A Day of Studying

One of my goals with this visit is to learn to better speak and understand the French language. On Saturday morning, I accompanied Adrian to a session of her French-English Conversation Group, a program she has offered for over 10 years. The goal is for native French and English speakers to meet for informal conversation—45 minutes speaking French and 45 minutes speaking English. She divides the attendees into small groups and we go from there.

Obviously, I was very nervous about my incompetence but she assured me that everyone feels the same way the first couple of times. She, in fact, swears she only listened and never spoke for six months in her group when she moved here years ago. It’s most important, she says, to just accept your level of language and that’s when you become comfortable—confident enough to be able to handle any situation because you persuade the listener to meet you at your level. Hmmm, we’ll see…

There were seven of us in my group—three Americans and four French. I did OK—especially when we spoke English (tee hee)—and I was able to understand many words and phrases when they were speaking French. I could tell at one time that they were discussing Bush (always…), their work and why they needed to learn the other language, where they grew up or came from, David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy, his Spice Girl wife, etc. Although it is really pushing my comfort level to subject myself to these insecurities, I think it’s important that I swallow my fear to attend as many as I can. Besides Saturday mornings, they have sessions on Tuesday evenings (only a couple of blocks from me) and Wednesday afternoons at the Eurocentres (language school) where the Saturday one was held. And after I made my way home (more about that in another post), I spent a couple hours studying my lessons for Myrtille. I tried not to feel too sorry for myself—studying most of the day on a Saturday! I still have plenty of time jouer (to play).

More Sunny Day Pictures

Just couldn't resist sharing some more pictures with you from my day...
Note the guy doing pushups (above) in the lower left-hand corner before he does his run around the Champs du Mar and La Tour Eiffel. What a great place to do your workout, n'est-ce pas? (Can you see two of the "legs" of the Eiffel blended with the trees beginning above the guy and continuing on the right-hand side?)

I have just returned from a very nice dinner with Adrian (my LL). I had canard (duck) for the first time, which was tres bien. Omar's (the restaurant--and I met Omar) is Adrian's regular hang-out, which is just a couple blocks from our apartments; she knows all the waiters. Was lots of fun and I had lots of wine! Which explains while I'm still up at almost 23:00! Hmm, think I'll have some cookies. Bon nuit!

This photo was taken at the Place de la Concorde at the base of the Champs-Elysees.

The Sun Came Out Today!

And I didn’t want the day to end. Although cloudy most days with occasional sprinkles, there can be sun in January. So here are some pictures to prove it. I believe the temperature was in the upper 50s and we’re supposed to have the same on Sunday (the cloudy weather will make it easier for me to study tomorrow).

I first wandered through Rue Cler to see the market and the shoppers (notice the shopping caddies--I have a red one). Then, as you can see, I headed to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures of the ice skaters on the first level. Alas, my sources (some web site or email that I received before I left Houston) were mistaken—the ice skaters are finis for the holidays! Quel dommage (what a pity)! So I didn’t go up in the tower (six million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year) but walked and walked around the city taking pictures because the sun, as I said, doesn’t often make an appearance in the winter and I didn't want to miss any of it by being inside—put some more miles on these shoes! (PS--notice how they trim the trees to frame my Eiffel Tower picture--ha, ha.)
While leaning on a wall overlooking the Seine and my favorite bridge, Pont Alexandre III, a gentleman offered to take my picture. I declined but we visited for 20-25 minutes when he commented that it was nice to speak English once in awhile. Here from South Africa to attend a 10-day seminar, today was a free day and what a treat for him to have the sun shining. A summary of our conversation: He thinks that Paris is nice; too bad the French live here. He thinks they're rude and superior and I didn’t give him my opinion on that (see earlier blog). He has only seen the Eiffel Tower—he doesn’t like art; therefore, no Louvre, Orsay, Rodin, etc. I was suddenly at a loss to recommend anything else—although come to think of it, he didn’t ask! With all due respect, he wondered why we had elected George Bush for a second term—he feels that he should go back to school. He was impressed with the way Rudy Giuliani handled the aftermath of 9-11 and wasn’t surprised when I told him that he is considering a run for the White House. He wondered where Princess Diana had been killed--said that he, like her driver, would have to be drunk to drive in this traffic! He uses the “cornflakes conversion” method, and nothing fancier, to determine the value of his money in euros, dollars, pounds, etc. In other words, what does a box of cornflakes cost in the currency of choice and how does that compare with what it costs in his country? Okey-dokey… A pleasant break in my routine…

And tonight, another break in my routine. I have finally accepted an invitation to have dinner with Adrian (my LL). She’s stopping by at 8 PM. Remember when I was fast asleep at 8 PM?? To be truly French, I might as well throw in the towel and start going to bed later and sleeping later… A bientot!
(This is a picture of the Pont Alexandre III bridge dedicated in 1900.)

Meet Myrtille, My French Tutor

That’s pronounced mee-r-teal (remember to swallow your “r”) and we agreed she looks better in real life (unlike me, who looks better in pictures…). Anyway, she didn’t want to have her picture taken and is fighting a cold but she is as cute as she can be and very good--she looks very French. I got her name from Elliott Hester, a blogger for the LA Times (“Postcards from Paris”) who highly recommended her.

My first session was on Tuesday; and we just finished our two-hour session this evening. We will meet for two hours twice a week for the next two or three weeks depending upon my fortitude (and bank account). How great is it that she comes to my apartment for our lessons!?

