Monday, January 18, 2010

Bonjour!

I started my French classes last night. There is a selection of adult education courses taught here on camp similar to what you might find at a small community college. Nothing too technical, nothing particularly applied. Mostly languages, sports (tennis, yoga), graphic arts (painting, photography, etc.), that sort of thing. They have four levels of French. Each class lasts for about 3 months with 3 hours of instruction a week. I paid about USD 120 for the first module. The woman teaching it is Arab but not Saudi.

I may have to repeat either this module or the second one because my pronunciation is going to need a lot of work! My lazy American tongue is struggling to wrap itself around all those crazy French vowels.

Why French? Keeping my eye on the prize, folks, eye on the prize.

7 comments:

seniormoments said...

Such an interesting property! I'm sure this will be on your list of places to see when you make the France trip. Looks like it has lots of potential...although a new roof is a definite must have.

Agile Jack said...

Condition: Habitable

What more is there?

lilspotteddog said...

The basic conditions are "ready to move in", "habitable", "basic", and "renovation". Re that last one: there are properties for sale in France that are quite far from "habitable"--crumbling stone barns with fallen-in roofs and no running water, sewer, or electricity. Even properties in the "basic" group can be kind of crumbly. I'm adventurous but not quite up to that.

The "habitable" and "ready to move in" groups come with their own cautions. Houses in the former can require more renovation than is apparent at first and houses in the latter can look fab but be overpriced.

I sort of randomly chose the property I linked to just to give the general idea.

BC Insanity said...

Ahhh, quelle jolie petite maison :-)

Now you better go watch the series 'A Year in Provence'.

lilspotteddog said...

I ordered a book from Amazon that is a series of cautionary tales of (mostly British) expats and their French fixer upper disasters!

BC Insanity said...

Yeah, that's exactly what 'A Year in Provence' is, by Peter Maille.
Hilarious.

seniormoments said...

Agree that "A Year in Provence" is a must read...it's really funny. I, also, have the second book...can't remember the name right now, but it's just as funny.


VAMom