Re-bonjour d'Avignon!

a wave from Avignon where, once again, I'm studying French

On peut rien y faire… on se vieillit tous.

There’s nothing we can do about it… we all get old.

A French phrase I learned, using the dreaded “y.”

I’m back in Avignon this week (hence re-bonjour¹) to continue trying to become more fluent in French. Although it’s increasingly unlikely that I’ll reach this goal at my age, I’m not giving up! I’m studying in tandem with my husband, and with our favorite French prof, Julie Gaudin. Un séjour linguistique (language immersion) is something Sam and I love doing together. We last spent a week with Julie in Nov. ‘23 (I sent you a Bonjour d’Avignon!).

Staying in Julie’s guest apartment, right near the center of this lovely walled city, we can easily stroll down the pedestrian-only streets. We practice speaking via conversation on every topic, from U.S. politics to how to order in a restaurant, and by grammar exercises, to navigate the intricacies of le, la, lui, de, du, des—and the most difficult for me, y and en (cf the sentence at the top).

Here are a few photos

With Julie and her boyfriend, Olivier

Julie lays out flashcards to make us use y and en

Empty streets in Avignon on May 8th, a French national holiday marking the end of WWII in Europe

These chickens in Avignon’s famous indoor market, Les Halles, need a haircut. Those are pintade (guinea fowl) next to them

I worked on my ChatGPT essay sitting at an outdoor café. Note: this is a draft! The title and subtitle may be different by the time this is published next week.

That’s it for this week. Jusqu’à la semaine prochaine. - Debbie

No questions for you!

But feel free to wave back.

1. There really is an expression of re-bonjour, as in bonjour again!