I knew the delivery truck had arrived when my dog proceeded to bark at the door. We don't have windows facing the street, though he seems to have a sixth sense for such things. I emerged to find a package at the door, and the delivery lady waving to me as she closed the gate behind her.

I knew my SS had shipped recently, and tracking showed that it was arriving today. The package had Amazon tape on it. Hm.. It could be anything! Shaking it gently, it was lightweight. Perhaps a treat of a variety of gourmet teas, perhaps?

I could barely contain my excitement as I opened the gift. What's this? A yellow box? Could it be? NO WAY!

It's the Rosetta Stone language learning program for French, with tout les levels (1 through 5)! Ooh, la la!

My SS had somehow managed to find me THE gift I needed most! Gift wrap on the floor at mes pieds, I had to call my husband at work toute de suite to enthuse about this jaw-droppingly amazing cadeau! It's almost spooky (in a good way), as I had regarder at this in Amazon within the last month (but I don't use the wishlist feature).

To give a little background:

I moved to Quebec, Canada from Ontario about 2 years ago to be with my boyfriend (now husband). The primary language here is Francais, and many folks here don't speak much if any English. Finding a job here without speaking French is nigh-near impossible, so I've been working from home with an Etsy shop while my husband works full time (he's fluent, but his first language is English too). Living out in the rural boonies of Quebec, and working online in Anglais, I wasn't getting the Francais exposure I needed to really begin to pick up la langue officielle (I did learn a lot of food words, there are some amazing restaurants here! My favourite word is petoncles [scallops].. Saying that out loud never fails to make me giggle!).

Rosetta Stone is a program with which I've wanted to learn French for years, as it teaches you the language as it it was your langue maternelle.. By immersing you in it and demonstrating the meanings through pictures and association. It is reputably the plus vite, most effective, and most enjoyable way to apprendre a language.

However, every time I geared up to l'acheter, other expenses happened. I did manage to (ahem) emprunter the first level from a friend, which I devoured, but would need to purchase the last quatre levels to proceed.

Thank-you SOOOO much. This gift is perfectly chosen, and very much needed. Not only that, it will make the long Quebec winter much more enjoyable as we often find ourselves in a small space with little to do (aside from the popular Quebec adage of things to do when snowed in [drinking and f***ing - but after a while you get hungover and chafed]). On top of learning a new skill with this gift, it will make the long winter much more bearable, as I now have a wonderful project with which to wile away the hours.

Je vous remercie de tout mon coeur!

Disclaimer: I had help with the French words (thank you husband!), as Rosetta Stone is a big program that will take some time to complete. In a few months, with the help of this gift, I'll probably be able to rewrite the whole thing in French :-D