I am always super-impressed by anyone who can speak more than one language! I learned French from the age of 7 to the age of 15 and I can barely remember anything - and I certainly can't speak it. I was reasonably okay at writing and reading French but when it came to speaking it I could never make myself understood. It was very disheartening! I don't have a very good ear for languages - heck, I often have to ask people to repeat themselves when they are speaking English - so I find it amazing when people converse in a language other than their native tongue.

Writing a blog in English is a great way to practice the language! I think you have done really well to learn what you have! I'll be sure to tell you if you make a really, really bad mistake.

Despite my inability to converse in other languages I am fascinated by language in general and I love all the nuances in the English language. I'm quite excited as Alex is currently doing an essay-based course and I'm getting to proof-read all of his essays. I just e-mailed one back to him, actually, covered in my red notes - I hope he's not too offended! It really was quite well written but I kept thinking of ways to improve it further.

The idea is to keep a blog as well on those domains (well, them forwarding to one domain in the end tho lol) about my journey into the US and after that, when we have our little family and stuff, with the sole purpose to keep the people back home informed.. Still wondering if I should do it in Dutch or in English since I know some English only speaking people and also Dutch only speaking people... hmm I'll prolly end up just do both lingos lol

Here's my blog peoples....don't mind my mindless rambling as that is mostly what it contains
Sunni Side Up

Hope no one minds but I am going to make a new thread for us as I get annoyed easily about super duper long threads LMAO...I am gonna do weekly ones is that ok with all? If not then just ignore my new thread....haha...

Well I don't know what other people think, but I liked having this one thread, even if it is a long one with hundreds of pages. That way we always know which one to look at. And what if someone wants to find an information someone else posted one of the weekly thread? that means that person would need to read all of them if he/she can't remember which week it was. :S

And now that I think of it, this would probably be a good thing to do. I mean I'm sure my family would like it if I was going to write down everything that happens to me when I'm in that 'unknown and strange country'. Maybe I should do it too... but right now I'm definitely too lazy!

somehow that made me laugh.... reading the underline words made my mind float to the wizarding world of "harry potter" where there are giants and dragons, elves and wizards and witches and flying broomsticks... but honestly, sometimes, i do feel like I'm headed to that place... i just hope there will be more good wizards than bad witches in the place where me and my kids are going.

Well everytime I say something about the USA to my mother, I can see in her face that she is thinking "OMG she'd better stay here! there are so many different things over there!", hence the "unknown and strange country". I'm sure you'll only meet good wizards AND good witches dbears! not sure about the flying broomsticks though

I sometimes get the same from Olga and I have to remind her to expect that everything will be the same as what she now knows, and anything better, that's just the icing on top of the cake.

I'm not sure about that. It seems to me that a lot of things are going to be different. From the language to the administrative system. Credit cards. Measurements. Tips. The fact that I will be an "immigrant". Stores. Grocery shopping with different products. Even the relationship with my future husband will be different, because the entire context is going to be a new one (even though I've already gone to that country, and we've already lived together for several weeks).
I'm glad it's going to take several months before I'll get EAD. That way I can try to adjust as much as I can in the everyday environment before to have to adjust in a work-related environment.


And for the orcs, with all the good witches and good wizards to protect us, then that shouldn't be a problem

One thing you forget Cecile, is that you have a real French accent - and so can expect to be slobbered on by all sorts of people as being a true representative of "high culture". Deserved or not, it doesn't matter. I vote for deserved, however. The same generally holds true for the British. As for the Australians and New Zeelanders and other representatives of the Empire - people just want to buy them a beer and listen to the way they talk.

Bryan says I don't have a real French accent. though he says my accent is cute

I sometimes get the same from Olga and I have to remind her to expect that everything will be the same as what she now knows, and anything better, that's just the icing on top of the cake. Besides, all the elves, witches and wizards live in California and the giants and dragons live in New York. Chicago is perfectly safe, aside from the occasional orc.

One thing you forget Cecile, is that you have a real French accent - and so can expect to be slobbered on by all sorts of people as being a true representative of "high culture". Deserved or not, it doesn't matter. I vote for deserved, however. The same generally holds true for the British. As for the Australians and New Zeelanders and other representatives of the Empire - people just want to buy them a beer and listen to the way they talk.

How about asians dear blake? In the school that the kids will be attending, the asian population is nil so my two kids will probably be the only asian there. And we will be the only filipino in Ricky's small town... Oh well....

Just dropping in to wish everyone well!!! I'm still praying for all of you!!! MOVE IT, CSC!!!!

