Category Archives: le week-end

riding into the weekend

Posted in le week-end by

the Pope visits the UN

I’m coming off of a 14-hour day and will be working both Saturday and Sunday, but for those of you lucky enough to have access to your personal lives this weekend, here are some interesting reads:

Why we cry on planes

Voyages: visual journeys by six photographers

What Americans will sound like in 2050

Queer tango brings its liberated style to New York

The SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, were officially adopted today. They are the blueprint for a world that doesn’t go down the toilet, so I really hope we hold our leaders to them.

And now I am off to do my only weekendy thing this weekend: watch about a half hour of the Netflix movie that has been sitting on my shelf for two months, before drifting off into a delirious sleep. Bon week-end!

[Photo from today’s Pope-xtravaganza in New York: UN Photo/Evan Schneider]

the horror!

Posted in le week-end by

kiss me! by Michela Castiglione

A new study apparently claims that more than half of all cultures opt out of romantic kissing. Whaaaat? Though I’m often attracted to the foreign, this I can’t accept. Thank heavens I come from a land where swapping saliva is wholeheartedly embraced.

Here are some other interesting tidbits I’ve picked up in my recent Web wanderings. My fondest wish for you this weekend is that you read them while resting your chapped lips between glorious sustained makeout sessions:

This couple is really into foreignness, too, but of the temporal rather than geographical variety. 

The art of farecasting the lowest airfare. 

This has been around for awhile but I only discovered it this week: try scrolling down on Google’s “I’m feeling lucky” button until you reach “I’m feeling wonderful.” (Or if you’re feeling both lazy and wonderful, just click here.)

Why it’s important to learn a language out in the real world. 

[Photo: Michela Castiglione]

le week-end is here

Posted in le week-end by

hammock

… and I’m going to spend it doing, well, not much. On Saturday I may go for a run and on Sunday I’m going to sit on a boat during magic hour and eat lobster. Or maybe just watch other people eat lobster. I may also inspire myself to do some laundry. Maybe I’ll work on my little video project. Maybe, maybe not.

I hope your weekends are more ambitious than mine, if that’s what you’re going for. Me, I’m looking forward to letting myself off the hook for a couple of days. (That’s such a lie. I have been lazy all week.)

On that note, I leave you with some links that as always, I meant to post sooner, but that regardless, remain fresh and delightful and ripe for the viewing:

Watch two men arrange to meet at a cafe – through a Turkish whistle language (!!!)

American behaviors considered rude in other countries

Foreign language apps for traveling abroad

How to vacation like it’s 1999

Vacation planning tips and tricks 

I like these Parisian photos for voyeurs

Of course the hitchhiking robot met his demise in America

The full movie version of Antoine in America

Have a good weekend!

[Photo: Joe Penniston]

Friday aka belated links day

Posted in le week-end by

box town

Always belated. I will try to work on that.

But in the meantime … it’s moving day! Followed by a concert in New York, followed by a trip to New Jersey to meet my new niece, followed by the same concert in Philadelphia, followed by my return to the city, followed by sustained emotional and physical exhaustion. Can’t wait.

Without further ado, here are your weekend linky links:

The latest on (American) travel to Cuba.

The world’s smallest language has only 100 words. 

This is the only dictionary I looove. It’s endlessly fascinating.

How Parisian are you? (Somehow I scored a 66%, making me a “ham/butter.”)

How to keep that post-vacation feeling.

Philosophizing inspired by the Paris love locks’ removal.

“Le Selfie” and other Internet speak translated around the world. 

Love these photos of Paris in the 50’s. 

Five truths about quitting your job to travel.

The travel industry is getting hip to solo travel. 

New Yorkers: #SeeYourCity

[Photo: Kim Love]

TGIF

Posted in le week-end by

Zonked

Good evening! I write to you from my desk at work, where I am stuck in export hell. Six hours and counting to get five extremely short videos out the door and start my three-day weekend. I had a choice to stare at the Adobe Premiere countdown clock as it rose and fell and froze and rose and fell and froze for fifty-seven minutes at a time, or to write a few words here so as not to renege on my promise to myself to not disappear off the face of the blogging (and real) world.

I chose the latter, but I’m so exhausted that the words in question are not coming out very readily. Good thing it’s Friday when all I do is used to do was post links anyway.

So without further ado, two months’ worth of probably-by-now-obsolete digital clippings:

Decoding the rules of conversation.

Remember that fight over the white & gold / black & blue dress? How your language affects color perception.

The French answer to Eataly, open now.

Top 10 untranslatable French words. (The ninth is my favorite.)

These taste as good as they look. (I know because the day after I read about them I went to try them.)

Tricks and tips for planning your summer vacation.

How to best play the credit card airline miles game.

An American in Paris finds Paris in America.

There’s a dedicated raclette restaurant in New York! 

3 research-based ways to speed up your language learning.

An official see-your-own-city campaign in NYC (I’ve been on an unofficial one for years).

And now my exports are finally done and I can be on my merry way to a long weekend of doing a whole lot of nothing. Enjoy yours!

