Daniel Ferrante

While my students continue to say and write the funniest things (”During All Saints Week I did a camel!” or “We played volleyball on the b*tch.”), I discovered I have been making a huge error of my own.

In French, when one expresses a need to do something or have something, one says, “J’ai besoin de…” which means, “I have need of…” Well, since I arrived, I have been saying, “J’ai bison de…” or, “I have bison of…”

During my French lesson, I said this to my teacher and she looked at me and asked if I knew what “bison” was…

Me: It means “need”, right?
Her: No, it’s an animal, like a big furry cow.

Oh yes, life here is interesting.
–

The Darcy Drunk Revisited

I was at Darcy again, catching the Number 7 out of town. As I was boarding, I saw The Darcy Drunk literally pulling a girl off the bus and trying to kiss her. Mind you, the bus driver, who saw the whole thing, did nothing to stop him.

I walked up, pulled him off of her, pushed him away and pulled her on board and then “guarded” the door until we left. She thanked me and we agreed that he’s “un personne ivre” or a drunk.

There’s a feeling within me that it will come to blows between us before I leave.
–

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up. This of course makes my classes easy as I can use the same Thanksgiving based lesson plan for all my students.

We American assistants are planning a huge feast for Thursday for our new friends in Dijon. It will be truly international as we’ll have people from the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Poland, France and even Alaska (which really should be its own country)

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week.
–

1 + 1 = 3

I want to give a shout out to my new “nephew” Joseph Brian Urso. My cousin and his wife have been wanting a child for a long time and they have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Congratulations you two!!
–

Get Well Soon

My good friend Apollo was in a horrible accident while riding his bike. Please keep him in your thoughts and drop by his site to wish him well.

I love you, man. And I hope you get better soon.