Sometimes I’m reminded in life that things may not be as random as we think. Of course, such things can be explained away with logic, and random chance or probability. Some would call it fate, others some kind of law of attraction, or synchronicity. Might be some chance, some synchronicity.
I first noticed that two of the first three topics in one of my exam prep books was right up my alley. The first on vaccination- freedom of choice, adjuvants, probability of negative reactions, the usual stuff. The second on tinitus and making the public aware of the dangers of prolonged noise or music and even noisy public places in shorter doses such as in cinemas. I whinged a while back regarding my tinitus. While both topics are very relevant to me, and are easily explainable, as it’s possibly just random and plenty of us come across things completely relevant to us semi-regularly, it still felt a little funny (funny/strange).
Today I went to a bush playgroup in an area in which we lived around ten years ago, back when I was still sometimes flogging out my eardrums to Jay-Z and Tupac (later mixed with the occasional Dutch audio program) while walking our dear little Jack Russell (R.I.P.) around the neighbourhood. Although I still enjoy some Tupac occasionally, I seldom make time for it (listening to music), as any spare time goes into French and I get concerned about my hearing as I struggle to listen to music I enjoy at low volume. Anyway, off track a tad there...
Bref, there was only one other father there today (quite a few mothers). So, he’s French and in his second year of nursing here. In a 2 hour playgroup thingy with beautiful weather and the kids playing in the dirt and mud, I would’ve conversed for at least 30 minutes in French minimum, sprinkled throughout the two hours. I think he was equally surprised and grateful for the conversation as myself, as he has little if any contact with francophones here.
Okay French ppl aren’t that rare here (not as rare as Lithuanians, of which there was also one, maybe two), but a Frenchman studying nursing, also explaining the same issues I’d come across in trying to get an Aussie nursing degree recognised in Europe. Even if totally random, it was quite surprising. My wife will be taking the kids for the next few weeks, but I’m quite keen to return as well, since we seemed to have plenty to talk about, not to mention it was a really nice thing to do with the kids- warm Aussie day, Aussie bush, lakes with birdlife (looking out for snakes), and French conversation. Somme toute, a nice but rare coincidental language experience that I’ll definitely take for a pretty solitary language learner, like many of us.
Oh, and I’ve been working on my Wizardry skills and have just turned myself into a frog.
Edit:
Amazon France are no longer allowing me to order material to be dispatched to Australia, because Australia has an Amazon site now, which is crap with regards to foreign materials (price and availability issues). I managed to find some of the books from my amazon.fr order on the amazon.com.au site, yet compared to ordering 5 books from France, it was going to cost me about the same for ONE or TWO BOOKS from the Australian site (via third party sellers from France anyway)... Quick searching landed me with fnac.com after a couple other searches. My wife suggested New Caledonia bookstores. Yes it's close but they don't post outside NC. Worth a try, though. Order completed with fnac for very close to the same price as Amazon.fr within a few centimes. There was a problem with my order (my fault), so I thought why not, i'm going to call them as it's morning in France. It's nice, to be able to phone and have no difficulties whatsoever in dealing with the various albeit simple tasks in communication over the phone. The only challenge was crappy audio quality (my left ear is still ringing with it's tinnitus), so I had to listen hard (and at the C1 level language users are expected be able to cope with such). All in all a second exercise in confidence building today.
I sincerely believe I am at the C1 level, even if only
just, the issue for me is getting up to speed quick enough with the French exam format. I booked an italki session tomorrow with my former favourite teacher/former examinor prior to the B2 exam. Shall I ever study Spanish and sit the DELE exams, I might look her up again as she was raised trilingual but French and Spanish are her main languages (English third), and she resides in Madrid. The objective of this sole 60 minute 'lesson' is to get the absolute brutal honest truth, am I dreaming, or can I pass this bloody thing, because I'm certainly back to my procrastinating ways at a crucial time and I need the cold hard truth. That, I'm hoping will be enough to either rethink the whole thing, or get me off my behind!
(End of edit)
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Do you believe the numbers? (see link at bottom). I don’t. Who gains from such inflated nbrs? Why do they want to gain from it? Because they care? Be careful who you trust in a world in which everything is seemingly about money and power and the powerful trample eloquently all over those below. There are probably better articles. These questions are rhetorical, designed to provoke reflection and autonomous (real) critical thinking/analysis. I’m not up for discussing it (particularly in the lead up to my exam) as I don’t wish to make a madhouse of my log just now, but still feel such things a very much worth contemplation.
https://m.huffingtonpost.ca/lawrence-solomon/death-by-influenza_b_4661442.html