Bad blog

Yep, you're right. This blog fell off. Two weeks without a post. As an excuse, I had my final exams for my french course. That didn't mean that I had any less free time, but it is all I have as an excuse.

On that subject, someone in The Public Service of Canada made quite the mistake in assessing my level of french. There were two paper tests, one for comprehension and the other for grammar. Then there is an intervew by telephone with some overpaid civil servant in Ottawa. Usually it lasts between 30 and 45 minutes, in which they feel they can assess the candidate's level of french comprehension and production. Well, my interview lasted 40 minutes, but apparently that is not long enough. It was not long enough for her to determine that my vocabulary is extremely limited and that I have to take way too many breaks to think of the right word to use next. Because I got as high of a score as is possible. This means that I will never - EVER - have to take another french course, nor french test, for the rest of my career. 30 years from now, I could get sent to a francophone position in Quebec or Ottawa, and they would fully expect that I am fluent in the language. Even if I hadn't used it for any of those 30 years.

The first impression was, "Awesome, I got the highest mark, now I won't have to use up career time in the future taking more courses and tests."

The second impression was, "Holy crap, they really think I know how to speak french. There is something seriously wrong with that test. Suckers."

Finally, "Uh no. They are really going to EXPECT that I can speak french now."

I guess it is now up to me to keep speaking french. I know none of YOU are going to support that; in fact, I am sure I would be the subject of much verbal and physical abuse if I tried to speak it around you. But I will have to do it somehow.

"With great power, comes great responsibility." I guess I'm kind of like Spiderman like that. A really slow, french-speaking Spiderman who can't leap tall buildings in a single bound.