#37 – Make an extensive French flash card collection.

#38 – Memorize every last French flash card.

#39 – Hire a French tutor to work with me once a week (6 months).

I’m taking a different approach to getting my French up to speed, and Dave is coming along for the ride!!  We found a native French speaker who has been coming to the apartment once a week to help us out.  One of her first comments to me, “Flashcards are boring!”  She spends an hour talking to me, and correcting my goofy grammar, and she spends an hour teaching Dave the basics. 

I know French much more as a spoken language than a written one…this comes through two summers of total French immersion in Quebec 10 years ago, as well as a customer service job speaking French on the phone.  Revisiting the basics through Dave, while spending time each week just talking in French, have been really valuable and fun. 

Dave’s homework is focused on memorization, while mine is focused on reading and writing things I am interested in, focusing on improving spelling and grammar.  I’ve enjoyed doing this with Dave, and our different talents in life help each other learn.  That’s to say that I just say anything in French to get my point across, while Dave focuses on spelling and pronouncing thing correctly.

The goal is to take our summer vacation in Quebec in 2012.  It would be wonderful to introduce Dave to that time in my life, as well as reconnect with the family that I lived with.

#14 – Get an eye exam.

This did get done this winter…with kinda mixed results.  The good news is that I passed all of the physical eye tests.  My vision is better than 20/20.  The challenge, however, is that I didn’t get answers to any of my concerns.  I know that my vision has changed in the last couple of years.  Just ask any of my coworkers…they will all complain that I save documents at 130% size.  And I’ve always had floaters, but they now get stuck in my direct line of sight, while that never happened before.

I really wan’t pleased with the opthomologist that my general practicioner referred me to.  Three hours in the office, and about four minutes with the actual doctor, didn’t seem cool.  I will not be going back.

Not sure what my next step is here.

Seems like this winter, these crazy jobs of ours and life in general have swallowed this blog…oops.  But it’s spring now in Chicago, and things are changing.  Let’s see if we can find something interesting to share.