French Class

I took French in high school because I thought it would be fun to learn to a different language and I liked the sound of the language. High school French was pretty good for a while, but then we got a new teacher. She was in training to teach and our regular teacher just let her take over the class. Now normally this probably would not be a big deal, but this women just happened to be from a different country originally and I could not understand her when she spoke in English, let alone in French. I ended up failing the class. Well, I probably would have passed (maybe) had I taken the final, but instead I decided I wanted to go to Colorado at the last minute with my mom and sisters. They were going out there to visit another sister of mine. So I never took the final and failed the class. Over the years though, French has always been on my mind and I've used a few phrases over the years. (Mostly swear words.)

Well, anyway a friend of mine, Suzanne, has always wanted to learn French too. She loves Paris and her daughter took French in high school as well. We were talking one day about doing something different this year to get through the dark days of winter and I had just received one of those community education magazines in the mail. They had a French class in there and I told Suz about it and we signed up a few days later. I'm loving it, but I'm no spring chicken anymore and my brain does not retain information like it used too, so it's harder in some ways than I thought it would be. I've decided that it's good for me though. It helps exercise my brain and helps it to focus on something other than the exciting world of life insurance.

I really like the teacher. His name is George. I'd tell you his last name, but there are a lot of letters and I'm not sure what order they all go in. It's not Smith, that's for sure. George is probably in his late 50's, maybe in his early 60's and has lots of cute stories, some French related and others not so much. He also likes to tell jokes. Most of the other people give polite little hiccups of chuckles. I usually laugh out loud at them. But that's because I love lame jokes. Probably because it's the only kind I remember. Oh well. It amuses me, I don't care what other people think.

There are about 10 or 11 people in the class. All of them are there for different reasons. One guy is from Spain and wants to learn French so that he can move to Canada one day. Another girl is from Portugal and wants to learn a third language. One guy, we'll call him Book Boy, already seems to know the language so I'm not sure why he's there. (Side note: We call him Book Boy because Suz and I ran into him at Barnes and Noble one day and we don't know his real name.) There is a married couple in there that signed up and call it their "date" night. Which is nice, except the husband travels so much that he's only been to two of the four classes so far. The two people who annoy me the most in the class are as different as night and day. One women, we'll call her "I've been to France once and think that I know the country better than the French people do" or "Miss Smarty pants" for short, is always talking and making comments about places she's been to in France as if she is the only person in Utah who has ever been there. Apparently her husband speaks the language fluently so she decided that she should learn it. They've been married for probably 30 or 40 years and she's just now deciding she wants to learn it?? Why hasn't her husband taught her? My opinion is probably because if she doesn't know the language, then she doesn't know when he tells other people how his wife is an annoying, obnoxious know it all. Shut the front door, already!!

The other girl that annoys me is this girl who is probably in her late 20's, early 30's. She doesn't seem to even want to be there and she comes in late every class. She's also got this air about her that she's just too good for other people. She acts like she knows it all, but when she's asked to say something out loud, she never gets it right. And she's rude to George sometimes. She makes snarky remarks to him. If she's not there to learn, then why the heck is she there? Suz and I call her Snot Face.

Can't wait till the next class!