Thursday, October 16, 2008

Bibliothèque Municipale




Back to the library to rent out some French DVDs
(though for the time being I've abandoned choosing alphabetically at my local library).

En moment,
je suis à New York. In the past weeks that I've been in la grande pomme I've heard a lot of French. En fait, du moment je suis arrivée. In the airport, while waiting in line for a ride to my final destination in the city, a Swiss woman is in front of me. The dispatcher is calling for help; he needs a French translator. I wondered how long it would take to find someone and before I could finish my thoughts I heard the woman say "Bonjour..." and begin to explain her problème. Someone French speaking had been found- mais ce n'est pas moi.

I haven't been yet bold enough to engage in conversation with the various French speakers I've heard. I smiled at the nanny commanding her toddler charge to "
viens ici" repeatedly though he didn't come nearer. I looked on as a threesome of French speakers ordered different varieties of croissants. My ears perked up with recognition everytime I heard French being spoken but my tongue went to the cat.

I decided the cat wouldn't nip my mind- specifically my aural comprehension. It seems
that listening would be what I would be doing for the meantime (with the exception of my weekly French conversation class).

Off I went to the local library and checked out three
dvds at random and watched (with sous-titres) and listened to them in this order:

Paris, je t'aime
Clara et moi
Les Temps qui changent

La photo: Un lion sur les grouns du parc national de Kruger en Afrique du Sud.Octobre 2007.