In one of my attempts to be more social and broaden my horizons I decided to enroll in French courses. I wanted to meet more artsy-creative types, but when I thought about how I would have learned French in my mid-twenties, I realized that it would have taken place in an unstructured setting and on the cheap – i.e. you befriend a native French speaker, start spending time with them, and hanging out with other French speakers.
So instead I looked at all of the various places that offered French classes – formal university courses, continuing education-like courses, private instructors, etc and ended up enrolling at the local delegation of the Alli*ance Fran*çaise. The classes were a teensy bit cheaper, and it seemed like a nice alternative to the normal classroom environment, but I was curious as to what other types of people took classes there as well.
My instructor is a bubbly twenty-something who giggles frequently and often interrupts class ramblings with “Alors!” She also has a knack for explaining the language in a way each individual student can understand. For example the other night I was struggling with the distinction between the pronunciation of ‘on’ and ‘en.’
“’On’ is more like the sound you make during an orgasm,” she explained.
“Oh!” I said.
“Non,” she smiled, “Oooon.”
Similarly when I asked her how to pronounce 'vingt' she quickly replied, “The same way you say wine in French. Ça va?”
Oui, d’accord.
So what is the class make up? Well there are nine students. Five guys and four gals. (Yes, more boys than girls – weird, right?) One class we had to introduce ourselves (in French) and then state our age - Two twenty-somethings, four thirty-somethings, and three over forty. Jokingly, I said I was sixteen-seize. I was also very sad to learn that the guy I found to be the cutest in physical appearance also turned out to be the youngest person in our class – 23. My ‘on!’ quickly went to ‘non!’
A few nights ago we started class by reintroducing ourselves and stating our profession.
“Je m’appelle Jane, et je suis geophysicist,” went the first student.
“Geophysicienne,” corrected the instructor.
“Je suis research assistant.”
“Recherche.”
Uh, that’s right. The class consists of:
-an analytical chemist
-a research assistant at a local university
-a software engineer
-a real estate broker
-a petroleum engineer
-an emergency room doctor
-Me
-and not one, but TWO geophysicists.
It’s geeky, but I like it. As I sat waiting for class in the main entry area one night, one student noticed that I was reading 1984 and a few minutes later six of us were discussing it. No perception of pretension here – just a good ol’ honest to gosh nerdfest.
When it was my turn to state my profession I was mildly excited because I actually knew how to say it in French.
“Je m’appelle Ana, et je suis avocate.”
The petroleum engineer turned to me and said, “Did you just say that you were a professional avocado?”
“Non!” giggled the instructor. “She said she was a lawyer!”
“Well,” said the chemist, “it sure sounded like she said she was an avocado.”
"Actually, the masculine form of lawyer, avocat, is the same as avocado," said the the instructor.
Engineer: So she IS an avocado!
Instrcutor: No, she'd only be an avocado if she were male. (Giggle.)
Chemist: I still say she's an avocado.
And that, ladies and gents, is how my classmates came to start referring to me as…’the avocado’.
French Class is fun.
