Les examens

Yesterday evening we had our final French exams. I spent a few hours of the morning revising under the sapodilla tree at the bottom of the garden.Le sapodilla: mon arbre favori dans le jardin
The sapodilla: my favourite tree in the garden.

Pippa essaye d'étudier avec moi.
Pippa tries to study with me."Je ne comprends pas ..."
"I don't understand ..."

Au revoir

Water lily in the Pax pond, where the French crew spent their last two days
*

Early this morning Ilana (director, who had come in two weeks ago) and Stefan (cameraman, who came in a week ago) left Trinidad to return to Paris. After one final interview in the morning yesterday, we drove to Manzanilla, where we spent a few hours. A delicious dinner at Pax brought the day (and this French experience) to a close.

C'était bien et Ilana et Stefan sont très genial. I will miss the real life experience of talking in French, as I learned a lot from it. I have an invitation to visit Paris, so once I've fuelled up my private jet I'll definitely stop by.

des nouveaux mots

After talking in French, when it's time to talk in English again I feel somewhat disappointed. My friend Nic feels the same way about Spanish (she is doing evening classes). We both agree that a new language is like a new life, a new perspective, a new everything. It can transform a mundane or routine task or subject into an adventure. Even sitting in traffic today heading into POS, I didn't notice the heat and frustration because I was busy parler-ing.

Sitting in traffic (l'embouteillage) on the way home from POS.
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Here are some of the new words I learned yesterday and today:
âme soeur - the French term for 'Soul mate'. It literally means soul sister ... soul (âme) sister (soeur). Interestingly, the term is even applied to a male person.
la vie de bonvivant - the good life; the life of someone who lives well
bordel - the word means 'brothel' but is used to say that something is a mess. I learned this word while eating doubles (bordelique - messy; or c'est le bordel)

La vie est la classe

Yesterday I missed French class because of work but it's not like I really missed anything - because I've been getting more practice in real life by speaking in French during the day. I retain the language better through relevant real time conversation (where I can apply it to what's going on), than through a book. The advantage of the book is getting to see the spelling.

Two of yesterday's new phrases:
1. J'ai envie de (or j'ai super envie de) - I have a craving for ... (I wanted to say 'I have a craving for M&M's)
2. Quifaites - not sure I'm spelling it right, but it's a slangish term which is like the French version of 'liming'

Je suis occupée

Le dimanche, le réalisateur français est arrivé à Trinidad. Elle travaille ici pendant deux semaines. Elle est sympa. Quelquefois nous parlons en anglais, quelquefois en français. Nous avons commencé notre premier jour de travail hier - un jour très long mais interessant. Elle regarde Trinidad avec une perspective differente et elle demande les questions interessants.

J'ai apprendu deux nouveaux mots/phrases:
1. la chauve-souris - bat (the animal - literally translated as 'the bald mouse')
2. faire le points - to make a list

(If you don't understand the above, to translate, you can copy and paste it into Babelfish and select the 'French to English' option. It translates with some words wrong, some left in French and using different articles - e.g. 'it' instead of 'she', etc. ... but you get the basic idea)

Eureka! A great way to learn a language!

This morning when I woke up I was thinking that if I went to sleep listening to French on headphones, it would be a good way to 'immerse' myself because the language would be working into my subconscious. That led me to think of meditation ... that if I had some guided French meditations it would be a great way for me to 'absorb' the language and relax at the same time. Plus, being meditation, the voice would be talking slowly and understandably ... and not at the breakneck speed of the French comprehensions notre professeur gives us in class.

I went online and typed in French meditation audio and found this: http://www.maitreyaproject.org/en/peace/index.html

I downloaded and listened to some of the French version and it sounds great. Can't wait to sit quietly and try it. It will be exciting to experience the inner world in a new language.

Mes devoirs

Source

This term I have been lax with my French. Not as enthused as I was last year. I guess because I have more 'distractions' now ... and also because I am somewhat fed up of the book. I prefer when we talk about our lives, thereby using the language to express ourselves naturally, rather than doing lessons based on what someone else has written (which has nothing to do with us). I think I need to be immersed (either in France or Montreal, preferably) and live the language. Anyway, in a few days I can be immersed to some extent quand la femme Français arrivera pour faire le documentaire.

