I switched levels in my class to Elementaire from niveau Debutant, and am much happier. The book is actually intermediate level; it's appropriately challenging. I'd say that I still understand about 95% of what the teacher says (all in French, obviously), who's a very good teacher, well organized, clear, etc., and my experience with other languages has been as useful as I expected.
I've also met some interesting people in this class: a Syrian Kurd, a Slovak, about my age, who is a professor in the U.S. in my field, a Mexican girl of Lebanese extraction, etc. Remarkably, the four of us had a conversation yesterday at a cafe after class entirely in French. Crazy, but great, and the type of experience one hopes for.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. Some technical difficulties and a couple of dumb moves on my part meant that my plans for last night fell through. No big deal, but I got all the way to the building and couldn't get in, so was a bit frustrated.
I do miss my car. And I miss coffee-to-go. The exclusively leisurely, sit-down cafe culture here dictates that it would be anathema to rush off with any beverage. But almost everywhere I go back in les Etats Unis, especially while driving, I have a cup of coffee. And, gauche though it may be, I also miss gulping said coffee. Since the coffee beverages here are exclusively espresso-based, even the notoriously un-American "Cafe Americano" (espresso plus hot water does not equal american coffee, sorry), they don't last very long unless you are extremely disciplined and know how to ration appropriately your micro-sips. I thought I was having trouble in this regard merely because I was drinking coffee in cafes on my own, but no. Now that I've met a couple of people and have had some cafe experiences that include plentiful conversation, I still find the quantity/size something to which I cannot adjust.
Speaking of small things, the car that Devon and I are renting is a Yaris (left; www.toyota.fr/cars/new_cars/yaris/gallery.aspx) by Toyota. I'm psyched about this because we have these Yareis back home, and I've always thought they were cute and sporty, for a small car. Plus, since we're in Europe, I don't have to worry as much about the relative size of the car; yes, there are a few SUVs and minivans here, but when a Toyota Corolla looks big compared to the other cars on the street, as it does, it's safe to say that cars are generally much smaller, as is well known. Anyway, I think this will be a fun car to drive and handy since it's a hatchback (good for campers/travelers). If I like it enough, I might consider it for my next car back home, depending on where I'm living at the time; the hatch is only about 2 feet shorter in length than my Prizm, and this can be accounted for easily because of the lack of trunk on the hatch model. Anyway, enough about cars.
I did a bit more shopping yesterday, in search of good jeans and a couple more t-shirts. All the guidebooks, even the allegedly "hip" Let's Go guide, warned against wearing T-shirts and shorts. Shorts, maybe (I've gotten a few funny looks when I go for my afternoon run, but those might be on account of my running at all. One older woman said to me, "Quel coureur, monsieur!" (What a runner, sir!), which I think was a compliment...I think. At first I thought she may have said "Quel corps, monsieur!", which would have been flattering but weird coming from a woman of 58 or so. It took me a minute or to connect Latin currere ("to run") with what she'd said; I blame the delat on the weirdness of French vowels.) Sorry for all the parentheses, btw, but I'm not in the mood to edit right now. Anyway, shorts and t-shirts. I haven't seen many people wear shorts, but then again, it's been rather mild. Neat T-shirts, however--not undershirts, mind you, but dyed, slightly more substantial t-shirts--are everywhere, especially on men my age and younger, and often combined with blazers like back home. Just goes to show how international public trends in "fashion" have become. The shopping center itself, Forum des Halles (left), was pretty awesome. And I'm not likely to say this about anything that amounts to a mall, vel sim. It was a bit like a spaceship of commerce.
slightly less at a CVS/Walgreens, and cheapest at Target or Wal-Mart, owing to t All right. I have to find something to do today. But one final addition, both mundane and interesting. I bought some floss the other day, and some scissors. Now, the floss cost me $6 (would probably have been about 70 cents at Target back home) and the scissors $5 (probably would've been about $2 at Target back home.) What's interesting (to me) is that I bought these items at what some would say is the equivalent of Target, "Monoprix." Generally, one's instinct back home is that small items like this are most expensive at a small local market,he economies of scale at work in the latter examples. Here, these items were extremely expensive at the Target equivalent and cheapest at a local Pharmacie. I'm still not sure exactly why, but I guess it has something to do with 1) Europeans' expectations about where one buys things (i.e., you don't by floss at Monoprix unless you want to spend a fortune) and the fact thbat 2) the consumer economy is strucured differently on account of these preferences. It's likely that these Pharmacies somehow have different relationships with distributors, perhaps they're even chains? I dunno. Anyway, I found it interesting. Also interesting is that the floss is refillable. I.e., one buys another spool of floss to put in the same dispenser, thus saving materials in the long run. Woah.