English Diary

Hello dear diary,

Today, on the October 10th, I started my English workshops and i was really happy to assist. Honestly, when i am thinking back, I was skeptical about what was happening during these workshops. I thought it might be something formal, perhaps a bit too much. On the contrary, I found a calm environment, and that is what i want to tell you about today.

My first workshop, was titled "GAME HOUR CARRIERE" if i am remember correctly, it took place at 2:00 PM, the 10th October (Let me tell you something about that day, it was also the day my mother was born haahaaa). It lasted one hour, and that day, the sky was clear without any rain. Upon my arrival, a teacher named Emily Rae was present. I immediately noticed that she was welcoming and smiling. We settled around the tables, and once comfortably seated, she asked us to stand up to participate in various games.

The first game involved positioning ourselves based on where we were born, from the farthest location from Bordeaux to the closest. Obviously, it was me who was the farthest, as I was born in South Africa, which is about 14 hours flight without a layover. It was fun to see where others were born, and we discussed about it, i discovered that many of them were also born abroad, there were people born in Asia, and in America.

Next, we had to position ourselves based on our country of origin. It was hilarious to see people from Bordeaux not moving, while an American was at the far end, followed by me, originally from Cameroon, and then my friend Estella from Senegal, and so on. Finally, we sat in a circle, and each person had to name a dish they liked. For my part, I mentioned chicken because I really love chicken. This day was incredibly funny; unfortunately, I didn't learn any new English words, but it was really enjoyable. I look forward to participating in the upcoming workshops.

Good afternoon dear diary

Today, I want to share my experience about my third English workshop on November 14th. It was crazy interesting, and honestly, I never thought I could be part of a workshop diving into a novel (i love reading novel haha).

We had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Lesley Graham in the workshop titled "Short Story Club". The story we delved into was from a book called "Symbols and Signs".

I was pretty hyped about this workshop because it was a book I already knew. So, I didn't bother reading it before the session, but I still managed to keep up. Now, let me share with you the story.

Around 1 PM, I moved out of my epidemiology class, ENQ101, and I headed into the workshop fashionably late. Unfortunately, they have already started. I walked in politely, apologizing for being about 10 minutes late. They were deep into reading the introduction of the novel. Essentially, the book was written by the Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov. As for his history, after World War I, Nabokov quit Russia and went to the United States.

The book talk about Nabokov's life in the U.S. and the story of his sick child, along with the struggles of dealing with their mentally troubled kid who saw hidden meanings and signs in everything around him, which is also the title of the text. This made him feel persecuted and eager to escape this world. His parents had to face this reality and embrace the hardships of life.

During our workshop, we summarized different paragraphs of the text, starting with the first one.

The first paragraph describes the parents' dilemma in finding a gift for their son, who had no desires and sees man-made objects as either harmful or useless in his abstract world. They finally choose a basket of fruits as a gift.

The second paragraph introduces the parents, who have been married for a long time and are now old. The mother is described as having dull gray hair and wearing cheap black dresses, in contrast to their neighbor, Mrs. Sol, who flaunts a painted face and trendy clothes. The father, once a successful businessman, now relies on his brother Isaac with a nickname of "the Prince".

The following paragraphs describe a series of unfortunate events on their son's birthday. For exemple, they are greeted by a nurse who informs them that he has attempted suicide again and advises against visiting to avoid disturbing him.

The text then explores the son's delusions, described as "referential mania". He believes

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