Forget The Sixth Sense

We signed up for an excursion in Morocco that I like to refer to as a "desert trek", even though we went from cities to mountains to valleys to deserts and back. Somewhere between Ouarzazate and the Erg Chebbi I sat beside one of our informal guides in the front of the mini-van and had a conversation wth him about language. He and I tried to converse in all three of our common ones: English, Spanish and French (he also knew Arabic but I had Cantonese!). Admittedly, I don't remember much of the things we learned during the excursion, but I do remember one thing he said during that conversation that we shared, squished in the front seat of that van: Knowing another language is like having another eye.

Among the list of other things I haven't told you about, moving to Quebec is one of them. Granted, "moving" might be too serious a word here - I'm only here for five weeks, but it kind of feels like I moved because I technically did start a whole new life. In French.

I'm living with a Francophone family (mere, pere, cute 16-year-old fils, and a big dog), two other students and just had my first full day of school. I pack a granola bar for a snack in my backpack in the mornings and off I go just like I did when I was 10 years old. I've only been here 48 hours and every time I come home from campus, I feel utterly exhausted. It takes a lot of energy to listen, comprehend and respond to people in a language that you're not entirely familiar with.

Of the six language levels here, I got placed into the advanced class of the second highest level. Which pretty much means that they think I'm actually very good at this French thing, which makes me entirely nervous. This morning we signed a contract promising to only speak in French the entire time that we're here and I plan to stick to it (even during evenings at home, and at the bars on weekends!). Despite all my anxieties, I'm only immersed for five weeks and already I know it's going to fly by, so I'm going to make the best of it (with the exception of blogging - which I also plan on doing very little of - I won't be using English at all).

Here's to my third eye.
8:39 pm