Confessions of an Undisguised Drama Queen

Monday, May 09, 2005

French and much more

Three times a week (4, for this and the next), I travel the hard and long road to and from l'Universite de Technologie de Nanyang for my FREE french lessons (other than the very expensive textbook, the worksheets and the travelling expenses, ya, the lessons are about free). And I get out much more from it than just learning the language.

I like the way my teacher put it: taking up a language is not just learning another code; it's like taking a journey into a new culture and learning to look at things, at the world in a totally different perspective. So every lesson, for 4 hours a day, other than attempting to do the extremely difficult "rrrrrrhhhh" while pronouncing the french words and learning the basic grammar, I am also taking a lessons in politics, history, entertainment, culture, religion.....

I am really enjoying myself. French is fun. Learning from a French teacher is better. Like what most people think, the French really do have an impeccable pride and egotism for their culture. But they also have an utmost respect for the distinctiveness of the other cultures. Which is why my teacher seems to constantly run down the U.S and their exceedingly increasing influence on the world - lest we all lose our own individuality and uniqueness and get sucked into a nightmare world of McDonald's and Coca-cola.

Ah well, I do agree with him sometimes. He does make some good sense. And at least he HAS an opinion. Look at us Singaporeans, apathetic and blase. The things we worry about, the concerns we have - superficial and self-centred needs.

I blame the society we've been brought up in. It is no doubt we are a sheltered lot of people with
an obscured view of the world - more often than not, we fail to look beyond our selfish concerns to see the bigger picture.

I myself am guilty as charged.

So whenever I whine about how things aren't going the right way for me, someone please remind me to remember that there are people in the world who are worrying about their safety, their next meal.... There's so much more to life.

[Time of Confession] 9:27 PM
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