One of the big reasons we moved from Boston to Boulder almost ten years ago was that I missed seeing the sun between the beginning of November and the end of April. Last week in Paris felt just like those long dreary months where it feels like it might rain any moment and you can’t really tell whether it’s 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. by the light in the sky because it’s just gray all the time. I was really lonely and felt like I was turning into one of those little old ladies who has 17 cats and no one to talk to. Go to school, come home and do homework, eat dinner, watch nearly incomprehensible French television and go to bed; every day the same thing. My big French grammar test was covered in red correction marks when I got it back, but after comparing results with the other students in my class I’m hanging right in with the gang. I think I’ve figured out pronouns and have had homework returned to me with hardly any red marks at all. Three of us moved from our intermediate class into the advanced class on Friday, and one woman decided to move down into an easier class rather than be stressed out all the time. I was definitely nervous before the new class on Friday, but it turns out to feel the same, or maybe even move a little slower, than the previous class. The new teacher told me that these students have bigger vocabularies; but aren’t as comfortable speaking the language. Lots of “book learning,” but not a lot of using French to actually communicate with other people. All of the students are Asian except one woman from Mexico. One of the students has a Vietnamese-French dictionary that must weigh 10 pounds that she brings with her to class. Our supplementary class in the mornings probably will end this week after we’ve adjusted to our new environment. I feel like I’m a fragile saltwater fish or something..
Speaking of fish, instead of April Fool’s Day here, they have Le poisson d’Avril (the fish of April) where people exchange little chocolate fish and play practical jokes and tape paper fish on the back of unsuspecting people. I brought some chocolate fish to class Thursday to celebrate our last day with our teacher and we had a nice happy moment for le poisson d’Avril.
And the best thing of all is that Brad is here now. He landed Saturday morning and brought the sunshine with him. The weather was fantastic on Sunday and we walked around for three hours through the Tuilieries gardens and around the swanky neighborhood in the 8th arrondissement and back home along the river. I took some photos which I’ll post in the next day or so. It has gone back to being rainy and gray now; but I feel much less crazy and lonely.
Thoughts In Random Patterns 