of Farmer’s Markets, Facebook, and Nihongo

I did a search for farmer’s markets on the east side* and found LOTS.  Enough that I could go to at least one (sometimes two or three) each day of the week.

Yesterday, I went to the one in Carnation, expecting great things, from what I’d read on the website.  I was a little disappointed, but I’ll give it another try.  I figure the rain & the fact that it was only the second week since it opened for the season might have something to do with the small variety of vendors.

However, I did score a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers, including vibrant, red poppies, some Japanese turnips (we ate the greens in a salad last night), some breakfast radishes, jalapeno jack cheese, orange mint and eggs.

Oh, the eggs.  There was a small stand where a kid, maybe about 11 or 12 years old, was selling eggs, from free range chickens that he raised himself.  Zane.  When I walked over, his mom had to push him back towards the table, instructing him, “You have a customer!” I asked him if it was hard, raising chickens.  He thought for a minute, then said, “Sometimes.  But mostly it’s fun.”  He was a little awkward and hadn’t yet learned the art of talking about his product.  I feel a little bit like going back once a week to buy eggs from him.  A twelve year old!  Raising chickens & selling eggs!  Awesome.

Today I think Nugget & I are going to wander down to the Kirkland Wednesday Market.  Thursday is Bellevue (the wannabe Beverly Hills of Seattle, so they’d better deliver) and Saturday is Redmon.

Cool, huh?

East Side = East of Lake Washington.  People who live on the West Side seem to have a bias against the East Side – we’re “the burbs.”  But whatever, it’s really nice over here.

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you already know all this, sorry.  But speaking of Facebook (look!  A segue!) I am absolutely loving it right now.  I used to hate it, I even quit for awhile.  But lately, I’ve really been appreciating how much I’ve been keeping up with close friends because of it.

I’ve also made some new friends, through Hipstamatic (I’m obsessed, and I post on that fan page a zillion times each week.)  New friends from Norway, Sweden, Japan, etc.  This excites me, because once upon a time, almost all I had were international friends.  Now I’m just like… suburban mom & home with baby and only a few friends from Prague.    It’s just a thing I’ve always had – needing to be “international.”  Now, when we make it to Norway, etc, we’ll have people to visit!

And I’ve been practicing Japanese (from my Japanese class) with a couple girls from Japan.  It’s funny, the first language I learned was Spanish.  I passed 4 years of high school Spanish with flying colors, and barely opened a text book.  It just came naturally to me.  I say that I forgot it all, but I still have occasional conversations on FB, in Spanish, with friends living in latin countries, or speak to their boyfriends in Spanish, or when I’ve gone to Mexico, it all came flooding back.

Then, when I moved to Prague and started learning Czech, my brain often tried to default to Spanish.  Anytime I forgot or didn’t know a word or how to conjugate something, Spanish came out of my mouth.  (When I lived in LA, I came across situations where someone was trying to speak Spanish to me a couple of times, and suddenly, I would say “Yes” or “I live in Santa Monica” in Czech.  Sigh.)

My Czech is (or was?) passable.  I lived with a Czech – horrible situation, but I started dreaming in the Czech language.  However, in arguments, the louder the argument, the more English I spoke.  But I could get by fairly easily in most situations – I just couldn’t have in-depth conversations about politics or philosophy, etc.  I went to see “Volver” in Prague – a Spanish movie with Czech subtitles.  Between hearing the Spanish & reading the Czech, I made it through & understood the whole movie.  But I had a raging headache for about a week.

Now that I’m learning Japanese, my default language is Czech.  Again, when I forget a word or don’t know a word, Czech comes out of my mouth.  (It took me two years to stop greeting people in Czech, by default, once I’d returned to the States.  It’s also took over 2 years for me to stop spelling “yogurt” with a “j”.  Jogurt.  I still slip & do it occasionally.  Or sometimes I say, “jo jo,” when agreeing with something, instead of “yeah.”)

I’d like to not lose all my Czech, but it’s not like I really get a chance to use it, other than the occasional comment on Czech friends’ Facebook statuses, or lines in emails.

Anyway.  It’s time to get the Nugget ready for a sunny day outside.  We’re going for a walk in one of the million parks here, then off to the Kirkland Wednesday Market.

Such is life.

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