Adjustments

It feels like half an eon has passed since I last posted. I guess that’s what changing time zones, an unexpected daylight savings time, and having to use the 24 hour clock will do to someone. That, and this week I met my host family and started classes.
When it came time for us to go home with our host families, I realized how much I would miss having Christophe and Katie (the program directors) as a crutch to translate my scraped together attempts at French. But Joelle (my host mom) came and picked up Kim and I and, much to my dismay, I could understand maybe…17% of what she was saying. After a while of deciding to take the safe option and sit in silence, I noticed that I finally understood what she was saying! I was elated! Until I realized that she was speaking in English.

At long last, we arrived at our host family’s apartment. As much as I enjoyed hauling 3 months worth of things around packed subways and tiny ancient streets, it was kind of nice to have full use of my arms again. The apartment is eclectic and gorgeous. It is bursting with art. Maroon Tapestries. Theater puppets, African masks, Egyptian figurines. My room is on the top floor and I have an incredible view of the terra cotta roofs and terraces at the heart of Avignon. And I noticed that my bed has a Harry Potter bed spread so really there’s nothing more that I could as for!
I have to confess that my first dinner with my host family was rough. The food was great, a vegetable tarte with salted salad. But I really couldn’t understand what was going on. Joelle had been mercifully speaking slowly and peppering in English, But her husband, Guy, joined us for dinner and he talked to us at something closer to an adult pace. On top of this, he’s a professional comedian and humor doesn’t translate all that easily. After that dinner, I bet they thought that my neck was somehow unhinged, making my head constantly nod, and that I only knew one word in French, “Oui.”
Needless to say, I spent the night wallowing in self-pity. But, luckily, the next day went better. Kim and I saw a final dress rehearsal for Blanche Neige, ( Snow White) a play that Guy was directing and I understood almost the whole thing, I mean, it was a play for children, but come on. A victory is a victory right? I think it was just the confidence booster I needed. And, I would like to add that my host family has been nothing but patient with my occasionally slightly frantic attempts at French and they try their best to help me understand them, even if it takes acting something out to get it through my thick skull.

After making an effort to only speak French for 4 or 5 days now, my English sentence structure is getting more and more bizaire, kind of like my spelling of bizaire. For example, instead of just saying, I need... now I want to say, I have need of... It's almost like now, I speak both languages like they're my second language.

I’ll write about L’Universite d’Avignon later (Yes, unlike my sister thought, I actually have to do work here). Having to constantly tear through one’s brain for vocabulary and grammar is exhausting. Coming up: Liz’s cultural faux pas! Tally of times I’ve tripped since arriving in France: 4.