Elaine apprend le francais

Most French verbs end in "er" (what we learned last week) or "ir", this week's lesson. And it is true, if I ever make it to France, at some point I will need to partir. partir (to leave) je (I) pars nous (we) partons tu (you, inf) pars vous (you, formal) partez il/elle/on (he/she one) part ils/elles (they) partent But before je part,  I must actually get there. And getting there? It's not as easy as I hoped. I started my research by looking at places available on a sabbatical exchange program. My job qualifies me for membership there, so I've been poking around. Do people in French want to live in DC for 6 months? A year? And if so, do they want to live in a little condo by the Wharf? Or would they prefer a big house in the suburbs? But really, where they might want to exchange is the least of my problems. I simply cannot just show up in France. I have to have a visa that allows me entry - and it is reasonable to expect I could stay for one year, but it ...

Unbeknownst to me, French has a handful of irregular verbs, and a whole host of "er" verbs. The "er" verbs follow a particular conjugation pattern.  parler (to speak) je (I) parle nous (we) parlons tu (you, inf) parles vous (you, formal) parlez il/elle/on (he/she one) parle ils/elles (they) parlent   manger (to eat) je (I) mange nous (we) mangeons tu (you, inf) manges vous (you, formal) mangez il/elle/on (he/she one) mange ils/elles (they) mangent Je parle francais. Ok, that's aspirational. But I am limited in my French and cannot tell you I would like to speak French, so for now, I speak French. I promise, this will get better. But being able to manger is even more important, because I very much would like to eat while I am in Paris. Even though the pattern seems simple, it's not natural for me - and mostly, my brain wants to conjugate everything in German, a language I studied for several years between high school and college. And I am struggling, reader, ...

I first set foot in Paris the summer after I turned 16. I was traveling with a choir on one of those whirlwind bus trips that take hordes of teens across some limited piece of the continent. Paris was the second stop of the trip, following London.  I, along with three girls that I knew at least a bit before the trip, missed the bus (this will surprise no one in my family or close friend group, though in retrospect I'm a little surprised I was this scattered away from home). Rather than catching a taxi to the next place the bus was supposed to stop, which would have been highly unusual for four girls from Kansas, we simply pulled out a map and walked. It was a long walk but we made it right as the evening's concert was ending - so that was good. (This piece is a little surprising to me in hindsight. I'm a little shocked I had a map or a schedule, so I'm guessing I can thank a traveling companion for these handy items.)  Also, yes, to anyone who might wonder, in the 1990s...