6-Months French Immersion

I got a message from my PL the other day. She sent it entirely in French, with a small English explanation, saying that she hoped we were resourceful enough to find a way of translating it, either through someone with strong enough French, or through French/English dictionaries. So I copy/pasted it into Google Translate, and this is what I found out.

La Pocatier uses "very little" English, and in Karaj (that's how it's pronounced and an acceptable spelling, it seems) English is "almost nonexistent". All activities and events will be in French.

So it's six months of French immersion for me. In Katimavik, the French participants always complained that us English couldn't understand the psychological barrier of always holding conversation in a language you didn't think in, or of being completely isolated in it. Even when we reached our French placement, it was in Cree Nation, with English as primary, Cree secondary, and French... tertiary? The most us English ever had to complain about was learning to communicate with people who had English as a second language, through English. Now that I'm going into a program with French as the dominant language, and I'm less prepared for it than any of the French participants that I knew,I'll be sure to let them know if their complaints were justified.

My PL also seems to have crazy credentials. She's dealt with people a lot tougher than... me, at least. And from what I've found out about the other participants, and from what I'd expect of students in a program like this, them, too. She's been to a lot of places, and extensively. And she'll be traveling with us.

French is the official language of Mali, but the "language of trade" is Bambara, and MyFile changed my program language to French/Bambara.

I'm starting a new bank account. I hate banking. I don't get it, and people get irritating when they talk about it. When I first started out, the person who was teaching me about banking told me to get an account at some trendy new banking... thing. Then a lot of people got irritated at me, and someone else got me to start an account somewhere else, but that place also got people angry. Every time it starts getting people angry, then the people who reacted positively at first are all like, "It was a bad idea and I always knew it was!" No, you didn't! And then, when you ask why it's a bad idea, or what's bothering people,they start using words I don't understand, and then they start talking about completely random things.

And every time I start somewhere new, there's some complication, and they grill me like a job interview, and everything is just very uncomfortable.

So I'm starting one at the most mainstream bank I can find, and maybe everyone can shut up.

I forgot to say yesterday, Yellow Belt (3rd rank) is, along with Brown (8th rank) the Belt with the highest dropout rate. So getting past Yellow is kind of a big deal. I'm not considered a beginner anymore. I'm now intermediate, and I'm qualified to spar.

1st Degree Black Belt is though, I guess, another one of the belts with the highest dropout rate, if you can count it. Hitting Black Belt is such a goal for everyone that, once they get it, they might say they're going for their 2nd degree, but most people don't feel the motivation to work so hard for something that doesn't get them a new belt.