Voyages around France: Language adventures.....

I imagine just about everyone who has set out to learn a new language has experienced ups and downs when doing so. It's been the same for me with days in class where I think I'm making good progress and then other days when I feel like I've run into a brick wall.

I had seemingly been moving forward in a positive direction when the French language gods stepped in as if to say, "Not so fast Jeff!!" The last couple of days in class we got more into French reflexive verbs in the infinitive, present tense and perfect tense. Those language gods have had a fun time watching me struggle with something that is probably much easier than I am making it out to be. They have left me battered and bruised, stumbling out of class at the end of the day....I know they are taking great joy in all of this... :-)

But last night I pooled all of my collective learning resources together in an attempt to get over this obstacle. Of course it didn't hurt having Alicia helping me out as we went over each tense and she had me write out some sentences to better understand each subject. By no means am I comfortable that I have overcome this issue, but today I have committed to working extra hard to at least getting a grip around the necks of these irritating reflexive verbs. Tomorrow when I walk into classroom I will smile and give a confident wink to those French language gods......and hopefully not stumble out of class at the end of the day.

Rudy, Alicia and I did get out of the house Sunday for a 2 hour drive just south and east of Apt. We decided to take some more of those roads less traveled that we had not driven before. After a quick stop just outside the town of Saignon (for photos) we continued up into the hills and we were surprised that we could clearly see the Alps in the distance. We continued on, curving through the scenic hills and valleys passing through a few very small villages along the way.

Rock cliff at Saignon - only the foundations of a fort or castle remains at the top.

Saignon- looking northwest with Apt in the valley below

Saignon - Mont Ventoux in the distance

Rudy decided he wanted to visit St-Martin-de-Castillon which is a small village just a few miles east of Apt. When Rudy is along for the ride we rarely take him into a village with us because of other people, dogs and cats. If we do take him into a village he must be on a leash because he will go into "discovery mode" and leave us far behind. When we are looking over a rock wall or fence of any kind he will also jump up and stand on his hind legs because he wants to enjoy the views as well. I could sense that he enjoyed his walk around the town....actually he dragged us around the village..... :-) I know he would like to do more of that in the future.