Trail REMARKS

Maybe you have read about Earth Hour in the news today. Here there is
a campaign on to reduce the amount of car exhaust in the city or maybe
it's just the amount of cars. Once a month on a Saturday here there
are no private cars allowed inside the bypass highway. Can you
imagine if the police didn't allow any private cars pass the I-94
bypass into downtown Milwaukee. Craziness!!! The one advantage is
that if you want to take a taxi down into the center it is a lot
faster. So, I guess there is some advantages.

Paulina & Lydia are 9 months today. Oh my goodness!!! No candles of
course, but Ayuna did buy a couple new toys yesterday.

I just entered in 8 days worth of review cards into the electronic
review system that I have. There are 10 words or phrases on each
card, so that means there is over 80 entries that I should be
reviewing. However, I haven't even entered the other 15 cards + 10
pieces of lose leaf papers + new TPRs + the 28 words that I got from
studying ping pong on Friday. I got a lot more entering, but I think
reviewing will take much longer. Oops! Just found another 3 sheets
of paper with words. Looks like I will be here awhile

I did get to play a little bit of ping pong here. I'm definitely
going to be eating humble pie if I play someone in an actual game with
points. However, there was a guy that looked about 80 that I think I
could beat. However, it's not about the "beating" its about meeting
people and developing relationships. I was told that there are two
different sizes in ping pong paddles. Hmmm...they seem all the same
to me. Hopefully the 80 year old guy doesn't have an extra large
paddle?

Paulina is under the weather the past couple of days. She has had a
runny nose and is extra fussy. Please think of her.

I'm sure some of you have heard of TPR (Total Physical Response).
It's a technique to help assimilate language. For me I basically take
a subject (Example: Classroom) and think of as many objects or people
associated with that subject. Here is my current list for classroom:

Teacher
Student
Desk
Chair
pen
pencil
automatic pencil
sharpener
trash can
blackboard
eraser
notebook
homework
test
book
bookshelf
clock

Of course you are getting the picture that the list can be immense.
The list won't end with just objects, but then can move into actions
like write, read, listen, stand, sit, come in, etc... So, TPR is a
wonderful thing if you are willing to take the time to pursue it down
that road. Hopefully, in the near future, I will be able to use
phrases like: "Please erase the blackboard." or "Do your homework in
your notebook." These may seem like simple phrases, but it will take
some time to say them without fumbling around.

Honking is a common occurance, but people don't react to it at all.
In a book that I am reading it is described like this.

"The honked at other cars, and they honked at pedestrians. They
honked whenever they passed somebody, or whenever they were being
passed themselves. They honled when nobody was passing but somebody
might be considering it, or when the road was empty and there was
nobody to pass but the thought of passing or being passed has just
passed through the driver's mind. Just like that, an unthinking
reflex: the driver honked." "...and the other drivers and pedestrians
were so familiar with the sound that they essentially didn't hear it.
Nobody reacted to horns anymore; they had no purpose. A honk was like
the tree falling in the forest - for all intents and purposes it was
silent."

Maybe this explanation is the extreme, but it is realtively true.

The book goes on to further say that one driver honked his horn 577
times during a 15 minute ride. Woah! That's a little crazy.

I didn't realize such small things would be so joyful to us. One
larger store that we go to for the necessities was quite inconvenient
to take the girls because the security scanners on the way in were too
small to fit the double stroller we have. We'd always have to pull
the girls out, fold up the stroller, carry them through, unfold the
stroller, and put them back in. Of course while we are doing this
there is about 2 dozen people staring at us. :) Well, the powers
that be got rid of those nasty security scanners and placed them by
the cash registers instead (Note: the stroller fits there.) What a
small joy. Ayuna called on the phone to express her enthusiasm.

Our schedules have been quite full since language study began 2 weeks
ago. I am surprised how quickly we became busy. Ayuna is meeting
twice a week with a tutor that comes to help. There are some issues
with the methods, but we are trying to work through those.

Classes for myself are going well. We are focusing on phonetics which
is always good at the start. There are definitely some sounds that
are unfamiliar, but with practice it will become easier. At least now
I can say or understand the phrases "take out", "I don't understand",
and of course the word for "twins". I will be meeting with a language
helper 2 times a week to start beginning this next week. The
individual seems excited to help, so that is always a good thing;
however, I will have to prepare some of the material. I don't
particular like this part of the arrangement. We'll see how it goes.

I just uploaded a short video clip of our girls. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6410533584875000564

) They sure are changing.