Today, was another interesting day with Prof Prosper. I walk into our little salle de reunion for my French lesson and as usual, I shout “BONJOUR!” in excitement to see his kind chunky face.

And he replies with a huge smile “Madamoiselle..avec sa carne noir!” I love when he speaks about me in the 3rd person.

Also, “Carne?!” I thought, know this word. But isn’t it Spanish? Many a time I’ve encountered it on a menu of a Latin-American eating establishment of some sort. Also, it’s 17h06 and I’m ready for din. Din at a Brazilian steakhouse. I wish there was an equivalent to a Brazilian steakhouse in Paris. Scratch that! I wish I could find a boyfriend who would take me to a Brazilian steakhouse. Anywaaaaay. Ok, Focus! Carne. Carneeeeehhhh..

So as I go to sit, now a little bit hungry, and a lotta bit confused as to why my middle-aged French tutor is talking about meat. When there is clearly no meat in sight. Except that is, mine.

#creepy

Let me paint you a bit of a picture. I was wearing a long black skirt (not as gothic as it sounds) that day. Because Prosper and I have an interesting relationship I, for some reason, thought he was referring to my wardrobe and then something about meat (namely, the meat attached to my bones, which was conveniently located under aforementioned black skirt). Anyway, I felt like I was missing something because although my skirt was black, my meat is not. My meat is currently barely brown-with-patches-of-white-where-my-sunburn

So, when I sit down I ask what he’s talking about because I’m certain I’ve misunderstood, also I was slightly uncomfortable at the chance that he was referring to my meat and wanted to rectify the creepy situation asap.

So I clarify, “‘Carne?’ comme on dit en espagnole la ‘viande'” or something along those lines in my broken French.

Haha! He giggles. I think oftentimes I make his day with these misunderstandings.

He then says non, “ton bloc” and I understand that he is referring to the small Shutterstock notebook I am holding which is also black, which also happens to be in the same room as me and my black meat, ahem.. Skirt.

And he explains the difference to me between carneT and carnE.
Pronounced the same.. But only one of which is edible.

Also- for those who like this kind of stuff- words that have as their root “carne” (the meat, not the notebook): incarnated, reincarnated. Who knew? Probably a lot of people, but anyway.. Maybe someone learned something today 😉

So that is all. Meat, notebooks, po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Happy almost-weekend.

Filakia [& meat] from Paris!
Steph