Learning and Speaking French

Dear Friends,

Yesterday we had our first session with our French tutor, Aude.  She is about the age of our children and has a child almost exactly the same age (2 years) as our youngest grandson.  She is very nice and a great teacher.  About 10 years ago she taught at the French immersion program at Edina's (suburb of Minneapolis) Valley View school so she is familiar with the Minneapolis area.  Our sessions are much more informal than at l'Institut because there are just the two of us so we can stop to learn vocabulary and better understand the various rules.  Yesterday we spent a lot of time just talking so that she could assess our level of incompetence.  She also had us listen to a news report to see what if anything we could comprehend.  Our session with her was three hours in the morning.

After a lunch in our apartment of a delicious fresh baguette sandwich and fruit, we met for the first time with Jean-Paul.  He speaks French with us.  We all like to walk so we walked for two hours, talking all the time.  Our conversation ranged from understanding how to buy a ticket and read the schedule for the train as we walked by the train station to a comparison of the French and American healthcare systems as we walked along the beach.  We all agreed that the French system was better.  Jean-Paul is French but he spent a year or so in New York so his English is quite good but he makes us speak French.  His last name is LeComte which means nobleman so he says that he is the Count of Monte Cristo.  So you could say that we walked and talked with the Count of Monte Cristo.

We met our friend Joan who was also a student at l'Institut last year.  She is rare breed - a Democrat from Wyoming.  Last year was her second year at l'Institut, and she was a class ahead of us.  She has decided that she likes to spend the winters here so she is here for 7 weeks. She is not going to l'Institut.  She will have sessions with both Aude and Jean-Paul but not at the same time as we are.  Anyway we have kept in touch with her for the last year, but we still had a lot to talk about so we meet her for un verre (de vin) at 5:30 pm but did not leave her until about 8:00 pm and deux verre.
Unfortunately by that time all the stores were closed so we could not get any groceries for dinner so we ate at a very informal restaurant called Les Palmiers.  It was a fun evening but we did not get to bed until 11:00 so we failed to complete our homework assignments from both Aude and Jean-Paul.  Quel dommage!!

The weather here is fantastic. Every day is sunny with a slight breeze and a high temperature in the low 60s.  Apparently last year, when we had quite a few rainy days, was unusual.  This year the high temperatures are unusual, but the sun is not.

I need to get ready for another walk with Jean-Paul now.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal