Appelez Jerry!

So, Cole didn’t go to the beach. We got into town too late and missed the bus. Sad day! For some reason this put me in a very bad mood, so I just went home and, had some bread with Nutella™, drank some coffee, and took a nap. It was a long nap too! After my nap I got up and had dinner.

Tonight Yves-Marie went to get some butter for his bread and, I kid you not, the kids flipped out! I was almost rolling in the floor from laughter. They think that if he eats too many things that are bad for his health that he will die. Yves starting screaming something along the lines of “I guess it’ll just be Benedict, mom, and I if you keep eating like that!” He didn’t care. He ate it anyway. I was secretly rooting for him. If I flipped out every time my dad ate something that wasn’t good for him, somebody would have to put me in a mental institution! Hélène also took the cheese away so that Yves-Marie wouldn’t eat it either. She says that cheese makes you fat, so old people can’t eat it. She then started telling Yves-Marie how much healthier she was than him. He still didn’t care as he ate his breaded butter. Yves finally just had to leave as it was all just too much! I told Yves-Marie that he needed to wait until everyone was in bed and then he and I would sneak down to the kitchen for some cheese, bread, and butter. He liked that idea, but Benedict abruptly disagreed! I might have to call Jerry on this family!

Commercial:
WHEN FATHERS EAT TOO MUCH JUNK
Hélène: Yves-Marie you never exercise! (chair flies across the stage)
Benedict: Papa I hate it when you eat cheese! (chair number 2 flies)
Yves: I CAN’T TAKE THIS!
Yves-Marie: (swimming in a vat of butter) Shut up and eat your yogurt!
– NEXT ON JERRY SPRINGER!

Tonight I’m using the washing machine for the first time (Big deal)! The entire machine is in French (duh!). I’m hoping that I put the little soap tablet in the right place. If not I might have to go on Jerry with the family!

Tomorrow morning Rachel and I will be going to a protestant church here in town. I was told that there are some university students who go there and that they would love for us to come. I hope I will meet some nice French Christians! Religion in this country is as old as the buildings! It’s almost as if it was something that happened in the past, but has become so old that it no longer pertains to everyday life. Most of the people in the country are Atheists. There have got to be over twenty-five massive cathedrals in this town, but Hélène was telling me that there are only a few priests that conduct services at all of the churches because there aren’t enough people to have a priest for each church. Sad! They are amazed when I tell them about Texas and how popular it is to go to church on Sundays. Hélène almost fell out of her chair when I told her that my college group in Waco has over 400 students.

Please pray that this new church will be a very positive experience for me! I have needed to meet people in this country that are as passionate about the Lord as my friends back at Baylor. I’m very excited to see how things turn out!

CHANTEZ!

IT WAS MEAT! Yves-Marie made lunch today since Hélèn has to work on Saturday mornings. He made pork chops and French fries. He also bought some amazing Chocolate Éclairs from a local boulangerie (bakery).

Today I will be going to the beach with my friends and hopefully see some amazing things! Stay tuned!

LA VIANDE! (MEAT!)

I JUST CAME BACK FROM THE GYM AND SAW MEAT COOKING FOR LUNCH! PRAISE THE LORD! HALELUJA!

Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! There goes the baker...

Today I woke up late because I had no class. When I went down stairs I apologized to Hélèn for waking her up last night. She didn’t mind. She just didn’t know that I had ever left and thought it was her daughter coming down the stairs because she was sick.

When I finally got up and left the house I met Linden and Andrew for lunch. We ate at this very nice little restaurant that served gourmet meals for about a quarter of the price they would be in the US. We had a nice discussion on the differences between American restaurants and French restaurants and how in American restaurants it’s all about how fast they get the food to you. For some reason, this is considered polite. The faster you eat, the more you eat, the quicker you leave, the bigger the tip you will leave. In France this isn’t the case. The tip is already included into the price, so you always know exactly how much you’re paying when you look at the menu. In France the waiters are much more concerned about the quality of time you spend in the restaurant. When they give you the menu, they don’t come back four times to see if you’re ready to order. They give you about fifteen minutes to look it over before they even approach the table again. They also don’t give out mass quantities of liquid at each meal like they do in the US. The only thing they ever refill is water; and even that is limited. It has definitely taught me to drink a whole lot less while I’m eating. In America I’ll order a glass of sweet tea and have the waiter fill it up four or five times before I’m out the door. And I’m not the only person that does that! Imagine those who have the glass of Coke filled up four or five times before they’re out the door! No wonder our country is perceived as being fat!

