Bonjour! Je m'appelle blah! blah! blah!

There are two types of native French speakers in this country; enunciators and mumblers (I think I just invented a new word). Either someone knows how to speak to a foreigner or not. Let me just say that most people DO NOT know how to speak to a foreigner. They think that their everyday jargon will be completely understood. That is SO far from the truth! If you’re laughing now at the thought of me trying to understand these people, please consider the last time you tried to speak to someone from another country. Did you speak to them the same way you would speak to me? Did you use your Texas, Idaho, or New York accent? Did you treat them like they were deaf and start screaming at them so that they would “hear” you better? I promise, they hear you, they just think you’re rude.

Today I went to class at 8h20. This was tough! We were given a paper with pictures of an event and were told to pair up with another student to play the rolls of an interviewer and interviewee concerning the events on the paper. During our preparation the professor noticed that one of the Chinese girls had her dictionary covered neatly in French newspaper. This was normal except for the fact that the girl had accidentally chosen the obituaries. I about lost it and so did the professor. What’s even worse is the fact that the pictures on the paper given to us were about an earthquake. These poor Asians! Can you imagine trying to go to China and learn their language with that crazy alphabet and verbs that aren’t conjugated? At least as an English speaker there are several French words that are the same in English. This is never the case in any Asian language! They just show up every day and dive in head first (sometimes into shallow waters). You might think that it would be difficult to be an American in France, but let me tell you; French people know everything about America and can speak some English! They know nothing about Asia and can speak maybe one word of any Asian language if that!

After my morning classes and random one hour break, I had lunch in town with Linden. We have the same 12h00 class together, so we just went into town and grabbed some food. After that I went to my afternoon class (snoozer) and then to the gym where I encountered many mumblers. If you’ve been to a gym in America, you know that the guys there generally tend to mumble. Fear not! They do the same in France! One guy thinks I’m some sort of zoo exhibit. Every time I go to speak he turns to his friends and comments. I don’t think he says anything bad because he is very nice to me, but it’s sort of like being a dolphin in an aquarium and watching people point and talk about you with fascination. “He’s from America! Did you hear his accent? Isn’t it weird?”

Tonight we had no meat yet again! I’m going to start bringing some protein powder down to the table and drinking it every night so that maybe they’ll get the point. Hélène was very sweet and invited my friends Rachel and Linden over because they have wanted to meet my family for a while now. They will be joining us for dinner on Monday night. Linden loves to play twenty questions, so this should be very interesting!

This Friday I will be going to a service for college and career students at a local Baptist church. I e-mailed the pastor of the church to see if they had anything for people my age and he told me that he would love to have me join them this Friday. Please pray that this one goes well! It may be my last hope!