how to say it En Français. When I get it back, I'll post it.

I had a revelation on Thursday night. Why spend three or four dollars on a deck of playing cards when you can buy one for 98 cents and customize it yourself? That's what I did. I had a deck of playing cards and I took a permanent marker and wrote "Les Cartes Français" on the back of each one. On the front of each card, I'm putting a french phrase. They're rather amusing. I've also named each Jack after one of the Three Musketeers. Which by the way I'm supposed to be reading in french but I haven't actually started yet. I got distracted what with OGT and everything. (I'm very glad that's over by the way!)

The other day I wanted to post something new in my AIM profile. I wrote a random poem and I thought I'd post it here. Except be forewarned. This poem is ©2005 Abigail.

I close my eyes,
I'm far away
Another time,
Another place
Away from troubles
You have brought me
You don't exsist here
Never will

Okay so that's it. Not one of my better ones. I still think My best poem I've yet written is Rain. I haven't posted it here though. *digs through pile of old papers* Ah! here it is! I suppose that I'll post it. I mean I know this is a language blog, but English is a language and besides, poems pertain to language. If you have a problem with it, too bad. It's my blog! *evil laughter* Okay, seriously. Here you go. Rain

document.write('');Rain,
Falls.
Gently,
From the trees.
Upon,
My upturned face.
Cooling,
My anger.
Cleansing,
My hate.
Part,
Has gone with you.
Never,
Will it return.
Hearts,
Will scar over.
Wounds,
Close forever.
Though,
One piece will always be missing.
One,
Simple piece.
Tears,
Run down my cheeks.
Rain,
Falls.


(Both poems contained in this entry are © 2005, Abigail)

Post Test Report

It was hard but wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Listening was hard. There was a part where we had to figure out which picture went with the conversation, Then there was a part where I had to choose which phrase best completed the conversation. The hardest part was the listening passages. There were two passages and afterwards there were questions. HARD HARD HARD!!! The reading was fairly easy. There was a story that We had to fill in the blanks for. Grammer type stuff. Then there was a ticket, a birth announcement, and an advertisement. All with questions following. It wasn't that bad.

In Russian yesterday, we worked on counting. We also went over the greeting people vocabulary. Shields told us that maybe next time we meet, we'll start a new lesson. We aren't meeting next week because Shields has a meeting.

Ohio Graduation Test next week.

In French we've been learning how to say things like "I wash myself" Since, I can't brush my teeth without thinking: "Je me brosse les dents avec une brosse au dents et du dentifrice"

I've added more to the "Guide to Useful French Phrases." Which from here on out to save typing time will be called GUF.

TOMORROW DUN DUN DUN *scary music*

I'm taking the National French Test tomorrow. Last time I posted, I updated the Guide to Useful French Phrases and I have more to add but I can't right now because I have to get off.

Poem by Jacques Prévert

Okay so not last week at the french thing because I wasn't there, but the week before we worked on listening and reading. There was a poem in the packet that we didn't work on. I wanted to read it though and last night I dug it out and read it. It's really sad. It's by Jacques Prévert and it called Déjeuner du matin Here it is.

Déjeuner du matin
By: Jacques Prévert

Il a mis le café
Dans la tasse
Il a mist le lait
Dans la tasse de café
Il a mis le sucre
Dans le café au lait
Avec la petite cuiller
Il a tourné
Il a bu le café au lait
Et it a reposé la tasse
Sans me parler
Il a allumé une cigarette
Il a fait des ronds
Avec la fumée
Il a mis les cendres
Dans le cendrier
Sans me parler
Sans me regarder
Il s'est levé
Il a mis son chapeau sur sa tête
Il a mis son manteau de pluie
Parce qu'il pleuvait
Et it est parti
Sous la pluie
Sans une parole
Sans me regarder
Et moi, J'ai pris ma tête
Dans ma main
Et j'ai pleuré.

Isn't that sad? Okay, sorry if you can't read it. Get a dictionary. Translating to English doesn't do it justice. It has to stay in FRECH!! STAY! Seriously. I'm okay. I think I should memorize this. I kind of feel for the girl.

