Ou est ta mere?

Today at work a little girl came up to us at the counter and said, "I'm French, RalphLauren?" My co-worker and I just looked at each other confused. She asked if we spoke French. I told her I knew it "a little" or un petit peu. She pointed to a sign and said "le marque Polo et Ralph Lauren?" My co-worker thought she wanted to see our Ralph Lauren cologne and signaled over to the other counter. I wasn't sure and just observed thinking "Ok she said, the sign Polo Ralph Lauren." We watched her for a bit as I scrambled to remember French from 3 years in high school and one year in college. She looked lost and I was trying to find the words for "Are you lost," but I couldn't remember a thing. I asked "le toilette?" thinking she was looking for the bathroom (scrambling for words really), and she said no.

She circled in place, like someone lost, and then walked off really fast. I had a feeling she was lost and couldn't find her parents, so I followed her as I tried to recall what little French I could. If you don't use it, next to never, it's hard to remember things out of no where without just staring and looking dumb. I saw her stop in women's fragrances and she started to cry. I finally remembed how to say mom, and muttered a pathetic "ta mere?" She noded and said she was with them toward whence she just came. Then she repeated, "le marque Polo et Ralph Lauren." I put two and two together and figured she came from men's (which looks totally different from where she was and it's really easy to get lost in the store even for adults) by the Ralph Lauren section. As we went back the other way she looked like she remembered where she came from, and voila, her parents were there. They looked so relieved to see her. I was relieved to help her find them. They said "Merci" and I couldn't even remember how to say "Your Welcome." Which I know remember as "Dorien."

5 minutes later I remembered "Pas du tout" (not at all) and "Pas De Probleme" which was what I ended up saying in English. 20 minutes later I finally remembered how to say "Ou (where) est ta mere?" instead of grunting out "ta mere? (your mom?)" I spent the car ride home trying to conjure up a lot of lost French. It would have been really handy if I could have remembered to say something like "Vous direz moi en Francais et j'assiste." This is probably like child-speak but "You tell me in French and I (will) help." (I can't even remember the correct future verb tense.) I couldn't think of the words, but I understood most of what she said.

I was just glad I was there to help. I was worried for what could have happened had she not run into someone who know barely some French, especially when she was heading towad the opposite direction of her parents. Having been lost in a foreign country myself (because I went down the wrong street in Germany) I understand how frustrating/ worrisome it is to be lost when you can't even ask for directions or get them back in a way you understand. This poor girl only knew how to say the word "French" as a response to our English questions. I wish I could have remembered more to be of more help at the time; I guess that's what happens when you are caught off guard and you haven't used a language in almost 10 years.

I still can't think of how to ask "Are you lost?" I can only conjure "Je cherche" (I find/look). Only twice have my conversational French skills been challenged and both a failure. C'est la vie.

2 days left

Today I went to my 'other school' to get some things and clean up. Originally they told us not to come becuase of the Variety Show, but I hadn't seen them last week and I wanted to say goodbye. It's hard to say goodbye to a great set of K'ers who don't want to go home because they know it's the last time we'll have class together. Some kids I'm glad to see move on to middle school or another school, but for whatever reason, this class really bonded with me, and I with them. They'll be in 1st grade next year, but I'll be teaching K again to the new kids on the block. I hope I get lucky with another great set of kids over there. This class was why I became a teacher. :)

On another note... 2 more days left of school! Tommorow is the Talent Show (made much easier thanks to my G5 mac and iTunes) and Field Day. Friday is a work day with the end-of-the-year luncheon. This year flew by fast. I hope the summer goes slow. At least I know now that I'll be .91 instead of .79 which helps alleviate a lot of financial stress.

Keep praying, I really need to sell the house.

HALLELUJAH!

MY ROOMMATE MOVED OUT TODAY! WHAT A GIFT FROM GOD (cue Handel's Messiah)! I have an open house tommorow and now it will be presentable without the roommate's smelly room and things all over the basement. I even steam cleaned all the carpets and febreezed the heck out of them to eradicate her smell. YUCK! My house looks 10 times bigger without her stuff all over the place!