[Photo: Tim Pierce]

starting the weekend with a grumble

Posted in foreign food festival, le week-end by

la duree macarons

Today was Macaron Day 2015, apparently a grand Parisian tradition brought stateside by an NYC-based French chef. I would have written this post earlier to encourage you all to go out and get yourself your right and due of a free macaroon. But… I stopped by the Macaron Cafe for mine around 2:45pm and they told me they were “sold out” of all their free macaroons. Which is 1. an oxymoron and 2. annoying when all you see in front of you is a sea of macaroons every color of the rainbow. Even though I really, really wanted one, I refused to fall for what now seemed like a cheap marketing ploy aimed at suckers, walked out in a huff, and have been regretting my stubbornness ever since. I was counting on a macaroon today. (I actually sighed while writing that.)

Instead I am going into the weekend with my still-lingering cold and a plan to play bingo with old people in Park Slope (and friends my own age!). Before I head out the door for that Friday night delight, which I know you will never believe is more joyous than even the most delicious macaroon, but which I assure you nevertheless it is indeed, I leave you with some weekend reads from around the Web:

He spoke only French. She spoke only English. Google to the rescue. (An adorable love story.)

That $15 transatlantic fare was indeed too good to be true.

Is France ready to stop being so uptight about protecting the language?

Museums get multicultural and multilingual

Ten ways learning French would be much easier

Eight European towns to put on your wanderlust wish-list

Happy weekend!

 

happy weekending!

Posted in le week-end by

man running towards the weekend

I had so many fun plans for this weekend, starting with dinner tonight at a Serbian restaurant, my first Balkan meal ever. But about an hour ago I felt the first stirrings of sickness in my increasingly sore throat and since then it’s spread throughout my entire body – a general malaise that can only mean a cold is on its way. Must. Fight. Back. Must eat delicious meats with unpronounceable names.

Hope you all have a healthier weekend than mine unfortunately promises to be, and that you don’t need to entertain yourselves while convalescing with these interesting reads I’ve gathered from all corners of the Internet:

An English-speaker spends a year without speaking English.

Travel deals from around the globe.

And in the same vein… the U.S. dollar is now worth almost as much as the euro, which is at a 12-year low. Best places to travel while the dollar is strong. 

But if you can’t afford to go abroad… on March 19, Americans can sample a (slightly less expensive than normal) taste of France.

Can you guess which of these blurbs was written by a computer? (The most foreign of foreign speakers is a bot, no?)

An argument for traveling in your 20’s (that I’ve applied to my 30’s).

The French ponder (in French) why Americans love brunch so much.

I don’t even know where to begin with this video. No wonder Air France is in trouble.

The French are not as cool with their version of Ashley Madison as you might think.

[Photo: Dennis Skley]

It’s the weekend…

Posted in French, le week-end by

reading in bed

…and I’m exhausted. Looking forward to accomplishing very little aside from a lot of hanging out this weekend.

But before I embrace sloth and hibernation, I need to set down some links, because they burn a hole in my brain when I leave them in my inbox too long without compiling and posting them here. So, a few things for you to read during your weekend lay-about, you lazy slugabed*:

Linguists found a common language root 6,500 years old.

More fascinating exploration of our ancient mother tongue.

Tfw you fail a language quiz that measures how hip you are. 

The best city in the world for dating is…

How to say 21 curses in 6 languages (some of them amazingly inventive).

Can Louisiana resuscitate their distinctive French?

Think about this before you snap your next vacation pic.

Don’t get stranded on France’s disappearing road. 

How to start your own language meetup (take note, Philippe!)

And if you’re in New York, don’t miss the Rendezvous with French Cinema.

*(Isn’t that a brilliant word? I just learned it.)

happy weekending!

Posted in le week-end, learning tools by

la samaritaine

This weekend I plan to take advantage of the frigid temps to finally – and I really mean it this time – burrow in at home and compile all my French vocab words into one specially formatted file that will (eventually) become an Anki deck. I say “eventually” because making the actual deck will probably take me another six months to get around to.

For those who are also hunkering down this weekend… here are some interesting reads and little tidbits to keep you company: Continue reading →

a record-setting week

Posted in French, le week-end, learning tools by

taboo francais

Last night I left my work holiday party early to head back to FIAF for the second time in one week. This time it was for “Faites Vos Jeux” – game playing in French.

My love for board games knows no bounds. It is extreme and borderline obsessive. (When my sister introduced me to Carcassonne this summer I played so many times in a row that I started dreaming about tile placement and had to go cold turkey.) So the moment I heard about this monthly event I put it firmly on my calendar as a recurring appointment, though I wasn’t sure whether it would be more fun or work to play Taboo in French. It turned out to be both. I loved it.

So that’s four days out of five that I have spoken French – my best week yet. As I was walking home last night, a man moved out of my way on the sidewalk and without thinking I said to him, “Merci.” That’s immersion, baby!

On that note, the weekend feels well-earned. Have a good one! Til next week, I leave you with links:

I’m on an Argentine travel company’s mailing list and they sent me this delicious-looking traditional recipe.

Revamping the Louvre to lose that lost feeling

The New Japanese Masters of French Cuisine