Lots of French interaction today.... I was starting to think that I was living in a bubble where I didn't have to run across any more French speaking people than I needed to. However, today made me realize again that we truly live and function in France and interactions with people that only speak French are bound to occur often. None of my kids had school today because it's that every other Wednesday thing so we all spent the day together (except Josh - sorry Daddy!). We started out this morning with some doggie poop on the only rug we have in the whole house! Ughhh! After cleaning up that, I jumped in the shower to get ready by the time the plumber was supposed to arrive to fix one of our radiators that won't shut off. Well, every other French person I know is late but for some reason, this guy decided to show up 40 minutes early! He made it quite clear to me that he spoke no English whatsoever so while I struggled to make it clear what I needed him to fix and to understand his French and what he would do to fix the radiator, he launches in to a long, long conversation about Clinton, Obama and McCain! I had no idea what he was saying nor what comment I should be making but he was so eager to talk about the election. What part of "I really don't speak French do you not understand?!" After taking Max to soccer practice, I stopped in at a little "deli" and picked up some ready made sandwiches for the kids and I to eat for lunch, the total was 12 Euros but I only had a 50 on me. The woman at the counter kept telling me that she could not take a bill that big so I asked her if I could pay with my debit card, again she said "no". She then go so disgusted with me that she took my 50 and managed to make change for it. It wasn't at all that I didn't understand her but I had no other money and she didn't seem to understand that. Later in the afternoon, I took Max to the home of a friend for a birthday party. Several women were there that I knew so I had the inevitable cup of coffee and began chatting. A woman joined us that I did not know so I was introduced and they all told her that I could understand French if it was spoken clearly and slowly. They then all proceeded to talk at once in very fast French! It was hopeless, I do much better one on one than in a group. Tabitha had her friend, Laetitia, over to play this afternoon. They had a great time together and her mom was obviously so thrilled that they are friends and so eager to get to know us that, being the good French woman that I am, I invited her in for coffee when she came to take Laetitia home. Marie-Chantal is very, very nice, speaks quite good English and lived in Germany as a child despite being French, so she totally identifies with our kids. We started out speaking French together and then as we got stuck, we switched to English. Wow! I got more of an earful than I wanted! She told me about her divorce, how difficult it has been on her 5 kids, how she has never been "truly in love", how her parents forced her to become a doctor even though she never really wanted to, how she is now in school to be a psychologist but it is so difficult at her age, how terrible her aunt's adopted children were to her aunt and how sad that made her, etc., etc. You get the point! This was all in the 40 minutes of drinking a cup of coffee! She really wants to get together again so I suggested that she help me work on my French by having our conversations be in French! That way, there will be very few details that we can actually go into about our lives and pasts! Sometimes it's good when you can't understand! When I picked Max up from the party, I discovered that he had eaten a mountain of candy! The popular candy around here being like a taffy. I hope the party parents don't think that all American kids eat like that! Anyway, the one mother at the party told me that she would like to get together with me for coffee, she then said something about work and time being busy and then some other stuff. I hope the other stuff wasn't establishing a time and day because I have no idea what it was!
No comments:
Post a Comment