The winter continues but the end is in sight, the days are getting longer and slightly warmer. However, this week we had more snow & a high one day of -3 but yesterday it got up to 2! Unfortunately the weather was too bad for us to be able to go skiing, so we've postponed it until March. Everything looks beautiful, especially when the sky's clear blue. Our weekly shar
ed dinners are lots of fun. Jemima made us a Swiss raclette: lots of melted cheese boiled spuds. Dessert rounded things off nicely: a chocolate mousse.
We've had just 6 weeks back in class after the Christmas holidays but it's been pretty busy. This week we learned 3 new tenses!! The simple past, anterior past, and the composed past. The simple & anterior past are only found in old literature, like the Bible, and the composed past is only spoken. So yeah, a bit to get my head around but the good thing is that they're all made up of bits & pieces from other tenses we know. (Potentially confusing!) We have holidays now for 2 weeks then after 1 week back we have exam
s, so it's not all fun & games. In class the other day we watched a DVD called Little Nicholas. It's life as viewed through the eyes of a 10 year old and very funny. It was encouraging to understand more this time than last year when we watched a film in class.
I've been going to the physio 3 x a week and it's helping! At last my shoulder's getting better; I swept my room last weekend using both arms and it didn't hurt! She's friendly and knows her stuff, plus she's a trained massage therapist which is very great! I've practised the subjunctive tense on her a few times, apparently we do have it in English but because the meaning changes depending on the verbs used, it's a bit hard to understand. Our class has got a project to do in the holidays: interview at least 5 locals on any theme to do with French society.
After the holidays we all have to do a 30 minute presentation to the class on our findings. I've decided to interview people on their traditions around birthdays and public holidays. I've discovered that public speaking in French is very different!! It's so much harder and takes a lot more effort... but slowly it's improving. It's time for me to sign off now... I've got to get ready for a soirée!
