You'd probably associate perfume with the scent of flowers, fruit, or even perhaps vanilla. I've certainly never heard of a perfume made from a dead pig fetus.

But that's just what I'm talking about. The smell of a preserved pig is not one that I find pleasant. The first time we had a dissection day at school, I couldn't go close to the pigs for fear of nausea. Still, this past week, I have found the smell of it simply heavenly.

What's responsible for this change of heart? Well, I've been sick with a cold for the entire week (I suspect that I've caught a second one, otherwise I would've recovered by now...But then again, since I don't get much sleep, it probably takes me longer to get better). So it was really thrilling for me to actually be able to smell something. Even with my snuffy nose, the scent of pig came through clearly.

I've certainly gotten more than my fill of animals lately, and most of it's come from French class. We've been studying words about the city and the countryside, and of course, if we're talking about farms, we've got to mention the farm animals. We actually went over the French way to make animal sounds. Pigs go "groin groin", ducks go "coin coin", roosters go "cocorico", and so on. (Ah, if only our tests were on that instead of the usual stuff.)

We learned some expressions, too, and apparently there's a bit of a cow addiction in France. There's a phrase that you use to describe someone who doesn't speak French well, and that's "Il parle français comme une vache espagnole" (which means "he speaks French like a Spanish cow"). There's also the slang word "vachmement", which is used to mean very or really. (If it were literally translated, it'd be "cowly" or "like a cow") Our teacher told us not to get confused; people in France aren't necessarily talking about cows all the time, it's just that the slang's got the word cow in it. Kind of like the English expression "Holy cow".

And not long ago, I was at a pet supply store with my friend because we were volunteering. There are dogs in there up for adoption, and occasionally a dog would get the urge to "mark his territory". Then we had to scramble to get paper towels and a bottle of spray to clean it up. (At least they saved getting rid of solid waste for the outdoors. When I was out walking one of the dogs, I had my first experience with picking up dog poop. Thank goodness you can use a bag to pick it up and not your bare hands...)

All this animal business made me think of something from when I was in Australia. There were koalas at the zoos, and you could pay to hold one and get your picture taken with it. But you have to wear a jacket because the koala could pee on you. o_o;;

Labels: animals, australia, cow, dissect, dissection, expressions, fetus, french, koala, language, noise, pig, sick, smells, sound, sound effect, urine, waste

It's quite a famous book, and I recall that my fifth grade teacher recommended it to me. But at the time I wasn't particularly interested in it, so I figured I might read it when I was older, if I ever ran out of books to read (in other words, there was almost no chance that I would read TKAM of my own accord).

I think I'd actually made the right choice by not reading the book then because I ended up reading it this year as part of the 9th grade literature curriculum. I really don't like to read books twice (there are so many good books out there, I'd much rather be reading those than reading something that I already know the ending to), and besides, if I'd read it back then, I probably wouldn't have been able to understand as much of it. (Not that TKAM is a difficult book to comprehend or anything. At least the author doesn't write with thy's and thou's and other such old language.) I really don't remember much of the books that I read when I was younger, though...I guess my brain thought other things were more important.

I actually thought the book was quite interesting, and enjoyed reading about a trial, as well as seeing a mysterious character make an appearance at last (can't reveal more than that if you haven't read the book). The movie was a disappointment in comparison. It seemed too rushed since it left out a lot of content and changed what it did put in, though I suppose moviegoers don't have as much patience, and it would be a pain to make a really long movie anyways. Well, of course, there is a general rule that books are better than their movie counterparts (which makes me fearful about the Twilight movies; I've heard some say it was good and others say it was "meh", so I don't know who to believe. But I don't really want to watch them anyways because the books were rather bland). I ought to read the Howl's Moving Castle book, but of course I keep putting it off. In fact, I really haven't been doing all that much reading these days. I really have to get back to the books.

