I couldn’t wait to talk to Bill after my French lesson today. I was so excited to tell him that I’ve been given the intermediate books… and bumped up two levels. Yes, I know that the levels are completely made up by the people who teach our classes. Doesn’t matter. It still made me feel like I’d accomplished something. Like I may actually one day be able to speak French. Oh, and it reminded me how I am completely kicking Bill’s ass at learning the language. (His two months in the UK helped me leap ahead.) Bill was entirely not impressed. He says that during his French lesson this afternoon, he didn’t even mention to the teacher that he’s depressed to be lagging so far behind me.
So all pumped up with my French ability, I hit a couple of stores. First, the fruit and veggie store where just last week the woman who works there actually struck up a conversation with me. And I managed to answer. Made me feel like I’m really starting to fit in. She wasn’t there today. The woman there was busy striking up conversations with every other customer in the store. Oh, well.
Then I went to IKEA. (It’s replaced Target as my all-too-regular shopping stop. And it’s no where near as practical as Target.) As I was wondering how on earth I (or anyone) was supposed to reach the boxes on the top shelf, a woman walked up and asked me a question. All I could do was stare. And after a few seconds when I realized that was bizarre, I told her I don’t speak French. That sure deflated my ego.
Ok, so maybe I won’t master the language. But it would be nice to be able to actually answer a question once in a while.