Language learning quirks

It is interesting when learning a language how one day you have never heard a word and then you suddenly hear it all the time.

That is what happened with the word déclancher. I had never heard it until our landlord used it when explaining how to test the boiler.

Then I went to a union meeting at work and it was déclancher this déclancher that.

It means to start. It was a similar story with the word basculer when I first arrived. Never heard it but very quickly there was basculer and bascule par tout. It means to toggle, topple, tip.

Other words I heard for the first time this week – gaspillage (waste) and pilotage (manage).

Festival des courges

And on Saturday it was time to visit the other local event. The squash festival in Parc de la Tete d’Or.

It was a beautiful day – sunny and hot – and the crowds turned out for the squashes. If you are not a fan of the vegetable, look away now.

All in all it was a very fun afternoon out. And some of the squashes found their way back to our flat.

Le médecin traitant

Everyone has told me since the day I arrived of the need to get a médecin traitant – a GP.

Well after a few months of waiting to find a more permanent address and getting a social security number, it was time to find a local doctor who would take me on.

You use an app called DoctoLib and search for a doctor near you who is:

taking on new patients
Is Level 1 (so you know how much they are going to charge you)
Who takes payment by bank card (as not all do)
Who has an appointment in the near future.

It is quite a fun game.

But I found one and went to see her. We had a chat and then she gave me forms to go and get some tests done – blood, cholesterol, PSA.

And I learnt a new word in French – les selles – stool sample. Oh yes, one of those too.

Of course there is a lot of form-filling to be done

Braderie Roosevelt

We went to the fair on our street. It was a bit rainy but there were lots of clothes for sale.

Cath eventually made a purchase. Be rude not too.

Accusé de reception

Look what arrived in the post! I had to send my UK driving licence off to the Agence national des titres sécurisés in what I hope is the last stage of getting a French driving licence.

I had to send it by recorded delivery but also with accusé de reception- which means when they get it, they send this card back to me as proof of receipt.

Fingers crossed it won’t be long now