En Francais
So, over the last few hours, my high school French has just had the hardest workout it's had since...well, probably my TEE French oral exam.
See, I have an uncle (of my mother) who lives here in Paris. And in order to facilitate my travels around the rest of Europe, I arranged (by getting my elderly aunt who lives in Natanya who I visited a couple of times to ask him - nicely of course) that he would allow me to leave my suitcase at his apartment and I'd pick it up on my way home. But he has pretty much no English. And his wife, who does speak English, can't understand my accent. So he came over to my hotel and we walked back to his apartment together, then I sat and had a cup of tea, and we chatted. Politics and culture were the main topics of conversation. So there was a lot of nodding my head and trying vainly to contribute to the conversation. Much like in my French aural comprehension, I could usually piece together what he was talking about, but it was hard work!
I think I left a good impression though. My Hebrew is sloowwwly making room for the French, although I still found myself injecting Hebrew particles/prefixes automatically. Now I'm contemplating wandering off for some food, but am also quite aware that I've been awake since 3am (which is 2am Paris time) and should probably get some sleep so as to make the most of my time here in Paris.
*sigh* C'est la vie!
See, I have an uncle (of my mother) who lives here in Paris. And in order to facilitate my travels around the rest of Europe, I arranged (by getting my elderly aunt who lives in Natanya who I visited a couple of times to ask him - nicely of course) that he would allow me to leave my suitcase at his apartment and I'd pick it up on my way home. But he has pretty much no English. And his wife, who does speak English, can't understand my accent. So he came over to my hotel and we walked back to his apartment together, then I sat and had a cup of tea, and we chatted. Politics and culture were the main topics of conversation. So there was a lot of nodding my head and trying vainly to contribute to the conversation. Much like in my French aural comprehension, I could usually piece together what he was talking about, but it was hard work!
I think I left a good impression though. My Hebrew is sloowwwly making room for the French, although I still found myself injecting Hebrew particles/prefixes automatically. Now I'm contemplating wandering off for some food, but am also quite aware that I've been awake since 3am (which is 2am Paris time) and should probably get some sleep so as to make the most of my time here in Paris.
*sigh* C'est la vie!