Adventures en français

I began studying French again last month--one of these days I'll have the opportunity to immerse myself in a French speaking culture--since Paris is at the top of my "places to travel" list.  Anyway, I found an affordable class through the Arlington County Schools Adult Ed.  The instructor is a Lebanese woman that is a native French speaker and we meet weekly for two hours on Tuesday nights.

Our instructor suggested that one of the best ways to make progress is to practice daily, even if only for 15 minutes.  Knowing that with this crazy Fall, finding the two hours a week to make it to class would be a challenge, I had the idea to change the language of my iPhone to French so that I could get some regular exposure/practice.  One of the automatic features of the iPhone is a signature that says "Sent from my iPhone" when you send an email.  On my French iPhone, it says "Envoyé de mon iPhone."  And this provoked many amusing reactions.

My friend Stacey said, "Is your phone speaking French!?!??!"

A colleague from Safeway's PR firm said, "I just want to make sure you know that your phone is sending messages with a signature in French."

A number of contacts simply began replying, "Merci."

And one guy said, "What's with all this French stuff?"

By far the most exciting thing was yesterday, when I had lunch with Marilyn at La Madeleine, a quick-service restaurant with a French theme.  The woman behind the counter began our exchange in French, as they often do, and then continued to speak with me in French all the way through, when she asked if I lived in DC.  She said she would not have known, because my French was so good!  It was exciting.