French

Eiko says...

I've been studying French as a third language, and although I have classified 'sticking to any one activity long-term' the epitome of the word 'impossible' long ago when I was still in nappies, I have successfully stuck to French for 2 months now! Although my study habits weren't consistent by any means, 2 months is an impressive chunk of time in my books. At least it's better than giving up after experiencing your first low which occurs within the week of starting any new activity--a nasty habit of mine.

To reward myself for this amazing achievement, I decided to find myself a French teacher. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to go on any long hunting trips to find what I wanted. The ever helpful Ken kindly offered to introduce me to his French teacher which he seemed quite happy learning from, and who he thought was a good teacher. Since Ken has the tendency to be quite picky, I was surprised by the high ratings he gave this guy, and decided to give him a go.

So, last weekend, I found myself sitting in on one of their lessons to see whether I thought he would be any good teaching a complete idiot like myself or if he was handicapped to teaching only pre-intermediate to advanced students of French. Although quite nervous and anxious over the fact that I hadn't the slightest clue as to what they were yapping on about, (the entire lesson was 100% in French) half way through the lesson I decided that I would gladly pay for this guy to be my teacher.

The reasons are as follows:

He's got very beautiful eyes--definitely worth paying an hour's worth for those to be staring at me. I liked his teaching style. He had a good aura about him, and held himself well. He rated low on the Snobbish Frenchmen Scale. He smiled a lot. He seemed relaxed and confident. He gave off a healthy young, energetic vibe. He was polite.

Our first official lesson took place last Sunday, and I was quite relieved that the lesson went smoothly, despite all the questions I kept throwing at him on a 30 second basis, and my poor understanding of only 30% of the lesson. He also was quite nice about all of my, "Je detest les nombres francais!!", which put me at ease. You see, what really threw a bucket of cold water on my efforts when I was studying French on my own were the crazy French numbers!! The counting system they have in the French language seemed like nothing short of pure non-sense and drove me bonkers! He made them seem like apple pie!

Give me 6 months, everyone. I should be able to hold a good conversation in French by then. That would be the case if, of course, I don't die from the morbid heat we're all experiencing lately!!

earthquake and french

Eiko says...

Earthquake
On the 7th night, there was yet another earthquake, (or aftershock) a level six in Miyagi, killing 4 and injuring over 100 people. We felt it strong in Tokyo as well, and although I'm only on the 2nd floor, everything on my table, not to mention the windows, were shaking and making a very disturbing, 'earthquake' noise.
I had just finished watching the epic film 'The Next Three Days' starring Russel Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, and with my mind still in awe, I was in no mood of making a run for anything. I did feel a bit strange though, sitting on the floor of my tiny room, hugging my legs, resting my chin on my knees, deeply contemplating the depth of the film and also feeling, seeing, listening, and experiencing a fairly big Earthquake at the same time. At one point, the idea of opening the door 'just in case' the Earthquake decided to throw a bigger fit than it already was throwing, crossed my mind, but the shaking turned into a small tremor while I was calculating in my mind whether the act of opening the door was even worth getting up for.
Earthquakes have stopped making me jump ever since the 11th of March.

Anyhow.

Coffee and French
These days, I have been spending a lot of my morning/early afternoon time in a variety of cafes, studying French and reading whatever book I'm going through at the moment. I have just finished The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wild, and now, I'm going through '127 Hours'. But notice the 'French' part!! Yes, I'm studying French. I'm experiencing, for the first time, the joy of learning a foreign language. Being that I can't say I studied either Japanese or English, (and the bit of Khmer that I learned doesn't count either) French is truly a new experience for me, and I'm loving every bit of it! This is a lie, of course. There's nothing more annoying than learning how to count in French! For example, 'Soixante0-dix huit' is seventy eight in French, which is all well and good. But wait for the explanation! The idea is anything past 69 is that you cannot say sixty nine, seventy, seventy one, seventy two. Instead you go, sixty nine, sixty ten, sixty eleven, sixty twelve!! And that's just one example!! This coupled with the very different pronunciation system than we have in English can get to your head at times. Which is why I generally choose cafes that allow you to have a puff. Unfortunately, I do love a good Starbucks coffee every now and then, not to mention their generally relaxing atmosphere they've got going. So despite the fact that they are strictly zero-smoke, I frequent Starbucks on a fairly regular basis. Lucky me, they recently built a new Starbucks Cafe right near my work place, so it's perfect to go to before a day of classes. I must admit, it can be expensive but a good cup of coffee plus the relaxed atmosphere is worth it.

Damn! Need to make more money.