God was looking out for me today. I did SUPER at my second job for sales too :)

Thank you, if you prayed for me.

Countdown

I wish I knew how to do computer stuff. But instead I'll just initiate countdown and you can do the math.

13 more days until I am ROOMMATE FREE!

Untitled

99% of the time I have no clue what to 'name' my random ramblings, which are but a miniscule detail in my ever-changing, complex world these days. I was reading a friend's blog today on communities and it encouraged me to rethink the thing I usually say to people when asking how they are doing. Anyone who knows me, I'm sure, has heard "So, how's it going in your world?" or "How's life been treating you in 'Lori' land?" for example. I know it's silly, but if you think about it, we all might live on the same planet, but we all have our different lives or 'worlds' as I like to call them.

I was thinking about how I have pretty much chosen to be isolate from the community in which I live. I live in a house close to work, that I bought and updated. At the time it was my pet project, but now I'm ready to move on. I have no desire to be tied down to a house that I once thought would bring me some sense of security. While I have not moved in three years, there are still uncertain increases in price with a home that would be almost the equivelant of rent going up at an apartment. While the tax credit is nice, I no longer desire to be tied down. I want out of the current world that I have built for myself. I no longer desire the dwelling of a home, but at least an apartment with laundry hook-ups or my own personal washer dryer included would be ok, I think. I no longer need or want the back yard. I've only moved up to an uncovered driveway so that's not much to boast about. So what, I'm a single girl with her own house. It's really not as uncommon as my parents led me to believe. Many of my teacher friends have their own houses, I'm just sure they don't have as much student loans following them around like I do.

Which reminds me, how is it fair that I can't get student loan forgiveness simply because I took out my student loan in 1996 as opposed to 1998 when my school will be labeled as low-income next year? Another random reason why I'm disgruntled with 'my world.'

I never planned for an escape route after choosing a stable, secure plan for college, for living, for life. I did not fully prepare for a major change as what I'm currently undertaking. In the back of my mind I always knew this to be a possibility, but I never thought it would come to fruition. I can't go back or change my decisions, I can only deal with the cards I chose to be 'hit' with or the ones I chose to keep or toss.

My world is a wild zoo yet to be finished-- with clear cut paths on roads already accomplished and dirt trails emerging toward places yet to be discovered. I have so much occuring in my life, it's almost ridiculous. It's not anything I can't handle, just sometimes I allow it to overwhelm me and I feel like I can't handle it. I'm not sure if it's coincidence, but my body is worn down and I'm always getting headaches where I hadn't ever had much of problem with these before. I guess that's because I really do need to see the chiropractor; an adjustment and massage would do me good. I'm sure I can hold out till Friday, it's already been at least a month. Do you ever realize that if you follow through with things on a consistent basis you forget how you were benefitting or why you were doing it to begin with? I mean I don't really start to notice my spinal disalignments until I'm not adjusted for a long period of time, and life's wear and tears start wearing and tearing on me just that much harder. Interesting.

And so it begins...

I started training today for my part-time position. I think the job will be very interesting. I'm already scheduled for a fair amount of hours. At least it's all perfect timing, because I'll need to start making up for the shortage of not having a roommate by the end of this month. However, I'd rather work than continue my current situation past the original agreement. *I still have no clue what will happen with my full-time job, but prospects continue to look good for full-time employment as opposed to the original fractional number I was given. Hopefully I will know more when this month comes more into play. *Eric and I are going stronger with each passing day. It's hard to believe that I actually found someone who seems to really fit me well and vice versa. When we met, we both had the same position that we would end up being single 'forever' and had given up hope of really finding anything meaningful. I guess we were wrong. It's hard to believe it's been almost 8 months since we started dating. *As for the open house last Sunday, I understand it to be a 'bust' as it rained off and on most of the time. I'm sure I'll be having another one soon. I really would like to be out of the house. The sooner the better (of course not until May 31.)