So, I have been in «La Touraine » now for about three weeks, and it's already left many impressions on me…
I have lived with a French family, a bizarre but normal family with normal hang-ups. The daughters speak English and we had to translate constantly for the Néerlandais who where living with us who did not speak French, so we (the daughters, and another student, a Russian named Sasha, and I) have to translate for them. They left on Saturday to go back to Les Pays Bas. I thought them tall and handsome with amazing curly blond hair, seemingly nouveaux riches, but actually vieux riches. They dressed extremely well and spent all of their money (more or less their parent's money) on clothing. One actually worked at a clothing store and the other had just gotten back from a semester abroad in California. During our long French dinners they'd sit there and jabber off in Dutch while we spoke in French, and we'd translate for them because their French wasn't as good as mine and Sasha's, our Russian roomate.
The son, Jules, is never seen and it's a shame because he is very very handsome. He lives behind us in an adjoined apartment. We always hear music coming from there. The daughters are Léa, the oldest and the one I most relate too, and Louise, who just graduated from high school. Louise left on Saturday to go to Marseilles to be with her father for a few weeks. I am sure that when she gets back I will be hearing a lot!
We have a lot of rules in the house. No using the washing machine, no going in the kitchen, no going in the living room, no internet connection, no taking showers one right after another or taking showers longer than ten minutes, etc. The rules aren't really so bad but I am just not as comfortable as I would like to be here.
It not the greatest of situations, but I am flexible, and I am making do.
It's funny because the first night I was here I took a shower and then Madame Champenois came to the bathroom door and started screaming at me, and I couldn't understand her because a) I was in the shower and b) she was frantically screaming at me in a mumbled and frenzied French. So, I turned the water off and halfway through my shower with my soapy-sudsy hair, I get out and find Léa and Madame mopping up water in the stairwell. Apparently the two Néerlandais had taken a shower each and I didn't know when I took a shower. Wrong choice! So then we had a talkin' to at diner. It's not a big deal but for 7 adults living under one roof with a water system like that, it's ridiculous! I take my showers immediately in the morning when I wake up so I can take a hot one, sans a big mess. It's a good thing that I am always the first one up!
Also, the laundry thing is a big deal…I have a shirt that I wore on the plane from America to France that is still dirty in my laundry basket. Mme Champenois is supposed to wash clothes every Tuesday, but with the smallest possible washing machine and no dryer, she has to do everything in slow motion. She will do half of my laundry and leave the other half for "another day", which means next week. It's just annoying. I have been washing several articles of clothing by hand so that I can wear them again. Tant pis, eh? I understand though...she's got to do EVERYONE'S laundry and worry about the water pressure. So...what are you gonna do, you know?
As far as my center location in France, it's lovely ! I have practically seen most of the castles la Loire has to offer and I saw the OCEAN!!! For the FIRST TIME! It was a small presque'île called Croisic. I went alone. The train ride should have only taken 2-3 hours max, but it ended up taking 5 because some idiot threw himself or herself out in front of a train: "un accident personne". I really don't know what happened but with such a vague explanation of "un accident personne", one can guess. Anyway, I got there, ate des crêpes aux pistaches flambées en Brandy. Then I went out in search of the ocean. It was amazing ; ) Go look at my pictures ; )
http://picasaweb.google.com/BulletproofSpirit
I still have a week and a half/almost two weeks here…my classes are sort of boring, but my teacher likes me because I know a lot of words and synonyms. In fact when he can't find the answer, he looks at me. He is a very nice and friendly guy, but often he gets short with the students. We have like 6 japanese students in our class and really, some of them shouldn't be in our level, but I guess they take tests well. I think the prof feels the same way. It's funny though, all of the Japanese have these portable dictionary computers with them and they set them out in front of them during every class. When they don't know the answer to something or they want to know what a word means, you see them go "click, click, click", clicking away at their little dictionary laptops. It's quite funny. I don't know what it is about the French language and the Japanese!! Yesterday we received a Japanaise in the house (to replace the Néerlandais), and she has one of those portable dictionaries. She brings it to dinner and Léa, Madame, and I just sit there and watch, trying not to crack up! It's really funny! She barely speaks French, and her English sucks, but we try to communicate nonetheless. She is an adorable little thing! She brought us gifts and photos and a survey! Needless to say, our dinner lasted for a while!
Léa and I talked about how she didn't think that the Néerlandais could have handled the little Japanaise because she is so different. We decided that there is really no way of comparing the Japanese culture with the French culture, and we left it at that.
