Une classe des filles

Have I told you much about my class? The first and most important thing is that I am the only male. And next is that I am the only American. The class' gender may lack diversity but the different nationalities make up for it, there is a Canadian, an Australian, two New Zealanders, a Venezuelian, a German, a Czech, two Italians, a Chinese, and an Hungarian... and me. That makes it twelve to one if you count the professor (in gender and in nationality). However, it's not like we have nothing in common, nearly everyone in the class speaks English except for Sara, one of the Italians, and the girl from China... whose name escapes me. I haven't quite got all of their names down yet.

OK, I couldn't tell you any of their names except for Sara. And I only know Sara's because there are two, the Italian one and a Venazuelan one. Well, more likely the reason that I know the Saras is that the three of us went to lunch this afternoon. Apparently the Saras are best friends, or good friends... or at the least friends, it seems like the extent of their bond is that they share the same name. But they are both foreigners in a big city and anything in common, even a first name, could be enough. Besides, all Italians claim that they can understand Spanish. This is all conjecture though because we didn't talk much about their friendship. To be honest, Sara Italy and I didn't talk much about anything. Sara Venizuela  did all the talking. She's what one might call "sassy"... it must be the Latin blood. It was her idea to get together in the first place because apparently she wanted to ask my opinion on her idea for an bar/art gallery that she was thinking about opening in Veneseula.

Sara Venezuala: My daddy asked me what do I want, and I said: A bar. I want a bar but I want it to be very funky you know? Very cool, with art on all of the walls and I want it to be somewhere where people want to just hang out and talk and be very low key. I thought before about an art gallery but then I thought it would be more fun if it was a bar. So I will make it both you know? What do you think? What would you do to design a bar like this?

As someone who has never drank alcohol I was in no position to give her any advice, but I began to think that this was less about her getting my opinion and more about me understanding that she is wealthy. She also mentioned something about having her own house in Venezuelia and a couple of cars... and I think at one point she actually said something like "my daddy gives me whatever I want". I'm not sure why she wanted me to know all of this, is it a Latin thing? I have little or no experience with Latin America so I have no idea. I tried briefly to both change the subject and include Sara Italy. I addressed her in French and I asked if she was able to understand what we were talking about and if she preferred that we speak French. It was difficult to understand her Italian accent, but the other Sara translated for me... well maybe it was a translation, maybe it was an interruption, I can't be sure.

Sara Venezuella: She's fine, it's good for her to hear us in English, she needs to learn English. So what are your thinking of my idea?

I discussed briefly the layout of different bars and clubs that I had seen in movies, because none of the bars or clubs that I had ever visited personally were very hip or modern or expensive. Then Sara changed the topic and talked about her fiance (or should I say ex-fiance) for the rest of lunch. We exchanged a bisous and parted ways.

I think the problem is that being the only male in the class, some of the girls have begun to take a... personal interest in me. I got the feeling that both of the Sara's were in that boat. Right now, as I sit in class Sara Italy keeps smiling at me. And Sara Veniswhalea is always so tactile (Or touchy? How do you say that in English?). I guess it's nice to have some interaction with some other cultures, cultures that aren't cold and closed and distrustful of strangers. But to be perfectly honest none of the girls in my class... one of the New Zealanders isn't bad and I love her accent when she says "backpack", but overall there is very little draw romantically to these girls.

At the moment we are learning l'imparfait versus passé composé. They are the two most basic past-tense tenses of French. If I'm understanding all of this correctly l'imparfait is reserved for descriptions of the setting or of a person, or for actions of continuous duration in a story (like if one said I was waiting for you to call). Passé composé is for any sequences of action in the past, or for any action that has terminated in the past like the simple past in English (for example I went to the boulangerie for breakfast and I ate two pain au chocolats... and a brioche au pepites de chocolat).

Teacher: Maintenant on va parler de l'enfance. Il faut finir le phrase: Quand j'étais petit... Comme quand j'étais petit j'ai sucé mon pouce. Ou quand j'était petit j'ai joué à princesses... Pour Willim on dirait plutôt Pirates. Mais bon, Willim tu commence.

Me: Moi?

Teacher: Non, l'autre Willim.

Me: Ummm... Quand j'étais petit, j'ai... pleuré beaucoup.

Teacher: Tu as pleuré beaucoup? Mais pourquoi?

Me: Je ne sais pas. Je suis... umm.. j'était triste comme enfant.

It's true. I did cry a lot as a kid. I was sad. I remember fantasizing about terrible sad stories, always with me as the protagonist, typically they were of the "then they'll be sorry" genre, but sometimes they were even worse... the "they won't even notice... nobody even cares..." kind. I don't know where I got the idea, but I seemed to be under the impression that in life, whoever has the saddest story wins. Anyway, back to French class.

Teacher: Ahh, je vois bien ce que tu fait là Willim. Lui, Il sais bien qu'on est une classe des filles, donc il a dit ça pour nous faire dire awwwwe. Je te comprends Willim, je te comprend. Faire attention les filles, on a un petit draguer là.

Sara Italy smiles at me. Sara Venezuela laughs and touches my arm. This is great...

Me, I'm thinking about how I don't cry as often anymore. I am thinking of the last time I cried... I am thinking about you.


Sincerely,

Willim



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L'amour l'après midi