Après-Midi

I’m back in the café that has internet. It’s called “The Lounge Café”. They’re very nice here! I just wish the café were free! Mom, send café money! I’m just kidding! It’s been a blessing to come here all the time. They play good music and have very comfortable seats! They even have pillows! I just want to throw them at someone when they walk in the door.

Yesterday I had a class called “Civilization”. We learned about women’s rights in France. In order to ensure that we fully understood what he was saying, the professor drew the female anatomy on the board as well as a condom. My friend Min from China didn’t quite understand, so I just leaned in and said in English “IT’S A CONDOM!” She speaks English, so she fully understood. She then went on to draw one in her notebook for her own reference. It was funny.

After class I went home for dinner. It was a fun dinner as I explained to the entire family my issues with meeting French people. They enjoyed the stories and were very nice to tell me that it wasn’t my fault, but that French people are just very hard to meet. Hélène and Yves-Marie move a lot because of his job, so they’re used to having to deal with this issue. They said that when they came to Caen, they had all of their neighbors over for a party and not one of them called them back or invited them to their place. That’s apparently how it is here in Normandy! Hélène said that she was tired of making an effort, but that since I’m young, I have a better chance. She’s right! Last night ended up proving that making an effort is worthwhile!

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I was approached by a crazy French student exclaiming in English, “YOU ARE AMÉRICAIN!” That same student and his friends invited me over to their resident hall to hang out for the evening. Rachel was invited as well, so we went and spoke French for over three hours! Before that Rachel and I had gone out into town to find French people. We ended up in some random bar by the university where we sat AT the bar next to some old balding drunk man and ordered hot chocolate. It was quite the show! We were glad when some real French people called us! Because Rachel had class this morning at 8h20, she felt the need to leave at around 2h00. (WHO DOES THAT?) Right before she left she said to me, “I know you’re in Heaven and all, but what time to you think you’re going to head out?” I then responded, “I’m closing the place down!” I was right! The place was well closed when I left. Before I left, I was invited to have dinner with them next week some time. They want to get Rachel, Linden, and I together to cook for us! I have a feeling that if I’m persistent, I will finally have real friends in France! PRAY HARD!

After hanging out with the Francophones, I went home and crashed. When I tried to wake up this morning I ended up pushing the snooze button too many times and had to cut my daily twenty minutes of Nutell™ heaven in half. Oh well. I went to my grammar class and enjoyed three hours of pronominal verbs. (AHHH!) Now I’m back in the café talking to you! I hope things are going well in your domain! Keep me updated!