boba, and why I love my job

So this semester I work mostly in the French Writing Lab at BYU.

Our mission? To catalog error types made by students in their papers (with an angry red pen), while explaining to them (vocally) how to fix them.

Sometimes my job is less than stimulating. However, there are times, when a true gem pops up in a paper, and I will cherish it forever and ever in my heart. The most recent one is as follows...

A student was wanting to write about boba drinks in French ( it's no easy task to describe boba in English). But basically boba is a smoothie drink with little tapioca beads at the bottom that are kind of slimy and chewy: some people love 'em, a lot of people hate 'em.

This student wanted to describe the tapioca beads as balls in French (which is perfectly fine). However, using Google translate (even for just one word) can be a fatal error. Google translate erred on the side of a dirty mind and gave the student a very graphic translation for male genitalia. Bless their hearts. I had "balls" (couilles in French if anyone is curious) scattered eloquently and innocently throughout the paper. This poor student had the good fortune of getting me to look over the paper instead of one of the older professors, and even though it was a little awkward, it was really the single most hilarious event of my semester. We laughed (and cried) every time we came across the word in the student's otherwise well-written paper. I did manage to get some pretty messed up images ingrained in my mind, and will probably be avoiding boba for a while.

Kudos to you student, for brightening my day.

Pictured above: the infamous boba drinks, with the tapioca balls at the bottom. 

If anyone's in the Utah area and interested in having some bomb boba, check out Tokyo Sweets at the Provo Towne Center mall. They sell a variety of Asian treats and goodies, if you want to try something a little different I would definitely recommend it! (I'm not just saying that cuz I used to work there...it's actually good guys)

La terre

Usually spring and summer bring about nice nature smells (i.e. flowers, sap, cut grass, etc...)

In France there's a distinct scent in nature, and it actually varies a lot from one region to the next (in Provence it smells like lavender and rosemary...take me back please...). The mountain air in Grenoble just smells clean and fresh, and overall pleasant (sometimes it smells like violets and that's about as pleasant as it gets people).

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States there is also a distinct nature smell. Pines. Pine sap. Rain. Priuses (Prii?).Pines. Oh wait...
It never gets old to me because it always smells nice and everything stays green and lively. I wish I could say the same thing about the next and most recent place I have dwelt in.

Utah. So Utah is great for a lot of reasons, but lately I've been noticing some of the not-so-great things. Every time I wanna breathe deeply and smell what I think should be the pleasant smells of a spring awakening (no connection to the raunchy musical), there's this awful stench of mildew, must and DEATH that hits my olfactory senses with a bludgeoning force. I gag a little. I probably make a weird face too.
Go away nasty earth smell, no one likes you!!!

I've been pondering on why this is the case, and I've come to a few possible conclusions:

1. Having the earth be buried under snow for 4 months gives it a nasty smell
2. Having the earth be under a layer of mulch THEN have snow cover that gives it a nasty smell
3. The grounds crew at BYU replace the dirt too often and it never gets to settle into a nice smell (far fetched and least likely conclusion)
4. Utah earth just sucks and it stinks...
4.5 The spring plants haven't actually started growing yet, everything is still kinda dead and brown (pictured below)

5. Maybe there's something gross perpetually trapped in my nose and I'll never be able to smell anything pleasant in nature ever again (most depressing conclusion)

Anyways. For the few people who read this, you got the privilege to smell my life for a moment...lucky you!

Catharsis

I think it's pretty typical that sometimes you feel super grateful for what *seems* like no good reason at all...I think that it often happens right after (or during) really difficult times in your life.

If you don't want to read about my deep personal thoughts (it's really boring and frightening all at the same time) then you should probably stop right now.

For reals just don't.

I usually hesitate to write stuff like this on a public site, but hey, "future employers" will now know that I indeed have a soul and am not some dry, sarcastic android dropped from planet France.

I was actually looking at a long-time friend's new blog when I realized just how much I care about that friend. She was awesome when I met her, and she still is, even though so much has changed during the course of our friendship. I credit her with being one of the strongest supports for me during a time that just sucked for me (I don't think she even realizes). I received on that same day, a facebook message from one of my best friends in France, who has also been there for me more than she knows, and who I will always be close to despite the current ocean and land mass standing between us. Just now I also read a student's composition about dealing with death, and cherishing our loved ones while they are here on earth (she was a sweetheart and the composition was beautifully written despite French being her third language). Cue that awful (and wonderful) chokey/prickly/dry  feeling in my throat that I get when I am emotional and can't handle it but I have to keep it together cuz I'm such a professional...

I don't do enough to appreciate the people in my life. I don't think I'll ever be able to, even though I try. Because of me having to move around so much in my life, I think that friendships were always something that I saw as transitive and temporary. I realize I can't afford to think and act like that anymore, even though to a certain extent friendships do evolve and change with time and because of our own changing lives. I've realized that I need to start telling people how much they mean to me. Even those who seem like they don't have that much of an impact on my life. Even those who feel like all I do is whine to them (I do that a lot... it's a problem).

I think we all need those introspective times where we just think about how much our friends and family have been there for us. We need to realize we're weak, and we can't always make it on our own.

I am weak, I have weaknesses, and I need loved ones in my life to make it what it is: bearable. enjoyable. 

I have a hard time saying all that, but it's also pretty cathartic.