Although French teaching styles are often quite different from American teaching styles, I'm often thankful for my professors' skills and grateful for all they do to help us learn French. Today I'm especially thankful for the professor in the class called "Compte Rendu". In this class, we listen to recordings in French on various topics and then answer questions and write reports on what we heard. It's a real workout for the comprehension skills, which I definitely need!
The topics have been getting gradually more difficult, and the last topic was a bit discouraging for me: it was on the electromagnetic emissions of cell phones ... or something like that. :-) Anyway it was a fairly complicated topic that isn't usually part of my daily conversation even in English, so was even harder in French. Our topic for this week didn't seem much easier: the symptoms and stages of measles. I don't have much of a medical vocabulary! We listened to it a few times in class last week, and none of us understood much of it. However, we were allowed to work on it at home, and after working on it a while, it gradually made more sense. Then the professor said in class today that the other half of the class which meets earlier in the week had found the topic very difficult, so she took more time than usual to go over the whole thing with us and discuss the difficult vocabulary. Then while we were filling out the questionnaire and writing the report, she let us listen to it about 20 times. As I listened and wrote out my report, I was almost surprised to realize that all the professor's efforts were paying off and I was actually understanding almost the whole recording - which just a week before had made almost no sense. Thank you, Madame Senges, for working so hard to help us understand French, and thank You Lord for providing professors who are good at what they do!
Signed Up
The months of language school are whizzing by - it's already March, and the end of the semester in mid-May will be here the next time I turn around! At the university, pre-registration for summer and autumn courses has opened, and praise the Lord that I am officially signed up for both! The summer course will be 20 hours a week for four weeks, through the whole month of July. This will leave half of May and all of June and August to rest and recuperate, and to continue studying French on my own. The autumn semester begins the first week of September and ends in mid-December. Lord willing, I will move on to Chad in late December or early January. That's only 8 or 9 months away! Those months will go by quickly. Please pray that the Lord will help me to make the most of my short time here in France.
A Scheduling Conflict Solved
I woke up this morning rather nervous about a scheduling conflict that couldn't be avoided or changed. I had to go downtown to fulfill the last requirement on my visa: a short medical examination and a bit of paperwork, after which I would get a sticker in my passport showing that I can legally stay in France for the duration of my visa. The appointment was set for me, and I had received a letter telling me the time and place where I needed to be: 8:30am on Monday morning, at an office in downtown Bordeaux, about a half-hour trip, including both public transport and walking time.
Of course, since I am in language school at the university here, I have regular classes scheduled on Monday morning. Normally it would not be a problem to miss a class or two for such an important appointment, but one of my classes had an exam scheduled for that same morning at 10:30am. The professor carefully informed us that we could not be absent for exams, for any reason. Would two hours be enough time to go downtown, fulfill the appointment, and get back in time to take the exam? It wasn't encouraging to hear a report from two classmates of their experience fulfilling the same visa requirement: they spent nearly three hours in the office alone, not counting travel time.
But since neither appointment could be postponed, I could only pray and trust that the Lord would speed things along. My classmates had warned me that people arrive before the 8:30 opening time and line up outside the door. So, I left home early and arrived at the downtown office well ahead of time, before the line formed. Once inside, the Lord really did move things along. In spite of a multiple-step process involving visits to different offices and time sitting in the waiting area, I walked out of the door with the required sticker in my passport at 9:30, only one hour later. By 10:15, I entered the university building in plenty of time to take the exam.
Sometimes life in another country can seem complicated - at least until you're used to it. The language and culture are different of course, but also it takes time to learn how things are done. In many countries, getting a visa is complicated. But this morning's adventure has been a reminder to me that the Lord can simplify even seemingly complicated things when He wants to, and He has my schedule entirely in His hands.
Of course, since I am in language school at the university here, I have regular classes scheduled on Monday morning. Normally it would not be a problem to miss a class or two for such an important appointment, but one of my classes had an exam scheduled for that same morning at 10:30am. The professor carefully informed us that we could not be absent for exams, for any reason. Would two hours be enough time to go downtown, fulfill the appointment, and get back in time to take the exam? It wasn't encouraging to hear a report from two classmates of their experience fulfilling the same visa requirement: they spent nearly three hours in the office alone, not counting travel time.
But since neither appointment could be postponed, I could only pray and trust that the Lord would speed things along. My classmates had warned me that people arrive before the 8:30 opening time and line up outside the door. So, I left home early and arrived at the downtown office well ahead of time, before the line formed. Once inside, the Lord really did move things along. In spite of a multiple-step process involving visits to different offices and time sitting in the waiting area, I walked out of the door with the required sticker in my passport at 9:30, only one hour later. By 10:15, I entered the university building in plenty of time to take the exam.
Sometimes life in another country can seem complicated - at least until you're used to it. The language and culture are different of course, but also it takes time to learn how things are done. In many countries, getting a visa is complicated. But this morning's adventure has been a reminder to me that the Lord can simplify even seemingly complicated things when He wants to, and He has my schedule entirely in His hands.
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