I had my first class at l'Alliance Française in Brussels aujoird'hui (THAT MEANS, TODAY.. good job Charis!), and arrived at the front door of the building this morning soaking wet from a downpour. As usual Brussels weather has outdone itself. Rude.
I looked like a wet cat. A nervous wet cat on her first day of school. A cat wearing jeans and rain boots named Charis who enjoys fly fishing.
There is also about a 99 percent chance that my breath smelled like poop from drinking too much Nespresso before my rainy walk (black, liquid courage).
However, despite looking like a cat and smelling like a butt, I had a fantastic day.
I realized as I was sitting in the classroom understanding phrases in French and saying things in French (these are big deals - react to them) that part of the reason I have felt so incredibly linguistically frustrated the past few months is because I have not had a forum to utilize the information I have been learning.
I have A LOT of French vocabulary and grammar and sayings and stories and curse words in my head from the past few years of studying on my own and from being married to a Frenchie, y'all. It would be like studying cooking, hanging out with people who are cooking, and constantly reading "How to cook real good" online, but NEVER ACTUALLY COOKING A GODDAMN THING. That would be frustrating. RIGHT?? Yeah it would.
I sure am glad I gave you that analogy; you might not have understood otherwise.
What? Back to me? Oh gosh - sure, so sorry!
So today I felt a substantial bump of relief to realize a bit of why moi+French has equaled frustration and an almost continuous stream of brain farts rather than my desired result: wizardry (communication). I also felt excitement in seeing a few moments where communciation occured, despite horrible grammar.
I must admit that there was an equal amount of excitement for me in realizing that the desks and chairs were little roller-pods -- SO COOL. All 10 of us in the class were constantly rolling around. I was NERDING OUT with the space age roller desks. Every time the teacher would turn around from the white board I would be in a slightly different location, trying to pretend I was not thrilled to the bone. "Play it cool, Brice," I kept saying to myself -- in my head so I wouldn't smell my own breath.
Learning-while-rolling is a perfect scenario for someone who has had way too much Nespresso.
Next step: I need to go back and do about 150 more hours of classes.
Easy peasy. Or in French, fastoche.
Also, I need a French replacement for the word, "holler." It obviously won't be an exact translation, because then I would be saying "LOUD SCREAM" in French, but I am curious if there is something similar. Basically what I am asking is can you say, "holler at a baller" or "holler at your girl/boy," in French?
Anybody?
Anybody?
Comments