The torture French course continues and has been taking up way more of my time than I had anticipated. It's very nearly turning into a full-time job, if you count the daily commute across town to the 5th and the 3-5 hours a day of homework. And I haven't even started phonetics lab yet; that's tomorrow. On Friday I have to give what I hope will be my only oral presentation during the course (not counting that part of the final exam is oral). I have no idea whether or not I'll do a good job on this "exposé" but at least I'll get the damn thing over with. I'm also getting tired of making trips to the bookstore every other day, as I try to get the "right" grammar books to help me catch up on my deficient past education in French. About every other day, I'm having a horrible day where I melt down, and then on alternate days it seems not so bad and I feel like I'm actually learning something, or at least I feel less stupid.
Suffice to say, the French work is sucking my brain out through a straw. Time for writing MY book? Uh... not so much. I don't know yet what I will do about that. I want to give myself a couple more days to get used to the new routine and then I will try to at least devote 1 hour per day to my book. It's not optimal, but it's better than not writing at all.
Saturday was the third anniversary of the day Georges and I had our first date... the famous 26-hour first date! It was also the Fête des Vendanges here in Montmartre and we had the Little Guy with us, so instead of celebrating our anniversary we invited our friends and their two little boys to come up the hill and join us for the "big" parade that winds its way from the Mairie of the 18th all the way up to Sacre Coeur. The parade last year seemed a bit better but they had these "grandes têtes", and some of the wine afficianado groups were passing out free wine samples... we liked THAT! Sunday I stayed home to work on my French homework (thank God I have Georges as my private tutor, he really knows his grammar) while he and the Little Guy went out to a movie and lunch together. The weather was divine all weekend, too, so we couldn't have asked for more.
We still wanted to celebrate the three best years of our lives, though, so we snuck out for dinner alone last night. We didn't go to the same restaurant but chose another one just down rue des Abbesses that we also like. Now that the oldest child has settled into his own little studio apartment, we actually can have more date nights, more time on our own, and it's really nice.
French strike? Day 2 this week, and the fifth day unions and students have been on strike over this whole retirement age issue, and naturally the teachers often go out on strike. So I'm hoping for NO strike tomorrow... because MY teacher will be there teaching (although some of the students have been absent), and I can't afford to miss even 5 minutes of this French class. And if the Little Guy's school is closed again... well, all you parents can relate to the mad scramble for child care that happens sometimes. The strike otherwise isn't affecting us personally, other than we leave a bit earlier in the mornings because the buses are overcrowded and running slower than normal. With any luck, the striking factions will give up and let it be; I don't think the government is going to budge on this particular retirement reform issue.
Well, it's time to get back to my daily French grind... and I'm not talking about coffee. But can I just take a moment to say how WONDERFUL, AMAZING and MIRACULOUS it is that these 33 Chilean miners are being rescued after 69 days, and in such overall good condition? As I write this, 12 men have reached the surface and so far it appears to be going extremely well. I hope that mining companies and governments (Hello, China? Over 2,000 Chinese miners died last year alone in mining accidents) are taking note of how beautifully the Chilean government has handled this entire thing, and hats off to all the experts from all over the world who participated in getting these guys out and back to their loved ones. Most of the time, when you turn on the news, all you hear is bad tidings, but this is one day when maybe the news is all good. What a miracle.
#13 about to go up has just come up in the "capsule"... Lucky 13! Viva Chile!
Photo: Reuters