We get back our French midterm test results today. Hmmm. I guessed my way through parts of the comprehension. Maybe I was almost as creative as my classmate last year who wrote about skiing with the chef who crashed into a tree.

Now to go and do my French homework for this afternoon's class: You have a French guest spending a day with you. You want to take him out to somewhere that he will enjoy, so work out how to propose some of the possibilities in your area.

I'll start it off here ...

(Au téléphone)

Moi: Allo, Jean.
Jean: Elspeth! Ça va?
Moi: Ça va. Ecoutes ... Il ferrai beau temps demain. As-tu prevú quelque chose?
Jean: Non. Mais j'ai entendu parler d'une plage ... Toco?
Moi: Oui, Toco. Ça te dit?
Jean: Oui, pourquoi pas? Allons-y!
Moi: Ça me va.
Jean: C'est loin de ta maison?
Moi: Oui, assez loin. Viens chez moi à six heures du matin et nous partirons à sept heures. Nous passerons deux heures dans la voiture, donc nous arriverons à ma plage favourite, Mission Bay. Tu verras de l'eau bleu et des grandes vagues.

(I'll finish the rest offline ...)
*

Later ...

Eventful day & Français

I started off the day by making an appearance on the Morning Edition, to talk about Veronica's House. I felt a bit nervy, since (a) I don't like being on TV (b) I did it alone (c) I was talking about things I am a novice at (construction, etc). But those who saw it reported that I looked very calm and put it across well, so I guess my fears were unfounded. Along with an article which appeared in today's Express (on VHouse)*, it's a double thrust for the cause all in one day. Definitely now more people will be aware of it. I did get one important call after the show which struck me (among other things) for this reason in particular: within our conversation the woman described the thing she was telling me about (in relation to VHouse and the video) as "a window of opportunity". As she said those words, a bell went off in my head ... because of course that was the name I used for the window before it became 'Dream House' ...

* (I can't find the link to the article or I would have included it here).

And soon there will be a dedicated website ... for anyone who wants to check in and see what the VHouse progress report. Things are happening behind the scenes and abroad as well.

French exams are later today at 5:00 p.m. I have been distracted and threfore neglecting French this year ... compared to last year when I was more naturally focused on it. Did some cramming yesterday with one of the other students ... and I will do some more in a short while.

Wish me 'bonne chance'.

Final French results

A+

!

Yoga morning, French evening

This morning I woke up and, around 8:15 I headed out to my second Moksha yoga class, which was to start at 9:00 a.m.

When I got to my car, I noticed that the front right tyre was almost flat. That explained why the steering wheel was so hard to turn yesterday evening. Luckily there was a tyre place around the corner and within half an hour the problem was fixed. A large industrial nail was the culprit.

The yoga class felt great - and I will definitely do my best to go regularly and "keep up", as we say in K. Yoga.

Tonight is the 'fete de noel' - our French Christmas party. Some of us in our class are doing a little skit involving me drawing the body parts that the others will be calling out ... resulting in a caricature of notre professeur.

French blogging today with translation

Je vais a ecrire en francais pour quelques jour pour practicer. Nous avons nos examens finales, mercredi - la semaine prochaine, puis lundi apres-semaine. Je dois apprendre mon vocabulaire, les verbes, etc.

Aujourdhui je vais au Point Fortin avec K. Nous allons visiter a "Veronica" et nous allons voir le medecin qui elle doit donner a sa fille, qui a quatre ans. Cette petite fille, elle est HIV+ comme sa mere. C'est terrible, l'histoire de la discriminacion!

(There may be some wrong spelling, etc. Saying it is one thing, spelling is another!)

TRANSLATION
I am going to write in French for some days, to practice. We have our final exams on Wednesday (next week), then Monday the week after. I must learn my vocabulary, verbs, etc.

