Dora is a bad influence?

My MIL brought a DVD of Dora when they came to visit. At first Queenie wasn´t sure about this little girl, but after just one episode every other cartoon was forgotton. On the DVD there are about 10 episodes of Dora and her monkey friend helping some other animal find it's way, getting a chocolate tree planted or some other such repetiviness. In the States Dora is meant to teach kids Spanish. As she might speak 1 or 2 words of Spanish during each episode I highly doubt this objecctive ever comes to pass. In Spain Dora is used to teach English! Duh! They already speak Spanish! :) All they do is invert the languages. Again, as she says maybe 2 words of English the entire time I doubt any kid in Spain attributes their learning English to Dora. Although at the park once a little girl told her mother that I spoke like Dora! So at least we have language recognition happening!
Anyway, my dice with Dora episodes in Spanish is that when she speaks English she has an ACCENT! I am not kidding. It really erks me. First of all, a child who is completely bilingual does not carry over their accent into the other language. It just doesn't happen. Queenie speaks Spanish like her papa and English like me. At least she did. Until Dora came along. Second of all, there is no reason to teach English to kids with an accent! It doesn't help them understand better, it does nothing! Kids are a blank slate! They don't need an accent! That is an adult thing because we become to lazy to listen properly.
Yesterday Queenie was speaking fine until she started talking about Dora and suddenly her English was riddled with a Spanish accent! It is enough to make me burn the stupid DVD! I had to continually correct her on words she knows how to speak until I just decided to give up. I guess this too shall pass, but in the meantime it is annoying! Even more annoying than singing "Mochila, mochila" ("backpack, backpack")

Expats welcome?

Living far from home, in a different country always gives you an opportunity to learn and complain. When we first got to France last March there were a few reasons I didn't go right out and assosiate myself with other English speakers: a) I wanted to learn French and by associated oneself with people of your native language you put yourself up for failure in learning the other language. Really. Think about it. You are around people who are like you. It is easy to talk to them and make friends and it is ever so comfortable. What is going to make you go out and speak French? Not much. b) I was enormous waiting for a baby to arrive. c) The few playgroups I tried to connect with were so far away from the center and few responded to my inquiries about other things. d) I didn't want to start my stay in France listening to the biases of others who were trying to learn or not learn about the culture.

When you get together with ex-patriots (people living in a country that is not their own) the conversation usually tends to end up with each person telling a story about the "strangness" of that country or its people. In other words we all tend to end up complaining about the people of that country. There is so much to complain about: doctors, culture, language, the attitude of the natives towards the invaders (us), etc. From the way they hold their fork to what they eat to how they dress, an expat can find something to complain about and make themselves think that their country is better. Usually.

Not to say that we are all so bitchy. Not all of us. But you have to remember that we are far from home and it is easy to see thing close up and to.....misinterrupret. Come on, we all do it. Whether we are in our home country or not.

I am trying to learn not to do so and it is a reason why I still hesitate to sign up to be a member of these English speaking groups. I hesistate to get together with women who speak my language even though I am a bit desperate for friends because I just don't want to be sucked into complaining all the time or seeing the French in a way I dn't want to see them: through the bias of other peoples' "bad" experiences. It already happens at the park. Just a few days ago I was speaking to a lady who related to me the rude experiences she had had just that morning. And then she went on to reveal some other bad experiences she had throughout her 3 years here. But, I said, I am sure we could find the same experience in our own countries, you kno? I had a terrible experience with a pediatrician here, but that isn't to say that I wouldn't have had that same experience at home. Was it a woman doctor? the woman at the park asked. Yes, I say. Then I am sure it was out of jealousy. French women are jealous. You are tall and blond and young and if she was at all not very pretty I am sure she was acting out of jealousy.

Wow, talk about snap judgement! I personally haven't found that to be true, but okay. Really, I say. you really think so? I haven't really seen that.

Well, another woman pipes in, maybe it isn't jealousy but there is something about foreign women that French women don't like. The other day my sister and I went to the more expensive shops to find a dress for me. I had an important meeting to attend and was willing to spend a little more money. I spoke to the lady in the shop in French but when she heard my sister and I speaking between each other the treatment that we recieved was so cold compared to how she treated the other French women in the store. She practically ignored us!

Perhaps particular to that woman and that shop? I again, haven't had that experience. Even when I enter a more expensive store in my American style clothing (jeans, tennis shoes, t-shirt) compared to the usual French woman wear of dress and high heels (at least downtown) I have only been received with smiles and kindness. Of course I have never entered Hermes or Luis Vuitton, but I have a feeling the people who work there would be snobby no matter where they live! (Oh, the preconcieved notions I have!)

At any rate, now when I speak French to a waiter and get a reply in English I no longer care. Apparently waiters here are rude to everyone, their own compatriots included. When the doctor refuses to explain something to me because he doesn't think I will understand him, I persist in French in asking him questions. When another expat goes on and on and on about the French culture, I just nod and make some comment about how people are pretty much the same everywhere. Becuase in the end, as we expats get our taste of the French culture and get to see what is "wrong" with it, at the same time the French see us expats as representatives of our countries and perceive that which is "wrong" with us must be what is "wrong" with our country. Yes, yes, in the end people are the same: always ready to settle into their preconceived ideas!

Happiness

Mama Kat's Writers Workshop

5.) On a piece of paper write down something that makes you happy…take a photo of your paper and wa la…there’s your post.

