le 16 fevrier

Coucou!

We just learned in my Oral French class that “coucou” is a popular way of saying hello here.

Ah, I finally I post. I feel like its been a while, and I have a lot to tell you about. So lets begin…

First, to answer some questions. No Cathy, I have not cooked any American cuisine for my French family yet. If I could cook like many of the talented chefs in our family then maybe I would. I’ve been trying to think what would be a really American meal for me to cook for them. My mind always reverts to mashed potatoes. I know my mom is probably smiling at that one- yes, my favorite food. But I am not a very coordinated cook and all of the appliances in France are old school so I don’t know if they would even have electric beaters that I would need. It took me a while to figure out how to work an old fashioned can opener back home this summer, so I’m thinking that I would struggle with the utensils here. So I have chosen to avoid further embarrassment and instead sit patiently, waiting for them to feed me. ☺

But please know that on days where I am being fed raw meat (by their relatives) or parts of birds that I didn’t believe were possible to eat, my mind wanders back to eating at Grandma’s house. The pain is intense in those moments, and I long for the Wasem’s spaghetti, Aunt Abby’s dip (that she makes especially for me) as well as all of the other culinary delights of our family.

Also, Aix is pronounced “ex” for those of you who were wondering.

A few more trivial things that I have noticed throughout my four weeks here… The pigeons here are numerous and they are not afraid of people. I’ve found that the big fat pigeons here walk more than they fly and they hang out around cafes waiting for a handout. One time I was leaning up against a fountain (coincidentally eating a pastry- how cliché is that?) and the birds kept walking up to me, heads bobbing furiously back and forth as they approached. They seriously would have walked straight into me had I not stopped my foot. I’m not sure what the animals of Aix have against me. Maybe they too spot me as a tourist and plan their modes of attack accordingly. Having distracted me with a pastry, they ram full speed into me in hopes that I will drop it. Who knows? But you gotta watch out for them. They know what they’re doing.

Oh the mopeds- as I have told some of you, after living in Aix I now have a strong desire to buy a moped. They seem like they are so much fun. Alas, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with mopeds. They are small and fast and thus can zip in and out of herds of people rather quickly. I have often played chicken with the mopeds here. “Are you going left? No? Right… I’m gonna go to um, I, um… this side?!” followed by a quick barrel roll out of their path. Haha ok, maybe I exaggerate. But I do think that often the moped-ists laugh at my indecision to chose a side to move to sometimes. Cars are like that too in Aix. The streets here are very narrow and often pretty crowded with people. As a logical American, I think to myself- this street is too small for a car to fit in. Also, it would be extremely dangerous for all of the pedestrians. -But the Europeans never cease to amaze me with their driving abilities. Where some would see a dangerous situation for all involved, they see an opportunity. Lol Let me recreate a typical day in a street here. People are walking in the middle of the street. Suddenly, you hear a noise. It is an approaching car. Everyone moves to the side and the car speeds by. The pedestrians flood the road again. At first, I was scared to death of the cars. No joke. I would jump each time one came. Now I confidently know the streets the cars can come down and from what direction. The street that my school is on is very narrow and cars come up it a lot. There is still a part of me that sometimes questions if me and a car will both fit in the street at the same time- especially at the top (it tapers and is even narrower). The French always answer that question with a yes, and zoom up RIGHT beside me. Another thing about the roads is some of them have these little posts in the middle of the street that attempt to slow traffic. As a car stops at the little light, the car is sensed and the little posts recede into the ground. The car passes, and they spring back up. It’s kinda cool in my opinion.

Alright, now onto more interesting topics…


My Archeology Teacher.

This is a post that I have been longing to write since my first archeology class. I don’t pretend to have an incredible interest in archeology. When I was signing up for classes I looked for opportunities to travel and also looked for classes that I figured would be interesting. So, I’m taking archeology and I couldn’t be happier. The class is taught by this young French teacher. He is absolutely, positively HILARIOUS. The class is taught in English and his accent is very strong. For those of you who are familiar with Father of the Bride think back to Frank (pronounced Fraunk). It’s kinda like that. I am continually impressed with his ability to make English sound like French. He is really funny anyways so add in the accent and he is a riot. We’re always wondering what he’s going to say next. Often in class I take more notes on what the phrases he has said than the actual material for class. SIDENOTE TO PARENTS: I AM FOCUSING ON THE LESSON AS WELL. :-D Lets go through some of the gems that he has said…

First off: The Affirmations…
In order to check his English, after almost every word he says we hear…

-yes?
-that’s ok?
-that’s logical?
-yes- you agree?
-that makes sense?
-yes, that’s fine?

