So today . . .

In class. . . We were given an assignment with a partner. We were to ask each other questions and then tell the class the response. Then the class was supposed to come up with the questions that were asked. I know it sounds confusing. . .Just think the instructions were given in French which made it all the more confusing. SO there is the assignment here is the situation. . . There are about 12 people in my class. Three Russians, four Vietnamese, one Jamaican, and many others. However, I'm the only American. Since none of us have common languages, the professor teaches us in French (the language we are also learning). So sometimes the directions don't always compute. Well today the Jamaican and a Vietnamese were paired together and things didn't go so well. Let's just say there were hands thrown in the air, pencils flying, and a lot of foreign languages spoken. One girl was so frustrated she almost cried--it was a rough day. Well then it became my turn . . . and my partner was explaining how in the States I'm a teacher. Did I mention my partner is Bulgarian and does not speak English? So there I was trying to say the word for "teacher of little children" in French. . .when the Turkish girl looked at me in amazement (Now I couldn't tell if this was a "wow" type of amazement or the bad kind) and asked "really you are a teacher?" in French. Well at least that is what I'm hoping she asked me. Her astonishment made me question as did the 2 Russian girls who had just said something about, me, the American in Russian. So as I was sitting there contemplating just how bad this situation could get if I answered yes and she was asking me something totally different. I very hesitantly reply "oui" (which means Yes).

After class . . . I discovered that in my attempt to ask for coffee, I actually said "You are coffee". Oh and I didn't say it once, but about 5 times. Awe the joys of learning French.