Day 16 - lundi

14 fevrier 2011  Bon St. Valentin!

Today was a long day. I had class in the afternoon again. In the morning, however, I wanted to get to the religious bookstore near Notre Dame de l’Assomption, so I left the house at 9:45. I would like to get a simple prayer book, with the words of the Mass and/or the basic prayers – Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be… Even a children's book would be fine.

On my way, I took a little detour and found a 2-Euro store called Minimax. This is like our Dollar Tree. I found some plastic food storage containers and some washcloths that will be useful.

When I got to the religious bookstore, however, it was closed. There was a sign on the door that announced new hours - now Tuesday through Saturday. Well, that just means another trip later in the week.

Back at school, there was a whole new group of students who were being tested. I met a lovely woman from Serbia who is working for United Emirates Airline. She is only here for one week, though. Maybe I will catch up with her tomorrow. Since our classes start in the morning on Tuesday, I might see her at lunchtime.

At 11:00, Marina and I worked on giving directions. Then at noon, Kate met us, and we went upstairs for lunch and to practice our dialogue – “theater”-piece. Kate was heading off to buy some clothes while the best sales are still going on – this is the last week. Many places have up to 50-70% off.

When it was time for class to begin at 2:45, there was no Kate. Oh, well, we read for those who were missing. I’m sorry that Kate missed it all, because she was doing really well.

We did a lot of free speaking in class today – asking questions of one another and trying to answer. Our teacher Eric is quite patient, and has a silly sense of humor. When we don’t pronounce things correctly, he often tells us what it sounds like we are saying, usually with a good deal of laughter from the class. It is quite evident that we need more speaking practice.

I was invited to join a group of students who were going to an Indian restaurant for dinner at 7:30. This sounded like fun, so I walked home after class, for the first time in the rain, worked for half an hour, and then walked back to school to join the group. We walked almost all the way down to Masséna Place to a restaurant called Hollywood-Bollywood. It was a delightful evening of food and friends. We laughed a lot. Radovan was the only guy who came along. He always sees the humorous side of things. The owner of the restaurant was enjoying us, too, I think, despite the noise level.

Since I returned home at 10:15, I did not have a chance to use the internet, but I will post this before school in the morning. Now it is time to finish my homework and go to bed.

Have a good night, Dear Reader.