I didn’t write yesterday, Sunday, because I’d had a long day, and stayed up late preparing for Monday morning’s class.

My friend Irene had invited me to join her and her husband for lunch on Sunday afternoon, at their apartment in the 7th arrondissement. You may recall I wrote about how Irene gave me the full tour of the 7th so that I wouldn’t get lost when I came for lunch? Like I said, she doesn’t know me and my non-linear brain yet. I started out fine, and made one wrong turn – actually, the street veered à gauche, and I stayed à droite. I figured it all out. The problem was the weather. Again! Wind and rain extraordinaire — and I was walking. Bien sûr!

After a few battles with mon parapluie, losing all of them to the wind, I abandoned all hope with that contraption, and pulled up my hood.

As a gesture of gratitude, I purchased des fleurs for my friend, and now, like me, they were exposed to all the elements. Along the 20-minutes walk, I ducked into doorways to keep my phone dry as I checked my map/directions.

Knowing I’m always early for class, Irene started to worry when I wasn’t there at the appointed hour. She called me, but I was still juggling the umbrella, flowers, phone and in the middle of crossing a street. I couldn’t do all that AND speak French! Not yet anyway. (I guess she is getting to know me. Lol!) I was close – a little late, and drenched to the bone – but close. She and her charming husband welcomed me warmly and quickly placed my coat and things on their radiator, and helped me to otherwise dry myself off. I presented the soggy blooms to them with a sheepish smile. Pour vous, mes amis.

Irene is from Basque, a region in Spain where cooking is EVERYTHING. The meal she presented was magnificent. Homemade vichyssoise (served chaud). I thought, how lovely to have warm soup on such a a day. What a perfect choice! However, that was just the first course. Then came home made croquettes, legumes with homemade mayonnaise. bread, chorizo and cheese, and poisson. For dessert, she’d made a tarte tatin, Everything was served with brilliant conversation and a fine Spanish wine. We talked for hours – first in French, and then we relaxed with anglais. Her husband said she cooks from intuition – no recipes – as is the tradition in Basque.

Irene’s husband’s French is MUCH easier to understand, as he has less of a Spanish accent. He teased her kindly, and between the two of them, I was able to understand.

After a lovely afternoon, they walked me home, no doubt worried about me getting lost again. So generous of heart. I felt confident along the way, knowing the route, and then, we reached my street. OMG. I didn’t recognize it, having never come from that direction. LOL! My excuse is that it was nighttime, raining, and I wasn’t paying attention because I took a few photos along the way. Everything looked different, momentarily, and then it all came into focus. I assured them I was ok, but they accompanied me to my front door, nonetheless.

Map or no map, I just don’t know this city yet, but I’m figuring it out. Bon courage!

Lundi, et ma deuxième semaine

As I mentioned, I stayed up late last night preparing for class. Why? The Subjonctif “Mood” and Les Verbes Irréguliers was up next. It’s been awhile for me with this tense/mood. A long while. It comes from Latin, and it’s usage is quite nuanced. You don’t HAVE to use it, but mastering it, and using it certainly exhibits a certain knowledge/understanding and sophistication of the language.

You take the radical form of the verb and change its ending rather dramatically.

Example: the verb choisir (to choose) can change to choisissions in conjugation. And the verb réussir (to make a success of something) can change to réussisses during conjugation. Lol. OK. I’ll stop there.

As the class began, I was somewhat concerned I might struggle with the lesson, but that didn’t happen. My high school French kicked in and held up. I was conjugating like a pro, and had full understanding of the lesson. That doesn’t mean I’m ready to speak in the Subjonctif just yet, but at least I was confident writing it.

I’m keeping the TV on a little more often now, trying to train my ear. The Olympics are fun to watch and listen to, as well as their news which covered “museums,” as well as politics and weather. You can always find dubbed versions of American series, too.

I bought myself flowers for the week, and une baguette traditionnelle. This particular bread has rules: it has to be made on the premises, and doesn’t contain more than « x » amount of ingredients, requires 15-20 hours of fermentation (compared to 2-4 hours for ordinary baguettes), and there are no additives allowed. This « traditionnelle » tag was created in 1993. It is literally a decree aimed to protect traditional bakeries from the development of industrial baking.

After class, I bought some groceries and flowers for my apartment. It was a good day.

I brought my high school book of French verbes with me on this trip. I took it to class today, and shared it with the professeur. She loved it! It’s a classic. Now as I sit here, it fills my heart to think of my young self having used this same book when I was 14/15, and myself now, having carryed it all this way from French class in Philadelphia, to French class in Paris. What a journey we’ve made. Ensemble.