Humility Reigns

This morning I went through a full range of emotion from pride to annoyance to defensiveness to boredom to doubt to introspection. In my head, I am bilingual. I have known French for 29 years (holy crap!), it is in me. Or is it? It seems that I have neglected it for the last decade and I am seeing the consequences of that in the form of a disconnect between my perceived ability in French and my actual ability. Oh man!

I am tripping over words, genders, tenses and accordances. Sigh. This used to be so much easier. This is a truly humbling experience. Then again, life is all about learning and continuing to do so. As for the French, it seems that a week won’t be enough to dust off the cobwebs in my brain! Would I ever love to live in France for a year or two! Or maybe Québec (how I love Montreal!)? Or maybe join a local Alliance Francaise? Or maybe watch more French TV? It's important enough to me that it'll be worth the effort to keep up and work on. It's a skill that needs honing, it’s just a bit rusty right now!

A pleasant afternoon was had at the beach today though. Nicole and I hopped on the bus to take us to La Grande Motte beach, a beach a bit further out and, from the map – what looked like the last stop for bus 106. An hour later we realized that we may have missed our stop – it was only supposed to take 45 mins to get there. That’s the trick with the ‘’next stop’’ button on buses – they only work for those who know the route! Instead we spent a couple of hours at Le Grau Du Roi beach - no problem. It had lots of sand. It had the sun. It had the 1000’s of scantily clad bathers you would expect on a hot day in ‘Southern France’. Both Nicole and I looked at each other and knew this wasn’t exactly our scene. Still, we managed to find a spot and relax for a bit. I waded in the La Golfe d’Aigues-Mortes which was lovely despite the film of sunscreen on the water’s surface. It sure did the job to cool me down and the popcicle we had afterwards did too!


As a result of all of the carbohydrates we’ve been eating, my ‘bread-baby’ couldn’t be hidden while in my bikini. Sigh. Good thing we’ve been walking everywhere and running in the mornings. Man, I don’t know how the French ladies do it. They have bread and cheese every day and they all look fabulous! Well – tonight we opted for our 3rd ‘picnic’ in a row at our French pad. The place is really cute – the owners are obviously artists. Oh – today I learned the French word for ‘gezellig’. It’s ‘douillet’. So there we go! Ici, c’est douillet! We ate upstairs on the térrasse and did some homework. What we get out of this week is a direct result of what we put in after all! Alors, en conclusion – aujourd’hui était une bonne journée mais maintenant je dois faire dodo. Je suis fatiguée!

Favourite French expression learned today: métro-boulot-dodo et pédalo-boulot-apéro!

Je n’aime pas le subjonctif!

Today was a longer day at school; we had two hour and a half classes in the morning and one hour and a half class in the afternoon. Boy – did I ever have flashbacks to junior and senior high today. It seems you always go over the same things in French classes: when to use the imparfait vs. the passé compose tenses and practice of the use of the subjunctive tense. I honestly believe that the only reason I know anything about verb tenses is because I studied French and we would go over grammar all the time. We didn’t learn much about the conditional tense or about past participles in English class, that’s for sure! Verb conjugation itself is relatively easy for me but when to employ which tense? Yuck! And, yes, this is how I chose to spend my vacation!
In the second and third classes today we had debates, one on the controversial topic of banning bullfights in Spain, one on the belief in superstitions. Even in English, I still struggle in debates. Just call me Miss Gray (vs. Black and White), or Ms. Fence Sitter, or Madame Ambivalent; I find it difficult to choose one side and really fight for it. I see both sides. Whaddya do? Come on – can’t we meet in the middle?
It turned out to be a bit of an endurance test for some of the classes today but at the same time the day did pass by fairly quickly. I’m learning a lot and am meeting some very interesting (and young!) individuals who are making interesting choices in their lives. I really wish I’d done this years ago. Why didn’t I? The answer is likely “because there are a million other things I love to do”. In that case, I’m glad I’m doing it now. I am thrilled that I have found some way to combine travel, meeting new people, learning and even a little summer sunshine too! Life is just so full of fun things to choose from! I pinch myself that I am lucky enough to have such rich and enjoyable experiences.

Gezellig!

Day 1 of classes is over at Accent Francais here in Montpellier. I am glad I’ve signed up for this. My thoughts wander back and forth between wishing I’d signed up for longer and thinking that five days will be just right.
My class is made up of 9 people, 8 of whom are fairly quiet! They are a mix of people from Russia, Poland, China, Palestine and Germany. They are a mix of levels. They are a mix of ages. It’s really interesting finding out how they heard about Accent Francais, how long they are staying for and why they are studying French.

Today was a short day of classes, 10h-13h15. Nicole and I were starving by this point and not knowing the city any better, ended up sitting at a cafe that was only so-so to stave off the “hangries”™(!). Later on in the day we got a tour of the city as part of the welcome package put on by the school. Prior to the tour, neither of us were convinced that the city had much to offer. Fortunately, about half an hour in to the tour and a few zigs and zags later, we found several lovely little areas in the heart of the historical part of town. We’re both looking for ‘gezellig’ and some of the smaller squares really do have a cozy feel. It seems that we are both aligned on our ‘gezellig’ rating scale!

A la campagne, part deux

Nicole suggested a day trip on Sunday. Perfect. It meant picking her up in the city of Montpellier. Gulp. Having learned my lesson about planning ahead, I did some homework. After studying Google Maps to figure out where her hotel was in combination with the address programmed into the GPS, I thought I was set. I didn’t count on all the construction. Lord help me! I think I just need to accept that driving in unknown cities is a source of stress. I don’t know why I care or get so bothered, but I do. The sooner I come to accept and embrace this fact, the better.
So GPS lady wanted me to turn gauche and droite right into roads that were closed off for the construction of tram line #3. At least she could recalculate the route a couple of times but after driving around and seeing the same landmarks a second then third time, I pulled over and made a phone call. Nicole – I don’t know where you are and I don’t know where I am but I cannot drive to you. Please put me out of my misery – I am NOT having fun anymore!
Not a great start to the day but I eventually found her and having a real person as co-pilot made a world of different. We slowly snaked our way through the mess and were soon on our way to have a day in the countryside. We ended up going to the Pont Du Diable - which is where I’d spent quite a bit of time the day before en-route to St. Guilhem le Desert - an absolutely amazing little town that was a great find! While I’d stopped at Le Pont for a drink and some lunch, I kept wishing I’d had my swimsuit so I could join all the swimmers at this wildy popular summer spot. It is absolutely a stunning location along the Hérault River where the cliff walls are carved out and a wide bend makes for a pleasant beach area. THIS is what summer vacations are all about! The next day I couldn’t resist taking Nicole there so we could get in and test the waters.
After a wonderfully lazy and relaxing couple of hours in the cool waters and on the rocky shore, we hit the road for Pézenas, one of France’s most beautiful towns, to grab dinner. The clouds had been building all day so we got caught in quite the storm. With all the rain we sought shelter on the high street, where we mananged to fit in some shopping before stopping for dinner. We’d both eyed this cute little restaurant in our reconnaissance tour of town; it was very gezellig! Galettes for both of us. Yum!
Based on the morning’s nightmarish attempt at navigating the city, the thought of returning the car weighed heavily on me on the drive back to Montpellier. The construction in the city in combination with GPS-lady’s unawareness of the ‘new’ highways made for an interesting combination between suspicion at her directions and necessary trust in where she told me to go. Amazingly, we made it into town to the car rental return fairly easily. With Nicole as co-pilot, she was able to spot the place to turn to drop off the car. Finding the key drop location was another story!