And I will leave it that too :)
Bye for now :)
I have lived with a French family, a bizarre but normal family with normal hang-ups. The daughters speak English and we had to translate constantly for the Néerlandais who where living with us who did not speak French, so we (the daughters, and another student, a Russian named Sasha, and I) have to translate for them. They left on Saturday to go back to Les Pays Bas. I thought them tall and handsome with amazing curly blond hair, seemingly nouveaux riches, but actually vieux riches. They dressed extremely well and spent all of their money (more or less their parent's money) on clothing. One actually worked at a clothing store and the other had just gotten back from a semester abroad in California. During our long French dinners they'd sit there and jabber off in Dutch while we spoke in French, and we'd translate for them because their French wasn't as good as mine and Sasha's, our Russian roomate.
The son, Jules, is never seen and it's a shame because he is very very handsome. He lives behind us in an adjoined apartment. We always hear music coming from there. The daughters are Léa, the oldest and the one I most relate too, and Louise, who just graduated from high school. Louise left on Saturday to go to Marseilles to be with her father for a few weeks. I am sure that when she gets back I will be hearing a lot!
We have a lot of rules in the house. No using the washing machine, no going in the kitchen, no going in the living room, no internet connection, no taking showers one right after another or taking showers longer than ten minutes, etc. The rules aren't really so bad but I am just not as comfortable as I would like to be here.
It not the greatest of situations, but I am flexible, and I am making do.
It's funny because the first night I was here I took a shower and then Madame Champenois came to the bathroom door and started screaming at me, and I couldn't understand her because a) I was in the shower and b) she was frantically screaming at me in a mumbled and frenzied French. So, I turned the water off and halfway through my shower with my soapy-sudsy hair, I get out and find Léa and Madame mopping up water in the stairwell. Apparently the two Néerlandais had taken a shower each and I didn't know when I took a shower. Wrong choice! So then we had a talkin' to at diner. It's not a big deal but for 7 adults living under one roof with a water system like that, it's ridiculous! I take my showers immediately in the morning when I wake up so I can take a hot one, sans a big mess. It's a good thing that I am always the first one up!
Also, the laundry thing is a big deal…I have a shirt that I wore on the plane from America to France that is still dirty in my laundry basket. Mme Champenois is supposed to wash clothes every Tuesday, but with the smallest possible washing machine and no dryer, she has to do everything in slow motion. She will do half of my laundry and leave the other half for "another day", which means next week. It's just annoying. I have been washing several articles of clothing by hand so that I can wear them again. Tant pis, eh? I understand though...she's got to do EVERYONE'S laundry and worry about the water pressure. So...what are you gonna do, you know?
As far as my center location in France, it's lovely ! I have practically seen most of the castles la Loire has to offer and I saw the OCEAN!!! For the FIRST TIME! It was a small presque'île called Croisic. I went alone. The train ride should have only taken 2-3 hours max, but it ended up taking 5 because some idiot threw himself or herself out in front of a train: "un accident personne". I really don't know what happened but with such a vague explanation of "un accident personne", one can guess. Anyway, I got there, ate des crêpes aux pistaches flambées en Brandy. Then I went out in search of the ocean. It was amazing ; ) Go look at my pictures ; )
http://picasaweb.google.com/BulletproofSpirit
I still have a week and a half/almost two weeks here…my classes are sort of boring, but my teacher likes me because I know a lot of words and synonyms. In fact when he can't find the answer, he looks at me. He is a very nice and friendly guy, but often he gets short with the students. We have like 6 japanese students in our class and really, some of them shouldn't be in our level, but I guess they take tests well. I think the prof feels the same way. It's funny though, all of the Japanese have these portable dictionary computers with them and they set them out in front of them during every class. When they don't know the answer to something or they want to know what a word means, you see them go "click, click, click", clicking away at their little dictionary laptops. It's quite funny. I don't know what it is about the French language and the Japanese!! Yesterday we received a Japanaise in the house (to replace the Néerlandais), and she has one of those portable dictionaries. She brings it to dinner and Léa, Madame, and I just sit there and watch, trying not to crack up! It's really funny! She barely speaks French, and her English sucks, but we try to communicate nonetheless. She is an adorable little thing! She brought us gifts and photos and a survey! Needless to say, our dinner lasted for a while!
Léa and I talked about how she didn't think that the Néerlandais could have handled the little Japanaise because she is so different. We decided that there is really no way of comparing the Japanese culture with the French culture, and we left it at that.
And I will leave it that too :)
Bye for now :)
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