Excusez-Moi.

Bonjour a tous! Vous etes bien? Oui? J’espere!

Okay, okay, I’m sorry. It’s been months. I have abandoned you in your darkest moment, when you needed me the most, I can’t change what happened, but I’m here now, and I want to make up for lost time.

What have you been doing in my absence? What have you seen?

As for me… you can probably tell I have been practiquer mon Francais! I can confidently say that I have the fluency of un enfant de quatre ans. A 4 year old child. Il est pas tres bon. It’s not very good. But I’m really giviner ya know!

Shannondoah’s language lessons are courtesy of Duolingo, YouTube et Netflix!

 I’m currently in LOVE with this app and I highly recommend it to anyone

Espanol: The Sequel.

Yo como azucar.

Yeah that’s right, I’m eating sugar.

Tus gatos comen pasta.

Yeah that’s right your cats eat pasta.

El perro escribe cartas.

The dog writes letters.

Just a few sentences I’m learning…

That I can never use in real life.

Unless I want to sound like a tard.

I make myself laugh sometimes.

Cheers!

A New Language.

So my Aunty is Colombian and she’s been bugging me forever about going back to school, joining the RCMP and learning Spanish.

I don’t know if continuing school is what I want, I’d like to but student debt I’m not to keen on. Joining the RCMP? I mean they do love when women join the force, maybe they just have to fill a quota or something. Really, if I did join they’d be hitting two birds with one stone, an Aboriginal women? Egads! The physical test might be the most challenging part for me, considering the last time I’ve exercised vigorously would have to be in high school.

But Spanish… this is something I might be able to do. I did take French in school for about eight years and took almost nothing away from it, but now there are apps! And apps are making learning FUN! Who would have thought!

There are some similarities between French and Spanish though I must say, so I might have learnt a thing or two in school!

I promised my Aunty that I would learn one sentence by the time I saw her next… and here it is…

AHEM!

Yo bebo vino.

Huh? Huh? Pretty good right! You can understand why that one stuck in my mind a lot easier than the rest. I think it’s pretty fitting though, because the next time I’ll see her I will be drinking wine at her daughter’s wedding.

Yo bebo vino.

Gold star for me!

I’m going to shamelessly plug the Duolingo app! I feel so sexy speaking in Spanish, rolling all of my r’s and making all of my h’s super breathy.

To my Aunty I’ll most likely sound mocking and not at all endearing. Now I’m going to learn how to say different animals en espanol.

Cheers!

Letter to Myself.

I found an old tattered list I’d written to myself of things I wanted to do before I turned 20. It was meant with good intentions, as a kind of motivation to shoot for the moon, even if I fall I’ll land among the stars. Turns out I didn’t even break through the atmosphere.

It might have ended with me crying because I haven’t made any progress since I was 16 years old, but I’ve made an executive decision to extend the deadline to age 30…

1. Go to Ireland – Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
2. See Andrea Bocelli live in Italy
3. Go to Sturgis
4. Drive a motorcycle
5. Own a pair of Christian Louboutins
6. Own an Elli Saab gown
7. Be happy
8. Go to the Okanagan
9. Go back to Hawaii
10. Take Mom and Dad on a trip
11. Live abroad for 6 months to a year
12. Go to Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans
13. See Adele, Celine Dion or Lady Gaga live
14. Meet one of my idols
15. Own a classic car (’67 Chevrolet Impala)
16. Swim with dolphins

That’s a pretty big list of things to do for a young girl. You can say I wasn’t being very realistic. I’m going to revise this list so that I’m not brought to tears again for failing 16 year old Shannondoah.

But really! Come on! How was I going to travel to all of these places in four years, one of which I would be living in for a year, have time for concerts or money to buy a classic car that I would only be able to drive half the year AND buy designer clothing. I was a waitress for three years. Oh to be young and naive.

Oh well, that’s fine. I’ll give 16 year old Shannondoah’s head a shake and try again.

I didn’t get to travel anywhere or take my parents on a trip, but I have taken them to dinner and a movie, so that’s something. I didn’t get to go to Sturgis or ride a motorcycle, but I did try to this year. Organized the whole trip, started saving up but my traveling companions abandoned me last minute so I’m just sitting here like a lame duck to scared to make the trip on my own. It was the 75th anniversary to! I would’ve been in my glory! I did also try and get my motorcycle license, studied forever, taken the online tests about a hundred time but haven’t gone to write it yet. Totally psyching myself out.

I don’t own designer clothing, and haven’t seen any concerts in a while. I haven’t swam with dolphins either but if I got the chance I wouldn’t. You can say after seeing Blackfish I’m against keeping animals trapped for our entertainment.

And the big #7. I’m actually kind of worried at how that was lost in the middle of my list. To be happy. I think I was happy for the most part, I’m not a super cheery person at all, but I’d say I had some good times, but there were some bad times as well.

I’ll make a new list and that’ll be at the top.

And the next list will be on a budget.

22 year old Shannondoah is a little more realistic… and bitter.

I’ll add self improvement to the list.

Cheers!