When I was wandering around on Monday morning, looking for things to do while on vacation, I stopped in a little store in my neighborhood called "Greg's."

Greg sells all sorts of things: Really nice soaps, greeting cards, backpacks, shirts, and...

... Tin Tin books in French.

For those of you who aren't familiar, Tin Tin was the main character of a series of comic adventures (comic in style, not in mood) that came out of Belgium long before most of us were born. They're innocent, simple-minded little jaunts that make for good, light entertainment when you don't want to think about anything, and when you're in the mood to recall your childhood (assuming that you read Tin Tin books when you were young (I did)).

Most of the time, in America, you'll find them in English. I wanted to get some in French, though, as I'm always looking for ways to keep my French from completely falling apart at the seams, and practice seems to be a recognized method of doing this.

So, I bought a few Tin Tin books in French.

I was rather enjoying them, and then something hit me like Kung Fu Mike (Kung Fu Mike is a guy I used to know who hit me a lot (mostly in the face (I paid him to do this, actually (long story)))) - One of the main characters of the series is a little dog, and he was speaking French:

That floored me. I was like, "Wow! A dog who speaks French! How do you teach a dog French?"

Think about it. It's hard enough to learn English, let alone a foreign language. And here was this dog, speaking French as though he was born in a French speaking region.

Then, reality dawned on me: This dog was born in a French speaking region. He grew up in Belgium.

So, of course it isn't a big deal for him to speak French. This is just exactly what you would expect out of a French dog.

Reality - She is a harsh mistress.