French for Beginners

When we were getting ready to move to Saudi Arabia, I got asked quite often if I was going to learn Arabic. I hadn't really decided but knew myself that I would have to make a conscious decision as to whether I would try to learn Arabic or not. I decided to not. Why? Well, learning a new language takes time and energy and I thought that maybe that time and energy would be better spent on other things...swimming with the kids for example.

Fast forward 9 months. I'm getting my haircut. I have been regularly going to a salon off-compound. Some of the women speak english but not all...Arabic is the language to know if you're going to chat. So the idea was festering again. Should I learn Arabic? It would make certain things easier, I think I would understand my surroundings a little bit more and of course get a better feel for the people and the culture...but Arabic? That means new alphabet, guttural stops, reading from right to left....I already speak two languages, how much time and energy am I willing to put into this?

After checking into a local school where Arabic is taught, I started to realize that really, the language that I have most contact with here is not Arabic but French. Then I started thinking about all of the times we've been to France...skiing, wine tasting, Paris, the Riviera, Normandie, Avignon...France is one of those countries that seems to have it all...and the food, did I mention the food? I am one of those people that thinks food is one of life's simple pleasures and a good (bad) meal can make (or break) an entire day.

So all of a sudden I started thinking maybe Arabic isn't the language to learn, maybe it is French....when I looked into an on-line course I found that the 12th lesson was entitled "I've got a hangover" Now, I must say, I'm really intrigued.