Pour quoi j'aime la France

La France, un pays magnifique dans le point de vue d'un américain. C'est bizarre? Peut être, mais pour moi, une partie de moi habite toujours la. La culture, la musique, la mode, le café, la vue et beaucoup plus sont les bonnes raisons à aimer la France. Et, comme un américain, c'est très important à comprendre que nous sommes qui nous sommes à cause d'une grande influence de la France. Nous avons notre indépendance à cause de leur aide, malgré tout. Et je pense que la fraternité entre nous est une des plus importante dans le monde actuel.

Mais, c'est blog n'est pas au sujet l'histoire ou quelque chose technique comme ça. Non, c'est au sujet du sentiment qu'on a après d'expérience française comme j'avais eu dans ma vie. En plus, le français n'est pas ma seconde langue ni ma troisième. C'est ma quatrième langue de cinq en total. Après de dire ça, c'est plus claire que j'ai plusieurs des influences similaires dans ma vie. Alors, chaque langue,expérience et influence est très important pour dire le moins, mais ce blog est sur l'influence française. 

Comme un linguiste, le français est particulièrement important. Je l'avais dû savoir ou, au moins reconnaître dans beaucoup d'études scientifique. L'allemand est similaire je pense, mais c'est une autre histoire. Mais, dans mon travail actuel, je trouve le français incroyablement utile. Dans plusieurs des études ton bibliothèque grandit beaucoup quand on a le français et l'allemand avec l'anglais. Ta compréhension du sujet est meilleur aussi au cause de lire tout dans la langue originale. C'est particulièrement vrai dans la philosophie et la psychologie. Et pour moi, dans linguistique, le français est essentiel. Pour chaque livre que je lis en anglais au sujet de la linguistique, il y a un ou deux livres obligatoires à lire en français. 

Et les arts aussi. Quand je rends visite à la France, j'ai besoin de voir les arts dans touts les musées. J'aime beaucoup les arts français dans toutes les formes: la musique, le film et la gastronomie. Paris est ok, mais je pense que la meilleure partie de Paris est les musées et les monuments. J'ai vue et connu quatre villes françaises jusque maintenant et je préfère Antonie, Angers et Nantes. Spécialement Angers à cause d'être si pittoresque. L'histoire des toutes les villes est aussi tellement intéressante. La partie la plus importante à moi est la culture. Je voudrais acheter une maison la. J'y suis souvent dans mes rêveries, imaginant la vie parfaite dans un pays si progressif et intellectuel. C'est la réalité? Probablement non, mais au moins je pense que la France est beaucoup plus progressive que la majorité de ce monde. J'ai été dans l'Angers pour seulement une semaine mais je me suis senti que c'est la ville pour moi. Toutes les rues sont propre, la nourriture est magnifique et les peuple sont gentilles. 

Ok, c'est la France dans mon point de vue. Et ce me fait se sentir différent que beaucoup d'autre lieus. Ce pays m'a affecté beaucoup je pense. Quand je suis pensif que pense et écris en français. Et quand j'étudie, presque midi de les matériels sont écrit en français. Alors, il y a beaucoup plus à dire sur la France mais pour maintenant, c'est l'explication général de mes sentiments sur ce beau pays.

Living in Tainan II

Routine set, local area mentally mapped and wifi sources throughout the city situated. I've come to appreciate the calm and relaxed atmosphere of this city. Life is slower here and you can feel how traditional the way of life here is compared with bigger Taiwanese cities like Taipei or Taichung. I've met lots of great people representing a huge range of backgrounds and perspectives. Thankfully, I've met far more great people than bad people. Some of that might be my tendency to avoid potentially bad influences or bad people in general. Also, I really haven't been as social as I should be due to work and research.

I forced myself to be social last week and I went out to a popular bar after a late appointment with a client. It was really a great night; I met an Austrian engineer, an Indian doctor of nano-technology, an Irish English teacher and an Italian English teacher. It was so great to discuss our research and dig deep into different theories and subject matters. To share our experiences of traveling and living abroad and to bounce our experiences and knowledge off of each other is truly a good time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to "gan bei" as much alcohol as everyone else because of my digestive issues which is just another symptom of my mitochondrial mutation. But one thing I have noticed in Tainan is that going out can be hit and miss. Sometimes you go out and can meet some great people and a lot of the time you can meet some immature assholes who can ruin your night if you let them. Going out in Taipei was MUCH better than any spot I've seen in Tainan. I'll have to write another post about Taipei when I have more trips there.