So, how am I doing?? My head is spinning! Want to feel stupid?? Try to learn a foreign language at age 56. (Or am I 57? No, I’m still 56…. Told you my head is spinning…) I am trying to remember how far I’ve come over the past several years with improving my knowledge of the language but oh, I feel so stupid while Myrtille is working with me. Yesterday morning, I went to the area around the Sorbonne (the famous University of Paris’ humanities department) on la Rive Gauche (the Left Bank of the Seine) to pick up an intermediate study book (note that she didn’t ask me to get a beginner version!) from a five-story college bookstore. Mission accomplished, I then wandered into a café to study for a couple of hours—where better to do that than in the university area surrounded by many students doing the same thing, en francais, bien sur!

Myrtille uses a variety of methods in her teaching. She speaks and writes questions for me and I attempt to answer her while she records on paper what I’m saying. Then she analyzes and corrects my mistakes and my pronunciation—all the while explaining the proper grammar, verb tense, placement, etc. For example, instead of saying, "Je ne parle pas francais tres bien" (I don't speak French very well), I should be saying "Je ne parle pas tres bien francais" (as if they couldn't tell!) She wants me to do more writing and gave me several assignments in the workbook for next Tuesday (thank goodness there are four days before then). She also gave me a French website and suggested I log on to practice hearing the exercises as they are displayed on the screen. That’s my biggest problem—training my ear to recognize what’s being said. I’ll keep you posted!

Sales in Paris

This is interesting and may provide a hint about why foreigners are so enthralled with shopping in the USA—there’s always a sales rack or two in every store, n’est-ce pas? In France, the law allows sales to occur only twice a year: in January and again in July. This practice, which predates the discovery of America by at least three hundred years, was actually that of the merchants' guild in the Middle Ages. Guilds settled disputes amongst tradesmen against competition from other towns and medieval cops broke guild members' legs if they broke the guild rules!

Shops in Paris are offering 30-70% off their usual prices which began today (the 10th) at 8:00 AM and continue through February 17th. (If you’re in other parts of France, the dates may differ.) Stores can offer “promotions” or “liquidations” at other times throughout the year (also highly regulated with a different set of guidelines) but they can only use the word “soldes” (sales) during the designated two sales periods each year, each never lasting more than six weeks.

During my wanderings around the city last week looking at Christmas lights, I was amazed at all the shoppers out and about. So I can imagine how crowded the stores will be these next six weeks when millions of people with credit cards clutched in hand take part in this frenzy.
Vive les Soldes, as they say!

PS--As you can tell, I was able to fix my laptop--thanks to my daughter who had an on-line chat with a Dell technician and his suggestions. Also thanks to my sister for sending information about how to contact Dell in France just in case of further problems... And to my landlady, Adrian, who offered me her extra laptop and gave me the name of her local computer technician (American) in case I ever have another problem. I vow, however, not to turn the laptop off until about 5 AM on Thursday, March 8th!

More Technical Problems

In case you're wondering why I haven't posted in a day or two--I am having problems getting my laptop to boot. Soooo, from an internet cafe with an entirely different keyboard, this is short and to the point. I'm trying to remember when we thought nothing about traveling sans a computer. Also keep in mind that if I haven't memorized your email address (which I probably haven't), you won't hear from me unless you send me an email first to which I can then respond. I'm still having a great time--must buckle down now because I started with my French tutor, Myrtille, yesterday. Bonne chance to moi!

Friends of the Louvre

Today I became a member of La Societe des Amies du Louvre—a friend of the Louvre. Did you know that the Smithsonian Magazine lists the Louvre as one of the top 28 places in the world you need to go before you die. For 60 euros, this gives me unlimited access until August 1, 2008 plus I can bring a guest (for free) on Wednesday and Friday evenings. When mon amie, Suz from Seattle, visits in February, she won’t have to a pay an admission, which is currently about $12. I also get free admission to a couple of other city museums (Hotel de Ville, Eugene-Delecroix, etc.) and discounts at some museums and stores.

One Metro stop, Palais-Royal-Musee du Louvre, spits you out into an underground shopping center (the Carrousel du Louvre), which then leads into the Louvre (this is not the entry that so dramatically takes you through the pyramid). Hmmm, what do we have here? Something new—a Starbucks! (Before I left to come back home this afternoon, I did break down and have my first Parisian soy chai tea latte—it’s been over a week and I had forgotten how good it tasted.) In the past, I’ve spent every visit in the Denon wing where you see the Grand Gallery, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo—so many of my favorites I enjoy them every time. But it’s time to branch out. And so today, I wandered into the Richelieu wing to follow Rick Steves’ tour of some of the Louvre’s biggest and oldest artifacts from over 2,000 years of Iraq’s history. It was very interesting and I didn't have much company.

With my little carte (required another ugly passport photo), now I’ll have the opportunity (without the expense) to see many more sections of the museum—more than 35,000 works of art and artifacts (300,000 individual pieces) from the ancient world to 1850 housed on four floors. One day I look forward to taking the audio tour inspired by the book and movie, “The Da Vinci Code,” which has its opening scene here in the Grand Gallery. So another very good day—which started sunny but ended up with the normal on and off sprinkling—reminds me of Seattle’s weather when I lived there… I can’t speak for their weather now, however…

AND GUESS WHAT??? I found the memory card for my camera! It was in the card reader hooked into my PC from when I uploaded pictures on Saturday night. I forgot to take it out! Thank you, Lord. I still “heard” your lessons…