Sweet Flight

Today I had a 40 minute flight from Zurich, Switzerland to Paris, France. In that forty minutes I was served a snack with a drink. I know, right?! In the U.S. you can fly across all the continental states and not be served a thing, without first needing to pulling out your wallet. If you are lucky a glass of water will be offered to prevent your parched thirst.

If you have had this experience then you too can imagine my surprise when first I was being offered a snack, but even more amazingly was handed this…



Oh yes! That is a picture of some very delicious strawberry ICE CREAM! I mean seriously, was I just served Ice Cream on a plane? I was in heaven! Floating above the clouds watching the sky and eating Ice Cream!

As I was finishing the best snack ever offered on a flight, another flight attendant came around and offered this…



Oh Yes! Chocolate and Thanking ME!

No no no… Thank you Swiss Airlines, Thank you!

I Speak American???

In the past few months I have done my fair share of griping about learning the French language. I whine when I don’t feel like studying and I always wish the language would somehow morph itself naturally into my mind, without me putting in any effort whatsoever. That would be fabulous! However- today was a quick kick into reality that English is not so easy and user friendly either. If learning French is complex- teaching English just might be its equivalent.

I have spent all day trying to explain the intricate differences of the English language and parts of speech I realized, I may not even fully understand. How do you describe basic word definitions without using the actual word itself? For example in attempts to explain the verb “To do,” I stared blankly and kept repeating, “if you do something, I mean when you (don’t use do, don’t use do,) plan to do your homework. Ugh, I blew that again.

“What is the difference between too much and too many?” In my mind I wanted to say- I don’t know, but in different situations one sounds better than the other. You can never have too much ice cream. There are too many complicated questions.

I suppose the biggest difficulty I faced was explaining the differences between two similar words. “What’s the difference between wishing and hoping?” I don’t know… but I do know that Cinderella’s song is, “When you wish upon a star...” And that it would never work as, “When you hope upon a star.” But then if you have ever seen "My Best Friend’s Wedding," you would know that the intro song there, has lyrics that say, “wishing and hoping and thinking and praying…” And thus adds a whole new layer of confusion in my mind, on how to properly segregate the differences of these two synonyms, from one another.

For the next two weeks I will get to learn the English language all over again, while teaching it to others. I think once I am finished I will be eager to once again be the student, rather than the teacher and will hopefully (not wishfully) have more motivation to put some Oomph into my French study skills.

No way Norway

It’s raining it’s pouring- and I don’t know what to wear in the morning.
I looked at the weather before I packed—but I look outside and see it is actually storming.

My bag is stuffed with sunblock, tank tops, and flip flops,
But what I really need are jackets, scarves, and hats to keep my hair from looking like a wet mop.

I thought Norway would be an escape to more warm weather in the land of the never setting sun,
Alas the only way to get warm is to go for a run.

Sitting here I am now wet and cold,
I will end up leaving with clothes filled with mold.

I have learned the lesson I will always pack an umbrella
Because weather in Europe is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will getta.
(sorry I needed it to rhyme)

But have no fear, it won’t keep me from having fun and exploring
All the wet weather brings more chances for me to stumble upon disaster and good stories to report to you in the morning.

I'll give you a verb

Last night I worked on my much neglected French homework. After an hour of conjugating verbs I was left with one very large headache. I like learning the French language. Mostly because I like to be able to understand and speak to the people who are around me. But I have an issue I would like to bring up and it is … Verb conjugation. My question is: why does every person who is addressed in a sentence need to have a verb adjusted to a corresponding ending. Why can’t they all be the same. I run, we run, they run. Easy peasy! Your option: Je cours, Tu cours, Il/elle court, Nous courons, vous courez, ils/ells courent. And this is only for the present tense on a regular verb. I am exhausted and I didn’t actually even run anywhere.

I will say learning new words is quite fun. My new favorite word is Bissos. I love this word and sign it at the end of many of my emails to friends and family. Thankfully Bissos doesn’t require me to conjugate the word. It just is. And that might be the whole appeal of the word- it stands fabulously on its own. Bissos are little kisses or commonly seen as the greetings the French have replaced with the American hug. I love bissos and I love the word bissos. So sweet, caring and endearing.

I will keep learning my verb conjugation but I do not have to like it. For the Frenchies out there, please forgive me if I use the improper tense while speaking to you. I hope you are not horribly offended if the “tu” tense comes out when I should be referring to you in the “vous.” It does not mean that I lack respect for you- just that I currently lack the ability to hold 15 different endings for one word. But I promise you I will keep on working on it and hopefully, eventually, fully get there.

Bissos!

Note- after writing this I discovered that Bissos actually IS changed from Bizou- sigh… someday.

Je Parle Anglais

When moving to a new country I highly recommend learning the language. Thankfully speaking English and moving to France it has been relatively easy. When someone doesn’t speak English there is someone close by who is able to either help you, or translate. Yet, I could not imagine what it would be like coming to France if I spoke Cantonese or some other foreign language that is not as commonly known as English.

