The name game

Final instalment of Part 2 of my French course. Am really loving the learning! :) And my classmates are awesome, all immensely real and pleasant. Of course, I'm not denying that there are a few oddballs here and there, but let's not be mean here. At the beginning, I had a little difficulty grasping all their names, and had to resort to nicknames, all affectionately bestowed:-

• "Sister" - Just the kind I would like to have. Kind, caring and possessing maternal tendencies;
  
• "Fu (4) gui (4) puo (2)" - Translated, this means prosperous lady. Laughs heartily and definitely enjoying the finer things in life, this lady;
  
• "The non-chinese" - No offence here, we named her that only because she's the only eurasian / non-chinese in our class...no discrimation intended!;
• "Teacher" - A petite, effervescent (read: talkative) girl who's actually a GP (wow!) teacher. Incredibly knowledgeable and cycles to school; and
  
• "The late comer" : Joined our class late, perpetually comes to class late and absented herself today *shakes head in disapproval*
  

Incredibly, X knew exactly who I was referring to when I made references to them! I wonder what they nicknamed X and I. The twins / sisters / buddies? The hotties? The weirdos? Freaky duo?

P/S: I managed to pass my French written test (see entry on "French fries, anyone?"). In fact, I more than passed, I got a 16/20! P was real disgusted that I was complaining so much....hehe.

French fries, anyone?

3rd French test...I think I might just fail this one! I screwed up my spelling, I didn't insert any of the goddamned French accents and my conjunctions were all hay-wire! Bummer!

Don't get me wrong, I love the language. To hear it spoken (fluently of course!) is like music to the ears. Mastering the language, however, is proving itself to be a formidable task. Here are a few of my gripes:-

1. French accents - Inserting the ' (the regular apostrophe), ^ (little triangular cap) and ` (rightward slanting apostrophe) on top of the magic letter of each word baffles me. Who invented that miniscule detail?!

2. Pronounciation - The "hhhhhh" sound is a killer. Pronounced correctly, it's supposed to sound like a gentle gargle. In my case, it sounds like a bad case of sore throat. Arrrgghhh!

3. Gender - Table is female and hat, male. A dog is always male (even the bitch). So is the cat. Why aren't animals given the right to embrace their own sexuality? And what determines the sex of an inanimate object? God knows. (BTW, God is masculine in French too)

Last lesson cum test next week. I will miss my classmates and teacher when it all ends. *sob*