I’m fulfilling obligations today, to myself and to others. That means doing my homework, taking a walk in the sunshine and brisk air, tidying my room, and writing a blog post. And since I’m having such a hard time coming up with something to write about, you’ll get to hear about my French homework! (The nerds among you are cheering, I can hear it all the way over here.)
I have three classes, and frankly, two of them are not very interesting. One is on the history and culture of Provence (my region of France), and it’s not bad, but it’s not terribly exciting either. The other is my regular class, which covers grammar, writing, reading, and speaking- basic French. We occasionally get good assignments. For instance, on Monday we have to turn in our resumés with cover letters attached- all in French, of course. I don’t have any intention of applying for a job here or anywhere else, so under “desired position”, my resumé says “housewife”. I have had a lot of fun working on that.
My good class is the phonetics one, with the crazy professor who uses big gestures, talks quickly, and moves his mouth in ways that we students cannot imitate. Yet. He’s got curly hair that does whatever it wants, and I would not be surprised to see him wearing the same corduroy pants every day. He’s just that kind of person, and he is a really fun teacher.
This week’s assignment is just a sheet of paper with a bunch of French words and phrases on it. When he handed us that paper, I got so excited that I scared the girl sitting next to me. “What’s wrong with you?!” “It’s transcription!” I said. We had to rewrite these words in the International Phonetic Alphabet- one of the funnest exercises ever. It’s terribly difficult sometimes, and I love it.
And now you know that I’m a nerd just like you.
Hehe. The clear image in my head of your excitement made me smile. The first time I saw that face was when we waited in line to see one of the installments of the Lord of the Rings movies. You know, I only went to be a good friend to you! (And you knew Elvish for goodness’ sake!) I’m so glad I went! :)
1.) Apparently Norman would make a great French phonetics professor. Except that he doesn’t speak French.
2.) I share your IPA transcription enthusiasm. Linguistics nerds, FTW!
Thanks, Kelly, for revealing the depths of my nerdiness… ;)
Jessie-
1. Yes. Yes, he would.
2. Linguistics nerds are the best nerds ever.
Sorry! I only thought I was revealing how adorable your enthusiasm can be! :)
It’s okay- you made me laugh, actually. I had forgotten about all of that! I seem to remember working on Spanish with you while waiting in line, but I can’t remember why.
Cause I was taking a Spanish class then! That’s right. I forgot all about that part. I remember all the people in costumes. :)
Right, right! I remember you telling me how to pronounce something-or-other, some place-name in Spanish. We were sitting in the hallway of the theatre, in the middle of a loooong line of people.
I would just like to point out that I was NOT in costume. I’m not that big of a nerd!
Hehe…