While leaving the restaurant I had to stop and take a moment. Imagine, the sun was bright, the boats were stationed in their port, the bells of Saint Pierre were singing, and the citizens of the town were going about their daily routines. It was a Disney™ movie waiting to happen! I just knew some animated bird was going to be landing on my shoulder soon!

After eating I went to work out and then home for dinner. Still no meat. We had something called potato crisp, steamed tomatoes, bread, cheese, and yogurt. I was craving bread with Nutella™ so badly that I just had to ask for some. Hélèn thought I was crazy because they usually only eat Nutella™ for breakfast, but I didn’t care.

After dinner I went out to Café de Caen for a crêpe and a Diablo (a type of lemonade). I sat and chatted with my friends Linden, Jonathan, and Rachel, and then Rachel and I went to stroll through the town. We stopped at that church that had been bombed during World War Two and talked about what it would have been like to have lived during a war like that. I pray that I never have to know exactly what it feels like!

After that, I came home and tried to be quite once again. This time I think I tried too hard as it took me almost ten minutes to get from the door to my room. Every time I take another step the floor creeks because of the old hard wood! I can’t imagine having to sneak around at night all the time like that! It would drive me insane if I had to do it for too long!

Encore le FreeCell!

So, I’m still playing FreeCell; however, it’s not because I’m board, but rather because I like it. A lot!

Anyway, today was great! I got out of class early and I have no class in the morning! This morning the professors had to go around and make us sign something saying that we are being placed in the correct level of French. There are six levels, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. A1 is for people who don’t know a word of French and C2 is for people who speak French as well as they speak their maternal language. I was lucky / unfortunate enough to be placed in B2. I’m hoping that it will be challenging enough, but easy enough to make good grades! Stay tuned!

After class I went into town again with my friends and ate! I love to eat here! If you’ve ever been to France you know that just walking through the streets and seeing all the food makes you gain fourteen pounds. I am not kidding you; there are bakeries and chocolate stores on every corner, every bend in the road, and every crevasse known to man! If you ever have to die and go to pie heaven, I guarantee that God will put you in the middle of France! Baguette, crêpes (of which I ate more today), chocolate, wine, cheese, are you hungry yet?, cakes, pies, tarts, coffee, etc… And in every category I just mentioned, there are millions of things from which to choose! The world is yours (as long as you have something we like to call Euros)! If I run out of money by the end of this séjour, it won’t be because I traveled too much, but rather because I ate too much! I should have brought fat pants!

After we ate, I had to opportunity to meet a guy from one of Andrew’s classes named Guillaume Le Ber. He is a student here at the university and loves to hang out with Americans. He speaks English very well, but lets me speak French with him. We taught him some American slang words that he can use / watch out for when he visits the states. He wants to study at Baylor in 2009 because he heard that it’s the best university out of all the universities with whom Caen has exchange programs. I told him he was right even though I’ve never even seen these other universities.

Tonight at dinner there was still no meat. The family started to tell me about lent, so I just jumped right on in and asked if it was a tradition not to eat meat during lent. They told me that you’re only supposed to eat it on Fridays, but that most people don’t follow that rule. I almost said something, but I decided instead to eat another block of cheese. We had quiche, salad, fried vegetables, cheese, bread, and yogurt. It was very good! Hélèn is always a good cook and always gives me the most food! There must be a rumor running around that Americans eat a lot! Imagine that!

Tonight Rachel was invited to go out with some Australians for a guy’s birthday party. She was told to invite whomever, so we all joined her, including Guillaume. Although I would never be able to do this in Waco, we all went to a local bar and sat around meeting people from all over the world! It was so amazing! The bars here aren’t like the bars in the US. Here they’re actually classy and have character. I got to meet some girls from Australia and was told that if I ever went to Australia that they would show me around! I might just do that some day; eh mate? (They don’t actually say that!) It’s so cool to have connections all over the world!