They never did it on purpose! they tried to make me communicate with the other characters and tried not to make me die, but it never worked! I hope that won't be the same once I get there in real life

How about asians dear blake? In the school that the kids will be attending, the asian population is nil so my two kids will probably be the only asian there. And we will be the only filipino in Ricky's small town... Oh well....

Gosh I hope the CSC starts moving this month!!! I mean gosh April is half over now!!!

Just dropping in to wish everyone well!!! I'm still praying for all of you!!! MOVE IT, CSC!!!!

I have to admit that my accent is certainly a commodity (though I doubt all British accents are - many of them can be quite difficult to understand even for a British person!) although I'm never going to be able to order 'water' in a restaurant.

It's snowed here again in Sheffield - brr! This time last year we were having a heatwave!

Aye - some Brits may as well be speaking another language!

If you're curious, I have examples of me speaking here: http://rebelsanctuary.com/voice/ Only the ones labelled 'rachel' though - the rest aren't me! Oh, and in one of them (I think it's rachel4) I'm talking about testicular cancer, so it's probably NSFW. (Hey, I needed something to read and it was on a nearby Gillette razor packet).

Don't let it worry you, I'm sure you'll be fine

I was worrying ábout a similar thing, although it will be me being one of the only white people in a mainly filipino/japanese town lol but when I was there, they received me with open arms

They will naturally be assumed to be wizards in math. If that is not the case, then they should use a french accent

All kidding aside, I'm sure your children will be a real curiosity amongst their classmates and will be asked about where they born many times. I think they should not have too much of a problem assimilating - even in a small town in NC.

Ooh - the voice files named 'spectre' in that directory are spoken by a Dutchman and he has an awesome voice - very 1940s radio presenter-y.

All of the Dutch people I have known could easily have been mistaken for Brits when speaking English - perhaps because you're usually bilingual from an earlier age than, say, the French or Germans?

Maybe I should ask Ricky to transfer to Hawaii where there's more sun and more beaches like here in the Philippines

btw... anyone seen Igor's list recently? There's someone who filed the I129F on March 20, March 24 was the NOA1 and they already have NOA2?? o_O

Anyone else thinks this timeline was wrongly entered? I mean, 22 days? What they do? Throw all previous petitions out of the window and start with a clean sheet again? :S

Yup, I saw that too. Their profile has been visited by tons of people today, I'm sure everyone is going "WHAT THE ^&$#&*???!"

All I can think of is they are a Cuba petitioner. Those get pushed through right away, which might explain the 22 days. Their profile doesn't have any info, so who knows. I'm guessing it's either that or is just a typo like you said. Let's hope anyway...

I added you as a friend on myspace Rachel I couldn't get your voice clips to play for some reason on my puter ??? weird! But my man is English and I lived there for 3 years so I know what you lot sound like

Man I am depressed about the CSC....trying not to think about it so much but as the weather warms and I see more couples out and about together and this will be second summer without Gareth....well yeah it is CRAP!!!!

Rachel, I LOVE YOUR ACCENT! And I almost drop off my chair with the "Snape killed Dumbledore...." of course Snape ended up being a hero really.

I have always loved the british accent, ALWAYS! Even when I was a young kid, I always love hearing it... No offense to the americans, I always thought English should be spoken the way the British do (though filipinos take after the americans in english)... I always make Ricky try to imitate the british accent, and he could really do but he'd be all red for really trying hard

OMG Rachel, you have the perfect voice. I love it!! Truely the classic accent.

Hmmm.. I do know we all learn how to speak English in the British way, both oral as written (like 'colour' instead of 'color') so maybe that is why it is like that. We also start to learn English when we're about 11-12 years old. Compared to the Germans, we don't do dubbed movies, this might also be why we learn stuff earlier (like for example, when being in Germany, I learned most German coz the movies were dubbed haha).

Yup, I saw that too. Their profile has been visited by tons of people today, I'm sure everyone is going "WHAT THE ^&$#&*???!"

All I can think of is they are a Cuba petitioner. Those get pushed through right away, which might explain the 22 days. Their profile doesn't have any info, so who knows. I'm guessing it's either that or is just a typo like you said. Let's hope anyway...

Two things - how do you access Igor's list

And has anyone seen the CSC timeline - last week it was out to 167 days, but this week it back to 152 So fingers crossed

Cuba petitioners get their approvals right away? Isn't that odd (and very unfair) if that happens??

Hmmm.. I think I go for the VSC explanation.. kinda makes more (fair) sense to me ^__^

Link to Igor's List is in my signature. Might be worth bookmarking it.

I personally will stick to my theory and think this person is a fake just messing with all of us haha! But yeah no wayyyyyyy I am saying unless of course VSC instead, Cuban, or mistake entirely!