Changes after my honeymoon to Paris

Well, traveling to Paris for our honeymoon really changed me. I realized some new things and I've had a lot to think about. I have written several posts already about what I learned about Europe, Paris and French Girls but here is what I am going to do about it.

1. Quit the clean plate club: from this day on, I will not have to finished off my entire plate.
2. Eat smaller portions of everything: also, from this day on, I will put smaller portions on my plate.
3. Eat in good restaurants once a month and never order out food again. 
4. Eat supper later: in France, they don't eat supper until 8:30-9pm which is completely against how we eat in North America. We usually eat supper between 5-6pm. We are going to start eating supper at 6:30pm. This also gives me a chance to cook as I get home around 5:15pm.
5. Drink wine more often: we already do drink wine at least once a month and with important meals, but we should have a few glasses of wine with supper every week. It's relaxing and it makes each meal special.
6. Eat real food: we hardly saw any packaged or processed foods in Paris and that really struck us. Why do we need engineered food? From now on, we are going to eat as real as we can get. This means butter instead of margarine, sea salt and homemade jams. In other words, Clean Eating.
7. Spend the time to cook: we love to cook and I miss doing it because I get home so late. In university I cooked every day after class and it was my way of starting the evening. I should do that again. This also means that we will stop buying any pre-made meals as they are full of salt.
8. Drink better coffee: I always thought that espresso was too strong for me. I was used to my watered-down American coffee with milk and sugar. That is until I tried an espresso with a cube of sugar. That is now my drink of choice!
9. Switch to cubed sugar: all of the sugar in Paris was either in cubes or sticks instead of a sugar bowl. I like this idea because the sugar is portioned so we bought some cubed sugar for our coffee.
10. Spend the money on good clothes: I saw lots of French girls wearing good clothes. They wore nice scarfs and good quality coats and shoes. If I save up money and spend it on more expensive, better quality items then this is better than 10 cheap shirts. 
11. Go out and do things in Ottawa: we need to be a part of the life here in the city. We want to be part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies on November 11th, go to ballet and opera performances at the NAC and see the fireworks on Parliament Hill for Canada Day.
12. Have French weeks: I really want to maintain my language level and that means committing to our French weeks. What we do is speak French for one week at home (all of the time, even over the phone) then we speak English for a week.
13. Get more exercise: not just in working out on the treadmill but also in everyday things. I will walk more on an everyday basis such as walking home from the bus station (15 minute walk) instead of taking a bus and I will take the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Little things like this. 
14. Just do it: are you thinking of going somewhere or doing something? What is holding you back? Those are questions I have been asking myself this year as part of the 2011 Experiment and it's a mantra that I want to continue. 

How to do a bilingual wedding

Canada is a bilingual country (English/French) and so was my wedding. Well, my hubby is French so it was only fair to him and his family. I enjoying mixing the two traditions together for my wedding although I have to admit that I stressed over translation and including both languages in our wedding. If you are planning a bilingual wedding, read this. I have been there and here is everything that I did to make it a wonderful day for us.

1. Programs: the ceremony will most likely be in one dominant language but print bilingual programs. Make sure that the process of the ceremony is written in each language and if any parts are read in the other language, write that. For example, we had English and French programs. In the French programs, we wrote all of the responses in English as they were said in English but the process was written in French so that they could follow. In turn, in the English programs, when there was a French reading we indicated that it would be said in French. Also be sure to have a sign indicating which programs are in each language when people pick them up.
2. Readings: have one in each language during the ceremony.
3. Vows: each person can say their vows in their maternal tongue. This may require some memorization as your officiant may not be bilingual. Or, you can just do them in the dominant language of the ceremony which is most likely the language that the priest or officiant speaks.
4. Signs: have bilingual signs for the venue of the ceremony and reception. I also made little bilingual signs for the guest book and other activities around the reception and ceremony.
5. Master of ceremonies: we were very lucky to have a bilingual master of ceremonies. This can be anyone that you know very well that speaks both languages and believe me, it's extremely helpful. It doesn't interrupt the flow of the event at all and keeps everyone laughing at the same jokes.
6. Speeches: do not expect for your family and friends to do bilingual speeches. If they want to attempt it, they are welcome to and your guests will appreciate the time and effort that they make but it is not an expectation. This is what a bilingual MC is for!
7. Slideshow: we had a slideshow at our reception and we made sure that all of the captions were bilingual. It was consistent too, with the French // English text. Everyone enjoyed it!
8. Menu: if you have a menu card, make sure that it is in both languages.
9. Favours: make them without text so that you don't have to translate. One thing that I did was I stamped my candy packages with both English and French thank you stamps so I didn't have to worry about who got either language and where they were sitting.
10. Families: don't worry about both families meeting at the wedding. Try icebreaker games that don't require language. You could also make up word lists between the languages and send them out so that people can pick up on certain words when they hear them that day. We played the shoe game which was translated back and forth by our MC.
11. Guest book: make sure that it is blank so that people can write their comments in either language.
12. Translation: if you are bilingual, or your partner is, then when people talk translate back and forth so that everyone knows what is going on and everyone can have a share in the laughs. We did this for the day and everyone got along very well (despite the language barrier).

10 Tips for Practising your Second Language

Canada is a bilingual country but not many of us are actually bilingual. Most public servants are required to be bilingual but usually everyone either speaks English or French. Some people try to learn another language and get frustrated because they lose it after time.

I don’t consider myself fully bilingual but I hope that I am pretty close. Here are some of my tricks for maintaining my language level and perhaps they will help you too. Also note that as this is a Canadian article, I am referring to practicing my French but you can apply this to any language:

1. Read the news in French. Some websites are: Radio-Canada, Cyberpresse and Le Devoir.
2. Do you have any friends that speak French? Work out a deal to always speak in French to this person. If you see this person often then try immersing yourself by speaking in French for one entire week with them, and English for a week then back and forth.
3. If you are brave enough to try it, move to a French area. Then you will be forced to speak French in your daily life and you will meet more people who speak the language. A good way to ease into this is to go to university in a French place that is relatively bilingual like Montreal.
4. If are into Facebook and other social media, try switching your interface into French.
5. If you have a DVD collection, look for the ones that have been dubbed in French. Watch the movie but switch the language into French. If you have problem, add the French sub-titles. I did this during university and it really worked. I highly recommend the blockbuster movies (ex. Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, etc.) as the French dubbing is really good.
6. When you are interested in a particular topic and you have a little bit of time, look up the French words. I call this a brainstorm. I start by writing down all of the words on a particular topic that I can think about, for example about weddings. Then, I look up all of the words in a French-English dictionary so that I have a vocabulary list. I can study it whenever I want to know that it is created.
7. After reading your favorite books in English, trying reading them in French. Good online bookstores in Canada are Renaud-Bray and the French books on Amazon and Chapters. I read a chapter in French and I underline all of the words that I don’t understand so that I can look them up later. If this is a book that I borrowed or that isn’t mine, I note them on a paper pad as I am reading.
8. Develop a language binder with vocabulary lists. Flip through it from time to time to refresh your brain.This really helps if the vocabulary lists are about topics that you enjoy, in my case, sewing and knitting.
9. If you talk to someone in French and you pick up new terminology, write it down. Add it to the vocabulary binder so that you won’t forget it.
10. Take French language classes. If you are a student, trying making it your minor. If you are not, try an evening class.