jeudi 22 avril 2010

Multi-lingual primary school in Strasbourg



An interesting video I found. How awesome would it be to go to a school like that?!!

Une vidéo intéressante que j'ai trouvée. Ça serait cool d'aller à une école comme ça!

mardi 20 avril 2010

Alizée - Moi Lolita



Moi...Lolita

Moi je m'appelle Lolita
Lo ou bien Lola
Du pareil au même
Moi je m'appelle Lolita
Quand je rêve aux loups
C'est Lola qui saigne
Quand fourche ma langue, j'ai là
Un fou rire aussi fou
Qu'un phénomène
Je m'appelle Lolita
Lo de vie, lo aux
Amours diluviennes

C'est pas ma faute
Et quand je donne
Ma langue aux chats
Je vois les autres
Tout prêts à se jeter sur moi
C'est pas ma faute à moi
Si j'entend tout autour de moi
L.O.L.I.T.A.
Moi Lolita

Moi je m'appelle Lolita
Collégienne aux bas
Bleus de méthylène
Moi je m'appelle Lolita
Coléreuse et pas
Mi-coton, mi-laine
Motus et bouche qui n'dis pas
À maman que je
Suis un phénomène
Je m'appelle Lolita
Lo de vie, lo aux
Amours diluviennes

C'est pas ma faute
Et quand je donne
Ma langue aux chats
Je vois les autres
Tout prêts à se jeter sur moi
C'est pas ma faute à moi
Si j'entends tout autour de moi
L.O.L.I.T.A.
Moi Lolita



My name is Lolita
Lo or well, Lola
Or anything similar
My name is Lolita
When I dream of wolves
It's Lola who bleeds
When I speak my words, I've here
an insane laughter as insane
As a phenomenon
I am Lolita
Lo of life, Lo of the
Torrential loves

It is not my fault
And when I
Give up
I see the others
Ready to throw themselves at me
It is not my fault (of mine)
If I hear all around me
L.O.L.I.T.A.
My Lolita

My name is Lolita
A high-school girl with stockings
Blue of methylene
My name is Lolita
Angry and not
Half-cotton, half-wool
Mum's the word, stop don't say
To mom that I
Am a phenomenon
I am Lolita
Lo of life, Lo of the
Torrential loves

It is not my fault
And when I
Give up
I see the others
Ready to throw themselves at me
It is not my fault (of mine)
If I hear all around me
L.O.L.I.T.A.
My Lolita



I've been listening to this catchy song for months and months not really knowing what the lyrics actually were!

J'avais ecouté cette chanson accrocheuse depuis plusieurs mois, sans savoir ce que les paroles étaient !

J'adore les macarons de Baroque Bistro Pâtisserie

Les macarons de Baroque Bistro Pâtisserie 2


previous related post

After my first taste of a Baroque macaron I had to go back for more! On my second trip, the nice staff member allowed me to try another one for free and I ended up buying a pack of 6 (they also come in packs of 4, 9 and 12).

Here's my pack (after I'd eaten one). It was sheer willpower to allow myself to eat only one per day! They do keep very well in the fridge.

Don't quote me but I think these were the flavours:
1) jasmine tea, 2) rosewater, 3) pistachio with sour cherry, 4) salted caramel, 5) chocolate.


This photo was taken after my third trip back to Baroque. I took a new French friend for a tour around Sydney city and we went to Baroque which was nearby because I just HAD to get some more!

Here is mine (strawberry) half eaten with Sydney Harbour in the background.



On Sunday I attended a free macaron making class with Jean-Michel Raynaud, the Production & Business Development Manager of Baroque. It wasn't really a class as it wasn't hands on for us but then it was free, so I'm not complaining ;) It was to help promote his actual upcoming macaron (and other dessert) making classes.







Overall I enjoyed it but I have to say that the organisers did a very very poor job of it all. I have seen cooking demonstrations like this before and all of them were far superior.

For one thing, you couldn't see what he was doing at all. I was sitting more towards the back but even so, you really need an overhead camera (or mirror) and the camera was placed on the back wall so all you could see were the people blocking the view of the table! Not only that, the television screens were just too small for an audience of that size.

I also got the feeling that Jean-Michel was nervous and/or very conscious of the time as I found that he spoke way too quickly and combined with a very strong French accent, made him a bit hard to understand. I'm sure it'd be better in one of his classes with far less people. This is not a criticism of him at all but more a criticism of the organisation of the event.

