It’s hard to believe there are only 2 days left in my B1 class. Time went so sloooooow at the start of this level, but it really picked up. We had tons of homework every night, and weekends, too. We were usually late for la pause, and always late for final dismissal. We all really worked hard and learned a lot.

This week we covered the le futur simple and le futur antérieur tenses, which were easy for me. Now our lessons include present, imparfait, subjonctif, plus-que-parfait, passé composé, passé simple (for writing only), along with some expressions and slang. Did I miss anything? Probably. Lol! That’s not to say that I have control of them all; I don’t! Some days it feels like I knew more upon arrival than I do now because all this information is scrambled in my head, but I’m sorting it out.

We also had to write a short piece about Converse sneakers of all things. They’re popular the world over, so it was fun to read the history. I had fun with that piece, and my essay was noticeably longer than everyone else’s — being American and all. <wink> I enjoyed writing:

…ensuite, les chaussures firent disponible en couleurs différentes. Les jeunes filles américaines commencèrent porter les baskets Converse des garçons, car les baskets Converse n’étaient pas encore faits pour les filles. Donc, quand j’avais environ neuf ans, j’ai demandé à ma grande-mère de m’en acheter une paire pour l’école. Nous avons dû aller au magasin de chaussures pour les garçons! Ma premiere paire était bleu-foncée.

(I wonder if my bestie since age 5 remembers my “Chucks”? She reads my blog, so we’ll find out.)

Earlier this week, we read about Coca-Cola, and Levi’s, too (which Europeans pronounce as Levvies). We read a film critique on an American Film, “The Aviator” and I got to show off my American accent in the process. The French don’t pronounce “H” the way we do, so saying “Howard Hughes” is a tough one!

The prepositions and pronouns are everywhere in this language, and we learned two more today: y et en. We don’t use them as much in English, so they’re not easy to translate. They can replace words related to quantity such as some, any (as a partitive [uncountable]). They replace words related to places such as before, under, on. They also replace nouns (but not living things). The list goes on as to how/when they’re used, but I won’t bore you. But for ONE example, in English, we would say, I’d like SOME, and we usually stop at that, but in French, you’re always including “of it” as in: SOME OF IT, A SLICE OF IT, or I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF IT.

You wouldn’t say: J’ai eu assez! (I’ve had enough!) You’d have to say: J’en ai eu assez! (I’ve had enough of it!)

After class, I met my friend Ruchi for lunch. We went to a Vegetarian restaurant to accommodate her culture, and we enjoyed our « burgers. » The food was delicious! We hurried back to school because there was a film today that we didn’t want to miss! We watched «Les Adieux à la Reine » based on a book by the same title. It’s a fictional tale about a very short period of time in the life of Marie Antoinette. (She is hated here, of course, because she wasn’t even French – mon Dieu! – so they often refer to her as Marie Toilette, which cracked me up.) I thought the film was excellent — and we were even given little containers of popcorn this time. Beautiful cinematography and costuming. (It won 3 César awards – the French Oscar). Afterwards, we are always treated to a educated critique and Q&A session, which is wonderful and informative. And, I was thrilled to have understood (almost!) everything he said!

We have one more class presentation tomorrow, and I believe it’ll be given by my friend J from China. We “visited” the southern part of Brazil today. I can’t believe how many countries we’ve discussed this month. It’s been quite special to have first-hand accounts like this.

My homework is complete. Time for a late meal, some news, quick workout, shower, and chill.

Ça y est! (pour maintenant.)