Reflections

I'm going to be changing families this coming weekend, which means soon I will be repacking my suitcases, though I'm not sure how I'll do that. Do you remember those cool little hand towels that were folded up really tiny in the shape of a star, heart, or some animal and when you put them in warm water they magically expanded before your eyes and somehow became a normal sized hand towel? Well that's what I think happened with everything I brought with me, somehow after I unpacked in August all my belongings have slowly expanded and I now have no idea how I'll cram them all back in...

All these thoughts of packing and moving has brought to my attention that I'm already a quarter of the way through this year! Crazy isn't it? Anyways, all this thinking has brought about several realizations.

First: I'm living here. I know that that one seems painfully obvious, "No Maggie, you've simply been...resting there for three and a half months..." But hear me out on this one. Practically all of last summer I daydreamed about this year, who am I kidding, since Fanny lived with us I've been imagining this year when I would get to learn French and live in Europe for a whole year, and here I am...in Europe...for a year. So far it has been everything I imagines, and all those things I didn't imagine. But thinking about it now, it couldn't really be any better than this, just because I'm in Europe doesn't mean that my life suddenly becomes perfect, like some sort of movie or something, it's still my life. There are good days and bad ones, irritation and fatigue, familiarity and habits....and honestly I couldn't be more content (which is not to be confused with perpetually happy haha :]).

Second: French. My comprehension of French is way up, I really can understand almost everything when spoken at a normal speed, without explanations. So, obviously I've been feeling really good about that, but lately it has come to my attention that my spoken French is lagging, way behind. I know that listening comprehension always comes first and speaking after, but it had been getting me down. I was starting to feel like I'd never learn this blasted language, I mean it's already been three and a half months! When I confessed my frustration to my classmates, they looked at me like I was crazy. They all immediately reassured me that I'd improved so much since September and then they even kindly pointed out that I still had seven and a half months to get it down. Seven and a half more months of this! I know that patience is a virtue...but why!?