le 1 fevrier

I had a great moment today that I would like to share. I went shopping with my friend Amy for a while because there are huge city wide sales going on in Aix right now. Well, I was on my way home and had just said goodbye to Amy when I was distracted by this cute little jewelry shop. haha I can see my mom rolling her eyes now... yes, I was interested. So I walked in and said the customary "bonjour" to the man and woman behind the counter. In the very next second after I had said it, the man asked me in French if I was a foreigner. I laughed and answered "oui" and I'm sure I had this look on my face like, "How on earth did you know!?" In my mind I was thinking, "I only said bonjour! And I tried to say it as French as I could!" He smiled and told me again in French that I gave it away by waving. No one waves in France. I laughed because I didn't even know that I had done it. I told him "ah, oui...j'ai oublie." (yes, i forgot) and then he asked me if I was Canadian. I told him I was American and he complimented me on my French. *THIS WAS MAYBE THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY TRIP! lol I told him (again in French) that my French was horrible but that I was hoping that it would be much better by the time I left.

The woman eventually left and the man and I conversed in French for quite some time. He asked me where I was from in the States and then we talked about how I liked Aix (I told him how I liked it- how it was very beautiful and very old too which he responded that to him, and to the French, it was not at all old). We talked about the difficulties of speaking another langauge and how he traveled. (I would like to point out that all of this was conversed in French) I complimented him on the beautiful jewelry in the store and he told me that he made all of himself. haha I felt so French as I responded "ahh, oui? c'est vrai?" They say that a lot here when they are surprised. He also told me that Sharron Stone, John Malcovitch and other celebrities shopped in his store before. As I was leaving, I told him that I thought that I would come back some time but I said it using the verb "aller" which means to go and he corrected me. I needed to say "revenir" which means to return. lol I'm telling you this because there were a few funny moments where he was teaching me to say it correctly. Its really hard to pronouce the r the right way, especially for Americans. (When I was out with Guillome and Yyan that one night, Yyan called me on it and would say words with flat r's like how we pronounce it as a joke) As I left, I smiled and said "merci, au revoir" but again waved! lol He said "NON NON NON!" to me and I laughed and then turned very serious and snobby, stuck my hands in my pockets, turned up my nose and said "au revoir." He then told me in English "That is very French." I laughed and said goodbye.

It was a really great experience. :-) I'm telling you, for the most part the people here have been so kind. Especially if you make an effort to speak their language and give them a chance to talk about France.

One more thing to share. The other night I was talking online to Brian and eating a piece of "gateau de roi" the delicious ephiphany cake that I keep having here. (Sadly since the Christmas season has passed, the cake has left too. When I told my French family of my sadness, they told me that they had plenty more cakes to feed me- lol) Anyways, I'm eating this cake and talking online and not really paying attention when suddenly I'm chewing this really tough piece of cake. The cake was a few days old and it has candy pieces in it so I kinda kept trying to eat it. After I bit down hard and realized that I was going to break a tooth if I kept trying, I stopped and looked at the cake. It was the "feve" - the little ceramic toy that they bake into the cake! Whoever finds the feve is the king or queen for the rest of the party. (The cake comes with paper crowns) Hahaha... here I was making a serious effort to eat this little toy. It's a miracle that I didn't choke. I thank the cake's religious affiliation for preventing me from dying.

Well, thats all for now! A bientot