Today I am going to Point Fortin with K. We're going to visit "Veronica" and going to see the medicine which she must give to her daughter who is four years old. This little girl is HIV positive like her mother. The stories of discrimination are terrible.

Le Réunion

Hier soir apres de la classe, j'ai reuni avec quelques des femmes dans la classe et nous avons decidé que nous allons faire pour la fete de Noel. (Yesterday evening after the class I met with some women in the class and we decided what we are going to do for the Christmas party) ... i.e. our 'performance'. In less than five minutes we came up with a great idea. It is quick, easy and doesn't involve any elaborate French or scripting. In fact its strength will be in its impromptu nature. We just have to remember our vocabulary for body parts.

Bonjour

Long time since I've written in French. I think my mind was thinking more français in the beginning (au debut) and has started to get a little rusty as of late. J'ai besoin de practicer beaucoup!

Final written exams next Wednesday. Final aural exams the Monday after.

Christmas party on 8th December and we are supposed to do something as a class. One woman has offered to show slides and talk about her trip to Tunisi (in French). I was supposed to meet an hour early yesterday with two women from the class, to discuss what we could do ... but they never turned up. Quel domage. It would be great if the class could do something, but I don't think anyone is really keen.

Last night was thinking I could do a (very) short film in French ... or a French video-poem ... but didn't want to mention it in case expectations are raised and then I end up not having time to do it.

If I have time I will.

French midterm results and Election results

At least my French mid term exam results were good: 37.4 out of 40.

The Election results however ...

Improved French ..

In a comment on yesterday's post, Kikipotamus wondered if spending eight days among French speakers improved my French.

I am eight days better off than I would have been without it. Now, whenever I think in French, I hear a French accent in my head ... and in since the past eight days I've noticed my r's naturally sound different (when speaking French). This is what happens when one becomes immersed in another language, even if just for a few days. It seeps in like water into a sponge and before you know it, you are picking it up - either vocabulary, slang, intonation, pronunciation or all of the above. That's how we learned to speak as babies.

Yesterday driving down the highway I was speaking aloud to myself in French, practising natural, smooth speed of delivery, rather than the sometimes slow, deliberate effort of one learning a language. Suddenly it occurred to me that although I was speaking French, I was doing so with my usual English-speaking intonations.

E,g,:

If a French person says: "Merci!" ... they seem to stress the 'e' and say it all very quickly.

I tend to say: "Merci" with the stress on the 'i' and the 'i' going up in pitch. And I say it slower and more laid back.

This evening we will get the results of our French mid-term exams. I'm looking forward to what I think will be a hilarious class ... as we once again hear about skiing with food, chefs crashing into trees, big north winds and lost sheep.

Back to work

Pans on stage at Queens Hall.
The French crew was working on a documentary about Andy N.
*

Not that being with the French crew wasn't work of another kind ... but as of this morning they are gone and I will return to my own work, which I had put aside for the past few days.

Now I will return to:
(i) The HIV documentary
(ii) Creating some music for a series

It was worth it to step away from my 'routine' and be immersed in something else for a while. Without leaving Trinidad, I visited another country, met new people and refreshed my perspective.

A big north wind, Elspeth

(l to r) Cédric, Laurent, Witold shooting an interview today
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I have spent the past two days and nights immersed in French (being with the French crew et des autres qui parlent le français). However, after tonight's French midterm exam I wonder how far this two-day immersion has advanced me upon the road to mastering the language!

I laughed so much after the exam that I had to go 'faire pipi' (a.k.a. wee wee). Even driving home after the exam, I was literally collapsing on the steering wheel in fits of mirth, remembering the bizarre things we (the students) had discussed after the exam ... i.e. the incorrect things we had written on our papers.

The first part of the exam was a written exercise - we had to write a letter to a friend 'thanking her for letting you stay at her house during your holidays, talking about your journey', etc etc etc. Ironically, just before the exam, I was flicking through the vocab at the back of the French text and saw "Gros Bisous" (lots of love/a big kiss) - which goes at the end of a letter. So in the exam, I ended my letter with what I thought I remembered it to be. I confidently put: "Gros bises, Elspeth."