Moving on to some truly great pronunciations/phrases….
I hope these don’t end up being one of those “you had to be there” kinds of thing, and it’s hard to type out how they sound. Just know, its funny to see which syllable he’s going to emphasize each time. Also, words seem to suddenly take on more syllables.

(Often the h is silent which makes sense because the French don’t pronounce it but its often funny to hear continually…) ‘elpful, ‘aven’t
-o- cured (occurred)
-veg-JET-tables (vegetables)
-I. D. (idea) as in “just to give you an I.D. (idea)…
-care-ACT-o-rized (characterized)
-un-AL-eezed (analyzed)
-inter-PRETING (interpreting)
- arpoo (harpoons)
- teef (teeth) the “th” is always pronounced as an f- understandably hard for them
-ans-WERE (answer)
-ca-MENT-aries (cemeteries)
-knowl-EDGES (knowledge) things often get “s”es that don’t have an s
-at (ate)
-peezants (peasants)
-soap (soup)
-fir (fear)
- to afraid the animals (to scare the animals)
-ma-moof (mammoth)
-lab-or-AT-ory (laboratory)
-when the tree was bornt (born)
-huge fire forests (huge forest fires)

The Quotes…. (it was hard to regain composure in class after hearing these)

(talking about cannibalism and religion- and being totally serious) “Isn’t that one of the ten? Isn’t that one of the ten commandments- not to eat your wife?”

(also on the topic of cannibalism) “Ok, so Grandmofer iz lying by the fire- she iz not moving, not reading stories to the children… pfff…ok, time to barbeque.”

(explaining why the caveman in the ice didn’t decompose) “the bacteries (bacteria) couldn’t wake up and eat him. “

(momentary loss for English- talking about different objects to make jewelry with) “You can have… a lot of words I don’t know how to say”


After writing these and rereading them, I realize that I cannot recapture the hilarity of these comments. Just know that they are great. Maybe I should record one of his classes for all of you… its truly a treat.

Next topic….



Valentine’s Day in France

So yesterday was Valentine’s Day. All of the American students obviously saw this as a great opportunity to buy gifts for our awesome host families. I, being one of them, eagerly bought my host mom a lovely tin of cookies and a box of chocolates for each of the boys. On Valentine’s Day, I walked into the living room and presented Guillaume his gift, smiled and wished him a happy Valentine’s Day. He looked a little confused but I thought it was just because he didn’t expect anything from me. Isabelle came into the room from the kitchen and I gave her the tin. She looked very surprised. She thanked me and after a minute she asked me in French if Americans give their family Valentine’s Day gifts. I said yes and she laughed. In France, Valentine’s Day is only for people in a romantic relationship. Hahaha Hence their surprise. They were both very happy to get the gifts, but very shocked. Isabelle loved it because she didn’t have a valentine this year after having broken up with her live in boyfriend not too long ago. She didn’t stop smiling. I felt a little awkward having bought my French brothers chocolates, which was obviously seen as a flirtatious move. Haha- oh but it gets better. I still had to give Maxime his gift. I now knew that it would be misinterpreted. Later Maxime was in the kitchen and I presented him with his box and hesitantly wished him a happy Valentine’s day. He also looked a little surprised and gave me a smile. Lol Isabelle quickly told him that in the United States, the family gets Vday gifts too. Hahaha- So I totally hit on my two French brothers by giving them gifts. AWKWARD! So typical of my life, especially here. Flash forward to later that night when Guillaume and a friend were driving me to Ashley’s house. As I got into the car, Guillaume’s friend- who I had met before- smiled at me and said “Happy Valentine’s Day!” and I said the same thing back. Of course, the two boys started laughing. Guillaume said “Kelly- its only for people dating!” (his friend was obviously teasing me) and I said, yes after today’s events- I know this now. They both laughed. Then his friend (who is really nice) started asking me if I had a “petit ami” back home. Knowing its too difficult to translate “yes but it’s complicated” I just said yes and then answered all of his questions. He kept switching back and forth from English and French. Right as I am getting out of the car, he says “ Don’t be sad that your boyfriend is not here- someday us will get married and have the children.” Me, now extremely confused, asked him “You and me? We will get married and have the children?” Guillaume started cracking up and his friend just looked really confused. Guillaume explained that he had said the equivalent of “nous” to me and then his friend started laughing too. He said “No- I meant you and your boyfriend. But sure, maybe someday we will get married.”

