Asay, Bourne, and the Count

I feel incomplete when I blog without putting up a photograph. So, here's this:



I took this photo when I was in Hungary with BYU. I can only say I am in awe that I got to dance with them. On the same stage. We took bows together. They loved our dancing (which is saying something...) I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Hungarian dance was my first love affair with folk dance, back when I was 17. What a lovely summer that was... (both with the love affair and the second tour to Hungary...)




More recently, Misi came. He is the director of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. I guess I should say-
THE DIRECTOR OF THE HUNGARIAN STATE FOLK ENSEMBLE!!!!!!!
I died again when he came. It was a very hard, very rewarding, learning experience. (Don't look too close at the pic... )

Anyway, I discovered a pet peeve this week. (Ok, so I already knew it was a pet peeve, but it was re-discovered this week...) I have a teacher by the name of Asay. She is... to be kind, not my favorite teacher. However, I have learned a lot from her. I even write it down in a list at the back of my notebook. The list is entitled: Things I learn from D. Asay. The one thing I re-discovered this week was because of D. Asay, and is number 4 on my list.

For example: This painting was done by Piet Mondrian.

Now, I'm not a complete expert, but I do feel like I have a little background knowledge of modern art, and how to pronounce artist's names. Mondrian should be pronounced "Mawn-dree-on", at least by my knowledge. (if anyone feels like they are more of an expert, please, feel free to let me know how to say it...) How ever wrong I pronounce it, I still feel like I get closer to the right pronunciation than D. Asay. She pronounces it "Moh-tree-ehn." Notice how there is no 'T' in the name Mondrian. She was going on and on about "Moh-tree-ehn" and I had no idea who in the world she was talking about... What I learned from that experience, (once I knew she was talking about Mondrian,) is that students will not have any faith in you, as a teacher, if you cannot pronounce things. They will write you off as a teacher who really has no idea what in the world they are talking about if you butcher every artist's name. Or if you can't pronounce things like paint. Or clay.

Side Note: Colin and I are listening to books together. In the car, we listen to The Bourne Identity. Set in France, (at this point in the book at least,) and with a lot of french words and names. Colin hasn't liked it for a few hours because it's been a lot of dialogue. While I'm at work, I listen to books as well. I'm in the middle of The Count of Monte Cristo right now. Set in France, (at this point in the book at least,) and with alot of french words and names. Today, I walked out of the library to where Colin was going to pick me up still listening to the book on the ipod. It was at a particularly interesting part... Once Colin came, I got into the car and was listening to Bourne, only to get really confused as to why Bourne wasn't talking to Villefort, Danglas, or Albert anymore, thinking I had missed something...

Colin wouldn't like listening to The Count of Monte Cristo. It's almost all dialogue. But I bet the narrator would know how to say Mondrian, even if it isn't french.