Friday, Feb 1st, was the last day of class for our level 2 class. We had many wonderful times and experiences together. We had a party at our apartment, spent a long afternoon at a cafe together, went to various lunches, some went skiing, to Airbus, Salsa dancing, to the university cafeteria, to the various museums around Toulouse, other day trips, etc. I know it sounds a little cliche but it was very “L’Auberge Español”. We were from all over the world and a wide range of ages and we still managed to get along well and have great times. I am going to miss you all and I will leave you with some kind words. Feel free to add your own kind words in the comments.
Marcella
You are so adorable and have a beautiful smile, and mature too, I can’t believe you are only 16, we will one day see you in Sao Paolo or maybe back in Europe, I hate you and your Italian passport.
Oswaldo
You are an incredible person, so passionate about the environment and its conservation and very insightful about the economics end of it, when we are on our next trip to Brazil after seeing Marcella we will definitely come to your Eco Lodge in Matto Grosso. We will not be on an Airbus A380 though.
Laura
You are a kind, sweet, and thoughtful person. I didn’t know much about you until the end because you are so shy. I am so glad you came to the night of Salsa dancing. I hope your boyfriend didn’t mind watching you dance with Jorge because you two danced very nicely together.
Lucas
I think you were the best in the class at learning French. It seemed that you read and spoke with ease AND picked up the pronouns easier than all of us. Fortunately and unfortunately you will be in level 3, fortunately because you are still here, but unfortunately because you will put us all to shame again.
Jorge
You made the class fun. You don’t enter a room, you fill a room. A whirlwind of chaos follows you around, but in a good way. Good luck in Paris with your next classes, and in Dubai (I think that is where you are headed after Paris) and back at home in Panama. I’ll never forget how la poste works in Panama.
Federica
I am sorry that you had to leave early and I hope the mother is better in Italy. You brought that intensity to class that only Italians can bring, maybe only Romans can bring it. I loved how you were a very serious student but also loved to have fun as well. If it weren’t for you insisting, we might not have gone out Salsa dancing, and not have had the unprintable stories we now have. Take a picture of the world’s most beautiful city and send me one so I can drink it in.
Carmen
What an inspiration, every day to class on your bicycle after dropping your 3 kids off at school on the way. I have no idea how you manage with 3 kids and taking class and actually learning French. Some people make complicated balancing acts look so easy.
Christian
Forgive us for our impressions of Germans, hopefully many of us changed our minds. Young and fun as well as serious and smart. You are going to be an excellent diplomat. I still can’t believe you went to Carcassonne after our night out dancing, did you even manage 2 hours of sleep? At the same time you worked hard at learning French, there is a time and a place for everything in moderation, I’ve just not figured that out yet.
Katerina
So kind, gentle, and smart. I thought you cheated on your New Year’s Resolution, the one about wanting to learn to speak French fluently, you practically do. I know you thought we were just kidding but I actually bet you have some secrets like you dance ballet, play the piano perfectly, and throw the discus and javelin at Olympic levels. Remember when we talked about the things we imagine about others in the class, this is my imagination speaking. The Russians I have known have been very cultured and could play piano, do gymnastics, and creative things like that but also do some very practical things like take an engine transmission apart, replace all the valves, and put it back together. What practical thing can you do?
Yana
Will anyone forget Yana’s laugh? Hopefully she will laugh out loud when she reads this, at least I am imagining it. So fun and carefree and always ready to have more fun. Your story about what happened to you after you left our apartment after the Salsa club will go down in history as legendary. I can’t believe how you laughed as you told it, at first I thought you were joking, but you can’t make up stuff that funny. Too bad your Russian half didn’t mean you knew how to fix a car, after Puerto Habana that would have been useful. Onwards to level 3.
Andy
How is it that you took this French class and learned Spanish in the process? Can you ‘splain this to me Lucy? If you weren’t there next to Jorge to wake him up or show him what page we were on, I think Claire would have killed him. What can you tell us about Legos now too? Where is that video from Patigul’s?
