FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

The Mediterranean landscape dotted with almond blossoms, as described in today's story. Read on...

TODAY’S WORD: Le Cours

: lesson, class

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

After the bright yellow mimosa and the scarlet coquelicots, now les amandiers and les cerisiers are blossoming in the hills above our  coastal town. Looking down a rocky trail, I can see the first signs of springtime crisscrossing the landscape, all the way to the bay of La Ciotat.

As my daughter and I hike Chemin de la Croix, more flowers appear along the path. This time a bunch of jonquilles huddle at the base of an olive tree. 

“Just a minute,” I call out to the young woman ahead of me, before kneeling down to get a good picture.

I admit, it’s only a ploy to catch my breath. I take my time to snap the photo before returning to Jackie. How is it she’s breathing so steadily? “Mom, we’ve just begun!” she explains. I guess that means I need more exercise. But we are now averaging 2-3 randonnées a week—and doing Pilates. 

Never mind. I’ll get there. The most important thing is not to drop out! And as long as Jackie is here, I won’t. She’s a great coach, and I’m lucky to have her. And, it turns out, she needs me too!

We figured this out during our first workout session here at home. Because Jackie is now pursuing her certificate for teaching Pilates, she will eventually need to practice on someone and, though several friends have expressed interest, I’ve been waving my arms, Pick me! Pick me! for weeks now.

Finally, un concours de circonstances had both of us at home and bored at the same time. Having pushed all the living room furniture to the back of the room, we dusted off our only piece of equipment, an old fitness mat. Beyond the glass door, our resident doves, Mama and Papa, followed our every move from their perch on the picnic table.

When we finally settled down, we were faced with an unexpected challenge or two…

 “How do you say ‘butt’ professionally?” Jackie began.

Oops. “Butt” and “profession” should not go together. ”You mean politely,” I reply. “To say ‘butt’ politely, we say ‘bottom’.”

“OK, Mom. Sit your bottom down and swallow your stomach.”

“Oh, I don’t think we say that in English,” I pointed out. Perhaps it was a Pilates expression? Or did she mean “suck it in”? Or, “navel to the spine” as I would later learn, watching as many YouTube videos as I could in between sessions.

We proceeded, hit or miss, until I lay there twisted like a pretzel waiting for further instructions. Jackie hesitated. 

“What is it?” 

“I don’t know the words.”

“The words to what?”

“Ça et ça et ça!” Jackie blurted, pointing to various points along her arms and legs.

We laughed. Though I taught her English before she entered la maternelle, it’s suddenly clear she never learned all the terms for human anatomy. Given she’d like to teach Pilates in both languages this posed un souci.

“Le mollet,” she continued, tapping her lower leg. “What do you call it?”

“Do you mean ‘shin’ or ‘calf’?” (Weren’t they the same?)

“Le tibia?” Jackie ventured.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure about that one myself, though I recognized the term! (Wait—tibia is the shinbone, right? But mollet means calf?) D’accord, d’accord. We figured we had it right—until Jackie paused again.

“Hurry up,” I pleaded. What with my calves—or shins, or tibias—hovering two inches off the ground, I can’t stay this way forever. My back is killing me!

My bilingually-challenged instructor stares at her hands and draws a blank.

“Palms! Those are your palms!”

“Palms to the floor!” comes the confident reply.

Ouf, pressing down on the mat helps some, but I have to bend my knees for lower back relief.

Just then Ricci runs up, sniffs the mat, and begins licking my face.

“Ricci! Sors de là!” Jackie says, shooing our little shepherd away. “Now, bring your knees to your breasts!”

I lift my knees… when something seems off, linguistically.

Suddenly, I picture my daughter leading a class of senior citizens in Palm Springs. “Knees to your breasts!” The looks on their faces! They might be giggling (certainly not shocked), but still, Jackie needs to get the terminology just right.

“No! We say ‘chest’—knees to your chest!”

Jackie looks a little dismayed. No matter, it’ll soon fall into place—the words for her and the exercises for me.

“We’ve got work to do,” I say, when our session comes to an end. Jackie agrees, pulling me up to a stand. I can’t help smiling—unwittingly, I’ve just secured the first spot in her cours de Pilates, even if it’s just a trial run.

“You need me as much as I need you!” I remind my daughter, hoping to keep my number one spot. I can already picture a growing lineup outside our door: Ricci, Mama and Papa dove, Grandma, Jean-Marc (when he returns next month), Max, Ana, friends and neighbors. 

“See you back at the mat tomorrow at 5!” Jackie agrees.

“I’ll be there!” I promise. The main thing is to keep showing up—physically, linguistically, and with (cheeky) enthusiasm: knees to our chests and we’ll keep abreast! 

***

FRENCH VOCABULARY

AUDIO FILE: Click here to listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French terms below

le cours = the lesson, class

le coquelicot = poppy

l’amandier = almond tree

le cerisier = cherry tree

Chemin de la Croix = Path of the Cross

la jonquille = daffodil

la randonnée = hike

le concours de circonstances = a stroke of luck, coincidence

ça et ça = this and this

la maternelle = kindergarten

un souci = a concern, a worry

le mollet = calf (of the leg)

le tibia = shinbone

d’accord = okay, agreed

ouf = phew

le genou (les genoux) = knee (knees)

sors de là = get out of there

Photo: les jonquilles, or daffodils

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Mama and Papa dove, chillin'.

Coming soon… please send all good wishes, prayers, and positive vibes as we put the finishing touches on A Year in a French Life. The book is filled with full color photos of our beautiful coastal town.