Tonight when I came in I was as quiet as I have ever been, but for some reason Hélèn got up and asked what I needed. I know she was still half asleep because she was saying some pretty crazy things. Instead of saying goodnight (bonne nuit), she said goodbye (au revoir). I got a nice little laugh out of it and walked up to my room.

Bouger!

Culture Shock (according to Cole): The feeling you get when things aren’t the way they should be.

As I’ve said before, this experience is like a roller coaster! For those of you that read my last post, you might have guessed that I had hit a low spot on the roller coaster. If you enjoy (for some random reason) reading this blog, (hi mom!) you might have also noticed that I didn’t post anything yesterday. This is because after my low spot on the roller coaster I hit two high spots in a row; today and yesterday!

Yesterday was a hilarious day! After class I went into town with my friends and ended up looking all over the city for a gym. I ended up in a town right south of Caen at a very nice gym that takes over half an hour to reach. Nice idea, but I think I came to France for other reasons than to ride a bus all day! Eventually I ended up about seven blocks from my apartment at a gym called Sun Club. Sounds a bit shady, but it ended up being a very nice establishment. What’s even better, they give a 10% student discount! I was so excited I almost hugged the lady behind the desk! And if I’m not mistaken, I think she was just as excited for me! Yay, happy French lady!

After the fun and exciting gym adventure, I went with Rachel to a party we were both invited to attend. You might want to sit down if you’re not already! We not only take thirty minutes to find the right bus to get us to this place; we show up at this random building full of people who have no teeth of their own. That’s right; we were the cute little American kids at an old people party! Apparently it’s some sort of club that helps to build relations between the French and the Americans in Caen. Just between you and me, I don’t know that these people know that we’re the only Americans here. Anyway, the party was great as they fed us our weight in crêpes, Nutella (The Original Creamy, Chocolaty Hazelnut Spread™), wine, and cider. It was so delicious, but Rachel and I could not stop laughing about the situation! Just as we thought it couldn’t get any funnier, a guy from the local news came in the door with a camera and a microphone. I just about died! He interviewed the lady that was in charge as I continued to laugh (seemingly enjoying myself, but rather snickering at the situation). He then so gracefully approached Rachel and I and handed us the microphone. You guessed it; I was on the news speaking French to thousands of native French people who are now laughing at me!

Today I was tired after staying out all night recanting this amazing story to the others who did not feel inclined to join us; however, this did not stop the fun from coming. As we took the tram up to Campus two so that Linden could talk to our advisor about something, my friend Alex played hide and seek with the tram patrol. Alex has yet to purchase his tram pass, so he’s been riding the tram illegally for the past couple of days. We’ve yet to see anyone ask us for our tickets, so it was assumed that things would be fine. Not today! I heard a nice old man say “bonjour” to a group of people and when I looked up to see who it was; I saw that it was them! I looked at Alex and didn’t even have to say a word. As soon as the tram stopped, he jetted. I went with him so that he wouldn’t have to ride the next tram alone. When we got on the next tram, it took us to another stop where there was yet another patrolman. This time I didn’t even see him, but thank goodness Alex did! Alex walked right passed him and exited the tram while I accidentally stayed on and showed the guy my tram pass. When Alex finally caught up to me we decided that it might be good for him to buy a tram pass pretty soon!

After the tram excursion, Alex and I went for coffee just before I went to workout in my new gym! I was so excited! When I got to the gym, the same lady that helped me before was back to greet me with a smile! When I got to the workout room I was greeted by one of the locals. He could tell that I had an accent and asked me if I was English (they all ask me that!). I told him that I was actually American and that I was having trouble converting the weights from kilograms to pounds so that I could understand what I was lifting. He laughed and continued to tell me some elaborate story with big words while I pretended to understand.

After the gym I went back to the apartment where I waited until 8h30 to have dinner. We usually eat at 7h00, but Yves was late getting home. I just about had words with him! Actually, I did have words out loud to myself in English that made me feel much better about the situation. I just pretended that I was back home in the US and said to Yves (to to his face) what my father would have said to me. For those of you who know my father or know of him, you can only imagine!