In Russian yesterday, We learned how to say I'm in (insert place here) and I live in (insert place here) Russian is so much fun! Jon-Michael and I have been speaking it this morning.

OOh I almost forgot. On Friday (last) Madame set this whole bag of french books infront of me! I 'bout fell over!! YAYAYAYAYAyA!!!!! It made me so happy! and THEN, she let me borrow ALL of them!! WHEEEEE! I'm on my second one. I read an abridged version of Journey to the center of the earth and now I'm reading another short one called "The ghost of white lake" YAYAYAYAYA! Sorry, I'm just really excited. I'm not excited about the National French Test though. It's next week. On the 9th. I'm going to do bad on the grammer part. Grammer is not my strong suit.

Abigail's Guide to 'Useful' French Phrases

C'est ma faut-It's my fault

N'est-ce pas?- Isn't it?

Montrez-moi où sont les toilettes s'il vous plaît!-Show me where the bathrooms are please!

Ne ma touche pas!-Don't touch me!

Les fesses- In a word, butt. We've been learning body parts

Une fessée- a spanking

Excusez-moi Madame, mais ton chien a mangé mon mari!- Excuse me madam, but you dog has eaten my husband!

La foire- The fair

Je donee à manger aux chèvres-I feed the goats

Pourquoi pas?- Why not?

Ce gratte!- It itches!

J'habite dans une boite- I live in a box

J'habite dans une boite dans le jardin.-I live in a box in the garden.

Pauvre bébé!- Poor baby


*Note* This will be updated as I learn more 'useful' french pharases.

Uh...*is lost*

We didn't have Russian this week. It's been a while since I've written so I have no idea what the last thing I wrote about was.

*checks*
Ah yes. The Spanish presentation. Patricia and I did fine. We had to go first which was't fun but it was alright. We got our fifteen points. hooray! *rolls eyes*

I've got Afterschool French this week. Jon-Michael is sitting here next to me Writing on his blog in spanish. (I'm at school.) It makes me feel like maybe I should be writing in french. This is after all a language blog. Or it's supposed to be.

In spanish today I learned about conjugating the verb juegar. Juego con tu hermano I play with your brother. Tu hermano es guapo! Your brother is good looking... *wink wink* No. I'm not really like that. *sigh* I'm really just sitting here killing time. My English project won't print out.

We had to create a brochure about a career that we'd like to go into. Mine was on Anthropology. I wrote a bit of information and used a bunch of pictures. Okay since I'm not doing anything else I could make that 'useful' french phrase guide I've been meaning to do... *ponders*

Spanish Performance

So on Friday in Spanish class, we have to give a performance thingy. We have to recite a telephone conversation. (we had to write it too.) My partener is named Patricia. Here's our performance:

Abigail: Hola?
Patricia: Hola, Quien es?
Abigail: Soy Elena
Patricia: Como estas?
Abigail: Estory enferma
Patricia: Que Lastima!
Abigail: Como estas?
Patricia: Estoy emocionada
Abigail: Pour qué?
Patricia: porque voy al concierto
Abigail: Que chevere!
Patricia: Te gustaria ir al concierto?
Abigail: Claro que si! Cuando?
Patricia: Manana a las cuatro
Abigail: Bien!
Patricia: Adios!
Abigail: Hasta manana!

I should really work on memorizing it. But at the moment I really don't feel like it! My grandma's in the hospital.

Jon-Michael and I practiced our Russian all during homeroom. It was fun to actually be able to say a few things like "straasveetsya" which is the best I can do phonetically. It means hello. We also practiced asking each other what our names were and how we were. It was rather amusing actually, not at all boring. Yay! it's fun to speak Russian because it sounds so cool. Hello is my favorite word to say other than Yabloko (apple) because it sounds the most Russian. Jon-Michael and I also got to learn how to write our names in Russian. YAY!

I really do need to post my list of "useful" French phrases. It seems like I get more and more everyday. Maybe I'll do that here in a minute. Sounds like something good. Though I really should work on chemistry...Nah!

