Amusant!

Funny! One word to explain tonight’s “crêpe party” would be funny! It didn’t actually turn out to be a crêpe party, but rather a pizza get-together. Some of Yves’ friends came over and we all ate pizza and watched a movie (an American movie in French). Yves asked me if I wanted to watch the movie with English subtitles, but I told him that if we were going to watch the movie in French that I would like to see it with French subtitles. It’s too annoying to have to watch a movie with one language and read it in another; especially since the movie is supposed to be in English anyway. It would be like me watching a movie written in English, changing the audio to Japanese, and turning on the English subtitles.

When Yves and his friends first came to the house, it was a bit awkward. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to just march in there and say, “Howdy ya’ll! I’m the American living in the spare bedroom upstairs! How are ya’ll doing?” Eventually I thought of something to say and Yves and his friend Alexis (boy) came into my room to talk for about two minutes. I must not be that interesting. When they left I just sat in my room on the computer until Yves called me to eat. When I got to the table there were more people and everyone stared at me (zoo exhibit), so I said to the people I hadn’t yet met, “vous êtes?” (ya’ll are?). I was asking them what their names were, but instead Yves said, “ils sont Français” (They’re French). Thanks Yves! I didn’t gather that at first! When I sat down to eat, they started talking ninety to nothing about Lord knows what! They were talking too fast for me to understand, and they were using words I’d never heard of before. I wanted to burst out into song just to break the ice, but I don’t think they were very interested in me. Instead they just talked about farting and the teachers at school who they think are gay (typical of most highschoolers world wide). I also discovered that Yves has a girlfriend! ALERT THE MEDIA! Apparently this is a big deal because he doesn’t want his parents to know! (I hope they’re not reading this blog!) He told me that I couldn’t say anything because Catholic families don’t like their children to date until they’re adults. I hate to break it to you Yves, but I don’t think that’s a Catholic thing! Your parents just told you that so they would have a reason for not wanting you to date people! But I promise I won’t say a word to anyone in the world!

Today we finally got to go to the beach! On my way to meeting my friends, I ran into a guy that I met at church last night. He came up to me and we talked until I had to get off. It was so cool! After that, I thought we might miss the bus again because Linden couldn’t find her bus pass. We went back to her room to look for it and it turns out she had it in her backpack the entire time.

When we finally got to the bus stop, we ran into some other Americans who were headed out to the beach as well. One of them was trying to read the bus map and turned to a French guy to ask for help. As she began to form her sentences, the guy said, in English, “it’s alright.” She was upset as she said, “Everyone in France knows how to speak English! Why did I come here?”

At that Rachel said, “Yeah, it sounds like he speaks better English than I do!” It turns out that the guy was from Los Angeles and is studying in Paris, but took a day trip up to Normandie to see the

Beaches. That means that every person at that particular bus stop at that particular hour happened to be American. THEY’RE FOLLOWING ME!

At the beach we took a lot of photos and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze (COLD). After that we went into this little town by the beach where we found the best bakery in the world! The baker made us fresh sandwiches and served us some amazing deserts. We were in heaven! We then found a spot to sit and eat. While we were eating we ran into the other Americans again. They were chatting with us when I noticed that someone had dropped a brownie on the ground. I then loudly said, "Is that a terd or a brownie?" Rachel poked me, told me that it was a brownie, and reminded me that these people don't know me. At that I just looked at the other Americans and said, "Don't step in the brownie!" After that we took a bus back to Caen and took some pictures as the sun was setting on the city. It was amazing!

Tomorrow Rachel, Linden, and Jonathan will be joining me for church! I am so excited! I hope I become good friends with these French people!

GLORIEUX!

GLORIOUS! Today was absolutely glorious! I woke up and had breakfast (baguette with Nutella™ like always) and went to my very boring writing class. Once that was over I had a grammar class that turned out to be very interesting. I don’t usually like grammar, but today I learned a whole lot! Everywhere I went the walking indicator was always green for me to cross the street, the trams were always present at the tram stops, and I was never late to anything!

