mercredi thoughts

Today I had my first Communication Professionnel II class. I dont' know why it is called II because there is no I. This will probably be my most challenging class as this class is not only for students in my level, but a bit above as well. I understood most of what the guy said, he does not enunciate very well and I don't know anything about business. We learned how to properly write a French business/formal letter which will be useful in the future. I woke up still feeling sick this morning but not as tired since I got a good night's sleep finally. My throat hurts but I must keep on trucking. I grabbed a fresh pain au chocolat at a bakery on my way to class this morning as I didn't have time to eat something at home. It was amazing of course. After the 3 hour class I grabbed a sandwich nicoise (tuna, mayo, egg, lettuce, tomato on a crusty baguette) and ate while I walked towards the metro which would lead me to where I am now, the ISA office. I was able to haul my laptop here to take care of some tasks and put up pictures! The link for the album is as follows: http://community.webshots.com/user/sussular_device

I hope to take more pics soon I haven't been taking any since school has started. A lot of the pictures I took towards the beginning were scenic but there are plenty of my friends too. Tomorrow evening we have a boat ride on the Seine at 5:30 pm but I'm nervous I won't make it in time since my class doesn't end until 5. There are many Japanese/Vietnamese/Korean students in my classes and I find it interesting that they all speak French very well and also that it is our common language. Many have relocated to Paris for more than just one semester.

Last night, Louise had this guy Gilles over fixing a window that had broken (because she was stupid and left it open during extreme winds) and he ate dinner with us. I'm guessing he is her friend who happens to know how to fix windows, as it would be strange to invite the random handyman to share a meal, no? Anyway, we had some meat and pasta, and then the ever-painful cheese course. I'm going to throw this out there, and feel free to send it on back but I think that French cheese tastes like feet. I've tried like 7 different kinds and they all did not jive with me. I feel bad because I never have a positive feedback to give her (because of course she watches for my reaction while I taste) but I always try. The only good part about cheese time is the bread. So we eat the cheese and Gilles is all burly and reminds me of E. Fouraker (anyone from GV knows who I'm talking about, built like a bowling ball). He's yelling and getting all excited about politics and Sept. 11th and why France is going to be attacked because of all the Muslims or something. He went on and on about the treatment of Muslim women and all the while Anna and I sat there nodding and trying to make sense of his rant. I've noticed that although most of the French people I've met are anti-Bush and liberal in the American sense, they are rather racist when it comes to Africans. It's very strange because Louise will casually make a comment about "les noirs" and act like it's nothing. Finally Gilles left and I went to bed.

It’s starting to hit me that it’s weird to not be able to communicate well with people during simple tasks such as paying for things at a grocery store. I end up just not saying anything and hoping they don’t ask me a question that can’t be answered with “oui” or “non, merci.” It’s weird how “practical French” is so hard to just spit out, even though I know exactly what I have to say if I had the chance to think about it for a minute. I wish I could write down what I want to say to people on like a white erase boards. I'm guessing that's what I'm here to learn though, to be able to speak effectively.