Je parle un peu de francais!

Within the past week or so, I have had two prolonged conversations in Franglish (but mostly French!) with two gentlemen who were about 65-70 years old.

First gentleman I met was Maurice. I had just grabbed a salami sandwich by the Pompidou centre and was checking out the material at Mona Lisait (Mona read), a little outdoor bookstore. After I put down an English grammar book ("-Look Mum, it's raining! -Of course Tom, it always rains in this country."), he came up to me and said "Bon appetit!" I assumed he meant the way I was chomping away at the sandwich. The baguette sandwiches from street vendors tend to be a bit tough. Those sandwiches are not made for people with sensitive teeth. He figured I was American (I wonder why?) and asked me the usual: where are you from, where are you staying, you're a student? Of where? What are you studying?

I supplied answers: From Utah, 16th arrondisement, BYU, European Studies.

The fact that I'm a European Studies major from the U.S., I've noticed, is automatically a plus with whoever I speak to. And it was no exception with Maurice. He was pleased and started talking about how we should become citizens of the world, and how I was doing that (yes!). I agree with what he was saying. It's difficult to understand the motives of other countries if you know nothing about their culture, history, and politics. There are countless differences between French and American culture, but I wouldn't recommend relying simply on stereotypes to find out what those are.

So we were talking about that, and then Janna came over. He got excited and started speaking rapidly at which point I fell behind. Janna is really good at understanding, or at least pretending to understand, so she kept up the conversation while I listened for keywords. He mentioned philosophy cafes and told us we should go to one. Well first, we wouldn't understand what everyone was talking about (intelligent French? I think not), and second, we don't even drink coffee. So we thanked him anyway and parted ways. It was a good day to have that conversation because I had just been thinking that I needed a little French practice.

"Crazy old Maurice, eh? Crazy old Maurice."
Except not terribly crazy.

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The second gentleman I met was with his deaf dog in a park near my apartment. But before I met him, I was stumbling upon some of the 40 embassies in my neighborhood. In case anyone cares to know, the little Cambodian one is twenty steps from my door!

So I had just spent some time by myself at Rue de Passy getting an expensive lunch (why I don't usually eat out in the 16th arrondisement) and then looked around a bit. I found a few embassies nearby (Madagascar, Monaco, Ivory Coast) and remembered seeing the Sudanese & Indian ones a while ago. So I was on my way to revisit them when the gentleman just started talking to me.

It was very similar to my conversation with Maurice. Answers: I'm American, I'm studying here, a European Studies major, practicing my French. Parisians love to help foreigners with their French and I think that the gentleman was pleased to be able to help me with mine. I told him that I loved Paris and liked French people, and he asked what other Americans thought of France and the French.

"Tread carefullllly"- I was thinking.

He asked if they thought it was small. I said, well yes, it's a small area, but we realize that it's the 6th largest economy in the world. At least that's what I thought I said. The distinction between 6th & 16th (sixieme & seixieme) is slight, and I had accidentally said seixieme. So that's why he started quickly counting fingers, doing the French puffing thing, and had to support himself against the park bench. I figured out what had happened after a bit and corrected myself. Thank goodness for that.

The same thing happened a minute later when we were saying something about months. He attempted to say it in English, and it came out as "mouf". We laughed about mutual pronunciation troubles. I love having Franglish conversations!

Anyway, I walked a bit with him and his dog (don't worry, I definitely could've taken him if I had to) and talked about the plethora of dogs in the city. There is one cat/dog for every two people in France. Isn't that crazy? All in all, it was a pretty good conversation.

A little interesting tidbit about the dogs: there is no enforced law in Paris against not cleaning up after your dog. And since pretty much everyone has one, that means there are decades of poop built up on the sidewalks. (If you're thinking that's disgusting, don't worry. It is!)

Prof. Fry told us that it's because France doesn't trust Paris with its own police force. The city is regulated by national police, and they see it beneath themselves to give out tickets for dog doo. So it's a tradition that doesn't seem like it will change anytime soon. Oh goody. I would definitely NOT subscribe to the five-second rule here.

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise: Attempt #2

Sorry! I just found out that I had posted bad links for this entry. Try these- they work!

Versailles- we visited the inside on Thursday.

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise- the big and beautiful cemetery in Paris.