The hostess was pretty good. She was friendly and informative but she had a very strong American accent which... I'm sure annoying is the wrong word to use, more like... distracting.

But, the worst part was, the staff of the event (a catering/event company) started giving out the pre-made macarons and I think they would have got into a lot of trouble later as they gave them ALL out. They started from the front and since there weren't enough for everyone, they'd run out about halfway through the crowd. Then once they opened a new platter (different flavour) they'd start at the front again instead of where they finished off so the people at the front got 4-5 and I only tasted one :( This was highly disappointing. Not only that, I got there a good half hour before the show started and the people who got there at the last minute and stood by the door ended up tasting more as well because the staff members distributed them to the standing people first sometimes. When I first arrived they were serving water and walked past me so many times and ignored me. I just got the feeling that the staff/waiters didn't really know what they were doing as they had never done an event like this before. I also got the feeling they tended to cater more for the older people more and perhaps ignored me because I looked young... I don't know!!

The "30 days of home and entertaining" event goes for 30 days during the whole of April. I wanted to go to more events but considering the poor management and organisation I don't think I will. The location was also not very good. It was situated in a tiny, short and narrow little lane, nowhere near a train station and without ample car parking either.

The class took well over an hour, yet I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know. I think there was too much time wasted with getting the audience members to help or maybe there was just too much to explain/do in the time allocated. I'm not sure. It wouldn't stop me from registering in a class though but it all depends on how much it costs and it's not advertised on their website yet.

I still don't think I've tried every flavour but my favourites are the ones recommended to me by the staff: pistachio (with sour cherry), chocolate, salted caramel and also the runner's up strawberry. I didn't think the jasmine had much of a taste and the blueberry or grape (I can't remember.. it was a purplish colour) was way too strong/sweet. I also tasted a morcel of a passionfruit flavoured one at the show and that was pretty good too but one really must try them all. The overall most amazing has to be the salted caramel though! :)

Il est très bon !

Volcanic ash in Iceland inconveniences millions of travellers


Photo: Hélène Bekmezian



Les nuages de cendre volcanique en Islande importunent des milliards de voyageurs


Je lis les nouvelles tous les jours et je me sens mal pour les voyageurs qui sont bloqués à l'aéroport à cause des nuages de cendre d'Islande. Les photos sont magnifiques et belles mais oh là là, les pauvres personnes ! :(


J'ai un ami qui vient de rentrer chez lui (en Europe). Il est parti vendredi dernier et je ne sais pas où il est maintenant. :( Quelques Australiens qui volaient en Europe sont d'abord allés en Asie, mais ils nous disent maintenant de rester en Australie et attendre plus de nouvelles.


Volcanic ash in Iceland inconveniences millions of travellers

I read the news every day and I feel bad for the travellers who are stuck in at the airport because of the volcanic ash from Iceland. The photos are beautiful but oh dear, those poor people! :(

I have a friend who just flew back to Europe. He left last Friday and I don't know where he is at the moment. :( Some Australians who were flying to Europe made it to Asia but now they are telling everyone to stay put and wait for more news.

Interesting (slightly sarcastic) blog post here.




The volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier sends ash into the air just prior to sunset on April 16, 2010. /AP

lundi 19 avril 2010

Journal en Français Facile


Link here

This is one of the first French podcasts I downloaded and one of the best. At first I couldn't understand much despite the fact that it's been slowed down for us French learners.. but now I am happy to say I can understand almost everything they are saying.

I also read Lemonde.fr daily and can understand almost everything there too so my conclusion is that the news is pretty easy to understand!

My theories:

1. I already know the news in English so when I read it in French I already have a pretty good idea of what I'm reading/hearing. So many words are similar to English so you can guess, even if you have never heard of the word before. Words like gouvernement and situation politique and président are pretty easy to guess, if I didn't know them already.

2. They use words common to day to day speech, unlike in novels where the language is more flowery, descriptive and the vocab is slightly different. Even with children's story books there can be many words I don't know which seems strange considering they're aimed at 8 year olds.

Anyway, I LOVE the Journal en Français Facile. The 10-minute length is just perfect for my attention span and I get a dose of the news as well as being able to practise my listening skills. It airs almost every day and starting 26 March they now have a text summary alongside it which appears in iTunes. Great for reading practise too - bonus!

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