It's early. Why is it so early? I always wake up early, but this morning I had company. Sachiko (my mother-in-law) and Hitomi (my niece) have been visiting from Japan. Today Tomoko is taking them out to see Mont Saint Michel, which is this little island near Normandy which houses a huge monastery and is of great historical significance. It's also very photogenic. The trip involves leaving at 6:30 in the morning, catching a tour bus, riding to Normandy, a lot of walking around, riding the bus back and getting home at 9:30 tonight. Sachiko is 78 years old. She is unstoppable. The Louvre did tire her a little, but the Louvre is designed to exhaust anyone. She is truly impressive.
I feel like I've hit a plateau with French or the past couple of weeks. I'm pushing through it, but it's tough. My biggest challenge is finding people outside of class to speak French with. Seriously. Mostly everyone at work speaks excellent English and they would rather speak English than hear my tortured French. When I go out, as soon as the person I'm trying to talk to realizes I'm not French, out comes the English.
This led to a funny exchange with one of my co-workers the other day. We bumped into each other on the Metro platform on the way to work. I greeted him in French and he greeted me in English. We continued on that way the entire 5 minute walk to work. I was very happy that I managed to stay in French the whole time and he had fun, but I really need to practice actual French conversations. Maybe today I'll institute a no English policy at work. French only. It won't work. Something will come up that needs to be discussed in detail and I'll have to switch to English, but I'm going to try. Let's see how long I last.
I feel like I've hit a plateau with French or the past couple of weeks. I'm pushing through it, but it's tough. My biggest challenge is finding people outside of class to speak French with. Seriously. Mostly everyone at work speaks excellent English and they would rather speak English than hear my tortured French. When I go out, as soon as the person I'm trying to talk to realizes I'm not French, out comes the English.
This led to a funny exchange with one of my co-workers the other day. We bumped into each other on the Metro platform on the way to work. I greeted him in French and he greeted me in English. We continued on that way the entire 5 minute walk to work. I was very happy that I managed to stay in French the whole time and he had fun, but I really need to practice actual French conversations. Maybe today I'll institute a no English policy at work. French only. It won't work. Something will come up that needs to be discussed in detail and I'll have to switch to English, but I'm going to try. Let's see how long I last.
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