Please take a moment and relish the awkwardness of my life. Not only did I hit on both of my French brothers yesterday, but also their friend.

Hahaha- all you can do is laugh. I pity the kids here who don’t have a sense of humor. Except I think I have more embarrassing moments than most- leave it to me.

Moving on…



Teaching at the French School

I am also in a comparative education class here. Part of the course requirement is teaching an English class at a French elementary school. Ashley and I teach a class together and today was our first day. The class we are teaching has students who are 8-10 years old. Luckily last night I told Isabelle our lesson plan and she told me that she thought we had too much material for one class. We changed our lesson and broke it up into two. For the first lesson we had the students pick American names. We also worked on “Hello. My name is _____. I am ___ years old. I go to St. Catherine’s (their school)” and the questions that correspond with meeting someone.

After our class today, Ashley and I couldn’t stop gushing about how cute the kids were. They were adorable- tres mignon! I was nervous before we began, because I was worried that my French wouldn’t hold up. We came into the classroom and the kids were filing in from recess. They all told us “Hello” or “Bonjour” and sat down. “La maitress” their teacher gave us an introduction and then Ashley and I explained our classroom rules to them in French. After we were done, the teacher asked the class what we said the rules were. Hands shot up and they answered her. Then Ashley and I introduced ourselves in English. After we were done, the teacher again asked the students what we said we liked to do. They responded to her in French. It was really cute- some kept repeating what the others said. After that we started by acting out how you say hello to someone. Ashley would say something and then say the French equivalent. The teacher sternly told her not to translate. As we acted out our introductions, we told them that in the United States we don’t do the bissou but rather shake hands. There were some giggles at that one. After we showed them how we say hello, we went around the room and had them say “Nice to meet you” and their ages one by one. They really found it hard to say “years.” The y is a challenge for them. Then we had them pick their new names. First we pronounced all of them in English. Katie, Lindsey, Amanda, Amy, Beth, Rachel, Lauren, Sarah, Anna, Kelsey… etc and Tommy, Kyle, Brian, Matt, Mike, Dylan, Pat, Kevin, Mark…. You get the point. Haha note how many of those are friends or family members of mine. Anyways, Beth was pronounced “Bet” and though the girls loved the name Rachel, none of them could say it. The boys were also excited and really liked Pat and Tommy. After they picked, they filled out a passport paper we had made for them. They drew a picture of themselves and wrote My name is (their new name). I am __ years old. I go to St. Catherines. Next week we are going to do “I like” and “I dislike” which they will also fill out on the passports. They kids really liked us because we were friendlier and more encouraging than their teacher. I don’t know if many of you know this (and I’m sure I’ll discuss this in further detail another blog post) but the education system is very rigid in France. The kids are used to being compared to one another and drilled for memorization. So I think an hour with some nice American students was a good reprieve for them.

I think that teaching this class will become one of my most fulfilling experiences here in Aix and a very important part of my study of the French culture.

Alright, this was a marathon posting session and I think I’ve given a pretty good conclusion of this past week. I will try to post more regularly so you guys don’t have such a long post to read. Hope you enjoyed it and that everything is going well for all of you! Hope that snow melts away. Not that I would know what that’s like. I went for a run today in short sleeves- it was so sunny!! ;-) Sorry, this is my revenge for the kids at U of I who rubbed it in my face that they had two snow days…

Much love.