Learning

I like learning new things. And, it appears that as I get older, I’m enjoying learning more things.

 

As mentioned yesterday, I’m at a conference about lean kanban, which is something I have a very shallow depth of knowledge about, but want to learn more. I’m still not going to discuss that today. Every day, I spend a portion of my day working on photography, French, or some other topic. My latest “other topic” is decision making. There are so many easy jokes for me to make about me studying decision making – maybe later.

 

In reverse order:

I’m reading a bunch about decision making. After the series of books I’m reading, I think I’ll focus on statistics and measurement. Then, maybe poetry?  

 

I’m a photographer, or at least I aspire to be a photographer. I take pictures and a lot of people seem to like them. Most of the walls in our house contain pictures I’ve taken that Jennifer has selected.  I still feel lucky when I get a picture that I like a lot. I barely understand all the things that my camera can do, but as I walk down the street, I see things that would make a good picture. I like thinking about what should be in the frame and out of the frame. I like the juxtaposition of new and old, serious and funny, drab and bright, and urban and nature.  I don’t study photography every day, but try to read or practice several times a week.  For the longest time, I took very few pictures and only read about others taking pictures. A friend suggested I should take some of my own to really learn what I’m doing and what my style is. 

Seth Godin wrote, “Until you confront the fear and discomfort of being in the world and saying, "here, I made this", it's impossible to understand anything at all about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Or an artist.”

 

The part about the artist is what stuck out to me.

 

I love the French language and thanks to a wonderful job, I’ve had the chance to travel to Bordeaux, France three times, with more trips planned in the future. I studied French in high school and some in college. I feel like “French” is a pretty big part of what I imagined my life would be when I was in school.  I didn’t aspire to live in France, or really even travel to France, but I studied it and somehow made it part of me. In retrospect, I find that hilarious – a kid from Iowa who feels like he has French heritage? Ha.   In 2011, when I first heard I would travel to France, I purchased Rosetta Stone and studied all the time… like every day [not really all the time, nor every day].  As the departure date drew near, I did start studying every day. The result was that I knew practically nothing when I went to France the first time.  I have a pretty good command of vocabulary, just not how to put all the words together. And definitely not how to understand it when someone speaks to me.  

 

The first trip was fun. I think I was that funny American who tried to speak French. I studied a ton – really – for the months leading up to my January 2013 trip. I started to learn the different tenses – future, imperfect, past tense – and got completely confused. My vocabulary was still growing and my grammar was improving. By the time we did our March 2013 trip, I was more realistic about what I knew. This was very helpful, I think. As a part of my job, I interview people about what they do. I tried to mix English and French, as the interview participant needed it. That seemed to help our communications. When at restaurants or en route (airports, planes), I tried to speak only in French.  This proved shocking or hilarious in some situations, like when I used a word that could mean kiss or <insert vulgar term for a very loving act> or when I ordered a potato (pomme de terre) tart instead of an apple (pomme) tart. 

 

I’m still studying French, but my daily study has fallen off a bit as I focus on other deadlines at work. I want to focus more on it, though. It’s such a lovely language, and I’m amazed at how different I think of things when I think in French.  For example, tonight during dinner, a couple sat at the table right next to me at the restaurant.  They were speaking English to the waiter and to each other, but after a minute or so, they switched to French.  I wasn’t really listening, nor did I understand much of their conversation. I picked up occasional words, the cadence, and the beauty of the language.   I texted my wife to see if she thought I should greet them and talk for a minute in French as I was leaving. Jennifer responded “Yes you should”. (She also helps me order food some times, even when I’m traveling…). So, after I paid, I leaned over and talked to them in French.  You know, just excuse me. Sorry to intrude. I’m trying to learn French and couldn’t help but notice that you were speaking it. I love hearing it and feel so grateful that you sat next to me. 

 

Only I was way more awkward.  They asked a few questions about where I was studying French and why. I answered and shuffled off.  I hope they didn’t feel as awkward as I felt. I do love the language and I do love learning.

 

Next up – figuring out this joke I saw on a t-shirt at the conference today – “There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.”  (kidding – I actually get this one!)