french tv

ever since returning from france, i have been wondering where to look to find videos of french tv shows.  it's one of the ways i had hoped to maintain my french comprehension.  i know of people who have learned a foreign language by watching tv shows in that language.  in france i listened to the radio every night and sometimes in the morning before class.  the tv at my landlord's apartment was frequently occupied by her son.   the radio only does so much--and it did help my listening comprehension a lot.  however, i knew that a tv show could do more.  to see the words being spoken rather than just hearing it, does a lot more.

today, i finally came across what i've been looking for.  thanks to another blog, flip-flop france, i am now able to watch french programming via canal plus on the internet.  i'm no longer limited to french radio podcasting.

next on my list, to locate and be able to watch french films on the internet.

growing up.

i've been blogging since college.  now that i'm 30, i can look back and what i see is that the blogs i read reflect where i am in my own life.  after returning from my first trip from france, i remember reading blogs of teaching assistants in france as well as a few women expats.  now, i don't read the blogs of teaching assistants anymore, but almost all the blogs i follow are of women my age, some living in france and others that are in the u.s.  some are married, have children, others are in relationships, have a french spouse.  i am living vicariously through them in hopes that one day i may live in france -- maybe even with my own french homme...

Field trip, 7/22

yesterday, i finally took off on a solo outing on the metro that i've been wanting to do for a few years now.  since the art in the streets exhibit at moca is going to close in a few weeks, i knew it was a good time to go--especially since the weather was cooler than its been in recent days.

on the way to little tokyo, where the museum is, i had to pass through union station in downtown so i decided to spend a few minutes exploring since i've never been there before and i was pleasantly surprised.

1920s original interior

                                                                                                            

 upon arriving at the little tokyo station, you are greeted by JR's work across the street.  JR is one of the artists whose work is included in the exhibition.  He is a parisian artist and his work was recently recognized by TED.






 

detail of one of the mural collage

space invader and mr. cartoon.

detail of one of the installations.

one of the artists, andre, did the inside of the women's room.  andre is another french artist.

update: career

after 5+ years of frustration from not knowing what to do, i'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. my volunteer experience at the club was initially just to gain work experience i did not have.  a few months later, i realize this is the type of work that i want to do -- to work for a non-profit.  even better, a part of the art world (i.e. art museums) is also a non-profit.

everything is starting to fall into place.  a few days ago i saw a posting for a human resources internship at a museum.  that got me really excited compared to the internship i was planning for the fall.   i then asked one of the supervisors at the club if i could do some HR work.  that's another thing i realized, i actually don't mind doing administrative work.

finally.  for the first time, i am excited about the future.

world cup

well, it was a good match.  the u.s. should have won.  the technically stronger team that i read about regarding the japanese team, i did not see.  the u.s. dominated the game.  unfortunately, we had one too many unforced errors that japan took advantage of.

oh, so close.  i just hope the next women's world cup, the same women will return to play.  i hope that pia sundhage will still be coaching then and hopefully the u.s. women's team will be clutching the grand prize next time.

nonetheless, i am happy for the japanese team. 

tomorrow: the big day

u.s. women's soccer team will go up against the japanese.  it's going to be tough.  from what i read, the japanese are not the same team, technically, that went played and lost twice to the u.s. team back in may.  it's going to be a tough game.  i just hope i can find the game on regular cable instead of having to watch it on a spanish channel.

other big news in soccer, the l.a. galaxy team is playing against real madrid today, here in los angeles -- right now, actually.  i wish it got more media coverage.  real madrid is a great team.

chat rooms.

remember them?  turning on the computer and wandering into a room with a topic title (socal, lakers, ucsb, etc) where you would start talking to random people who are from the same area or have the same interests as you?  i was only thinking about it again while doing my usual blog readings.  to see how the internet has evolved and in the course, changed the way we interact with people online.

i'm so glad i didn't get too caught up with chat rooms.  i went in out of curiosity and left because got tired of strange guys just im'ing me and asking for name/age/location.  i don't think online dating sites were up yet, but i was not there for that reason.

now though, there is facebook and youtube. not to mention twitter.  these days, i am not as active as i used to be on facebook.  i am wary of putting up personal information online in that way.  now i just go on to see what my friends post.  my favorite way to interact online is still blogging and reading what others blog about.  it's a place where i can be, anonymously.

coincidence

coincidences are interesting.  i had one today.

there was a new volunteer that worked with me today.  i trained her on a few things.  i was supposed to train her on the database but that didn't happen because there were too many interruptions.  so we had an hour left before her shift was over.  the computer lab is also in the same room so we mainly watched the keyboarding class.  i then started to ask her about school.  she is entering her junior year in the fall.  i asked her if she was going to study abroad.  if she wasn't planning it, i was going to tell her to do it.  fortunately she is going to do it this coming school year.  in france.  she'll be there for the whole year.  i told her about my time studying abroad after graduation.  mine was in a language school.  first, paris and most recently, lyon, in 2009.  incredibly, lyon is where she'll be studying.  i told her about the city and a few other things.  i could tell she didn't do enough research on the city.  it was so much fun talking about lyon.  i missed it all over again.

i have a feeling the heavens were smiling down on me...

sore

i joined a yoga class with my cousin yesterday.  it was two hours long and fun.  today my hips are sore.  maybe even out of alignment.  oh dear...

the truth about fiji water

if you drink fiji water, or know someone who does, you may want to read this story in mother jones.

jamie oliver and los angeles

i posted this on my other blog but it's something that needs to be shared again.

please watch this video:  food revolution for a healthy america

hot. hot. heat.

it's summer now.  one of my least favorites time of the year only because i can't stand hot weather (anything above 85 degrees).  i can't wait for summer to be over which doesn't exactly mean when fall arrives anymore.
weather-wise, southern california may be one of the best places to live.

seeing. learning.

it's quite a thing to realize the changes going on in one's life.  relationships that need to be let go or people that you need to distance yourself from.  realizing that one really needs to take care of oneself and further more, that one needs to learn how to be content with one's own company.

the self is what's important, as well as your family.  everyone else around you is just noise.

my previous home

my last blog, chocolatebread, is at tumblr. something changed and here i am now. i will miss my clean, modern blog...

incredibly, i was able to make a beautiful blog from an ugly theme. i was close to giving up on blogging completely. thank goodness, i kept playing around with the design.