There are many times when I am standing in line at the store where a person near me will start speaking to me. Before I can get out the words, “Je parle Anglais” (I speak English), They have placed me in what seems to be, a full blown conversation. The person will continue to speak, give me advice, and talk about the happenings of what is going on; without me saying a single word. I like to think I have perfected the act of being an expressionist. I have come to react to what they are saying based upon the tone of their voice and movements while they speak. I will smile when they seem to be speaking of something pleasant. I will look to where they point. I will shake my head in disapproval if they seem to be upset about something. And my favorite one to do, is to laugh when they laugh. At the end of our interaction together I will say Au revoir, Bonne Journee, or some other departure axiom – to be able to leave, without them knowing, I was 100% clueless to the conversation we just held. I may have an idea what they were talking about- but I have no idea what was being said.

I am working on a solution to this problem. I have a fantastic French Tutor, name Catherine. Catherine is a much more legitimate tutor than the previous tutor I found on Craig’s list prior to moving to France. I once blogged about Soleil when I first started lessons with him, however, eventually it became apparent, that I needed to stop taking lessons with him. I think it was when his wife got a restraining order against him. Maybe.

This sketchy tutor became even more of a mystery after I arrived to Paris. I was having dinner with my friend Alex and told her about my tutor named Soleil (meaning Sun in English). She told me this name had to be fake because, “no one would ever name their child ‘The Sun’ it’s unheard of. It would be like naming them ‘Cupcake,’ you just don’t do that.” After hearing Alex’s opinion of Soleil I went back to my e-mails with Soleil and realized his last name was Parler. Parler in French means to speak. I am now convinced I do not know the real name of my first French tutor. but I do know that when his name is translated means : “Sun To Speak”- maybe it’s an analogy or something.

For those who will never let me live down the experience with “The Speaking Sun” I would like you to know how wonderful Catherine is. To start with, rather than meeting at the Wal-greens parking lot, Catherine has an adorable classroom where we meet. In my class there are two other students. Gwyn- who also works with me, and another lady named Cher who is from Singapore. We meet on Mondays and Fridays for two hours, and are sent away with several hours of homework to keep us occupied throughout the week. When we arrive to class Cathrine always has tea or coffee waiting for us, and this morning Cher brought in some delicious puff pastries called: Chouquettes. It was my first time having a Chouquette but it will not be the last! These Chouquettes are quite amazing.

The cute classroom Catherine has set up, in bottom of her home.

In order from Left to Right: Gwyn, Catherine, Cher.

The Delicious Chouquettes! Yum!

Until I am fluent, be assured I have the essential sayings for survival stored in my head. There are a few French lines that I have remembered quiet well and strangely easier than others. First and most importantly, my restaurant French is really good. I can order food! Classic I know. But it really is a survival tool, I can practice my greetings, and numbers, and all sorts of valuable skills all the while enjoying a café au lait. And second is a phrase that I have learned from my, “French Phrase a day” calendar my friend Cynthia gave me for Christmas. This phrase is, “Embrassez-Moi” meaning “Kiss me!” Whenever I joke about this in French class Catherine gives me a lecture of how I must be careful who I say these things to, “because French men will take it all too seriously.“ Only for me to reply, “Then I am finally learning to speak the right language.”

Juh, Rgh, and Euh

What do early Saturday mornings, two tablets of aspirin, and a very large cup of coffee have in common? Me, Trying to learn French. Please note the emphasis on the word Trying in the previous sentence.

I officially learned I was moving to Paris, November 5th, 2007. Since, I have been asked many questions. The most obvious and common question asked is... Do you speak French? My response: a coy, innocent smile along with a witty french response of "Wi" (I have sense learned that yes in French is correctly spelled: Oui)

Thanks to the highly reputable resource network known as... "Craig's list." I found myself a French tutor. The result has been: me, waking up early Saturday mornings, to meet with a witty French man, in a coffee shop, for 3 hours, stammering over words that I am unable to pronounce. Correction, stumbling over words would be a good day~ I am usually stuck on~ the alphabet. To remember the letter E (euh) I have to scratch my head, To pronounce R's (Rgh) I am forced to hack, and G's (Juh) I pretend to silently cough.

I believe Soleli (my tutor) is one of two things. The first would be a saint for having the patience to sit with someone like me for three hours time. I continually ask simple questions, ask why the French have stupid rules, and stare at him blankly when he gives me directions only to then spit out "OH, you want me to say it!" I imagine he continually thinks... "stupid girl," underneath his kind giggle and "but of course." He also quite often tells me to, "quit being a stubborn woman" where I correct him in that I am sassy, not stubborn. Sassy is one English word he is not familiar with.

My second theory and more probably, is that Soleli is the epitome of evil and is making up silly rules of when the sounds of letters change . (If an "S" is between to vowels then it makes a "Z" sound. every where else it makes a "ssss" sound. But the "S" is not pronounced at the end of any word ect...) I am convinced these rules are all to make an eager French learner , frustrated. And believe me... I am the most eager French learner of them all. Secretly, French must be a simple and easy language. He must take great pleasure in watching foolish beginning French students like myself, struggle to formulate simple words in a language that was given to him naturally at birth. Some people have all the luck, I'll tell ya. shiesh.

However! I will overcome! I will keep scratching my head, coughing, and hacking or whatever it takes for me to survive the most basic understanding and pronunciation. I have however learned, that French is a language that lacks any logical connection and that French only sounds beautiful when someone French is speaking. I do this language of beauty, no justice whatsoever. Dang!

Au Revoir! (avhoergh- yawn, hack, Va, eugh, yawn, hack)