After class I had lunch with my friend Marie again as well as another American, my two Chinese friends Min and Yi Win, and a Norwegian girl that I met the first week of school. Today we spoke English because Min is preparing to take the GMAT (test for business schools) and has to be able to pass the English section of the test; therefore, she wanted to practice. After lunch I went to the gym and then for coffee at my favorite coffee shop in Caen. It’s called Le 101 Café. There people there are very nice and already know what I order every time I come in the door! C’est génial! I had coffee with Rachel, Linden, Jonathan, and (wait for it…) two French girls! It was great! I spoke French the entire time and learned SO much! I finally have French friends! But wait! It gets better!

After coffee, I went home and had a quick dinner with the family before I went to the Baptist church. We all had to eat quickly because I had to be somewhere and Benedict had a cello audition. She was very nervous! When Hélène took her, Yves-Marie and I wished her good luck as we waved off of the side of the balcony. After that Yves-Marie explained to me the conversions between miles and kilometers.

Once I finally left the house for church, I began to become pessimistic as I started thinking about how I would never find it and that I would just wonder around Caen all night alone. This was not the case. As soon as I got on the tram and made my way to my stop, I walked down the street to the exact street where the church is located, and found the church right away. When I walked in the door, there was a small group on the other side of the auditorium waiting to start. I thought I was late, but we didn’t end up starting until thirty minutes after 20h00 (8pm). By the time we were in full swing, there were more or less than ten to fifteen students. It was amazing to see that many French Christians in one place! We sang songs (IN FRENCH) and prayed (IN FRENCH) and studied the Bible (IN FRENCH)! It was a dream come true! At church in the United States, I always like to translate songs into French as I sing them. Here they were already translated and everyone was singing the same words as I was! The group was very welcoming and made me feel right at home. Some of them thought it was funny that I am from Texas as they asked me if I brought my cowboy hat (not quite;)).

After the small group, we all went down stairs for some fellowship and coffee. It was very nice as many people were very interested in speaking with me (IN FRENCH). After that, I was offered a ride home from one of the ladies that works with the group. She took me, two Jamaicans, and an English girl in her English car (steering wheel on the right) into Centre Ville where we all decided to go to a bar where my other American friends from Baylor were meeting. When I got to the Bar, Rachel and Linden were very happy to hear that I had a wonderful time and decided that they too would like to go to the same church this Sunday. They joined me and my new friends as we had a two hour discussion (IN FRENCH). There was only one French person at the table, but we spoke French anyway; with the exception of Rachel as she spilled her guts to the Jamaicans who were very obliged to speaking English. After that, the French lady, whose name is Megril, took Linden and I home. She was very pleased to have met us and is looking forward to seeing us again this Sunday at 9h00 for service and coffee afterwards! PRAISE THE LORD!


When I was in Paris I said that it felt like I was supposed to be here in France. For the first couple of weeks here in Caen I didn’t fully understand why, but now I am starting to see a light at the end of a dark tunnel!

Dieu est Gracieux!

I’m tired! As I’ve said before, speaking this language makes me very tired! But that’s a good thing! This means that I am working! Today I woke up early as if I had class at 8h20 only to realize that class didn’t actually start until 9h00! Therefore, I went back to bed for thirty minutes! I was eating breakfast with Yves when I decided to return to bed. I told him that I was lazy and he just said, “comme moi!” (like me!) Fear not little (<-sort of) American brother! Apparently being lazy is international!

This morning in class I learned the reason why French and English have so many words in common. This is because of the Greek language. That’s why the words Biology, Physiology, and many other words are the exact same (except with different accents). It was very easy for us English speakers to follow along, but I’m not sure it was as easy for the Asians! They are brave brave souls! I could never do what they have attempted to do!

