je ne comprends pas

on restarting french lessons

Jul 20, 2023

Bonjour!

This week so far has been a busier week in my otherwise monotonous summer. I spent my early week meeting friends.

My sleep schedule hasn’t drastically improved, and I was always told to set attainable goals. So, I definitely can say that I’ve achieved the goal of getting out of bed before noon.

Yesterday, I attended my first French class at the Alliance Française - the French centre in Singapore. The last time I attended a lesson was when I was trying to balance sophomore year and nighttime adult classes twice a week. After walking into the building, I remembered how much I missed the place. I attended classes there in elementary school as well, so seeing little kids in la médiathèque (the library) reading books and trying to pronounce words like aujourd'hui (today) and écureuil (squirrel) gave me déjà vu (you should know that one). I have a great tutor who will be teaching me private lessons until I go to college, and we worked on a plan to get me as fluent and knowledgeable of the French language as possible until then.

During my post-grad trip to Thailand, I wrote down a new list of personal goals that would be more of a guiding force for my next few years. My mom advised me to find hobbies to pursue that would give me purpose. The first on my goal list was to add another language (or, in this case, pick up a rustily developed one) to my list of skills. Choosing French is a no-brainer.

My name, Renée, is of French origin and means ‘reborn’. My middle name is Paris, which is an ode to my mom’s first flight destination when she worked for Singapore Airlines as a flight stewardess. Besides the name connection, I love traveling to France and immersing myself in French culture, so it seemed beneficial before my move to Europe to gain some conversational skills. French is one of the main languages used by major global institutions such as the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, and the International Court of Justice. As an incoming International Relations major, knowing French can prove very valuable.

During my lesson, as I was learning fast and using brainpower to try to remember lots of the basics—which I recalled more than I expected—my brain got a little foggy after the first hour. In fact, it got too foggy, and I began repeating stuff back to my tutor in…Chinese.

After that little snafu, I learned the phrase "je ne comprends pas," which means I don’t understand. It has become my go-to comment to tell my tutor with a laugh when I don’t grasp what he’s saying. It sounds more educated than saying in English, "Uh, I am confused.” What did you just say?

Other than learning the language, the biggest takeaway after restarting classes is that I came home with a smile. I checked out the French version of the Tintin comics from la médiathèque and immediately read as much as I could. I forgot what it was like to love what I’m learning and have a genuine interest in what I’m being taught. Hopefully this excitement continues to grow in college.

A page of the Tintin en Ámerique comics in French.

stuff i’ve been loving lately

Books: I’ve been making my way through The World by Richard Haass, so not much to report on this end.
I read this autobiographical piece by Isabel Klee titled At the Ends of the Earth, It’s Still You and it made me feel all the feels, especially the continuation piece called Climbing to the Top of the Mountain. I love the way she writes. Specifically, I’m in awe at how she narrates defining moments in her life while sharing her feelings in the moment. She makes us readers feel like we all can relate - even though we haven’t lived that situation at all. To me, that’s what makes great writing.
This geopolitical piece in The Economist titled What if China and India became friends?
- I read a lot of politics and international news pieces this week, but if I shared it here it would make for quite a long list. Here are a few more:

films / videos / TV

Unfortunately, my mom caught the covid bug this week and is self quarantining. Fortunately, this means my dad and I get free reign over what to watch on the TV. Here’s what we watched:

An episode of Great British Castles - Edinburgh Castle to get acquainted with the 900-year-old castle on an extinct volcano in the middle of the city I’ll see every day. It has quite the history. Did you know that the castle was attacked 23 times, making it the most besieged in Britain?
The Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain documentary. I learned a lot about Tony Bourdain’s life and his work, and I’m appreciative of the fact that the filmmakers didn’t focus the entire documentary on Bourdain’s death. It made a greater point about his legacy and the impact his travel had on our greater understanding of the world and different foods around us.

I also watched Amazon Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 - or well, the first three episodes they released so far. I’m a bit disappointed overall, even though the cast is phenomenal.

music / podcasts / talks

Music: I’ve been listening to lots of Jack Johnson’s music lately, and this Red Rocks Live version of Julia by Mt. Joy that blends into a rendition of Ain’t no sunshine.
Podcast highlights (I listened to about ten episodes this week so far):
- Here’s an old Maybe Baby episode talking about Emily Ratajkowski’s viral essay on The Cut.
- The Journal’s four part featurette on Marvel With Great Power. Here’s part 1 and Inside Russia's Spy Unit Targeting Americans
- The Council on Foreign Relations’ Why It Matters Podcast on Spying 101, AI Meets World, and Taiwan, China, & The Threat of War

items / exhibits / places

Since I’m in Singapore, here are some of my favourite places I went to:
- Marina Barrage (great for picnics), Gardens by the Bay, Botanic Gardens
- TeaPulse Kombucha x Bubble Tea. I always get my fix here and add the chestnut pearl toppings. They taste amazing (and they’re healthy!)
- DAWN coffeeshop. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall place downtown that my parents took me to after a hawker lunch. It was very woodsy architecture, likely inspired by Japanese interiors.
At DAWN. I got an iced tea

LOOKING AHEAD

Sports
- The 151st Open is happening now at the Royal Liverpool. The fam and I got to watch the tournament in St. Andrews last year, so we’re a little bummed to watch golf on TV right about now. I’m especially excited to see what Viktor Hovland wears on the course. He’s sponsored by J. Lindeberg (dream brand), and they always put him in funky polos. My favourite was last year’s one since I got to see him IRL, but this year’s weekend wardrobe also looks good.
  Last year in St. Andrews Old Course.
- Formula 1 is in full swing! This weekend’s race is the Hungarian GP, and best be sure that I will be watching the whole race. If you didn’t know, Daniel Ricciardo - the honey badger himself - is set to make a return to the grid after the junior team for Red Bull (Alpha Tauri) sacked their rookie driver Nyck DeVries after just half a season of underperforming. More here. I’m definitely on the edge of my seat in anticipation to see if Ricciardo can deliver. Looking way ahead, Drive to Survive, the F1 reality tv show on Netflix will be full of dramaaa.
Next week in life
- Oppenheimer. I watched this short video that Nolan partnered up with Kodak to shoot the movie on actual film.
- Thailand, again? I’m headed back to Si Racha and Pattaya for a short trip. I will be seeing that same clock tower and explore a few more golf courses. It’ll be another trip in the books, and I’m excited for more mango sticky rice.
- Friends in town - early next week, I have a bunch of friends visiting. It’s just a massive coincidence they’re all going to be here at the same time but it’s going to be nice to see them again and share some laughs. Most of my friends live abroad, so this is always the time of the year for catching up over a plate of good ol’ local food.