« Avec les Yeux d'Oiseau (with Bird Eyes) »

… this sentence perfectly describes my visit to Rimouski….. with bird eyes.

It’s perhaps been the hardest 24 hours of my lfe, yet, perhaps I wouldn’t have it any other way. I had dreams that it would have been easy, yet, those were quashed when my *translator* made it known to all who came in contact with me, that I understood better than I spoke. Then the jig was up, as they say…. and i spent the better part of the day PAYING ATTENTION to everything that was said. And, of course, there were tests.

Can I say… Mme Davis, tu n’as pas me fais du favour, avec le francais.

I was hoping to write a great thank you letter, to the french teacher I had through out highschool (6 years of french, when there were only 5 years of schooling)… throughout those years, the general consensus was that we were learning “french from France”… well, Tres Bien!!!�� BUT I WILL LIKELY NEVER GO TO FRANCE!!!!!!!  There is only so much that you can do with Le Petit Prince.  The fact that I can conjugate verbs 5 ways from Sunday doesn’t amount to a hill of beans when faced with 5 Quebecers talking at once.

How about learning Quebec French???? Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Crazy, isn’t it?? That the Ontario school system would teach Paris French, not Montreal French. The Ontario School system has created a whole generation of students who can faire quite reasonable in France, but not in out own country…… It’s no wonder that Quebec wants to separate….. Sweet Mary, Mother of God. The wee baby Jesus is crying now, because of my poor french.  And to not put the whole blame on the Ontario Public School system, the University of Guelph didn’t do any better. In fact, the University of Guelph French courses were extremely below the quality of courses I had in High School. Still….

Alors, comme Scarlet O’Hara, demain c’est une autre jour. Et Mme Davis, “Bonne Chance a Quebec.”

technorati tags:les yeux comme une oiseau, Gwen Davis, Ontario French Programs, Rimouski