so there is this thing going around facebook-interweb and the directions are:
write 25 things about you. easy....more instructions are just too much!
read my 25 (slightly alterred from facebook note)
1. i think this is my first non-story post on this blog. for other non-story posts please check out huggingtreeswhenitiscoldoutside.blogspot.com
2. before i moved to canada i thought that the official canadian language was farsi (the official language of iran). i was pretty surprised to see a vast majority of non-iranians
3. i HAVE stapled my finger to a wall
4. when i was a child i really liked multiviatmins, so i planted one outside my house in hopes of growing a vitamin tree
5. i didnt realize my father had an accent until i was 16--and he has a thick english-as-a-third-language accent
6. in a grade 11 physics test, i identified a graph as a palabra (the spanish word for "word") instead of identifying the graph as a parabola (an actual graphical shape) when i got my test back, the word "palabra" was circled with a question mark beside it. oops. confusion
7. that same teacher was the only staff member at my high school who noticed i had a black eye which i received after being in a mosh pit at a concert the night before
8. she also imitated me in a school assembly...imitating manerisms i didnt know i had
9. i have a nose ring which i received in ecuador and was done so poorly that it was pierced 3 times in the span of 2.5 hours
10. for valentines day when i was 15, a friend gave me an eraser that looked like candy. so i ate it. oops
11. when i was learning to snowboard i was so slow that my brother would snowboard quickly to the bottom of the hill and start reading his book. he cant do that now. which is much less insulting
12. i was a mistake. many of us probably are....but my mom once admitted that she actually meant to abort me. she accidentally told me and then told me not to tell anyone. an hour later i told my cousins and my brother and then the entire interweb. after much discussion my mom finally said that she was really happy that i was born because if i werent, my brother would have ended up weirder than he already is
13. i love musicals!! favourite musical: joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat--because there is NO TALKING
14. i know only two people who like old people so much that they would make a point of letting other people know it. they are both from BC and make me want to look at a canadian age demographic distribution chart.
15. know this now: favourite fruits--apples and mangoes,favourite vegetable--any and every kind of onion,favourite dried fruits--kiwis, mangoes, cantaloupe, and pineapples
16. i just started wearing deoderant. if i ever smelled before i am sorry! but you really should have told me!! but you can be more tactful than my brother who will tell me in front of all his friends at the dinner table. he will also make a note of saying it with his outdoor voice
17. when i was in high school i got the highest marks on provincial spanish, english, and chemistry tests. when i told my dad he said "sometimes the donkey hits the bullseye"
18. i truly believe that one of the best inventions in life is the breadmaker. except for the one i bought my parents for christmas because it started smoking the first time we used it
19. the secret ingredient in homemade pasta sauce is cinnamon....that might not be about me but it is totally true
20. i like grammar! i dont know why, but i do. i would correct my mom who would get mad and say "MARYAM, ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE! OR MY SECOND LANGUAGE! OR MY THIRD!" yikes! anger!!
21. i really like flossing. its like a gum massage. im actually getting sedated just thinking about it
22. i went to math camp in grade four. my parents did not send me. i actively asked them to enrol me. math is awesome!!
23. my grade 12 math teacher kicked me out of class for not paying attention
24. i was in a band in high school called "josie and the trucker hats" ...none of us were named josie but we ALL wore trucker hats. featured instruments were the saxofone and the eukelele
25. in the past 10 years i can only recall being addicted to one TV show: So You Think You Can Dance dance dance......
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
IVE GOT ECUADOR IN MY HOUSE!
upon my recent return to Canadá ;) i landed in Halifax with a bank. As we know from the previous poost, i was welcomed into the country with open arms at the airport, and then got on the Halifax airporter to get back to my actual destination...and with my attention span that destination was my bed (or more appropriately, the couch which would act as my bed for the next week).
i arrive at my friends house with my large backpack, which I puzzlingly bought as a size long in anticipation of getting taller at a time in my life which i had already finished the vertical enhancement of my pubert years; the closest thing i had to a winter coat, which was a cute little black number which i convinced myself to be thick enough to be confuseable with fleece; my small backpack with all my oddly shaped items that i couldnt pack for chance of breaking or being deformed; and my wood product. at 12:30am on Gottingen Street in North End of Halifax, i felt oddly at home--but without a home.
i was back in a country with language and culture that i more or less understand...emphasis on the less (i had foreign parents), and realized that i would go through a little period of less than more
while i am still getting used to this whole canada thing, i can still vocalize some of the peculiarities in my behaviour:
1. apparently i really like fried eggs. when i dont have them i want them and when i have them i want them with more oil and they can never be scrambled! never poached, never boiled, never in a cake, and buddha forbid if you didnt put salt on the egg.
2. i am still having problems with english expressions. "The night is young" has become "The night is virgin"; and "That tea is very strong" became "That tea is very thick." I often say these things knowing very well i sound silly, but find myself completely lost when trying to fix my speech.
3. coffee! enough said. i drink coffee now....consistently. i used to drink it on occasion. but now it is all the time. and it must be instant, because while i am used to the act of drinking that warm, delicious, feel-good pick-me-up...i am still not used to the caffeine that REAL coffee actually has. once i arrived in halifax i rushed into Just Us! Coffee Roasters to buy some of their Fair Trade instant columbian coffee. i was sedated just looking at the jar. my eyes also bugged out of my head when i saw their 2 for 1 deal. 2 FOR 1? What were they doing to themselves? There surely is no way they can make a profit off this! i took a jar in each hand and went to the counter with anticipation to heat some milk at home and put in a spoonful of instant coffee and half a dash of stevia to yield a tantalizing instant-latte. "Instant coffee?" the barista asked. "Oh absolutely," i said as i re-iterated my lattee fantasy. He told me that no one really buys this coffee in the winter, it is more of a summer product since most people buy it for going camping. Right....