Dinner tonigth was nice except for the fact that there was still no meat! I’m guessing that since they are Catholic, they aren’t eating meat because it’s lent. My mother offered to send me some beef jerky, but I think I’ll just go buy some protein powder or start eating massive amounts of meat at lunch! Ridiculous!

At the beginning of this post I gave my definition of the term culture shock. If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, you might have already gathered that this is from what I am suffering on occasion. As days pass, I notice that things are becoming more and more normal. Now that I have a place to workout and am starting to get a feel for the town, I think that in a couple of weeks I’ll stop making fun of the way things have been. Until then, be prepared for whatever, whenever!

La Vie Ennuyeuse

WHERE’S THE BEEF? Since most of you probably don’t remember this line, I’ll go ahead and let you know that it’s from an old Wendy’s® commercial. As you may have already discovered, when anything exciting happens, it happens at dinner. Not tonight. For some reason the Groussiers decided to quickly eat a light dinner. That’s nice, except for the fact that I am famished! All day I walked through the streets smelling the food from the patisseries thinking, “I’ll be eating soon! I’ll be eating soon!” Soon came, but the food did not. Potatoes, salad, bread, and cheese was all. No meat! I know I sound like I’m whining, but if you know me at all, you know that I love to eat! A lot! Oh well, one night of going to bed hungry won’t kill me.

My first day of preliminary classes was ok. It was a bit boring, but ok nonetheless. All the professors really wanted to do was stand at the front of the room and talk about nothing. I could understand them, but nothing is nothing whether it’s in English or French. There’s another American girl in my class that ate it up, but I think I’ll pass. I’m ready for something interesting.

To be completely honest, boring has been the theme of my life for the past few days. I’m in France, but bored to tears! So far I still haven’t met any French people despite my efforts yet again today in the cafeteria. I went in and asked to sit next to these two guys. They told me I could sit next to them, but when I asked them what their names were; the conversation didn’t go very far. They asked me where I was from but that was about it. Oh yeah, they also asked about the Super bowl.

After lunch I hung out again around town with my friends, but after that I just came home and ate some potatoes. Now I’m sitting here playing free cell again. I am now able to beat the game every time I play it! Yay.

Dimanche

Today was good! I woke up and took a bath (not that you care). I can’t take a shower here because they only have a shower nozzle on a rope and a bathtub. So I sit in the tub and try to bathe while freezing to death! After that we went to church. Wait, we walked to church. That’s right. The French love to walk. Imagine that! And it was cold too! We took the elevator down to the first floor, put something in the car, and walked to one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen.

The church is called Abbaye aux Hommes and is one of the biggest churches in Caen. It was actually used as a refuge for the citizens of Caen during the bombardments of World War II. As you may know, Caen is in Normandy and was almost completely destroyed during the war. There is actually a church next to Abbaye aux Hommes that was bombarded during the war and was left as a memorial. Because of the American aide to the French during this war, the citizens of Caen are very welcoming to Americans like me. When they hear that you speak English they think you’re from England, but when you tell them that you’re from the USA they get very excited! That’s right ladies! I’m an AMERICAN! (Pause for national anthem of the USA).

Today we had a big lunch with a little bit of wine. I like wine, but to be honest, French wine is very strong and hard to swallow! The Groussiers don’t drink that often, but today was Sunday and the day after the day after Hélène’s birthday. We got to sing Happy Birthday in French! After lunch everybody (including me) took a nap! It was very nice and relaxing.

When I woke up from my nap, I went to the university to see where my classes would be held for tomorrow. When I got there I saw that I had been placed in the third group. I’m not sure what this means, but I think it means that I will be expected to learn and study more! This is good and a bit nerving at the same time! If it is a higher level of French, then IF I do well I will receive a certificate from the French government saying that I am proficient and fluent in the French language. We’ll see what happens.

Tonight at dinner I spoke with Papa Groussier about country music as he told me how much he loves it. He is still putting the hot sauce I brought on everything he eats! Chicken, salad, bread, you name it! I’m going to have to see that my parents either send me another bottle before the man goes crazy, or bring some when they come to visit me!

It is now almost 9h00pm (2h00 USA). I guess I’m going to go to bed early since I have to be at the university at 8h20! Good night!