In my course on language and social interaction, we embarked on an in-depth exploration of cross-cultural miscommunication. People from different cultures can interpret the same language so differently that communication breakdown, misunderstandings, and even prejudice ensue.
Well, yesterday we discovered that you don't need two different cultures for such communication breakdown to occur--all you need are two different majors. I got such a laugh out of this conversation between my husband, an architecture student, and our good friend Bruce, who is working on his PhD in Dairy Science.
The background: We've been discussing laptops since Bruce and Brittney are thinking about getting a new computer.
Jason: My computer's a little fancier than you probably need because of all of my architecture programs. You don't need your computer to do renderings, do you?
Bruce: What do you mean?
Jason: You know, when you shoot photons through a 3D computer model to make it photo-realistic.
Bruce: In my field, rendering means that when a cow dies, you try to salvage as much meat as possible.
Can your computer render?
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Kids These Days
The emergence of language is fascinating to me. The prospect of witnessing our girls acquire French is one of the main attractions of spending a year abroad. (Jason and I just hope we'll be able to keep up linguistically.)
Over the past few weeks, Talia's spoken English has taken off at rapid-fire speed. I find it very amusing to ponder these first words and phrases, and chuckle over what they reflect about our parenting.
So here are Talia's top words and phrases...
Clearest pronunciation with the sassiest intonation: No. (No, no ambiguity about what she's saying here. She says it and she means it!)
Poorest pronunication: Mommy. It comes out kind of like Baba. I guess she figures that I'm going to respond anyway, so there's no need to be fussy.
First adjective: Stinky. I think that we've been commenting a little too much on her diapers and feet. :)
First two-word phrase: Good girl. This evidence of positive reinforcement helps me feel a little bit better about the stinky and no.
First proper noun (excepting names): McDonalds. Oops! Feeling a little guilty about this one...
First food label: Pancake, pronounced kaycake. At Talia's last doctor's visit, the pediatrician was a little concerned that our skinny little Talia might not be eating enough. If the doctor could only see Talia devour her kaycakes, she'd know that she's eating plenty--she just has her Daddy's metabolism.
Chuckles from Brooklyn:
While playing pretend with her toys, I overheard Brooklyn say, "Help! Save me! I'm a goner!"
More embarrassingly, she recently told me, "Mommy, your nose is ginormous!"
Kids these days...
Over the past few weeks, Talia's spoken English has taken off at rapid-fire speed. I find it very amusing to ponder these first words and phrases, and chuckle over what they reflect about our parenting.
So here are Talia's top words and phrases...
Clearest pronunciation with the sassiest intonation: No. (No, no ambiguity about what she's saying here. She says it and she means it!)
Poorest pronunication: Mommy. It comes out kind of like Baba. I guess she figures that I'm going to respond anyway, so there's no need to be fussy.
First adjective: Stinky. I think that we've been commenting a little too much on her diapers and feet. :)
First two-word phrase: Good girl. This evidence of positive reinforcement helps me feel a little bit better about the stinky and no.
First proper noun (excepting names): McDonalds. Oops! Feeling a little guilty about this one...
First food label: Pancake, pronounced kaycake. At Talia's last doctor's visit, the pediatrician was a little concerned that our skinny little Talia might not be eating enough. If the doctor could only see Talia devour her kaycakes, she'd know that she's eating plenty--she just has her Daddy's metabolism.
Chuckles from Brooklyn:
While playing pretend with her toys, I overheard Brooklyn say, "Help! Save me! I'm a goner!"
More embarrassingly, she recently told me, "Mommy, your nose is ginormous!"
Kids these days...
Monday, June 02, 2008
Death of a Donkey
This is an Ode to Eeyore. Those of you who know me well well-know that for years I have shared my bed with a loyal, faithful, and fluffy companion, Eeyore. Eeyore has been my trusty bedfellow, lending me an ear, hoof, or even rump whenever extra support and comfort was needed. In 2003, he graciously accommodated another man by making room in the bed for Jason, sacrificing his limbs as padding for my spouse’s bony shoulders. He willingly accompanied me from coast to coast by car, van, and plane so that I might snooze sweetly, and even joined me in the hospital during the delivery of both my daughters.
Regrettably, Eeyore slipped away on the eve of May 28, 2008 to the landfill from whence no donkey returns. He heroically sacrificed his life by tumbling out of the mini-van to comfort Jason during Jason’s time of need. Unfortunately, he landed in the puddle of recycled McDonald’s salad that Jason had recently deposited on the side of I-80, thanks to a truly miserable bout of the stomach flu. Covered in vomit, Eeyore rapidly achieved “undesirable” status and was buried in a dumpster. (Fortunately the girls avoided a similar fate, despite their own battles with the stomach flu.) Eeyore was preceded in death by a quarter pounder and French fries.
