This intense rain hasn't been too bad of a problem accept the fact that I have no idea what kind of shoes to wear in this mess. I feel like this is something you learn very early on in life, but somehow I must have missed something. Option 1: sandals. They suck because they get wet and then really hard to walk in because they slip everywhere. Option 2: Clothey shoeish things. They get soaking wet and dirty and DO NOT DRY. Option 3: rainboots. Ugly and you look like an idiot and I'm not sitting through three hours of class in those. Alas, I am left with flip flops, which don't match anything. It's a desperate situation. Methinks sandals are the lesser of the many evils.
Rain also means staying in more. Sunday I barely moved from my bed. This was actually enjoyable because by the end of the week I really am ready to drop dead. I've gotten into a good book, which makes life instantly better, and I am back to my The Office addiction, which I cannot help but love to revel in. Rain also means friends are reluctant to venture downtown, which is closer to me, and rightfully so. Transportation in this town is decent but very often annoying. Many of the bus lines stop after 8:30 pm and don't even run on Sundays. This leaves biking (impossible in the rain) and taxis (expensive).
With the start of a new week at school, we got our tests back from last week. I did well, but my main downfall is making stupid mistakes. This never fails to make me angry, and I would much rather make huge detrimental mistakes about something I don't know that little stupid ones about things I do know. I always have and probably always will be too hard on myself when it comes to academics, and when a rare something actually happens to be challenging, it tends to illicit anger. I want to be better at French. I want to understand people better and actually be able to communicate. Accepting my inferiority in this certain category is difficult. Language is something I never remember struggling with. I don't actually remember learning to read or write, it kind of just came out of me. Language is me. It's everything I love and am passionate about and try to pursue. Sitting silent at the dinner table because I'm trying desperately to pick words that I can recognize out of the spew of French coming at me is not my ideal pastime. I love to argue, discuss, and (of course) add my opinion to what is happening. I can't do this when I have no idea what to say. This, however, is good. I am usually quick to speak and slow to listen, and it has been something that I want to work on. I always remember something my best friend told me once: a real conversation consists of two people who, while listening to each other, are not thinking about what they will say next or a point that they have. They are only listening.
So far I do believe that my listening comprehension has improved the most, but that's the easy part. The hard part is taking what you hear, synthesizing, and evaluating. Oooo, fancy teacher terms! Thus begins my daily rant about the education I am experiencing. Let's hope this is somewhat short.
College in France, or least all that I have experienced, is strange. We are following a textbook (thank God), but the day usually consists of many random mini lessons that have little to no connection. We are just beginning, and there is so very much for us to learn, but I find it extremely challenging to just go over things when they come up instead of doing a legit lesson with practice and homework to enforce it. I really didn't expect to have this kind of reaction, and though it partly means I have been learning in the past three years, it is not doing me any good now. We jump from adjectives to articles, to talking about imperfect tense for two seconds without her even having taught it. There are vague units with different sets of vocabulary and verbs (which are utterly my downfall), but I am in desperate need of a lesson that lasts at least 20 minutes with some direct instruction, modeling, and both guided and independent practice. There's some more teacher terms for you. It's a new system and a lesson in flexibility, and in all honesty I'm sure it's eons better than the language learning system in the States. It's just that the raving English teacher inside me twitches with every abrupt transition and lack of anticipatory sets. She scares me sometimes. She has been somewhat silenced by the fact that I bought Harry Potter in French. Nearly impossible to read, but I do understand some things, and I am super interested that there apparently is a verb tense that is only used in literature. The sooner I get aquatinted with this, the better.
Today we went to the Spa, which was technically a huge pool. French people don't really go to water parks, so this was kind of like a big water park for old boring people. It was super relaxing though. Here are some images from their site.
It was actually raining while we were in the pool, which was pretty nice because we had just gotten out of the sauna. It was fun to swim.
My shoes were soaking wet since before I got on the bus this morning, and they are still very, very cold. This shoe situation was almost resolved at the grocery store today, where I found a pair of converse-ish rainboots. They didn't fit. Prayers against trench-foot would be greatly appreciated.
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