Yesterday (as in Saturday) Janna and I went back to visit the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. We had already visited it with our entire group the first week, but it was just a quick walk-through. And we had people to see: I was particularly looking forward to seeing Chopin's burial site.

While we were trying to locate everyone, I saw a tomb labeled Durand. It triggered something in my memory and I was almost certain that the name was a composer's. I looked inside the little chapel room but only saw (what I thought was) a female name: "Marie-Auguste Durand." Disappointed that I didn't see anything else that I recognized, I moved on.

Today I just barely remembered seeing "Durand" and so I looked it up. HE is a composer from the romantic period who wrote Valse in E flat, the last piece I played at my last piano recital a few years ago. It made me so happy to figure that out! When I started taking French in high school, my piano teacher was thrilled and taught me some pieces from French composers of the romantic period. It's still my favorite period for the piano.

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As for Versailles, all I can say is Inside: frivolously gorgeous.

Outside: pretty good except for this little eyesore...

Only the Italians (or multilinguists) know why it's there. I think it was some sort of modernist exhibit.

"I remember when I used to be really into nostalgia." -Demetri Martin

From our family vacation at Grandma & Pete's this summer.



2005 & 2007. Two years later and we haven't changed all that much.


Me and Dad


I love and miss all of you!

Bon Anniversaire!

Nine years ago today a beautiful baby boy was brought into this world in Morgan Hill, California.

Today, he's still alive and kicking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER!!!

I hope you have an awesome day! I love you very much and am excited to tell you all about my adventures when I get home. Have a great halloween and tell Mom to e-mail me pictures!

Val de Loire et Citroen

I went to the Loire Valley this weekend and had a great time!
Here is the link to my Facebook album so you can take a look.

Loire Valley pictures

A taste of its contents:
When I saw this hanging up at Clos Lucé (Leonardo da Vinci's home), I thought why isn't all artwork displayed like this? I love the concept.

Today Janna and I were going to climb the Arc de Triomphe with our friend Claire. Unfortunately, when we got to the Arc de Triomphe, we found out it will be free the first Sunday of November, not October. So instead we went back to a cool building we had seen on the Champs-Élysées, which turned out to be a Citroen car show- leading to my other album:

CITROEN pictures

We all thought the cars were very sleek and shiny. Obviously, we're not enthusiasts.

But I thought the face of the building was amazing, as was the setup of the cars.

Address

Mom (and others)- so you don't think I'm floating about the city of Paris:

c/o C. Michel
9 Rue Adolphe Yvon
Paris, FRANCE
75116

Write me a letter and I'll send you a postcard!

La Retour de la Pluie

So yesterday was interesting. It being the first day I would venture out since two days of home rest, I wanted to make sure I was appropriately attired. I could see the sun and the temperature was perfect. So flats and a light sweater it was. Janna and I were serenaded by a saxophonist on the metro (well, we were right in front of him anyway) and everything seemed great.

THEN:
As we approached the staircase up to Rue de Renard, we heard the telltale sound of rain hitting pavement. Not just a sprinkling: it was pouring sheets of rain. Since this was the one day in the week we didn't have an umbrella, Janna and I decided to run for the institute. It was actually pretty fun. I hadn't been jogging in a while (ahem...two weeks) so it felt great. We slogged into the chapel for devotional and only after visiting the bathroom did I register exactly how pathetic we looked. My eyeliner was dripping and hair was not to be rescued. And my poor sockless feet! Darn flats- not exactly conducive to protecting your feet.

After devotional, we got crepes to warm ourselves up (I LOVE the countless creperies in Paris!). Then Janna, Aubrey and I went to Free 'P' Star, the most affordable vintage shop in Paris. It also happens to be just a couple of blocks away from the institute. First thing we saw was enough army jackets to clothe 50 (only 5 euros if anyone's interested!). It also had a ton of dresses and a fair amount of fur (of which I am not a fan). Aubrey and I are about the same size so we tried on many of the same dresses (always a recipe for......well anyway, do not come between a girl and her new favorite dress.) Luckily, we both found a dress we liked, and got out of there when more and more people came in. It is tiny, especially the little closet of a basement.

Now I'm excited about my art history class meeting in the Louvre tomorrow! And the group is going to the Loire Valley on Thursday for the weekend.

Oh...and guess what?? It's raining. Again. Go figure.