Regrettably, Eeyore slipped away on the eve of May 28, 2008 to the landfill from whence no donkey returns. He heroically sacrificed his life by tumbling out of the mini-van to comfort Jason during Jason’s time of need. Unfortunately, he landed in the puddle of recycled McDonald’s salad that Jason had recently deposited on the side of I-80, thanks to a truly miserable bout of the stomach flu. Covered in vomit, Eeyore rapidly achieved “undesirable” status and was buried in a dumpster. (Fortunately the girls avoided a similar fate, despite their own battles with the stomach flu.) Eeyore was preceded in death by a quarter pounder and French fries.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Leaving for Lyon
Well, the passports have finally arrived, so we figure that it's time to leak the news. (Drum roll, please...)
Shunning simplicity and sanity, our family has decided to tackle the adventure of spending the 2008-2009 school year in Lyon, France. Last night I sent in my acceptance of a post teaching English at ENS-LSH, one of France's Grandes-écoles (comparable to an ivy-league university.) This lectrice position is part of a graduate exchange program with the University of Illinois's French department.
The benefits: the monthly stipend is paid in Euros, a necessity given the dollar’s current exchange rate. Even more importantly, the teaching schedule isn't overly demanding so I should have plenty of time to be with my family. Jason is thrilled to be headed to Europe as he’s found his niche in architectural history. He will spend much of his time doing research for his thesis project there.
Even so, I’m slightly terrified. While taking off to Europe may sound idealistic and romantic, when you actually start to think about the logistics of moving a young family, it’s pretty overwhelming, especially since my French language experience is limited to 101! (Fortunately Jason speaks more, thanks to his time living in BYU’s Foreign Language Student Residence.)
And so, we’re in the market for advice… Any kind of advice. If anybody has suggestions, recommendations, good contact sources, etc., that might help us on our sojourn, we would love to hear them. We’re searching words of wisdom about plane flights, housing, furnishings, visas, preschool programs, travel insurance, immunizations, language learning, language teaching, food, public transportation, economizing—you name it, we’d love to know about it!
Deep inside, I know that next year will be difficult. I know there will be moments that we feel lost, lonely, and homesick. It will be hard leaving a familiar language and familiar culture, but it’s hardest leaving our friends and especially family. Yet from the time we first found out about this program in November, we have felt in our hearts that the Lord has a special purpose for us in Lyon, whatever it may be. To be completely honest, when the acceptance letter arrived, my first reaction was one of slight disappointment—it would be so much easier to stay! The school certainly had plenty of reasons to reject me (beginning with my novice language experience,) yet doors have continually been opened, and our prayers have continued to confirm that we need to go.
And thus, let the countdown begin! Three more months and voilà, la France!
Shunning simplicity and sanity, our family has decided to tackle the adventure of spending the 2008-2009 school year in Lyon, France. Last night I sent in my acceptance of a post teaching English at ENS-LSH, one of France's Grandes-écoles (comparable to an ivy-league university.) This lectrice position is part of a graduate exchange program with the University of Illinois's French department.
The benefits: the monthly stipend is paid in Euros, a necessity given the dollar’s current exchange rate. Even more importantly, the teaching schedule isn't overly demanding so I should have plenty of time to be with my family. Jason is thrilled to be headed to Europe as he’s found his niche in architectural history. He will spend much of his time doing research for his thesis project there.
Even so, I’m slightly terrified. While taking off to Europe may sound idealistic and romantic, when you actually start to think about the logistics of moving a young family, it’s pretty overwhelming, especially since my French language experience is limited to 101! (Fortunately Jason speaks more, thanks to his time living in BYU’s Foreign Language Student Residence.)
And so, we’re in the market for advice… Any kind of advice. If anybody has suggestions, recommendations, good contact sources, etc., that might help us on our sojourn, we would love to hear them. We’re searching words of wisdom about plane flights, housing, furnishings, visas, preschool programs, travel insurance, immunizations, language learning, language teaching, food, public transportation, economizing—you name it, we’d love to know about it!
