Trickles of Summer in my daily life

1. I bite into a Chinese bun in Toronto and forget that there is paper on the bottom - dam, so much more convenient in China! At first I thought - ok, this bun is a little more chunky then I'd like - and then I realize I'm eating paper.

2. I sort through my clothes and throw out two garbage-full bags not because they are old or out of season - but because all the beer drinking I did this summer gave me a "gut" - as someone so elegantly put it.

3. I listen to Madonna on a bus ride to the "welcome home party" from AIESEC Edmonton - and discover that Madonna is saying something in french - not only that - I discover that I understand it! (Je suis desolee)

These are the small trickles of how my trips have affected me in my daily life. I've yet digested what I learned from my trips or how much I adapted to other cultures - but these small surprises slap me in the face to remind me - oh ya, I had a blast this summer.

Now, back at home, you would think I would be able to relax - but reports, applications for jobs, things to sort out for school, and family in general (including relatives visiting from Vietnam, Calgary, states, and where-ever else I have relatives) are time-consuming. Not complaining - just glad to be a different sort of busy (compared to my summer).

"Why is it that when I call your cellphone a weird person picks up and it's gibberish - bleu blah bleu, beu beu, bah?"
"I lost my cellphone in China Dad." I complete the rest of the sentence in my head: due to drunken shenanigans.

Tout le monde ass to the side!

Ya getting instructions in french may be a good way to learn the language - but in the meantime the lack of understanding is hazardous to all involved!

EXAMPLE A
The explore program students went dragon boating today - and we learned how to do it in french! So here we are - a whole bunch of beginners with the bare minimum understanding of french receiving instructions from a french instructor. Not too bad - it just took us a tad bit longer then if we were to learn it in english. But with this learning in french business -we were scared of tipping over.

So we split off into two boats - our boat wins - and being the cocky bunch that we are - we start rubbing it in their face. And of course karma always has it's way - our boat starts to sway A LOT - we start to scream, totally embaressing ourselves in front of the "losers," - but we luckily do not fall in all because of some frenchlish that was used by our instructor - "tout le monde (everyone!), ass to the side!" - having your ass lined up to the side really does help balance the boat!

Moral of the story - a little english goes a long way. Or is the moral of the story not to be cocky...