Ups and downs

Today I attended a 3-hour debate on France's 5th Republic. The panel included some illustrious speakers including former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and National Assembly member Jack Lang. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay focused for more than 5 minutes. As I am not terribly familiar with the French Constitution and its many reforms, I was lost from the start. It was frustrating to say the least.

On a brighter note, I went to see the film "Entre les murs" last night, and succeeded in understanding 95% of it. It's based on the experiences of a French junior high school teacher (who later wrote several books and stars as himself in the movie) in a poor Parisian school with primarily immigrant students. I liked how it isn't the story of an extraordinary teacher that manages to rally his students around him in admiration (this isn't the story of Susan Cramer), but more the story of the frustrations, small successes and setbacks this teacher had to go through. I could only find the trailer in French, but I think you can get an idea of what it's about.



Now if only I could understand elderly French people as well as I can understand teens from the streets. :(