After class I had lunch again with the same girl from my class. Her name is Marie. She is very nice and enjoys eating cheep like me! When we got into the cafeteria we ran into of her friends from Brazil. She only spoke Portuguese and French, so we got to have another entire lunch conversation in French! It was great! After that Marie and I went into town to look for French dictionaries. I have an English to French dictionary, but believe it or not, translating everything into English isn’t the best thing to do! Now instead of looking up the English meaning to the French words that I don’t know, I will use other French words to describe what I’m trying to understand.

I received an e-mail from a Baylor regent’s wife today telling me that she and her family would be in Paris this month. She was at a regent’s lunch and asked Dub Oliver (Vice-President of Student Life) if he knew anyone in Paris this semester. Dub gave her my information and told her to contact me! So, she did! I’ll probably go see them the last weekend of this month and finally have some more Baylor in my life! SIC’EM BEARS!

I sent Dub an e-mail talking about how fortunate we are to have such a great university! I like the university here in France, but believe me, it is NOT Baylor! The French universities are run by the government, so the students lack an insurmountable amount of respect for their school! They graffiti everything! What’s worse, they TRY to graffiti in English! Today I saw some writing that said “Moses give him us back!” The French have a funky relationship with pronouns, so this often slips over into the foreign languages they speak. Everywhere you look there’s graffiti; on the sidewalks, on the buildings, on the tram, on the statue of the Phoenix (School’s mascot), and even on the walls inside of the buildings! It is SO sad! They have no respect for the school and the people that have to work there every day! I would never want to be a professor at a French university! You would have to pay me a lot! Also, there is no such thing as Student Life. This means that Dub would not have a job in France! Nor would I for that matter! Americans, you have no idea how lucky we are!

Tomorrow I will be having coffee with Rachel and three French people! Rachel was very kind and decided that she would invite me to have coffee with some French people she met, because she knew how much I wanted to meet French people. I am so blessed! That means that this weekend I will be having coffee with French people, having crêpes with French people, and having a Bible study with French people! God is good! Pray that at least one of these people becomes a good friend!

Ouest France!

Well, today was fun. I had class again at 8h20 and thoroughly enjoyed it! The class is called Global Simulation. We make up fictional characters for ourselves and play this roll the entire semester. My name is Christophe Crétien and I’m married to a woman named Chloé Crétien. My parents are French, but they moved to the United States before I was born. This means that I am an American, but I now live in France where I met my wife Chloé.

After class I had lunch with a girl in my class from the University of North Texas. We ate on campus in what’s called the Resto U. That simply stands for Restaurant Universitaire. While we were eating I saw two Chinese students from our class sit down at a nearby table, so I asked them to join us. They did and we spoke French the entire time. When I went to fill up our water pitcher, I ran into another girl from our class from Finland who was eating alone. I asked her to join us as well. It was quite the sight I’m sure! As we were speaking I noticed two French girls watching us like we were yet another zoo exhibit.

Commercial:
Australian Announcer: Watch the foreign tribe try to communicate using words uncommon to their own vocabulary! Wait a moment! Check out the red haired little fellow! He looks frustrated and might attack!

I finally turned to the girls and said, “J’imagine que c’est très drôle d’entendre les étrangers parler français!” (I bet it’s funny to hear foreigners speak French !) The just smiled and one of the girls said, “Mais tu parles très bien!” (But you speak very well!) This made me just a little happy on the inside!

After lunch we had another class that wasn’t quite as fun. We just looked at French newspapers and searched for the differences between each of them. The group I was with was very intent on making sure that we did a good job. We have to present these newspapers next week to the class and explain the differences. I wasn’t that pressed on making sure that we memorized each newspaper, but one girl in my class decided that we needed to each take the papers home and read them so that we can explain to one another what each paper is like. Please! Newspapers!? I suggested that we just talk about the sections of the newspapers and how they differ from those of the other newspapers. I guess that won’t cut it. I tried to explain that we don’t need to take the papers home and make a big deal out of it; however, this particular little lady insisted that we scrutinize the heck out of them. I don’t even think it’s for a grade! I might find better things to do between now and next week!