4. Latin music. Reggaeton, Julieta Venegas, Manu Chao, Mano Negra, and Juanes. All of it. All the time. And salsa when i am bored. I just need to move those hips.
5. introductions confuse the rice-and-beans out of me! do i give a kiss on the cheek like they would in Ecuador? or do i shake their hand? wave? hug? i dont even know you...which shouldnt bother me since just a few weeks ago i was KISSING people i had never met. i clearly still havent figured this one out...
6. i am still adjusting to north american keyboards.
7. Number 6 is bullshit. i have not adjusted to north american keyboards, but rather i have learned how to quickly change every keyboard i use to the spanish function. Thus i am making every effort not to adjust back to what would obviously be easier for me in the long wrong. i have chosen to take the road less traveled and have decided that i can not live without açcénts, ñ, and upsidedown punc¿?tuation.
8. sentences cannot end in prepositions in spanish. they just sounds stupid...nor can they in inglish. it sounds a little silly in enlish as well and i think that before i left for ecuador i avoided ending sentences with prepositions; however, i think that when it comes to ending sentences with prepositions--i speak even more betterly now.
i am currently living with someone who is familiar with ecuador and i she has seen me evolve over the past few weeks and has finally concluded that she "HAS ECUADOR IN HER HOUSE!!"
there are many more Ecuador-isms of which i have still not let go*, and of which i may never let go, but i invite you to join me on my quest to readjust back to canadá
note: these ecuador-isms are not listed in order of predominance in my life.
*please notice correct preposition placement
i arrive at my friends house with my large backpack, which I puzzlingly bought as a size long in anticipation of getting taller at a time in my life which i had already finished the vertical enhancement of my pubert years; the closest thing i had to a winter coat, which was a cute little black number which i convinced myself to be thick enough to be confuseable with fleece; my small backpack with all my oddly shaped items that i couldnt pack for chance of breaking or being deformed; and my wood product. at 12:30am on Gottingen Street in North End of Halifax, i felt oddly at home--but without a home.
i was back in a country with language and culture that i more or less understand...emphasis on the less (i had foreign parents), and realized that i would go through a little period of less than more
while i am still getting used to this whole canada thing, i can still vocalize some of the peculiarities in my behaviour:
1. apparently i really like fried eggs. when i dont have them i want them and when i have them i want them with more oil and they can never be scrambled! never poached, never boiled, never in a cake, and buddha forbid if you didnt put salt on the egg.
2. i am still having problems with english expressions. "The night is young" has become "The night is virgin"; and "That tea is very strong" became "That tea is very thick." I often say these things knowing very well i sound silly, but find myself completely lost when trying to fix my speech.
3. coffee! enough said. i drink coffee now....consistently. i used to drink it on occasion. but now it is all the time. and it must be instant, because while i am used to the act of drinking that warm, delicious, feel-good pick-me-up...i am still not used to the caffeine that REAL coffee actually has. once i arrived in halifax i rushed into Just Us! Coffee Roasters to buy some of their Fair Trade instant columbian coffee. i was sedated just looking at the jar. my eyes also bugged out of my head when i saw their 2 for 1 deal. 2 FOR 1? What were they doing to themselves? There surely is no way they can make a profit off this! i took a jar in each hand and went to the counter with anticipation to heat some milk at home and put in a spoonful of instant coffee and half a dash of stevia to yield a tantalizing instant-latte. "Instant coffee?" the barista asked. "Oh absolutely," i said as i re-iterated my lattee fantasy. He told me that no one really buys this coffee in the winter, it is more of a summer product since most people buy it for going camping. Right....
4. Latin music. Reggaeton, Julieta Venegas, Manu Chao, Mano Negra, and Juanes. All of it. All the time. And salsa when i am bored. I just need to move those hips.
5. introductions confuse the rice-and-beans out of me! do i give a kiss on the cheek like they would in Ecuador? or do i shake their hand? wave? hug? i dont even know you...which shouldnt bother me since just a few weeks ago i was KISSING people i had never met. i clearly still havent figured this one out...
6. i am still adjusting to north american keyboards.
7. Number 6 is bullshit. i have not adjusted to north american keyboards, but rather i have learned how to quickly change every keyboard i use to the spanish function. Thus i am making every effort not to adjust back to what would obviously be easier for me in the long wrong. i have chosen to take the road less traveled and have decided that i can not live without açcénts, ñ, and upsidedown punc¿?tuation.
8. sentences cannot end in prepositions in spanish. they just sounds stupid...nor can they in inglish. it sounds a little silly in enlish as well and i think that before i left for ecuador i avoided ending sentences with prepositions; however, i think that when it comes to ending sentences with prepositions--i speak even more betterly now.
i am currently living with someone who is familiar with ecuador and i she has seen me evolve over the past few weeks and has finally concluded that she "HAS ECUADOR IN HER HOUSE!!"
there are many more Ecuador-isms of which i have still not let go*, and of which i may never let go, but i invite you to join me on my quest to readjust back to canadá
note: these ecuador-isms are not listed in order of predominance in my life.
*please notice correct preposition placement
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