Russian Wednesday(yay), Catching Up, and HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

ick ick ick! Okay so My grandma's been having problem's and I haven't been able to get online much so the blog is seriously behind. I still havn't gotten into the template and added Mrs. McLaughlin to the people section.

6 in Russian today. We began to learn such useful (I'm being serious about this useful) phrases as: hello, good-bye, what's your name? and How are you? I would type them here because 1. I don't have a Russian font and 2. I don't want anyone making fun of me writing them phonetically in english. So sorry. Maybe in the future I'll work with it but for now, you just have to hear about it in English.

I've begun to collect a list of "Useful" French Phrases. When I get a chance which may be tomorrow because I don't have to stay afterschool for once, I'll be posting them. I'll periodically add to them either in the same entry or I'll just make separate entries. I'm not sure yet.

"Useful" Spanish Phrase of the Day: Deje un mensaje despues del tono Leave a message after the tone.

Estoy Enferma

Estoy enferma

Finally I learned how to say something cool in Spanish class. I actually learned it Thursday but forgot to post it in the blog! It means "I'm sick" I was happy to learn it because I've had a cold for the past couple of weeks.

I have to write a persuasive essay for McLaughlin. I have no idea what my topic is going to be either. We had to write a thesis statement so I made up a really bad one that's not going to be what I actually use.

The Spanish news is that Friday I freaked everyone out again (or was it thursday?... No, friday) we always have to make flashcards with our new vocabulary after we take a test so thursday night I did but I also had to type them up and IM them to a friend who had forgotten his book. Therefore, I actually wrote the words twice. Usually I can remember quite a few words just by doing the flashcards but Friday I was remembering them really well and of course all the people in the *cough cough*LD*cough cough* spanish class started freaking out they were all like "what did you do go and study 'till four in the morining." Well obviously they think I don't have a life. For their information I do and I can't help it that Language is my gift. So yeah I'm telling them "no I don't" and the whole time I'm thinking "Just shut up you idiots.." It's not that I was embarrassed I actually kind of enjoyed the attention. Yet in a way it's kind of annoying... ah well. I've got to get off and let my mom on so g'night all....

Russian (yay) Yesterday and English Teacher

So we had Russian after school yesterday. This week there were only four people as opposed to last time's 15. Ah well. We practeced writing the letters of the alphabet and we also practiced writing words to help us with our cursive. That's about it.

I have made an executive descision. I'm including English. I can't not include it anymore. (Yes, I know that's a double negative.) Here's why... My hobbie in English class is that whenever we have a test with short answers, I always pick the short answer where I can write an opinion. That way, I can say whatever I want and get points for it just so long as I support my answer. I keep doing it for one reason... Reaction. Mrs. McLaughlin always writes some rather interesting comments on my short answer answers. Today however, I got the best one of all, and I actually wrote something halfway decent. So here it is. The question is underlined, my answer is in regular font and her comment is in italics. Enjoy!

Do you think Bradbury is too pessimistic about technology? Support your opinion with details from [The Pedestrian] and from the real world.

No because I can see his point. In the story, it talks about how everyone sits at home watching something similar to television. No one does anything else. I can definitely see where he's coming from because one thing people in the real world like to do is sit around and watch T.V. More people watch T.V. than read. It's rather scary if you think about it.
Yes! Also scary is how they're in denial about it! Scarier-the books on the best-seller list are mostly garbage!

So there you have it. Personally, I found it all quite funny and so even though this is mostly experiences with foreign language, I have to talk about English just because of this. Whenever I get a new one, I'll post it and when I find the others that I did, I will post them too! whoo hoo! Cheap entertainment!

