As you know I have been studying French diligently over the last half year, taking the courses CERN offers to its employees. They are intense, 6 hours/week and homework, and somewhat focused on the language elements necessary to function at work. Part of my second course was a “professional visit” at a unit of our choice. Since we had two firemen in our class, the unanimous vote was to have them present their facilities to us, incl. of course the Big Red Fire Trucks (our firemen did not get to vote :-). They did an absolutely stunning job and after that we wrote a report (en français, bien sure) on the experience, with pictures. Lots of work but also great fun and done to the great satisfaction of our teacher Berinda, and even the school director commended us on a well done report. Now it is over (no courses during the summer) and while I really can use the extra time I do miss the course and the camaraderie of our class, not to mention the learning experience. Needless to say, I need to learn a lot more before I’d be comfortable speaking French in public, but I keep on trying (often subjecting our poor admins to a lot of stammering and incoherent wording). Next week we’ll all go to Geneva to have a dîner français, and hopefully we can keep up our French lunches in the cafeteria as well.
At the firestation trying out my new helmet!
Great blog post! My French has gone downhill since high school so I commend you for your efforts.
There are so many things wrong with your photo….I am trying to figure out whether the beard would make any attempt at sealing the mask ineffective – then again if your beard burst into flames having a good seal would not be #1 problem of the moment! 🙂