I was looking forward to today. The University of the Third Age is near our home and when I was there last to take some photos for their newsletter, I was invited back to observe the French for Intermediate class to consider registering for next year’s classes.

I’ve been going to weekly conversation classes at a nearby cafe along with weekly chats with my French friend via Teams however the former is going to stop so I need to replace it somehow. So I figured the U3A class – two hours every Tuesday – would be a good way to keep my hand in it.

The class today was run by an ex-French teacher and I liked the approach. I’ll call it “old fashioned” because that’s what I needed. I liked how the class was split into reading out loud (which we hardly did at the Alliance Francais), grammar, translation and dictation and lots of talking with feedback to correct our pronunciation. I could hold my own in the class and figured that I could easily participate. Of course, what I really need is to get private lessons with native French speakers. I think that would be the best thing to boost my skill levels. If anything, if you’re in a class with peers sometimes, your level doesn’t improve because you’re not getting feedback.

I’m finding this with golf too where I just realised that in order for me to improve, I need to play with people better than myself. Same with French.

I think what I liked most about today was being able to walk there. Walk through the park on a beautiful sunny day, dressed in my linens and a straw hat and saunter over to class. I wondered what others were doing in their workplaces. Then I gave a little thanks to the universe for being able to do this.

I met some lovely people and had a bit of a chit chat. Part of me thinks that if I continue with the U3A, I wouldn’t do French but instead would do Beginners Italian or German. The latter I’m holding out until my husband retires so that we can do a full immersion course in Munich so that we can get to intermediate level quicker. Maybe Italian then? 🤔 I think I’d pick up Italian quickly and which would also help me with my elderly Italian neighbours who I help out at times. They also have ukulele classes. Maybe it’s time for my uke to come out again. 🤔

There are tons of things to do in our local community. Seriously, you can have a full timetable of events, activities and things I can do. I left work a few weeks ago and I’m already finding that time goes by so quickly. My realisation is that I need to have some kind of weekly schedule otherwise I feel I can have my days go by without having done anything except reading, crafting, cooking or housework. And still, I go to bed early and instantly go into a deep sleep.

Righto. What’s next? I feel like a siesta.