Beets Revisited

I lost 10 euros today on a bet with Marion, one of the graduate students in the lab today. Having only recently received my own desk (I had previously been sharing a desk with 2 others), this past weekend I brought in some random photos I had lying around with which to decorate my little space. One of the photos was this:



Anybody remember? Back in October I posted this as a mystery photo. It's a big pile of betteraves (the French word for beets)--they can be found all over the place in the farmland area outside of Orleans where we visited my sister-in-law's archaeological dig site. Anyways, when Marion asked me what the picture was, I told her she should guess--and if she got it right within 3 tries I'd pay her 10 euros. I thought it was a pretty safe bet, as her first guess was "excrement" and it was pretty clear she had no idea what the hell it was. Anyways, she was patient, and asked around the lab until she found somebody from the area who knew what they were after 2 seconds. I'm a man of my word and even though she arrived at the answer by somewhat dubious means, I'll part with my hard-earned euros.

In other news, I was completely embarrassed when instead of asking one of the graduate students, "Est-ce que tu peux me dire où est le bain-mairie 37 degrees que tu utilises?" (Can you tell me where the 37 water bath that you use is?) I accidentally asked, "Est-ce que tu peux me dire où est la salle de bain 37 degrees que tu utilises?" (Can you tell me where the 37 degree bathroom that you use is?) I regrettably made this error right in front of my boss' office, who started laughing at my mistake. Oh, well. As somebody told me recently: in the world of learning a foreign language, it is essential to live by the motto, "No Shame, No Gain." At least I'm trying!