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

The woodshop room often does have such scents. When I first came into the classroom on the first day of the third trimester, I had been slightly repelled. I was not used to such smells because before then I had been in art and cooking. The art room doesn't have much smell (or maybe it's too neutral to identify) but the cooking room smells like spices and warmth, which is quite pleasant. So it was a big difference. But nowadays I have become accustomed to the woodshop room and it is okay now. I actually like the scent of a piece of wood after it has been oiled. The smell is strange but not bad. (I don't blame you if you think I have a problem from all the smelling. XD I assure you, this is nothing compared to the next paragraph).

For some reason my history class is fascinated by...HAND SANITIZER. (Yes, I realize I do mention my history class a lot but that is usually where the odd happenings occur.) Mr. Blair brought in a bottle of bluish green hand sanitizer and left it on the back counter. When STAR testing was over with on Monday the kids started crowded around to get some of it on their hands. A lot of them started sniffing it. Seeing this I became curious and put some on myself but I thought the smell was not nice. It smelled like alcohol or medicine or something mixed with something else. In my days I have come across better hand sanitizer than that. Anyhow, soon afterward Mr. Blair brought in more bottles since the kids were so happy when they had it. He thought it was like drugs to them but at least it pleased them and it wasn't bad for your health (supposedly hand sanitizer kills germs?).

Which reminds me, I have managed to finish my pen in woodshop. I had to ask the teacher how to drill a hole in the pen since I am never able to see when he is doing demonstrations of projects (because I am short and so many kids are blocking the way) and I tend to forget quickly in the first place. Well, I drilled a hole, but there isn't a way to drill all the way through, so when I take apart real pens to get the ink thing and try to put it in my wooden pen, it never fits. I got really annoyed and worried since I was planning to give my mom a real, functional pen for her "special day". Unfortunately it's not working so my dad says I should give up and just give her the pen. It's not like she would use it.

Some time ago it was my grandma and grandpa's anniversary (their 50th, in fact, so I guess it's the Golden Anniversary, and I mean the grandparents on my mom's side). We couldn't decide what to get them as a gift. If we bought them something expensive they wouldn't know what to do with it and they'd think that we wasted our money and shouldn't have bought it. So eventually my mom just paid a company to deliver a basket full of food and stuff to my grandparents' apartment (I mean the newer one they live in, they have two of them because one of them is their old one, which my grandpa rides the bus to so he can take a nap XD). My grandparents took pictures and sent it to us. I think we should've got my grandparents a bowl made of glass but I know it's unlikely they would accept or use such a thing. And it's too weird to get them a laptop (my grandma wants another computer, but it's not a suitable gift for an anniversary, is it?) or rings (neither my parents nor my grandparents have wedding rings).

Which reminds me...Today we saw Jerry the Sock on the announcements. It was time for Dialing for Dollars (note: If you don't know what this is, just ask in the Cbox or refer to previous posts...Good luck finding it XD). Usually the vice principal and one of the counselors runs it but this time the vice principal wasn't there so instead "Jerry" was the stand-in. But it's pretty clear that Jerry is attached to someone's arm or leg or something like that. And I saw the head of the person owning Jerry by accident. It's actually the other counselor, Ms. Williams (I don't know if she's married. By the way, Ms. Crowe is now married, but I don't know if she's planning to change her last name. I saw Mr. Brown with a new ring on his hand). I wonder if Ms. Williams was from Kentucky, then, since they always say that Jerry the Sock came from there or something.

Labels: addiction, anniversary, announcements, basket, classroom, dialing for dollars, drugs, gift, hand sanitizer, hole, jerry, pen, smells, socks, woodshop

Top ↑