Ooops! Feeling after the exam that what I had signed off with was incorrect, I checked the meaning of 'bises' ... to find that it means 'north winds' (according to Babelfish)! But elsewhere it seems to mean 'kisses'.

The second part of the exam was a listening comprehension about a man who went skiing with his aunt and cousin. At some point in the passage the man had a skiing accident and crashed into a tree. One of the questions asked what had caused the accident. The answer was that it was very foggy. However, I heard brouyant (noisy) instead of brouillard (fog) ... so my answer was "he heard a loud noise and crashed into the tree". Some of the other students said he was eating while skiing (even writing this I am cracking up!) They had heard the word "cousine" (cousin) and thought it was cuisine (food). ... i.e. they heard that he was skiing with his 'cuisine' (food).

One other woman heard 'cuisine' and thought it meant cook. So in her version of the story he was skiing with a chef when he crashed!

The other two parts were written comprehension (that was okay) and then speaking (that part was perhaps the best). One thing I know for sure ... our teacher will certainly have a good laugh when marking those papers!

I guess we'll get our results next week.

My French adventure

Not sure how much I will be able to blog over the next eight days or so, but I will when possible. I said yes to an e-mail requesting an assistant for a French film crew coming to TT to shoot a documentary. I said yes mainly because I saw it as an opportunity to speak French every day - more than for the 'job' itself. E.g. if it was an English speaking crew I don't think I would have been drawn to the opportunity, especially as I have other things to do. In fact, because I have other things to do, I wasn't going to do this, but then I weighed my Libran scales and decided to go with the French impulse. It's like what I said the other day about attracting or being attracted by something that relates to what you are doing (e.g. now that I'm doing French).

One thing leads to another. I'm sure it will be interesting and a learning experience. They arrive tonight.

Mints on the Mount

Yesterday evening I went walking up Mt St Benedict with a friend. I used to do it practically every evening, but having not done it in a while, my muscles are hurting today.

When we got to the church we decided to go in. The place was unusually quiet, perhaps because it was nearing 6 p.m. and the monks, who would normally be preparing to chant around then, were not around.

Walking around inside the church, I noticed a KC dinner mint laid at the feet of the small statue of St. Ann and the child (Jesus?) The side of the mint facing me said "I love you." As always, curious to see what was on the other side, I turned it around: Patience.

I told my friend to go and look at it and I went outside to see if the circular rainbow we had seen on the way up was still there. She came outside and said: "You know there was another mint by the St. Joseph statue. It said: Let me be the one."

Obviously someone was offering KC dinner mint prayers.

Un rendezvous dans la pharmacie

Is it that the more we do or think something the more it appears in our lives because we are attracting it? Or is it that it's there but we just notice it because we've been doing it or thinking about it?

Now that I am doing French that is happening to me with French-speaking people.

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to post two pieces of mail. A man before me was putting a letter addressed to Canada in the mailbox. I then heard him ask the post lady something with what sounded like a French accent.

“Français?!” I asked him, excited at the opportunity to parler avec qulequ’un.

“Oui!”

“Canada?”

He laughed and told me in French that he is not ‘a false French’ … implying that French-Canadians are not ‘real’ French people. I brushed that off as the France-French being haughty and thinking their version of French is superior.

We stood up talking for about five minutes in French. I did quite well for myself, ‘parler-ing’ avec lui. Originally he had been in Trinidad as the project manager for construction of a hospital here (MH). Then he had returned to France … and then back to Trinidad, where he now lives. I asked him how come and he said: “Je suivais une femme.” (I was following a woman).

“Bien sur!” I replied.

He gripped my arm and told me (in French) that Trinidad women “can pull the world”. Les femmes Trinidadienne tienent le monde, I think it was. Then (also in French) he added: “But they are impossible to export!”

“You mean you can't get them to leave Trinidad?” I asked.

“Oui!"

“Je suis differente,” I told him.

He squeezed my arm, laughed and said something that I didn’t understand but didn’t bother to ask him to repeat. Instead I said “Enchanté” and "merci" and we exchanged our goodbyes.