After class I went to the gym where, this time, I was not treated like a zoo exhibit. I just worked out and swam. It was very relaxing! I then went home and waited for the dinner call (À TABLE!). Tonight we ate pizza, salad, bread, cheese, yogurt, and clementines (which is actually the same word in French). Yves was late because he was coaching a little league rugby team. Before he got home, Hélène told me that this Saturday Yves would be having a crêpe party at the house that I would be invited to attend! Yay! French people! This weekend it turns out that Yves-Marie, Hélène, and Benedict will all be leaving to visit their other son/brother in east France. That means it will just be Yves and I holding down the fort for the weekend. Next week it will be just Yves-Marie and I holding down the fort! Someone should pay me for doing all this holding!

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!

On Y Va!

(photo of the entrance to the apartment building) To be honest, it’s hard for me to type in English for the moment. I just got done watching a film avec ma famille d’accueil qui s’appelle “Père et Maire”. C’était un très bon film ! Yves-Marie m’a dit que c’était un vrai film Américain. Ce n’était pas Américain, mais il m’a dit que tous les films Américains finissent avec les morales, et ce film était comme ça. J’imagine que c’est vrai, mais je lui ai dit que tous les films Français finissent avec l’amour. Il était d’accord. Maintenant je vais parler en English for those of you who probably didn’t understand a word I just said. Needless to say, it is becoming easier for me to converse in French. Hélène m’a dit que by the end of four months I will be fluent. J’espère que ce soit vrai!

(photo of the apartment - our's is the top balcony) Today I had my first real French class. It was quite entertaining. The professor was very funny and nice as well. When he called roll, there were some students whose names were left off of the list. This was no accident. The first student whose name was missing happened to be a guy who just arrived in Caen last Friday. I kid you not; he could hardly understand a word of French! For some reason he accidentally ended up in our class. When the professor went to ask him a question he responded in English. The professor then said, “Parlez-vous Français?” (Do you speak French?). Silence. I felt bad for the kid, but at the same time I wanted to throw a pen or notebook at him for waltzing his way into an advanced French class when he couldn’t even answer whether or not he spoke French. The next student whose name was not on the list happened to be a girl that decided she liked my class’s schedule better than her own. She therefore just decided to switch. The professor immediately got up and said, “On ne peut pas changer” (You can’t change classes!). “Aurevoir!” (Goodbye) “Il faut que tu ailles” (You must leave now). “Tu es très sympa, mais tu ne peux pas rester ici!” (You are very nice, but you can’t stay here !) « Désolé ! » (Sorry !) After that, the guy next to her confessed to doing the same thing. It was crazy! Who do these people think they are?!?! After we separated the men from the boys, we got to work. He put us in partners and had us find out five truths about one another, make up one lie, and present them to the class for them to decide which of the six things was a lie. I ended up with a girl from China who couldn’t understand much of what I was saying. I don’t know if that was her fault or mine. You know which one I’m leaning towards! I told her that she could tell the class that there are live Bears on my campus at Baylor and that they would think that was a lie. She; however, thought that this was the lie and continued to tell the class that it was a lie. When I interjected the professor could hardly believe that I was telling the truth. He told me he would have to search the internet to see if I was for real or not.

After class I met Linden in town for lunch. We ate sandwiches (the cheapest and most filling thing one can buy in France), and I helped her shop for some things for her dorm. I then went to the gym and then to a café to meet Rachel and Linden for an early evening coffee. It was very relaxing.

