Month-in-Review Highlights: March 2022
This photo has nothing to do with my review of progress against goals for August, but it is a photo from the month! A snapshot taken from the Roman arena in Nimes, France. March 1, 2022.
I postmortem each month shortly after it ends, reflecting on what happened in general and, more specifically, in the context of my goals. Though I don’t share all my insights here, I have made it a practice to share at least one key highlight or insight. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)
Mid-March, we reach the two-year anniversary of COVID, which for me prompted a bit of musing on how strangely amorphous this period has felt. Two years passed in an undemarcated haze, which meant they felt very quick and very slow all at once. (For context on how COVID has continued to unfold in my world, you can read my post on the second anniversary of COVID.)
Although the sharp uptick in COVID cases meant we spent much of December and January indoors, we started to venture out a bit more in mid-February (albeit, of course, masked). The ability to venture into the world helped me better progress on some of my goals for the year. (Go figure.)
In some cases, I even tried to cover multiple goals in the same effort, such as speaking more French, connecting more with the francophone world, getting more social activity, and integrating more fully here in Lausanne.
For example, in March, I applied to volunteer at the Red Cross here in Vaud—all in French—and after a first interview, learned that they’d accepted me for their training program (also all in French). Just an acceptance—especially after an all-in-French interview with a Red Cross employee—felt like a success on several levels. I look forward to finishing the training and starting to volunteer in April.
On a smaller scale, I also went to an event (all in French) at which a group of Swiss crime-fiction authors discussed their work to a French (nationality, not just language) audience. The venue format made it impossible to schmooze with the other attendees and make new acquaintances (why they held an event about books with presentations from authors at the back of a busy bar, I don’t understand), but I enjoyed attending, nonetheless.
As a side note: I’ve started to feel like one of the very, very few anglophones who is bothering to learn French to fluency. I suppose that, if you can manage the basic daily necessities, you really have all the language level you need—especially in a town where so many people speak English. But this observation has disheartened me a bit. This reflection prompted me to do a little research on the whys and wherefores, and this is what I learned about why people don’t bother to learn the local language.
The first quarter of 2022 has wrapped as of this writing. I feel on track with my goal progress in some ways and a little panicked about reaching certain other goals. As on track as I am, I don’t have enough advance margin for certain objectives to feel the confidence I’d like to have. I’ll try to get a bit more ahead of the program before the summer season kicks into full swing if I can.