Questions

April 11, 2008 at 10:39 pm | Posted in Misc. | 1 Comment
Tags: france, french

Why are you coming to France?

How long have you been in France?

Why did you choose to study here (namely France)?

Can you even understand a little bit French?

I have never got any of these questions in Germany. I got all of them and even more during this week since I need to deal with the French administration system again. They all implies the same single double: how can you even be here without knowing the language? The only difference is that some people are friendly and some are not. I become more and more insensitive to these questions.

I did try to take a French class last September, but it turns out I should not sacrifice one family night every week for nothing. The teacher only knows how to give meaningless dictations and how to tease at a stupid student, i.e. me, for not knowing any words he said. I cannot even remember his name coz his handwriting is illegible for me.

After all, I just survived without knowing the language, as long as I don’t have to deal with any kinds of administrations. This week is no wonder the worst since it is all about the administration issues. I still cannot understand why no secretary working for the English program can speak English. As a matter of fact, “Je ne parle pas anglais” is the only answer I got from the department secretary when I tried to give her some documents that a professor asked me to this afternoon. This answer is so simple that even I can get it. She also refused to take my documents. What else can I do? Add another point for my con list for France and leave. *shrug* Hopefully the pro list is still longer. Other people there are so nice that I still believe mean and unfriendly secretaries/clerks are only exceptions in France.