Tonight I came home for dinner and (WE HAD MEAT AGAIN) found out that at the end of this week, Yves and Benedict will be on vacation for two weeks! OH THE FRENCH! Hélène will also be on vacation because she works at a preschool. The three of them will be going to Bordeaux to see their brothers/son for two weeks while Yves-Marie and I hold down the fort. You know what that means? Butter! Cheese! MEAT! FAT! FAT! FAT!!!!! YAY! It’s going to be fun! I will miss having the other family around, but it will be nice to have the entire upstairs to myself! Yves-Marie is my favorite person in the family anyway, so maybe I’ll get more time to get to know him and learn even more French! He can’t go on vacation because he is a manager at a Bank. In France employees can only work 35 hours a week; however, managers can work as much as they want. This means that Yves-Marie works a lot!

Tomorrow I will have class starting at 8h20 and again at 9h30, 11h50, 15h10, and 16h20! Crazy! That’s five classes in one day! That’s a lot for someone who hasn’t had class since the middle of December! Here we go!

Attention Tout Le Monde!

If you read my post entitled "Bouger", you know my little story about the old people party! These photos will prove it! Be sure to check out my quote in the first one!

Today I was awoken by a phone call from Rachel asking me if I was walking or taking the tram. This seems like a crazy reason to call someone considering that we pay by the minute for our cell phones; however, she was asking because she wanted to know why I was late meeting her downtown. You guessed it, I overslept. I had recently taken the battery out of my phone and this caused me to have to reset the time and date. I unfortunately set the time two hours behind. So when Rachel called me at 7:30 my cell phone’s time, it was actually 9:30 French time. I told her to go ahead and that I would meet her at the church. When she got there she called me to tell me that the service started at 9:30 but that she was going to go ahead and sneak in the back. When I finally got ready, I made my way to the church and found Rachel sitting (somewhat) in the back. At this point they were singing hymns. It was really cool to hear hymns sung in French! Next they gave communion; however, all through communion the people went crazy. Everyone started to pray out loud at once and some people were prophesying. When the prophesying started everyone got quiet to listen. One woman even sang prophesy (with a not so pretty sounding voice). Needless to say, I felt a bit out of place. These sorts of services are nice for some people, but it was a bit much for me. Rachel said that this must be what it’s like when a country so far from God has citizens who hunger for Him so dearly. They not only meet for TWO HOURS every Sunday, but they go crazy when their together. She wasn’t too thrilled with the church, but said she would return if she couldn’t find something a bit calmer. I however, will most definitely look for another place. Not only was the service a bit much, there were nothing but old people. (COLE AND RACHEL –OLD PEOPLE PALACE PART DEUX (2))

After church Rachel and I went to a local bakery and got sandwiches and desserts. We then took them and sat on the castle wall to eat. We talked a bit and then met Linden at the university to look at our class schedule. With this I am not very pleased! You should see this schedule! I have never had more random small bits of free time in all of my life! They didn’t let us pick the schedule for ourselves, so we have no choice but to go with the flow. Some of my friends have Fridays off, but not me. I started missing Baylor a little more. This was yet another reminder that I’m not in Texas anymore. And Rachel’s not in Kansas anymore (I just had to add that)!

After that we went to the Port and got Linden something to eat. We then sat on a bench next to the boats and watched the birds eat all of the leftover food from Sunday’s market. Andrew then met us here and they decided we should go to a café. I’m a bit tired of paying high prices for coffee, so I passed and went home for another nap.

Tonight at dinner Yves-Marie went into the family room to get the dictionary (he likes to read it during dinner for some reason). While he was in there, Benedict ran to the kitchen to grab the butter. Hélène about threw a fit. She told Benedict that she better hurry up before papa returns. She then gave some butter to me and ran the butter back into the kitchen. Benedict also had to wait until Yves-Marie was full before she could bring out the cheese. Tonight we had pasta, bread, salad, and soup. They’re worried about getting fat, but they eat more carbohydrates than any family I know! Someone should tell them; but wait until I leave because there’s no telling what we would eat if we couldn’t have bread!

Tomorrow I will be going to school at 10h40 for one class. I think I’m going to teach these people how to schedule!