(The photo is of Claudine seeing us off on our last day in Montbard.)

Marty took over blogging duties for a few days while I TRIED NOT TO EMBARRASS MYSELF TOO MUCH WHILE TRYING TO IMPROVE MY  FRENCH. ☺😄😨 Truthfully, Claudine is just so damned nice and encouraging that she made it relatively painless. Still, I really struggled to carry on any sort of conversation (reading and writing are fine but my goal was not simply to have a French pen pal!).

So here’s the takeaway on this mini-immersion experience: One observation is that it’s not as easy as it looks!!! Translating is not the same as communicating and PRACTICE is essential. It’s actually physically exhausting.

The second thing I learned is that, while it would be nice to say that I became just a bit more fluent – and hopefully I did, getting to know Claudine and her friends and a few people in Montbard was the true highlight of the week (and Claudine’s cooking!).

A final observation about this adventure – because, for me, it WAS an adventure. In contrast, there are millions of  political immigrants around the world at any point in time. Most are desperate; survival is their only goal. I can only imagine what they would say about the “immersion” experience. It’s not an adventure for them, at least not a voluntary one. It’s not a vacation; they aren’t taking in the sights, buying souvenirs. They don’t get to go back to their homes, families and friends. And if I’m somewhat exhausted even with all of the help I received, I’m thinking that they are barely hanging on…