January 10
[answering the question "why do you hate the Paris metro?]Because my stupid tickets got demagnetized and then I almost got separated from my entire group and lost in Paris on my own, that's why!
I just met my host family tonight and they're pretty cool. They're older, about 60, and they remind me a lot of Darren's grandparents. They also do foster parenting which is awesome! A girl named Monica, I think she might be African and she's 15, another girl named Aurelia, she's 13, and a boy whose name I forget but he's 12. Monique owns the house and Pierre, I guess he's her boyfriend or whatever, they're really really nice but the French do things differently.
I have to wear slippers in the house and I can only shower from 5 to 9pm because of water and what not.
But Pierre likes to joke and is really outgoing and Monique loves to cook and they only have one cat. The house is old and really big with a spiral staircase and a big garden in the back but I haven't seen anything during the day yet. It's only 4pm there now right? I would call but I don't want to wake anyone up so I'll send this and then try to get my phone hooked up to wifi later. (Yes I have wifi too!)
I really like being here, there are monitors who are students around 25 or 26 years old and they've helped me a ton. Tomorrow I have to get myself to the university, so I have to take a bus and the metro but it sounds really easy. I live in the "centre ville" which means center city where all the government stuff is so I think it's a really nice area.
Luckily we left Paris early today because there was a taxi strike (aka traffic everyone) and 3 militant women "kurk" I think were shot and there was a lot of craziness. But I think that's typical of France.
I'm pretty tired but my sleep has been totally messed up and I don't have to be out of the house till 8:50 tomorrow and it's only 10:19 here. But everyone's in bed so it's quiet.
Pierre isn't here a lot, apparently, I don't know why but maybe it's his job. Tonight I got here and they showed me around and we had dinner. They were glad to hear I'm not a picky eater though! And then the kids went and did their thing and I sat and watched the news with Monique and Pierre and we drank "tizane" (I think that's how it's spelled? its just herbal tea) and they had yogurt and I had a piece of chocolate. Also they host students alllll the time. There's some kid who's my age who lives in their basement, it's like an apartment I think? But I'm excited to meet him because he'll make it easier to transition. All in all I'm really happy I got placed here, I think we'll get along really well, they're a really neat family.
Oh and Monique does have kids of her own, two daughters, and also she has four grandchildren; 3 babies and one who's 4 or something.
January 13
I can understand them when they talk to me because they slow it down and use simple words. I think it's probably like having a conversation with an intelligent five year old :p
I talked to the kid in the basement today and he was super hard to understand. Usually that's how it goes. But I can understand the monitors well enough, but again they're all people who know that we don't know french.
I think you mean to say you met dj and natalie.
Tomorrow is my placement test for my preliminary language course, which will last 2 weeks. then after we take that we get reevaluated and placed into our regular classes. i'm planning on working my butt off for the next two weeks to get my french back up to where i want it to be.
Yesterday we toured Rennes and went to le marche de lices, the second biggest market in france. it was like a dream come true. i'll take pictures and post them soon enough but i figure i have plenty of time to do all that so i'm just trying to take it in.
i ate two galettes yesterday, which are buckwheat crepes that originated in brittany. they're good but a lot of the food here sits in my stomach like a rock (i'm sure it also has to do with the constant state of anxiety of being in FRANCE)
but we bought our cell phones and metro passes yesterday so now i feel a little better because its easier to get around and not get lost, and if I do i can call someone.
January 14
His [the university student who rents the apartment in our basement] name is Jean-Baptiste. A lot of the Americans here don't like to speak French when we're together, including myself, so it's hard to transition when I get home. I think once classes start people will start speaking more French.
The market is huge, I'll take pictures next Saturday. I haven't been taking many, I'm just taking it all in for a while.
January 15
I think I just get too nervous that I'll make mistakes, but that's my main problem when I speak.
Today was really fun; we went to this pub where all the bartenders are English/Scottish/Irish for "english night" where everyone speaks english. Three of the monitors were there, they're like chaperones. It was Lola (who I think is really cool and chique), Matthieu who's pretty funny and nice, and Pauline who is very very very French but she doesn't talk that much. My friend Amanda and I talked to Pauline for a while and got to know her a lottt better because we could speak in English and actually say what we wanted. It was pretty great.
I also tried Guinness. If there's one thing I've learned from being able to order drinks in bars, it's that I don't like beer of any sort. However here there's this drink called a Monaco and they add grenadine syrup or something to your crappy beer. It turns it red. I tried one of my friends' and it actually just tasted like a really sweet soda. Interesting enough.
I also tried "Apple Frost" today which was a cider, a thing that's pretty popular in Brittany. It tasted like apple juice beer. Interesting enough, I'd order it again probably but it was a little expensive...not really much more than beer, though.
Being in France and going to bars is cool because people here don't go to bars just to drink, they go to socialize. I've already met a lot of French people and nobody's really been mean to me at all thus far. By Wednesday I'll know how I did on my little placement test that I took this morning but I'm pretty sure I did fairly well.
Tomorrow we're doing random crap again. I don't know if I'll go out. I like to stay here and they say we're supposed to spend time with our families, but I'm really enjoying exploring the city and Monique really encourages me to go out.
Oh and have you heard about all of the stuff with Mali? France is on a high-orange alert because of it.
From what I've had of Monique's cooking it is VERY good but she's been sick so she doesn't cook that much. But even just the little things she makes up for dinner are really good. Tonight I tried four different types of cheeses. The food at the university is pretty good too, but it the bread doesn't really match the quality of whatever Monique buys.
I really don't know how the French are so skinny though. It's hard for me to finish what's put in front of me sometimes, but the French literally wipe every plate clean with their bread. I just can't do it!
No comments:
Post a Comment