Reviews:Movies:La Vita è Bella

La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful)
Directed By: Roberto Benigni
Staring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi
Languages: Italian, English Subtitles, German (German not subtitled)


This movie is absolutly wonderful! Guido Orefice usues humor and surprise to court and eventually marry the beautiful Dora. Five years later they have a son and the Nazi's have taken power. Guido and his family are taken to a concentration camp. There, Guido tries to comfort his son by telling him they are playing a game.
Essentially this movie holds the theme of sarcifice. It does a good job of telling about the horrors of the holocaust without getting to violent. I know, I know, The Holocaust was a terrible event. I've read. But still this movie does a good job. I don't think that blood is usually neccesary. Much can be left up to the imagination. Though this story isn't really about the son, more about Guido, it tells about the Holocaust from the son's point of view.
Overall Fluency Rating: 5

Weeked

So, over the weekend I had some interesting things happen. First off, Saturday evening my Mom, Dad, and I went to my brother's house to eat, hang out, and watch movies. One of the movies we watched was one I've been wanting to see... Life is Beautiful. IT WAS REALLY GOOD! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel warm and fuzzy. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how good it was. I'll be posting the review because it's in italian.

Next fall, I'm planning on doing post-secondary. Which is when I go to college for free and get both high school and college credit. I'm planning on attending Kent State. My problem however, was that I can't access the online catalog from my computer. So I went with mom to work yesterday and got on the computer there and accessed the catalog. RUSSIAN! Kent state has RUSSIAN! They also have ITALIAN!! And French, and Spanish and Japanese. I'm going to attempt to either take Russian or Italian next year! Yay!

Fun in Study Hall

During exam week, we have 3 exams a day and we have study halls during the lunch periods which are 4/5 6/7 and 8/9. the people who have lunch go to lunch and everyone who has a class one of those periods goes to the class to do nothing. 8/9 is when I usually have French. Now that you know all of that, here's the story.

Madame wants us to do something productive while we're in study hall in her room. She had some games out (in french of course) that I assume were out because AP is in there the period before us. So my friend Joye and I started looking at a game called 'fish.' "Poisson' in french. We asked Madame if we could play and she said yes just so long as we played it in french. Joye, me and two or three other girls spent the period going back and forth with "donne-moi tout les cartes de..." and then inserting the name such as "René Requin" It was actually really fun. Not only did we ask those things but we threw in other words here and there. Le salle bête when someone stole three of the four cards you needed. Zut when the same thing happened. Yup. Good times. Don't know when or if we'll be able to do it again. But it was fun!

Exams

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Okay, I feel much better now... Exams started today. They were supposed to start yesterday but didn't because of a snowday. Unfortunetly, the snow also cancelled Russian for the week. Jon-Michael and I were sad.

Took the Spanish exam today among others. It was pretty easy but I think I messed up on one part. Shields also showed us the test we took Tuesday. I got 36 out of 35. Whoop de doo! I don't take the French exam until next Tuesday. I'm going away with my youth group for the weekend. I can't wait.

One thing I've noticed since starting this blog; The french door is open more often. I think about all the language stuff and then I start thinking about french, then I start realizing that I know how to speak quite a bit of French. It's all rather exciting!

Did I mention that I watched the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast in French the other night? It was rather interesting. I was surprised at how much I actually understood.

Afterschool Meeting

Five girls meet with Madame after school. She wants us all to take the National French Test as I think I've mentioned before. So we had our weekly meeting and Haley brought snacks. Boy she brought a bunch too! Chips and Italian ice, cookies too. French three had french club today so Madame had some stuffe called Buch de Noel. It was really good and she gave us all the recipe.

We learned about opposites today. Learned about a bunch of new words. I had to leave early and go to another meeting elswhere in the school. Now there are two other people reading Chair de Poule books.

When I walked into spanish today, I about passed out! It was so hot! I was wearing a hoodie too! ACK! Spanish usually isn't as exciting as French, but then my class is really slow. I joke that it's the LD spanish class. (No offence to anyone with a learning disability) It's made up of preps and guys who sit around and play Halo 2 all day. Mr. Shields gave us this worksheet that had English phrases we were supposed to translate. When I finished, no one else was done. So I amused myself by translating the sentences into French too! Man, I have no life!

Books and Recipe

Madame is getting more books! She showed me the catalog today and she's getting like ten books! I can't wait until they come in. Then I can read them! For now, she gave me another Chair de Poule book. In english the title is Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes. In french, it's La Revanche Des Lutins. I havn't started it yet.

