Good Thing Deron Proposed with a Diamond

Wednesday afternoon in French class, our teacher asked us to explain American marriage traditions. Here’s an English translation of what I (MB) said in French:

“Traditionally, the guy visits the girl’s father and asks for her hand in marriage. Then he buys a loaf of French bread, plans a special event and proposes to the girl.”

The first hint you’ve used the wrong word occurs when the teacher practically doubles over with laughter in the middle of your speech. That’s when I realized I accidentally said “baguette” instead of “bague” (the French word for "ring"). Funny how those three extra letters at the end of a word can make such a difference …

We only have one more week of French classes left! After hearing that story, do you think I’m ready?

Lest you get too worried, you might want to know that the next day I successfully managed to communicate with a tailor about the ensemble I wanted him to sew for me (most people here get their clothes made because it’s cheaper and there are more options). So there is some hope …

Deron has everyone fooled -– he just speaks fast and throws in an occasional Spanish word and everyone seems to know exactly what he’s saying. Seriously, he’s doing well and is the star pupil in class. One of our professors regularly calls on him to translate what the rest of us are trying to say.

Next Tuesday we have a written exam and Thursday we have individual oral exams. Our grades don’t really matter –- all four of us will graduate and move to Abidjan regardless of whether we pass or fail. So there’s really no pressure -– but of course we all want to do well anyway. Our teachers will also individually sit with us to evaluate our progress and identify areas we still need to work on once we get to Abidjan.

For awhile we were sad to think that class is almost over, but now we’re pretty much ready to move on. We’ll miss our teachers but it’s getting hard to sit in class 4-6 hours a day. We’re definitely ready to move to Abidjan and get started with our work.