Thursday, January 05, 2006

First day of class


Since I've arrived in France on January 3rd, I've been sleeping like a mad woman. This is what life is like (so far) for an unemployed American who doesn't speak the language. Today was my first day of language classes and I overslept 2.5 hours and woke up 20 minutes before Darin and I were supposed to be at the school. I never showered and dressed so quickly in all my life. It definitely felt like the first day of school as my husband packed me a lunch as well as persisted in taking photos of me on my first day of class. I think he was more excited than I was.

I am in the beginner's class...of course. There are 9 of us and I know the least amount of French and am damn proud of it. I also ask too many questions in English, but how else will I get the correct information I need? I also tend to speak to the teacher in Spanish sometimes. The class is composed of individuals from India, Russia, England, Australia, Korea, Israel, and me. Let the name calling about Bush begin...it was said in French, but I think one of the students in my class called him an idiot.

One of my fellow students has been living in Annecy for a year and told us a recent story about his experience of trying to register his motorbike. The woman behind the desk laughed at him because he could not speak the language. I can't believe that really happens here. I was hoping that this rudeness was an urban legend!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Em,

Love the blog; like Kelly, I've had less than great experiences with locals 'helping' this American with her attempts at speaking their language...this has been particularly true in England (as I think George Bernard Shaw was quoted as saying 'the US and England being two great countries separated by a common language'!)

Cheers! DRS

ashtanga en cevennes said...

Hey Emily! I was here at the beginning, looking for some backstory.

Why exactly did you and Darin move to France? I'm so curious.

Mari said...

What a great way to begin your blog: A move to France. Very cool.