In the case of TKAM, the mockingbird represents someone who was punished even when he/she hadn't done anything wrong. But after hearing a friend's description of a mockingbird that lived in her neighborhood (an actual bird, mind you, not a person), I'm not sure if a mockingbird is the best symbol of innocence. Although TKAM says that mockingbirds must not be shot because they sing beautiful songs, my friend (I shall refer to her as SNK) says that the mockingbird near her house is very annoying. It imitates the sounds it hears and makes a racket at nighttime, which disturbs her sleep. Eventually it either went away or got shot by a neighbor (I hope not, that's a pretty gruesome end to a bird, even if it was disturbing the peace). Another friend of mine says she'd like to have a mockingbird as a pet, though, since it is able to imitate sounds it hears (apparently it could even imitate the tunes from songs for the piano and violin. Not bad!). Wonder if they can be raised as pets. I used to want a squirrel as a pet, because I like their fluffy tails, but I suppose it would probably have rabies.

Labels: bird, book, death, disappointment, harper lee, howl's moving castle, imitation, mockingbird, movie, noise, novel, pet, repeating, rule, squirrel, story, to kill a mockingbird

My mother has abandoned me again. It's only for two days, but I kept wailing and trying to grab her arm and things like that. She managed to evade me, saying that I should turn on my cell phone and she would call me later. I would've gone to the airport and seen her off but she is with a friend/classmate/other kind of acquaintance. The lady kept smiling strangely at me, and she asked me if I remembered her and things like that. (Probably not. I didn't retain any memories until preschool, and I usually forget who my parents' friends are unless they are people I see frequently) If I had gone with my mom, my mom would've been pretty distracted and I wouldn't be able to talk to her one last time before she flew off to Las Vegas. (She's going there to meet up with some other friends she hasn't seen in a long time.) Also, I would've had to act smiley and nice for the lady-that-I-don't-remember-anymore, because they sometimes saying things like "You've grown so much" or "How old are you" or something. So maybe it was better not to go. But still, it's really quiet here. All you can hear is the sounds of birds outside.

I don't really understand what is up with teachers. They seem very laid-back, particularly the PE teachers and my science teacher. For instance, Mr. Brown, my science teacher, was sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the counter, answering questions about Human Growth and Development. Since there is a door or something connecting our classroom to the neighboring classroom, another teacher, Mr. Aochi, came over and started talking to Mr. Brown. They said things like, "You want a refresher?" (while holding up a bag of coffee beans) and "Twist my arm" (which I assume means "Yeah, thanks, go on ahead") Then Mr. Aochi tried to describe a flower, and Mr. Brown said, "Oh, you mean gardenia." In the meanwhile the students were talking amongst themselves. I wondered, WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO CLASS?! It must be hard to get teachers fired unless they really do something wrong, like handing out permission slips and taking students to 7-11. (A teacher once did that. Mr. Blair, my history teacher, admires that teacher.)

As for the PE teachers, they get paid as much as regular teachers, but they have way less assignments to grade - only tests and projects and possibly notebooks, if they even assign them at all. Oftentimes teachers talk to each other. Mr. Robinson usually talks to Mr. Murray, while Mr. Nakamura usually talks to Mr. Blair (and sometimes the female teachers, Mrs. Jennings and Ms. Rawson). We used to have another teacher (though I am not sure if she gossiped during class as well) called Ms. Hanohano, except she moved away to Arizona or someplace like that.

I heard some strange news. Apparently not only is there a new principal next year, but another PE teacher may be on her way. I am not sure of her name's spelling exactly. Besides the fact she is female I don't know anything about her. I guess it's a good thing to have another PE teacher at the school because otherwise we have practically 40 students to a class (using up ALL the painted white numbers on the ground). Still, I am anxious to know who is this teacher and whether she is nice, or if this is really just a weird rumor.

Labels: chat, confusing, friends, gossip, mom, new, noise, old folks, parents, PE class, phone, pretend, questions, quiet, school, talking, teacher

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