Learning French in France

...is exceedingly different from learning Japanese in Japan. For one thing, I know not to expect any praise for my meager efforts to communicate in the local tongue. At best, Parisians respond to my lousy French patiently, but with indifference. They'll often just start speaking to me in English--a courtesy, I'm sure, but a bit frustrating when most of my reason for being here is to learn French.

At my language school the ladies who work at the front desk seem to have little patience or sympathy for people who can't communicate articulately in French. A bit ironic, if you ask me. Yesterday, feeling confident that I knew just enough vocabulary to communicate that I was not in possession of the list of activities put on by the school each month and that I would like one, please, I approached the receptionist and attempted to convey my desire. Without looking up from her computer screen, she listened to my broken explanation, furrowed her brow, and said, still without looking at me, "Je ne comprens pas." It took a little more scrambling for words before I was understood and told that I could get the schedule on Monday.

But the point that should be taken away from all this is not that Parisians are rude or that I feel I am entitled to a little more positive reinforcement. I would argue that neither is the case. Not everyone can be as liberal with compliments as Americans tend to be. The point that should be taken from this, rather, is that I am in fact learning French! With approximately five hours a day dedicated to disciplined study of the language, and much of the rest of the day spent reading signs, food labels, and menus and practicing basic exchanges with waitresses or people on the metro, I'm excited to find that I'm already experiencing results.

Who knows where I'll be linguistically when my course ends in two weeks? But I am thrilled to know that I am setting the foundation for a new skill that I can continue to nurture and develop in the future.

Let's Get Skilled

I'm calling it. The results are officially finalized. I asked readers to vote for the skill that they thought I should acquire during the month of February (hereafter to be referred to as "Skills Month"), and this is what they said:

And so it is, according to popular demand, I shall commit myself to learning the basics of quilting over the next twenty-five days.

Skills!

...you know, like, nunchuku skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills...

No, but seriously.

I enjoy dabbling in a wide array of activities and pastimes. I think of myself as a fairly well-rounded person. I mean, just look at my bio right there in the right-hand sidebar: clearly, I'm not short on interests and enterprises. But lately I've been feeling a bit as though I'm stuck in a rut. And it is in an effort to pull myself out of said rut that I am hereby declaring the month of February to be

Skills Month

Since February divides so nice and evenly into four weeks, I have determined to acquire four entirely new skills within the month, roughly one per week.

I already have the skill for week one all picked out:

1. Learn how to use my camera.

I have owned my Nikon D40 digital SLR for nearly two years now, but have never even cracked the user's manual. There are several functions to the device that I have absolutely no clue how to perform. To make matters worse, I know pretty much nothing about photography. So, my first mission for the first week of February is to fully familiarize myself with my camera and learn how to use it better.

But, as far as pre-assigning a different skill for each week is concerned, that's as far as I've gotten.

This is where you come in.

I've got lots of ideas for stuff I can't do now that I would like to be able to do. But I can't make up my mind which (if any) should become my mission for week two of Skills Month. If you, the reader, are so inclined (and I hope you are), use the handy voting tool at the bottom of this post to vote for which skill you think I need to work on this February. Or, if you have an even better idea than the ones I've listed, click "other" and leave your suggestion in the comments section of this post.

Furthermore, I don't want to embark on this exciting, albeit risky, endeavor without inviting others to get involved. If you want to brush up on your skills, join me in commemorating Skills Month this February! If you need some help getting started with a game plan, I'd be more than happy to help you brainstorm for ideas.

In February, I'm going to learn...
	how to quilt
	how to change my own engine oil
	fifty new words
	basic html
	other (enter your suggestion in the comments section below)
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