List of the skills acquired or perfected during the last five years that I put to use here during my intensive German classes:
- ability to speak English fluently;
- ability to cook;
- ability to take decent pictures;
- ability to sing along with a good number of Belle and Sebastian songs;
- ability to talk about beers / wines / vodkas like I really cared about anything else besides whether or not I like them;
- ability to plan a trip;
- ability to dance;
List of the skills acquired or perfected during the last five years that nobody gives a shit about:
- ability to give a scientific presentation;
- ability to do science;
- ability to use a computer and know what I'm doing with it;
- ability to write a fucking PhD dissertation.
List of the skills I've had for over ten years and that impress the most people:
- ability to speak French fluently;
- ability to pronounce "an en in on un" in French;
- ability to book train tickets and take the train without it turning into a nightmare;
- ability to wander around a medium-sized city (called, in that context, "big city") without panicking / losing myself / getting robed / noticing anything unusual about the situation;
- ability to know where the car is parked and remember where the post office is;
- being French.
