The lycée isn't Hogwarts, but it does have its own Hagrid.

[rebecca_in_blue]

Four random snippets of my life in France...

#1) I am fascinated by French children; I've been studying the language longer than some of them have been alive, but they still speak it better than me. Conversation with the little girl who was too short to reach the straw dispenser at McDonald's...
Me [handing her a straw]: Do you want a straw? Here.
Her: Yes, but I need four.
Me: What?
Her: I need four.
Me [handing her three more]: Oh, four. Here.
Her: Do you know where the napkins are?
Me: What?
Her: The napkins.
Me [looking in one napkin dispenser]: Oh, the napkins. Well, that's empty.
Her [as I start to look in another napkin dispenser]: No, that one's empty too.
Me: Oh. Uh, I don't know where the napkins are.
Her [wandering away]: Daddy, where are the napkins?

#2) Just when you think your French is improving, this happens. Conversation with the woman at the front desk of the town tourism office, during my hunt for my reci-passé...
Me: Excuse me, where is the Mairie, please?
Her: The what?
Me: Uh... the Mairie?
Her: Oh, the Mairie. Just leave our office, turn left, and it's next to the church.
Me: But... that's not the town hall next to the church?
Her: The Mairie is the town hall.
Me: Oh! They're the same thing?
Her: Yes...
Me: Oh, okay.

#3) Further proof that Nathalie is Hagrid: Hagrid's official job is keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts; Nathalie is the gatekeeper at the lycée. Both of them live on their school grounds, both have big dogs (Fang and Mowgli), and students come to visit them for no apparent reason. Conversation with Heather at lunch...
Heather: Do you know exactly what Nathalie's job is here?
Me: I think maybe...
Heather & Me [in perfect unison]: ...she's like Hagrid.

#4) One day when Heather, Marlene, and I were in the kitchen, we watched part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in German on TV. I translated line for line from memory alone...
Me: Oh, and now Harry's saying, "It's not Hogwarts without you, Hagrid."
Heather: Wow... you must really love this movie.
Me: No actually, I don't even like the first two movies that much. I just have a really good memory.
Heather: Yeah, sure you do.
Me: No, I really do!
Marlene: Rebecca, I think you could learn German just from watching these movies.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Good to hear that you finally have your pass in your hand. You will never speak as well as the people who spoke French from the beginning of their lives, I remember when Aileen starting working in a huge office in Houston and she's very intelligent and has climbed up the ladder quickly but at the time she was having issues with her computer, even reading it by scrolling down was not comfortable to her and she couldn't understand how this young assistants who weren't that smart could move around faster on the computer than her, and we figured out that they never knew at time when they weren't on a computer, it was inbreed in them, just like VCR's or should I say DVDs. I still prefer reading off of paper than a screen and even if you are totally fluent and lived 30 years in France, when you would get very tired you would probably start speaking English because you think in English. I'll never forget the time Grandma was staying with me when Olivia was born and we were up in the middle of the night exhausted and she started talking to me in cajun french without realizing it. The best part was when she looked at me like she was expecting me to answer, I remember we laughed. I am rambling sorry. It is cold here but the house is quiet, I love you, aunt connie

[rebecca-in-blue.livejournal.com]

I'll never forget the time Grandma was staying with me when Olivia was born and we were up in the middle of the night exhausted and she started talking to me in cajun french without realizing it. That is hilarious! I don't think I've ever heard Grandma talk in Cajun French unless someone asked her to or spoke to her in French first. I remember she told me once that she still dreams in French sometimes.

[makebeliever.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Marlene is probably right. And if Heather doubts that you have a good memory, she will soon learn otherwise. "Well, I remember on 16 November, I ate goat cheese for dinner and then went for a leisurely stroll in the town square, blah blah blah..." Yeah, that's too accurate!

But does Nathalie have a strange fondness for dangerous creatures, and an unshakable allegiance to the school headmaster? Do they call French principals headmasters or principals?

Heh, poor Boo! I have to admit I did laugh when I read your transcripts of French conversations. I know you're doing much better than I ever could, but I have to wonder what that little girl must have thought. "Daddy, I think that woman is *special*" Actually in France they probably just say retarded (or whatever the French word for retarded would be, since I think there retarde actually means late, doesn't it? Oh yeah, who has the memory now!).

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