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October 28, 2007

I'm Not Just a Whiny Wuss

chinese kicks my ass.gif
(Chinese [language] kicks my arse)
The Asia Society report says it takes "an educated English speaker 1,300 hours to achieve the native-proficiency of an educated native speaker of Chinese, while it would only take about 480 hours to achieve the same level in French or Spanish." In Sunday's edition of The Washington Post Magazine, my Post colleague Elizabeth Chang quotes another source saying that it actually takes 2,200 class hours to achieve full proficiency.

...Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean each takes 2,200 class hours -- or about four years even if you attended a very tough school that had you in language class three hours a day every weekday for nine months a year.

from a Washington Post Article by Jay Matthews

October 26, 2007

My Ass, It Has Been Kicked

I have not posted in so long - especially nothing of substance. But, I have SO much I want to say. Unfortunately, desire to write does not manufacture time to write.

Why? Because I have been doing some exciting self-discovery, soul-searching and navel-gazing and the immediate net result is the realization that I need to get 15 credits done before June 20. I'm so eager to talk about what led to my decision to keep up my teacher certification and to work on (future) admission to graduate school, but I just can't. I don't have the time right now to get it in the words I want to use. (Poorly-written self-discovery smacks of teenage diary-angst and that's not exactly what I'm going for, here.)

Because? I crazily decided to do my first 5 of these credits by taking Chinese 101. Inspired by my recent trip and my interest in the culture, I plunged into the class at a local community college. I started a week behind and have been playing catch-up ever since. This class is kicking my ass! (and no, I don't know how to say that yet in Chinese).

And? I'm also teaching a bible study and we just started a new unit. Yeah, my husband thinks I'm crazy, too.

Oh, and I just emerged from the physical ass-kicking of a three-week fibromyalgia flare.

I think I'm going to take the other 10 credits in other areas, mostly because I miss the headspace that I need to be in to write. I haven't been able to write because even if I did have a free minute, my brain was just not in the right space to write. I miss looking at the world through the lens of words, of mulling phrases and ideas over in my brain. That headspace has been inaccessible while taking Chinese. Learning a foreign language is all vocabulary lists and dialogues and "What the heck did she say?". It's like math (or at least the only levels of math I was able to aspire to) - there is no creative thinking. It is memorizing and decoding and flashcards, flashcards, flashcards.

I'm going to try NaBloPoMo again, just to keep my fingers writing. Don't expect anything earth-shattering. It may be just a bunch of entries in really crappy Chinese.

Right now? I should finish my homework that's due today at midnight. I got the last one (Monday's) in at 11:57pm. Maybe tonight I'll aim for 11:56.

October 03, 2007

If You Can't Join 'Em, Blog Some Recipes for 'Em!

I am so bummed! I'm supposed to be at the amazing Jen Zug's house, sipping Jitterbugs and swapping recipes with some fabulous women - some of whom I've met before, and some I would meet tonight and love instantly. (Shout outs to Alecia and Jenny - boo hoo - I wanted to see you tonight!)

But I am in So. Much. Pain. I was in a lot of pain yesterday...I felt it coming on. I've been in a flare recently and just knew it was going to get bad. By the time we saw our playdate friend home yesterday, I could hardly stand. I've been in horrible pain, with a few excruciating bursts ever since. In the middle of a particularly bad wave, when I was doing my deep Lamaze breathing, I complained to my husband that I didn't even get a baby out of all this pain. He said, "Not that you'd want one, of course!". Yeah, I can not imagine this body surviving another pregnancy, let alone another first-year-of-babyhood-nursing-and-sleep-deprivation. But at least labor pains had some benefit, some purpose. This pain has no purpose at all.

So I am extremely disappointed. I LOVE to share recipes. The quickest way to my heart is to ask me for a recipe. And I am always on the lookout for something new.

Anyway, here is a list of recipes for you lovely ladies that I don't get to hang with tonight *sniff* and for anyone else who's interested! I can't eat beef, so they're mostly chicken and turkey recipes . All recipes are pdfs. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see them. I took some extra time to modify them with my latest tried-and-true tips and notes. I hope you like them!

Enjoy! And email me your faves, or link to them for me, too, K? I'm going to take another Vicodin and just stare at the wall for a while.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken Enchiladas Best. Recipe. Evah.
Chicken Marinades
Chicken Pot Pie Not too crusty- it uses puff pastry instead
My Favorite Lentil Soup Wait! Even people who hate lentils love this soup!
Pumpkin Muffins
Sloppy Joe and Sloppy Joe Casserole
Spanikopita Quiche
Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce (Also, Pad Thai)
Turkey Burgers
Turkey Meatballs