

Having written this, I realize it reads as if I am having absolutely no directional issues, which might be surprising to some of you who have traveled with me before. Here’s the deal – Cergy Le Haut is the last stop on the train so I really can’t go wrong in getting on any train in town because it will most certainly be heading toward Cergy-Préfecture and Paris. The rest has just been luck. I’ve been sticking with my NYC-developed plan: read sign to the best of abilities; get on train; cross fingers; work out the rest later. It seems to be going alright so far.
Last night I followed the advice of three Francophiles and watched French tv . . . in an attempt to improve my French. Right. I’m sure I subconsciously picked up on some things. Things I definitely picked up: The Simpsons are just a little bit off in French – Marge is real scary and Homer doesn’t sound nearly as dumb (Krusty Le Clown – pronounced “kloon” – however, is pretty spot on), European commercials are still as disturbingly confusing as they were when I lived in Edinburgh, and French soap operas look like they could be just as wonderful as Latin American telenovelas. The last presents a good case for learning French as quickly as possible.
I finished my television adventure with two movies: Coyote Ugly (translated Coyote Girls) and Blue Crush. Since I hadn’t seen the first, I think I missed some important plot developments which might have explained more clearly why LeAnn Rimes was singing on the bar at the end of the movie. Blue Crush is just as good in French as it is in English, which probably means all of the dialogue is horrible. I still like it. Fortunately, the word for pipeline in French is essentially the same (pronounced "peepline") so I might be able to whip that out in a conversation and look sort of extreme sport knowledgeable for a second.
2 comments:
oh my gosh - I am laughing outloud in my office! too funny!
allie - you had me laughing outloud!!!
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