Maybe the lesson was a teensy bit elemetary. The new school season has begun and I'm taking night classes in, strangely enough, French pour etranger.

When I enrolled the seven page application was entirely in French, so it required a working knowledge just to get in the door.

The teacher made us all introduce ourselves, and then went around the table asking for national identity. We learned it's Columbien for men, Columbienne for women, there was la Peruviene, Bolivien, Philipine, several Indien, and then she got to me, paused, announced something about it being a bit complicated, and moved on to the Czech.

Then they came to the guy from Kosovo. What is your nationality, she frowned. Je suis Kosovo, he replied.

"But are you Bosnian," someone asked?

No. Kosovo.

"Oh, you are from Bosnia-Herzogovina."

No. Kosovo. My family were Albanian.

"Oh, you're Albanian." And they moved on while he stammered unheard, "no, I'm from Kosovo. How do I say I am from Kosovo."

At least they didn't call him a Serb.

I was the only English mother tongue there, but it's ironic it's the ummmm (you'll hate this) lingua franca of the group. Well franca certainly isn't the common lingua.

I did learn the subtley different intonation in the 'pel' sound between 'm'appell' and 'nous appelons.' Also when you sound the 't' at the end of petite and when you don't, which always had me floundering before. You know, unlike the rest of the language.