Karate Kid and other things

    Today was somewhat uneventful, I suppose. But even the uneventful days are hard sometimes when speaking a foreign language. Case in point: someone arrived at the door, and I had no idea who they were or what they wanted, but luckily I was able to communicate that they should come back later. I'll count it as a victory.
   I was able to go running around the hippodrome (horse track) today, and sure enough someone was riding a horse (just not on the track). It's a nice run, and you feel accomplished because it doesn't take too long to go around the giant stadium a few times. On Sundays the street is mobbed with bicycles, but today there weren't quite as many.
   Afterward, we went to see Karate Kid at La Defense. As we got off the tram, I saw the beautiful arch there, and desperately wanted to take a picture. But alas, I wasn't sure of my ability to find the theatre.
   I did find it rather easily, actually, but I accidentally went to the customer service desk to buy tickets. Oh well. When I bought my tickets, the person behind the counter asked me something and I had no idea what he was saying. I turned to my small companion for help, but his inability to speak English didn't help my cause. Alas, I stood there for a moment and the person assumed I didn't want whatever he was offering. I hope it was something boring. It'd be too bad if I didn't recognize the expression for "opals" or something.
   And then I experienced my first French film I've seen without a teacher to help explain what they were saying. I'm pretty sure I understood it. It's strange, because thinking back on it I don't specifically remember any moment where I didn't know what was going on. Then again, the plot structure of that movie was fairly basic...
   We then returned home, where I was taught how to make my own salad dressing. It's really great to eat fresh bread and use homemade salad dressing. The only food-oriented aspect of French life I'm struggling with is the containers they keep milk and juice in. I failed at milk today and spilled it everywhere. Hopefully I'll learn soon!
   And now I'm patiently awaiting for last night's episode of Glee to download on iTunes. I really do miss American television (Hulu doesn't work here), and I can't afford to download everything. So I'm sticking with Glee.
   Otherwise everything's going well! Today was my first full day of taking care of the kids by myself. I hope the next few hundred go just as well :)

-Ian