Learning French

OH LALALALA! Learning the language is sooo difficult!!! First there is the fact that there are so many words! I feel like I will never know all the words I need to know just to get through a normal conversation. But the really, really difficult part is pronunciation. To be honest, I have never had a good ear (hence my refusal to sing loudly, even when we are encouraged by the F & D slave)so I have a hard time hearing when I am not pronouncing something right. Then the fact that my mouth, tongue and throat just will not cooperate and make the right shapes and sounds at the right time. Even making the proper vowel sounds is challenging;then trying to combine them with the "r" is just beyond my capabilities at times. Finally, to add the cherry on top, I usually can not understand what is being said to me in French. It usually is something I know but French spoken by the French is difficult to understand. So what this all adds up to is: I don't know very many words, and may never. I can't say the words I do know to make myself understood. I don't understand the words I do know when spoken by the French people. It is beyond anything I could have possibly imagined.
A good example is last weekend when I was invited to a dinner with the other young ones in the hall without the Dubarrys. This meant an entire evening in French with no hope of translating when things got tough. (I actually pray all the time for help from Jehovah and the energy to not give up!) One brother at some point said to me "tout t'ennui?" I heard "tu ton nuit." He was asking if I was completely bored-probably my eyes were glazed over at this point. I thought he was saying "you, your night?" And was completely baffled. It was straightened out.
The sentence structure in the previous example is something I love about the French language. S'ennuyer is a reflexive verb. If you want to say "I am bored" you say "Je m'ennui"-meaning I bore myself. Isn't that great! I love it because built right into the language is the fact that you are responsible for your own feelings! If you are bored, its you own fault! Its the same with se fâcher. I anger myself.
I am pressing to improve - I am going to try the next level up in classes. I am at the point where I am progressing very slowly in my class and while it will be very difficult-one can only improve by surrounding oneself with those who are better. I also bought a French grammar workbook to do extra work. Boy, I am a geek!
Paris is all about improving oneself, though. I have been exploring the St Germain and St Micelle parts of Paris-which I LOVE!!! The Sorbonne (a beautiful, imposing university) is surrounded by bookshops, libraries, parks, paperies, cafes, everything that makes learning fun. The shops overflow with French, American, Canadian and other european students. Yesterday, after purchasing my new workbook, a new pen and highlighter, I made my self comfortable with a grand café and set in to do some work. Before I knew I was in a French/English conversation with my neighbors. They decided to help me with my pronunciation (thus helping me to see how far off I was) and I helped them with their English. The converstation started very basic-me making a fool of myself trying to make vowel sounds-like Eliza Dolittle in "My Fair Lady" and constantly interupting eachother to correct words or sounds. Then we discussed the history of France and Paris and the implications of the French seperating church from state and therefore leaving themselves open to the Muslims taking over with no competing religion. At this point I felt like Audrey Hepburn (again) in Funny Face. No, I did not break out in a beatnic dance and was not wearing a black turtleneck and leggings (too bad!)
But it was a fun day, the sun was shining and it looked like Paris had brought out her best, recently shined and polished jewels of jade, gold and diamonds.
Bientôt, mes amis!