Someone else's mistake; my added knowledge

The day that my inlaws left they were kind enough to go to the market for me and load me up with lots of fresh veggies and fruit while I took Firecracker to get her shots. In the end my father in law went by himself, which made my mother in law nervous because she doesn't usually trust him to do that sort of thing on his own. Especially not without a list. And that day he had no list. Just the few last word of his wife saying: zucchini, tomatoes, apples, etc. I'm pretty sure he listened. Or tried to listen. When we all got home we had a rush to get their stuff in the car and see them off. I left the things on the counter, gave him a million thanks, we all gave kisses and they were gone. And I went in to wash the veggies.

Low and behold there were no zucchinis. But there were two HUGE cucmbers. Great, I thought, I already have one in the fridge and we only use it for gazpacho. What am I going to do with these?

Neither Principe nor I are cucumber lovers. So I looked up some recipes online and found out something interesting that broke down to: if you don't like cucumber you better start because you are missing out on something GREAT. What? I thought these things were basically just water! But no!

• They are super low in calories and have no saturated fat or cholesterol. Duh! So, I pretty much guessed that one already what with them being so watery. But there is more!
• They have 17 mcg of vitamin  K per 100 g which has been found to have potential role in bone strength.
• It is a very good source of potassium. Potassium is a heart friendly electrolyte which helps reduce blood pressure and heart rates by countering the effects of sodium.
• But here is the BEST PART: Cucumbers contain unique anti-oxidants in good ratios such as ß-carotene and a-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, zea-xanthin and lutein. All of these help against aging and fight against various diseases. 

Well, can't fight the good word on cucumbers. So I have started to eat them. Drenched in ranch sauce but still.... And besides eating them I looked up a couple face masks to make out of them to take full advantage of the whole anti-aging booha.  Did you know that rubbing a cucumber on your sunburn will help heal it by releasing the above vitamins and minerals into the skin? I don't have a sunburn but as I turn one year older I can't help but get onboard using something natural on my skin to keep me looking brighter! Here is the face mask I made last night, whose cooling effect I greatly enjoyed in the humid heat while folding laundry. So much so that when Principe started to make fun of me I didn't even care. I felt that good!

I mixed:
1/4 cucumber, half a cup of oats and half a yogurt cup (natural yogurt) in a blender until it became a sludge. I rubbed it on my face and enjoyed!

I am not sure how often this should be used, but I liked it so much (and I swear this is the first time in 12 years I have used a mask!) that I plan to use it every other day. It just feels so good with all of this heat. And in the meantimes I am going to eat my weight in this super food!

Lazy summer

      This summer has a whole new meaning to lazy. Not that I'm not super busy with taking two girls to the park, making sure Firecracker doesn't run away from me or manage to get out of the stroller when I am not looking. It isn't that I don't have a huge houe to clean or tons of laundry to do or vacations to plan, although I shouldn't really complain about that! What is going to be lazy is me physically. Why? I messed up my knee. Don't know how, but I did. It has something to do with me doing some kickboxing in order to get in bikini shape. Apparently I wasn't doing it correctly. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a bubble on the kneecap. Then I noticed that each time I worked out it felt weaker instead of stronger. So I finally went to the doctor who snapped my kneecap around until I screamed in pain, handed me a prescription for some drugs for two months, told me to lay off any "violent" sports (meaning all but swimming and recreational biking) and handed me the number of a phyical therapist to start in September. When I am done with 20 hours at the physical therapist I can go back to doing "violent" sports like tennis.
      So for the three weeks that I get vacation, where I have grandparents and cousins to keep my girls busy I don't get to play tennis. BAHHHHHHHHH! Just my luck. So, now what? What does someone do who is addicted to exercise when they are not longer allowed to do ome "violent" exercise? (Seriously, love the French way of speaking. Violent! Who would have decribed tennis as violent? Sounds funny to English minds!) Well, we look for something less violent. Like pilates. But that doesn't work my heart. So we look for something new. Perhaps something we snubbed our nose at sometime back? Like a video on walking...? What? How the heck do you make a video on walking? I was curious and in need of an exercise fix so I took a look. A two mile walking video in 32 minutes. Fits my profile. And is actually really good! Isn't as fun as kickboxing, but the trainer certainly makes it fun and interesting. And it works lots of muscles! I was even sweating by the end of it, although the humidy here is about 70%. So go check it out here. It is a great way to get started or nurse an injury. Or just get moving without getting over heated!

Handy me

"Doo-doo-doo-doo, Handy Manny"

I can sing that intro song in three languages, wanna hear it? Thought not. But, I bet you do want to see my handy work that I promised to show you a while back. Remember my addition to craftgawker.com? It has come in pretty handy to spruce up the house a bit. Especially the girls' room. See?

Aren't they cute little pompoms? I found how to do it here at Sew Sweet Stitches. I made the pompoms and actually "hung" them with wall putty so as not to have more holes in the wall. So far they have stayed up really well and the room is so much brighter.
My next project was just a little something for the craft room:

Just a little something. Of course Queenie had to add a teeny-tiny one. Lately she is really into things being teeny-tiny..

And then I made a cupcake platter for my jewelry. I got the idea from Sarah Ortega. So cute and so easy to make. I plan to make a few more as gifts ...and of course one to use as an actual cupcake holder! Yea me!