Deep inside, I know that next year will be difficult. I know there will be moments that we feel lost, lonely, and homesick. It will be hard leaving a familiar language and familiar culture, but it’s hardest leaving our friends and especially family. Yet from the time we first found out about this program in November, we have felt in our hearts that the Lord has a special purpose for us in Lyon, whatever it may be. To be completely honest, when the acceptance letter arrived, my first reaction was one of slight disappointment—it would be so much easier to stay! The school certainly had plenty of reasons to reject me (beginning with my novice language experience,) yet doors have continually been opened, and our prayers have continued to confirm that we need to go.
And thus, let the countdown begin! Three more months and voilà, la France!
Blooming Spring
Jason here, posting a few pictures from our latest forays into spring. And to Kara, lots and lots of love... putting a few pictures up here is a lot harder than it looks. Thanks for always keeping our families up-to-date with the blog :)
Brooklyn and I check out the "Big Boy", the largest steam engine ever built (as evidenced by the fact that I was only able to fit a few of its rivets in the picture...)
Kay, Cathy, and Kara keep an eye on the two runaway trains.
Brooklyn, Talia, and Rabbit. A great trio. That is until Rabbit tried to eat Talia's blanky.
Once safely away from the Rabbit, Little Miss Talia proudly displays her security blanket.
Kara tries to teach Talia to blow bubbles, as opposed to eating them.
Kay is a little more successful in training Brooklyn in the fine art of bubble blowing.
Kara relives childhood memories of playing in old refrigerator boxes while visiting the "kid-structures" exhibit at Omaha's Botanical Gardens. The exhibit had quite a few different play structures designed and built by local architects and contractors, and most of them were appealing to both kids and adults alike. As might be expected from a bunch of self-aggrandizing architects, the written descriptions on the signs were a wee-bit stuffy.
Upon returning to Illinois, we were pleased to find our own botanical garden doing quite well, despite, or perhaps because of, a week and a half of neglect.
Our Iris plants are doing particularly well, with lots of thanks to Karen Clark from Omaha who gave us the offshoots when we first moved in nearly three years ago. The first two bloomings were no where near as spectacular as this one has been--like all things worth having, beautiful plants take time.
Brooklyn and I check out the "Big Boy", the largest steam engine ever built (as evidenced by the fact that I was only able to fit a few of its rivets in the picture...)
Kay, Cathy, and Kara keep an eye on the two runaway trains.
Brooklyn, Talia, and Rabbit. A great trio. That is until Rabbit tried to eat Talia's blanky.
Once safely away from the Rabbit, Little Miss Talia proudly displays her security blanket.
Kara tries to teach Talia to blow bubbles, as opposed to eating them.
Kay is a little more successful in training Brooklyn in the fine art of bubble blowing.
Kara relives childhood memories of playing in old refrigerator boxes while visiting the "kid-structures" exhibit at Omaha's Botanical Gardens. The exhibit had quite a few different play structures designed and built by local architects and contractors, and most of them were appealing to both kids and adults alike. As might be expected from a bunch of self-aggrandizing architects, the written descriptions on the signs were a wee-bit stuffy.
Upon returning to Illinois, we were pleased to find our own botanical garden doing quite well, despite, or perhaps because of, a week and a half of neglect.
Our Iris plants are doing particularly well, with lots of thanks to Karen Clark from Omaha who gave us the offshoots when we first moved in nearly three years ago. The first two bloomings were no where near as spectacular as this one has been--like all things worth having, beautiful plants take time.
Monday, May 26, 2008
To Camp or Not to Camp
Top Ten Reasons NOT to Go Camping:
10. Ticks, ticks, ticks! Ticks were the featured guest at our Memorial Day campout at Nebraska's Indian Cave State Park. They were everywhere. We were infested. We removed thirteen of them after arriving home, not to mention all of the ones we got rid of while camping. We had ticks on our backs, ticks in our beds, ticks in our hair, ticks in our armpits, even in our ears! Eewww! (Not to mention Lyme disease…)
9. Ants. I noticed Talia picking something off the ground and went over to get a closer look. She was eating the ant hill, critters and all!
8. Wind. Lots of wind. Jason and I spent a terrifying wide-eyed night listening to the wind whip through the trees, trying to fend off imaginations of being lifted off the ground by a tornado. In the morning we discovered that the wind had actually collapsed my parents’ tent! The amazing thing is that the girls (who rarely sleep through the night) snored through the entire affair.
7. Thunder and lightning. Like the wind, they don’t make for peaceful sleeping.
6. Wet shoes. As long as the tent doesn’t leak, I don’t mind the rain when camping—I find the sound very soothing. However, I hate putting on soggy shoes that slosh in the morning.