Claire
The patient one, our teacher. Yes a patient French person. At times you were en coleur but overall very patient. I know we were hard because we talked so much, even if we talked in French, which we didn’t always, it must have been hard to forge ahead in some of the lessons. I have this game I now play, imagine something about a person based on knowing just a few things about them. You told us you played keyboard, not piano. I know you play in a band yet you didn’t tell us many details and you had a hard time saying what kind of music you liked other than “all kinds”. I imagine you playing with your band in some retro new wave club, you dancing on top of your keyboard, beautiful cacophony pulsing from the stage, black sunglasses, red Devo hat, “dun dun dun dun dun, ewn ewn, When a problem comes along, you must whip it”, thank god you didn’t have a whip in class.
Patigul
How do you do it? The only one in the group who didn’t speak any English. Here in Toulouse all by herself, family and children at home in China in Zhenzgen(?) she’s Chinese by nationality but ethnically Uurgyr(?) Sheh She mah?(?) One of the highlights of the experience was when she invited us all over to her dorm room and she cooked food from her province, hand made the noodles, Andy if you post the video I am putting it here, which tasted like Thai food, played some traditional music from her province, which sounded a little like slow Banghra, and danced a folk dance. She hardly participated in group events because she also took Economics classes at a university in French and I think communication was a bit of a problem for her. Some people are driven.
Here’s to level 2. Let’s hope those of us going on to level 3 have more of the same experiences. Anyone want to start a Google group to keep in touch rather than plain old email?
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Such a diverse group, that class must have been fun.
Pourquoi “a sad goodbye?” C’était plutôt sympa ce dernier jour!
Puisque Owen a eu la gentillesse de tracer un portrait de chacun d’entre nous, je vais me faire un plaisir de dessiner le sien!
Owen, un garçon charmant et tellement gentil! Tu as été le personnage principal de ce mois de janvier et tu as su rassembler toutes ces énergies qui se dissipaient dans la classe! Beaucoup d’énergies! Mais positives!
Un garçon discret mais pas moins intéressant, curieux et volontaire, amusé et amusant! J’ai beaucoup aimé tes petites mimiques d’incompréhension face à certains points grammaticaux, comme “Quelle est la différence entre plaire et faire plaisir???” Le mois de janvier avec vous m’a beaucoup plu, et ça me fait plaisir de voir que tout le monde est content!
J’espère que je n’ai pas été trop “dure”! (Ca me fait peur quand tu parles de fouet!)
Et pour démystifier ce que je fais dans mon groupe, voici l’adresse pour que vous puissiez écouter!
http://www.myspace.com/internationalhyperrythmique
J’espère qu’on se recroisera!
Hi Owen,
)
Thank you very much for your warm words. It was very interesting to read your opinion about our group (and actually to see how much it corresponds to mine). Thanks for believing that I could be speaking fluent French in one year (yes, I was cheating in the New Year’s Resolution, I just wanted to know what the French for “to speak fluently” was )
What about the practical things I could do… Actually you guessed them right. Just a small correction: I can take an engine transmission apart, replace all the valves, and put it back together WHILE playing the piano and throwing the discus at Olympic levels.
I’m quite curious, what are other things that you imagine?
(well, may be we can talk about this once when having a cup of coffee…)
Katerina
It was sad Claire because we may not see everyone together again. I have heard that Federica is coming this week so maybe we’ll have a big get together.
HI .maybe it’s stange,but it’s true.i’m looking for a boy.his name is jorge.
he’s finish the class last week in alliance francaise of toulouse.but i don’t know before.i’m looking for him now.he’s thin.not very tall.maybe 173cm.come from USA(near USA maybe).if u know something about him(beause i saw your blog, there is “jorge”,i don’t konw it’s him or not)
anyway,i really really want get the info de him,if u know,please give me a e-mail.mecri beaucoup.. melodyflywind@hotmail.com
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