In general, I mostly go to cafes to read and analyze my research as my "going out" times. Today, before another appointment with a business client, I went to a Starbucks in Anping (the old and historical part of Tainan). My institute's office is located in that part of town, which is really nice because it's kind of the cultural center of the city. I, for one, really enjoy Starbucks. Being a Northwesterner, I really like having a piece of home all over the world. It's so nice having a little piece of Seattle and the Northwest in every city I go to. And the employees are always super friendly and helpful; it makes me feel good and especially today when I went in. I ordered an Italian roast tomato and olive loaf with a chai-tea latte, just like my mom would always make in the winter time. I sat in the nearly empty Starbucks with that taste of home and I felt relaxed as I slumped farther down in my chair. The staff was very friendly and kept on suggesting things that I might like. They also taught me a few new Chinese words that pertained to coffee. I'm all about enjoying the local atmosphere and culture of wherever I am but seriously, Starbucks is my little escape back to Seattle, back home and back to personal comfort.

I suppose I need to start getting more "Tainanese" now that I am more settled. It's hard though, because I'm so caught up in my work and research so I get exhausted and find it hard to properly explore. I've already explored a lot of the city but there is so much more. This month I'll be getting a bigger set of wheels and I'll take a few days to travel the area. Just south of Tainan is a great city called Kaohsiung where there is apparently a lot going on. In between the two cities are plenty of little towns that are just begging to be explored. I noticed an interesting wharf that I want to explore further which is on route to Kaohsiung. The thing is, with this little scooty-puff, the city is about all it can handle. Also, since I have more of a routine now, museums are in my near future. Tainan is absolutely full of temples and museums of which I have visited the most important ones but there are still so many yet to visit. Something about this city just makes me incredibly thirsty for more knowledge and discovery and I think it's wonderful but at the same time, it's murder on my social life. Oh well, at least I'm getting something positive out of it.  

Art

My family is full of artists; my grandmother paints, my mother is an impressive calligrapher and painter, my sister has an incredible skill for drawing, my brother's design portfolio is unbelievable. This is art in the traditional sense, which is absolutely marvelous. I really enjoy being able to appreciate paintings and drawings because of the skill and the artist's intentions for how it can be appreciated. Music and sculpture art are, of course, under the same category. Some of my favorite museum attractions are paintings with subtle meanings that cannot be taken in with only a glimpse. A painting that uses color tones and patterns along with purposeful vagueness and can utilize the observer's ability to feel appreciate the mixing of colors and patterns and internalize them and allow them to relate to the observer's own life. In many ways, music does the same thing with sound. Especially music that has minimal or no lyrics at all. The artist (or composer) uses the sound patterns and pitch to evoke meaning and emotion in the same way that a painter does with color.

One of my very favorite things to do is notice this basic concept in art in various forms of art. How does a chef prepare his/her food in a way that will bring out something personal or emotional in even the slightest degree? I think this way in my work as well, which makes me try to notice it in the work of my colleagues. Because I'm not an artist in the traditional sense, as with my family, I still see my work as art. When I take a language and deconstruct it, then build it back up piece by piece, it is like painting a picture with words, grammar and syntax. I love using etymology, cognates and borrowed words in my art in order to make sense of the language. Understanding the whole picture and relating it to my students and clients in a way that they can internalize and keep as something personal to them. My work might be something hard to see as art, but to me there is no other way to picture it. Even the parts of my job where I have to sit and read book after book, the way that I internalize what I read and organize it in my brain is a form of art that I highly enjoy. It is a process of relating old information with new information and putting in such a way as to be easy to understand and retrieve whenever I might need it.

Though I am not an artist in the traditional sense, I couldn't imagine any part of what I do in any other way. And I think that this is the same for most people actually, whether we are conscious of it or not. At least, if it is something that you enjoy doing or are passionate about. Think about your hobbies; even if it may not seem to be art in the traditional sense I believe that it can easily be perceived as such, which will bring greater satisfaction from the activity in general.