Day 11 - mercredi

9 fevrier 2011

Last night I did not sleep well at all – I’m going to blame on the 2 cups of French coffee that I drank after 8 pm. But they were SO small! Anyway I hope tonight sleeping is much easier.

For breakfast this morning, Michele served me a slice of the almond galette that she made last evening. For all my housemates: what was I thinking as I ate this not-too-sweet treat last night? [That’s right !] – this would be great for breakfast. And there it was, right alongside the frosted corn flakes, juice, toast, and tea. What a lovely way to start the day.

I got up a little earlier this morning to begin my homework so that I could meet Martina at school by 11:00. Martina is from Germany. She is a server at a 5-star hotel in Stuttgart, Germany and is taking this time to learn French because many people from France stay at their hotel. I think she will eventually move up into management. She is a real go-getter, and she has a wonderful ear for this new language, picking up on the details of the grammar steadily despite the fact that she missed the first week of classes. We will meet again tomorrow. It’s a great way for me to review (and to spot any mistakes I had made in copying.)

M.D. directed me to a little restaurant just 2 blocks down the street that has a lunch special – demi (half) pizza and salad for 5 Euros. That’s a good deal. Off I went. I had a little difficulty understanding the parameters of the special, but the waiter, an older black man spoke English like a US citizen, so he set me straight. I told the chef that I wanted to carry it out – in French, of course. Well, I waited as he made my pizza and put the salad together – about 20 minutes all together. When it was time to pay, the chef said, “only 10 Euros.” I was surprised, but didn’t mind at all when I realized I had a big special salad and a whole pizza. He was too kind to me. I walked out with my box of thin crust pizza with an egg (still wiggly) on top. I determined that I would eat the salad and take the pizza home for supper. However, this meant that the pizza would be traveling around from class to class with me. This was not the worst thing, except Radovan was ready to eat it by the end of our late class. So was I!! When I got home, the pizza warmed up quite nicely and quickly in the toaster/oven.  It was delicious.

Each day when I get back to the apartment, Michele has made a pot of tea. We sit down together and talk about the day.  Then I prepare my supper and she concludes her work on the computer for the day. After supper, I have the line all to myself while Michele watches the news and sometimes a movie, but often it is Cold Case, Grey’s Anatomy, or CSI – all dubbed over in French. That must be quite an art. The strangest thing is being aware that the vocal quality of the actors is not the same. The language is way too technical for this beginner, so I only tune in occasionally. Each day I catch a few more words – yeah!

Have a good evening, Dear Reader.

Day 10 - mardi

8 fevrier 2011

This morning, I woke up before the alarm went off, so I did some reading (in English). Because Michele is still asleep, I don’t want to make much noise, though very little can be heard from room to room.

After a shower, I needed to wash out by hand all the little things that I had so that there would be some hope that they would dry during the day. I am trying to keep my use of the washing machine to a minimum.  Speaking of minimums, here I am being well reminded of the abundance of things that I own – much more than any one person could use in a month, much less in a year. What I’m experiencing with Michele is a sparseness that I have not considered for a very long time. It will make me reconsider what I have at home, I’m sure of it.

After breakfast is the time for studying this week since my classes are all afternoon until 6:10 pm. More and more words are accessible. I really need to practice number recognition.

Today’s lessons were naming body parts and understanding directions. Maybe we in the class understand more French than a one year old, but maybe not. What I am noticing is that I’m catching more words now. Not phrases yet, but lots more words.

When I got home by 6:20, I made a quick supper of a packet of basmati rice and eggplant. It was quite good overall. Michele was hungry for a Galette de Roi – an almond pie. She mixed it up and baked it. What a picture! With it, I had my first French coffee – that was a lot better than I expected.

Going back to last night, we watched The Truman Show (with Jim Carrey) in French. Now I can’t say I have seen the show more than once before many years ago. What a hoot to hear it in French. Unfortunately, the cable box memory was full, so we did not get to see the last half hour or so – Truman (try saying that with a French accent, please) was just making his escape from all the cameras. We’ll have to try to catch the rest of it another night. By then, I might even understand more of the nuances of the language.

Here’s wishing you a pleasant evening, Dear Reader.  Bonne soirée!