Vendredi - Friday

Today I was blessed with two new friends. :D It still amazes me how God places people in my life with such perfect timing. I had already met both Amy and Megan, since they have been coming to the St. Mark’s Church on Sundays, and Megan is in my class. It seemed like we might have a lot in common, so I was glad to have the opportunity to spend some time with them in Vieux-Québec today. After I dumped my stuff off at the house after class, threw on some cooler clothes (another unpredictable day), and gulped down some of the sushi Mme. F had brought me for lunch, we took the bus down le Rue St. Jean and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in and out of shops, admiring artwork, perfumes, leather goods, jewelry, medieval clothing, swords, and cheap souvenirs. Amy and I discussed the immense difficulty of finding gifts for guys, a problem which is evidently universal. :P  Here's a picture of the swords mounted on the wall in the medieval goods store:  

And, here's a random shot of some sheep figurines I found amusing:

And finally, this is the Grand Capitale - the theater where Les Miserables is playing:

We eventually found an alley lined with artists selling drawings, etchings, and paintings – both originals and copies – of all sizes and prices. Some of the miniature scenes of Vieux-Québec were quite charming, and we all wished we had more money…not just for gifts, but to spend on ourselves. Hehe. 

One thing we discovered was that most of the vendors spoke English. It was actually quite frustrating, because when they recognized that we were either students or tourists, they wouldn’t make the effort to speak French with us. I think that some of them are just in a hurry, but perhaps others want to practice their English just like we want to practice our French. I guess one of these days we’ll figure out how to strike a balance and carry on bilingual conversations. Anyway, one of them caught us speaking English and jokingly reprimanded us like one of the animateurs. When we asked how it was so obvious that we were students, even when we were speaking French, he pointed out the fact that we all seemed to be the same age and we were obviously not sisters, because we looked nothing alike. It made sense – that, combined with the fact that we don’t speak French like natives by any stretch of the imagination. Oh well, when I’m exploring alone, I can usually pass myself off as a shy francophone – that is, if I stay quiet and stick to the phrases I’ve practiced the most. ;-P Actually, no, my goal now is to seek out more of the natives around town who are willing to speak French with me. I’m not as nervous about it now as I was at first.   :)
 
By the time the afternoon was over, we had successfully arrived at the edge of the Basse-Ville. We had been looking for new areas of town to explore, since we had already exhausted le Rue St. Jean, so we were quite excited. It was getting late, though, so we decided to save the Basse-Ville for another day.

Ps. I forgot to mention how excited I was today in class when our professor handed back our tests.  It was a fairly easy test, so a few of us made perfect scores, and she gave us four green cards for it.  I was so happy - green cards, finally!!  I work so hard to earn those, and the animateurs never remember.  :P  Anyway, our professor (Doc Sue) was cracking me up today, too.  Megan and I had already finished the homework she'd assigned as optional the night before, so when she gave the class some time to work on it, we were just sitting there talking.  We had a lovely conversation about church and had the opportunity to practice some new vocabulary, but every time Doc Sue walked past our table, she'd roll her eyes and mutter something about "les suuuuper-dupers."  It was hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, I have a new favorite expression, thanks to Doc Sue.  She's a little eccentric and quite emphatic at times, so when she really wants us to take note of something, she doesn't just say, "Hey, pay attention!"  No, she says, with each syllable carefully separated and emphasized, "C'est suuuuper maxi important!!"

Yeah.  I laughed.  I haven't figured out yet if she knows the connotation or not, but either way, I love it.