5. Showers. Unlike some previous camping trips, we opted for the luxury campsite this time with flushing toilets and a couple of showers nearby. While it was nice to clean up a bit before church on Sunday, showering was still less than ideal. The two-inch cockroach that wheedled its way into our towels was bad, but personally I found the giant hairball in the drain to be much worse. The highlight came when buck-naked Brooklyn suddenly decided to streak out of the bathroom complex, leaving my mother and me (also undressed and struggling with a naked-hiney Talia) at a complete loss as to how to chase after her. Grandpa Kay finally intercepted the streaker, but not until after she had entertained the entire campground.
4. Coons. Jason and I were awakened once more at 2:30 am by the sound of raccoons fighting over our food. While we managed to rescue most of our grub to the safety of our mini-van, the hamburger and hotdog buns were coon casualties.
3. Mud. We bravely embarked on what we expected would be a family hike. In all actuality, we ended up slopping our way through a two-mile mudslide. I still can’t figure out how we managed to stay vertical!
2. Tangles. Under the best of conditions, trying to get a brush through Brooklyn’s hair is a serious undertaking, but after a day of camping, it’s downright impossible.
1. Unpacking. As anyone who’s ever camped well-knows, packing is a pain. You’re exhausted before you even get there! But in my opinion, unpacking is even worse. There’s so much dirt and grime that absolutely everything has to be washed and scoured, whether it was used, worn, or not. Even so, the smoke-smell inevitably lingers for days. We just hope the ticks won’t…
Top Ten Reasons You MUST Go Camping:
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
I know that camping can be unpleasant and inconvenient, even grimy and nasty at times. Yet even with all its flaws, I LOVE camping. Nothing in the world replaces the warmth of sitting around a campfire late at night roasting marshmallows, or the crisp, cool air and smell of dew early in the morning. I’m proud to be part of a dying breed of tenters who eschew the gravel and electric lights of RV camps. No, give me a tarp and a patch of dirt somewhere far away from civilization where no one can complain about my lack of deodorant. Keep your electric stoves—all I want is a match, some kindling, and occasionally half-a-can of lighter fluid. Fine cuisine is great,with all its panache and ganache, but nothing in the world matches a baked apple that’s been roasting in the coals all afternoon. No matter how many reasons there may be to not go camping, you can still count me in.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
So now that I'm finished with school for a bit, I've enjoyed the chance to do a little bit of personal pleasure reading. Unfortunately, my latest read, The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy was somewhat less than pleasurable.
As a bit of background, I actually like Tolstoy. While I haven't tackled Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina is a family favorite, especially for Jason. When we found out that Champaign was participating in a community-wide "Big Read" of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Jason and I were so excited that we checked out two copies from the public library--his and hers. I thought it was the neatest idea that our entire community should unite in reading Tolstoy while a community somewhire in Russia united by reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
In theory, I still think it's a good idea, but in practice, I think they should rethink the selection. Seriously, The Death of Ivan Ilyich was one of the most depressing, bleak, and hopeless depictions of mortality that I have ever read. The take-home message is exactly what the billboards around town state--"Ivan Ilyich is dead, but you're not" (Thank Heavens).
On the positive side, Tolstoy's work really does cause you to reflect on whether or not you're truly living the real thing or missing the boat entirely in the meaningless quest for power and prestige. The Death of Ivan Ilyich smacks you in the face with the inevitability of death--long, painful, and lonely as it may be. While I may not agree with his views on the senselessness of death, I concord with Tolstoy's conclusion that since we're all going to die anyway, let's live life now to its fullest.
As a bit of background, I actually like Tolstoy. While I haven't tackled Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina is a family favorite, especially for Jason. When we found out that Champaign was participating in a community-wide "Big Read" of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Jason and I were so excited that we checked out two copies from the public library--his and hers. I thought it was the neatest idea that our entire community should unite in reading Tolstoy while a community somewhire in Russia united by reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
In theory, I still think it's a good idea, but in practice, I think they should rethink the selection. Seriously, The Death of Ivan Ilyich was one of the most depressing, bleak, and hopeless depictions of mortality that I have ever read. The take-home message is exactly what the billboards around town state--"Ivan Ilyich is dead, but you're not" (Thank Heavens).
On the positive side, Tolstoy's work really does cause you to reflect on whether or not you're truly living the real thing or missing the boat entirely in the meaningless quest for power and prestige. The Death of Ivan Ilyich smacks you in the face with the inevitability of death--long, painful, and lonely as it may be. While I may not agree with his views on the senselessness of death, I concord with Tolstoy's conclusion that since we're all going to die anyway, let's live life now to its fullest.
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