The Calculator :: La Calculatrice

One day, after school, my HSHB whipped out a brand new calculator he bought, still in it's packaging.  I left the room for something (can't remember) and returned to him cutting the calculator out with a knife.  

Me: "Are there no scissors??"  For those of you that were about to gloat that France is so primitive to only use knives, I found some scissors in my host sister's play room later.

(not) France (today)

Lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) for me, he's been to Canada for several summers and can speak English very well, despite his French accent "it's great for the Canadian girls."  Whatever, I'm glad I don't have to play charades with him like everyone else.  

Besides, his accent is hilarious.  Though I recently found out that I have an American accent.  Of course, I wasn't expecting to have flawless pronunciation when I got here, but my HSHB can't even tell me how I'm saying words differently.  "You just sound American."

Anyways, I investigated the French packaging of the calculator, and then later, the calculator.

Me: "OH MY GOD THE CALCULATOR'S IN FRENCH!"

Him: "YEAH BECAUSE WE'RE IN FRANCE!"

Excuse me for being enchanted at the French calculator buttons.

He got a Texas Instrument TI-80-something-less-than-84 calculator.  I showed him how to use it, I guess it was his first graphing calculator, but after awhile I got bored and started looking for the games on his calculator.  I told him he'd figure out how to use it whenever he had nothing to do in math class.

The games weren't there (I mean, aren't there).  So I showed him my calculator,

my only American friend here

as well as the games.  Saved him during the second level of Block Dude.  No excuse for him, that game is not in English!

I was (mildly) disappointed that there wasn't some exotic French calculator that everyone used.  Actually, in my math class, I didn't really see that many calculators, though that might've been because I was trying to follow the French math words...and doodling in my notebook.  Just a little bit like what I would do in the States.

I don't understand the math educational system in France.  In America, math is taught in subjects, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus A, B, C, and Multivariable.  Here, I have no idea what is going on.  My HSHB is studying the trigonometric circle, but he's a grade below me and my class is currently studying factorization.

I don't think he's in a more or less advanced class than me.  The system in general confuses me.  Then again, everything confuses me here.  Like their pronunciation of math theorems I know by heart.  You know Pythagorean's theorem?

apologies for subjecting you to math on your computer sanctuary

Of course.  I do too.  For a moment, my family thought I didn't know what it was though because I didn't understand PEE-TAH-GOR (pythagore).  See, the writing (in parentheses) looks similar enough.  Then you hear pi as PEE and plus as PLOOS.  Imagine me in math class.

When my teacher ...
says :AH EX OHH CAR-AY PLOOS BAY EX PLOOS SAY
I am an idiot.
writes : ax^2 + bx + c
Waiting for the rest of the class to finish.

It's like that for each class.  Hearing the French, it's really hard.  It's only when you read the language when you see the similarities.

Except for symbolic languages.  You will see no similarities when you read Chinese words.

I can totally see how that is LOVE