In our Cahier (workbook) today, we read a recipe. It sounded really good so I thought I'd post it. I'll let you know when I try it.
Salade Niçoise (pour 4 personnes)
-Prenez un grand bol.
-Dans ce bol, mettez quelues feuilles de salade.
-Coupez quatre tomates en tranches et mettez-les dans le bol.
-Ajoutez d'autres feuilles de salade.
-Coupez deux oeufs durs en trances et ajoutez-les à la salade.
-Ajoutez aussi des anchois, du thon et, si vous voulez, du jambon coupé en cubes.
-Ajoutez du sel et du poivre.
-Sur cette salade, versez une cuillère de vinaigre et trois cuillères d'huile.
-Mettez la salade su réfrigérateur une demi-heure.
-Votre salade est prête. Vous pouvez la serbir.
Bon appétit!


see, it sounds really good except for the anchovies. Even the tomatoes sound good and I don't even like them. Here's the new vocab I learned.
coupez- Cut
Versez- Pour
l'huile- Oil
prête- ready

Spanish class has been okay the last couple of days. Mr. Shields is sick. He was at school yesterday, but not tuesday or today. It's rather boring sitting there for an hour, watching a movie and answering questions.

Reviews:Books:Prends Garde Au Bonhomme De Neige

Prends Garde Au Bonhomme De Neige
By: R.L. Stine
Translated By: J. Lussier
Language: French

This is in the Chair de Poule series. In english, that is Goosebumps. I guess you could say that this the the first "real" book I've read in French. (I don't count those thin little 32 page books that Madame was giving me.)

This book was surprisingly good. It pulled me in and made me want to know what was going to happen next. I wanted to know why there were strange snowmen outside of each house in the little village, and why there was a strange man living on the mountain with a white wolf. Basically, this story is about a girl and her aunt who move from montreal to an unnamed little town where it snows all the time. The girl hears strange stories about a giant evil snowman who lives on the summet of the mountain. The story progresses from there.

Overall Fluency Rating: 3

**Special Note** When Madame gave me this book she told me it was hard. Personally I didn't find it hard but then I'm one of those types who reads all the time.

What I Did Today En Français

Configuring electrons is fun! Alright, so just for fun I told my mom in french what I did when I got home from school today. Of course she didn't understand it and told me to "tell" her. Since she doesn't appreciate the fact that I can speak french, I have decided to post it here. So with out further ado...
Mon Après-Midi
Premier, j'ai couri. J'ai fait des animaux. J'ai nettoié mon bureau un peu. Finalement, j'ai joué du piano et J'ai fait mes devoirs.

So that was my afternoon. whoop de doo!

I just realized how much french I've been putting into this blog. Sorry but I know more french than anything else and I can't really Type sign language now can I? But I do have a sentence or two that I have retained for use if I ever travel to Spain.
Mi hermano es gordo y feo
Mi padre toca la guitarra.

That's all I've got.

Reviews:Movies:"La Belle et La Bête"

La Belle et La Bête
Directed by: Jean Cocteau
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day
Language: French with English Subtitles

This is a wonderful film. It could even be called a work of art. Yes, it is older, yes, it's in black and white, but that just adds to the beauty of it. This is the typical story of beauty and the beast. Belle asks her father to bring her a rose from his trip. He happens to pluck one out of the garden of the beast... Things go from there. There are some interesting things done with the story however, such as the beast's smoking hands. There are many interesting camera shots, such as one that done through the window of a litter that's being carried. There are also some interesting effects. Though nothing like Star Wars, they look pretty cool. If One happens to see the dvd version of this movie, it is also worthwhile to check out at least a little of the Philip Glass opera that is included. A downside is that the movie can be slightly confusing at times. When my family watched it, we didn't quite understand the whole thing with the smoking hands and had to go back to the opening and watch it again.
Some humor, love, romance, and an interesting ending all make this a great film for everyone!

Overall Fluency Rating: 4