Friday morning we had to be at school by 8 (c'est méchant!) to find out our test results. Laura and I got into the 8th level. It's the highest one, so it will be a challenge, but a good challenge. I think it also means that we'll be able to take our pick of classes come the start of the school year in October. And our classes start a little later than most. Fantastique! We started with a general French class with our level. There are about 16 of us; several American, one Costa Rican, two Japanese (so lovely!), and one Chinese. It was cool to have such a multicultural class. Our prof's name is Christophe, and he seems really friendly. The class was a little intimidating at first because we had to answer various questions on the spot about ourselves. The majority of our class speaks very well. I tend to get rather flustered. Here's how I'd explain my relationship with French at the moment (get ready for my wicked analogy):
If the French language were one of those 1000 piece Ravensburger puzzles of a painting that is mostly sky and trees (aka impossible), I would be the kid trying to put the puzzle together. I've got the corner pieces, I've got all the edge pieces, and I've guessed at the placement of a few groups here and there in the middle. The rest is a jumble of little oddly-shaped pieces of cardboard that just don't seem to work together. I've got the box lid in front of me; I know what it's supposed to look like.
In other words, I've got all the basics. I know a lot of the grammar, a fair amount of vocab, but I struggle when it comes to making it all flow together. I can understand most of what people say, it's just the responding that's tricky. Everyone tells me it will happen in no time - j'espère that they're right!
After lunch, I met up with Mum and Anne-Marie again. They grabbed a quick bite at a panini place and then rushed me back to school in time for my second class at 1:45. This was my comprehension orale class, run by one of the students at UCO. We had to find out about the person next to us and then present them to the class. Following that was our civilisation class - not ancient civ, but it's going to be a combination of geography, culture, government, economics, and the school system. Our teacher for that seems like a total gem. So far all our profs have been speaking quite slowly, which is a relief.
Met up with Mum again after school, and she gave me directions to the prefecture of police's office, which the consulat in Toronto told me I had to go to in order to get a residency permit. Of course, when I got there, they told me that I had to go to the annex of the prefecture in some other part of the city. "Is it open tomorrow?" << Non! C'est Samedi. C'est le week-end. >> Oh. Silly me. So after that I trotted off to La Poste, which doubles as a bank and post office. With a little bit of confusion but relatively little stress, I was able to open a French bank account!
Mum and Anne-Marie dropped me off at my house again. We had a nice dinner, and then the girls and I went out again. But this time with bikes! My wonderful mother and the wonderful Anne-Marie had lined up for 3 HOURS to get me a bike, from 8:15 til 11:15 am. So so nice. Alors, off we went with our bikes. Melissa's bike chain broke right away, so I went on ahead of them to Laura's house. The instructions I'd written out from Google Maps were not the most detailed. To be honest it was a terrifying trip. I got rather lost, had to ask for directions, and finally arrived at Laura's very late and disheveled. And wearing a bright yellow safety vest, which is apparently the law here. So... not too happy. But the people she lives with were wonderful and so welcoming. The son of her housemother s'appele Francois. He's 23 and a student in Lyon. He took Laura and me out to this teeny little bar called Bazar to hang out with all his friends. I have never met cooler people in my life. So well dressed, so fun, so easy going, and so so nice to us! They made us feel so at home. I couldn't have spent my night out in a better way. Eventually Laura and I started feeling the jet lag, so Francois walked us back. And then he biked me home to save me from getting lost again, which I'm so grateful for! When I got back, I made a discovery...
... I'd left my keys inside. And Jamie and Melissa weren't home yet. Merde. What's a girl to do in such circumstances? First thought, put on my gilet, the neon yellow safety vest that Madame A had given to me, Jamie, and Melissa to wear while biking at night. Still cold. Hm... what else can I use. I spotted a hand towel and wrapped that around my shoulders. Still not satisfactory. And then, I noticed the dog. Bingo! So I sat myself down in a lawn chair, cuddled the dog (Sam) for warmth, and waited for their return. We could hardly move for laughing when they did, but by 3 am, we were all in bed. The adventure continues!
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