Mittens, bike and English I just came back from dropping my daughter off at school. I went there on bike. As I said in a previous entry, I have an infant seat set on the front part , between me and the handle bars. My daughter sits in it and it's like she is steering the bicycle. My house is settled on the top of a slope. It's easy when you ride down to school but a little bit harder when you have to do the round trip. This morning I rode downhill without my gloves. The temperatures are very low but still bearable. My daughter was well dressed with several layers of clothing. She had mittens instead of gloves. They are linked by a thread and you pass them through the coat sleeves so it prevents you from loosing them. I was born here (in France) but my last name is English. I have an English family background. None of us in the family speaks English fluently (or at a very low level) except one of my older brothers and I. We really are in love with this language. The difference is in the accent. My brother tends to use the British English accent and I use the North American. Writing posts on Italki helps me to write like I'm used to speak. I say out loud what I'm writing in order to improve my speaking skills as much as I can. I'm aware that I've made a big step forward in my learning. My pronunciation is better and I make less mistakes.