Oh, you have to speak french here?

the beautiful building where my french classes are held

     Ahh yes, the lovely french language. So beautiful yet so elusive. I have commenced learning it intensely this week. Two hours a day, five days a week at the Institute de Langue Francais. It's a fun little mix of people from all over. People in my class range from Brazil, Russia, Ireland, Philipines, Denmark, Australia, Turkey, and good ole USA. My class only has 10 people in it (almost all women), and it's small enough to get good attention from the teacher. Another plus, it's two blocks away from the Arc de Triumph and the Champs-Elysees.

  

 So far my favorite word is "donc". It means, "so" or "therefore" and is used quite often when someone is talking a lot, especially in sermons, so I hear it quite often. I like it because it stands out so much that I always hear it and know what it is. It has to be one of the few words in french where you pronounce every letter and emphasize the end. I don't know how it escaped notice since it breaks up the flow of everything. My favorite word that I learned today was "requin", which means "shark". Don't ask how we got on the topic of that one. 
 In general, my french is improving. I can usually figure out what someone is saying to me directly, but I have a hard time following a conversation. I just pick up a word or two sometimes. It's definitely the biggest struggle of being here, since I'm used to knowing what's going on and being a leader. Here, I rely on others to show me what to do. But everyone is really nice, no rude french stereotypes yet.