samedi 23 février 2008

Paris

I am in Paris, but our hotel does not have the internet. I will be documenting each blog each night and will posting them all on Sunday night.

vendredi 22 février 2008

De la Nouvelle!

Every morning on my way to school I pray that God will bless the day. Because my days are numbered here, I can’t afford to have a day that could be easily forgotten. Each day must be valuable. This morning on my way out of the door I started to pray saying, “God, why did I even get up this morning? It’s just another day! I have been here for four weeks and have yet to truly make French friends!” I honestly said to God, “God, I’m mad at you! What is my purpose here?” I then got on the tram and went to school.

At lunch I ate with my friends Amanda, Helena, Marie, and her Brazilian friend who only knows Portuguese and French. We therefore spoke in French the entire time. This was ok except for the fact that it was so unnatural. There were so many times when the English speakers would turn to one another and spout out entire paragraphs in English. I was eating, but yet I was SO hungry! I wanted to be with the French so much!

After lunch I went home and took a nap. I also ran by the bank to pick up my debit card. I then returned to the university for a class that made me want to jump out of the fifth floor window. The professor is VERY nice and very funny, but he never keeps his thoughts strait and he acts like we’ve never spoken a word of French in our lives. At the end of every sentence he would say “Ça va?” (In other words, do you understand?) He would then want us to respond with, “Ça va!” At one point nobody was saying anything, so he got frustrated and INSISTED that we proclaim, “ÇA VA!” I wanted to scream. He then said, “Ça va?” one more time and I responded with a forceful, “UH HUH!” Marie turned to me and gave me a funny look, but I didn’t care. I may not be the greatest French speaker in the world, but I’m not an idiot. I would hope that four years of high school and two year of college would somewhat prepare me to understand what someone says when they’re speaking at a pace of ten words a minute. I thought I was going to cry, but then my friend Esther from Ghana handed me a peppermint out of the shear kindness of her heart! She didn’t hand any peppermints to anyone else, just me! God always provides!

Rachel called me earlier on today to tell me that she and the others were planning on going out tonight. I decided that I would go just in case I might be able to meet some cool people. We went to a pub by the port, but decided it was too expensive and went to one closer to Centre-Ville. We met our Australian friends, looked for a table, decided to sit outside, and ordered some drinks. After the waiter brought us our drinks and I paid for mine, I stood up to let Linden and Rachel sit down who were previously inside looking for a table at which we could all sit. Right when I stood up, out of nowhere a French guy by the name of Romain came up to me (a bit tipsy) and said, “You’re American!” (In English) I was caught off guard, but VERY pleased that I was speaking with a French person. Before I knew it, Rachel and I were surrounded by a group of (tipsy) French people who were fascinated with us. One girl, Mandy, grabbed me by the arm and begged me to take her back to Texas with me (don’t worry, her boyfriend was standing near). I couldn’t believe this was happening! The French group then decided that they wanted to go to McDonalds®, so they began to say goodbye. At this point Rachel looked at me and said, “Should we go with them?” I was much obliged! When I asked if they minded that we join them, they all but lifted us on their shoulders and carried us to the good ole’ MacDo. When we got to McDonalds®, we all sat around and talked about American bands. They were in awe of Rachel and me! I felt like a star! We were then told by one of the workers that it was closing time, so we had to leave. Rachel decided to go home, but I wasn’t leaving these people until they knew that I was serious about this French thing! I guess you could say that my name, Cole (aka Colle – which means glue in French) was very appropriate.

I followed this group of people until Linden gave me a call and wanted to meet up with us. We all waited, and she joined us as we went to a resident hall at the university. We sat in the room of a guy named Bastien and talked for over two hours! It was 3h30 in the morning before I finally left! We exchanged numbers and they promised that they would call us again! It was a miracle! I hope I wasn’t dreaming! This morning I was mad at God, but He proved to me yet again that He always provides!

jeudi 21 février 2008

En Calvados Aujourd'hui

I am still VERY tired! This language is making me SO tired! I realized today that when I go back to the United States I will be in shock to hear people speaking English in the streets! I don’t know how I’m going to feel about that! I love to wake up in the mornings, get on the tram, and hear these Francophones go to town! In other news, if you would like to read a blog post of mine that was posted on a Baylor blog, go to http://www.campuslivingandlearning.blogspot.com/. I was asked to write the post by Rishi Sriram, the Associate Director for Academic Initiatives & Housing Administration at Baylor. He is one of the chairs of the Global Community Living and Learning Center steering committee, of which I have been a member since the end of 2006. We’ve had great opportunities to help develop a community that could forever affect the greater Baylor community. Now that I am in France I’m not able to work with this committee; however, this doesn’t mean that I’m not in contact with those who are still at home! They’re working their hearts out! Good job ya’ll (I miss Texas)!

Today I had my Global Simulation class. This is the class where I have to develop an alternate personality and live a pretend French life. Today we worked on developing the apartment complex in which we all live. I got to draw floor plans of the inside! That may sound boring to you, but if you know me, you know that I like drawing floor plans even when it’s not for a grade. Did I just admit that on the world-wide web? It’s going to be an amazing class! I wish I could have it more than once a week. My other class today was my Media class where I had to get up with my group and give a presentation on French newspapers. It was boring! Since he wasn’t teaching, the professor decided to sit in the empty seat next to me; this meat that I wasn’t allowed to doze off when I got too tired.

Some of you might wonder what the professor of my Oral class had to say about the live Bears we have on Baylor’s campus. I mentioned it again yesterday and he ran down to the Mediatech to look online. Much to my chagrin, he came back with a print out of a webpage that talked about Baylor Bear abuse. Apparently there was a group a while back that didn’t like the fact that we have a “zoo” on campus, so they decided to make our program sound bad by creating a website that talks bad about the Bear Program. What they don’t know is that the new habitat cost almost $1million dollars and is incomparable to most other Bear habitats. www.baylor.edu/bear - I will be e-mailing my professor this site!


Later on today I went to the gym and then home to eat with Yves-Marie. We had a very nice dinner just the two of us. We talked for well over an hour (IN FRENCH). He informed me that he just received some time off from work, so he will be joining his family in Britagne from this Saturday to next Saturday. That means that I will have the house to myself for six days! I would have it for seven except for the fact that I will be going to Paris this weekend with my friends. When I get there I will get to have coffee with the family of a Baylor Regent! I’m very excited!

mardi 19 février 2008

Je m'appelle Colle!

Glue! My name is glue! Literally! The French word for glue is “colle” and is pronounced like “Cole”. The verb for to glue is coller (cole-ay). This summer at Baylor Line Camp there was a group of students singing “Cole-ay! Cole-ay! Cole-ay! Cole-ay!”. If they only knew what they were singing! “To glue! To glue! To glue! To glue!” I discovered this the other night when a friend of mine from church came up to me, put his arm around me and said, “hey, je suis collé à Cole!” (I’m glued to Cole!). Thanks Mom! It’s a wonderful name that goes very well with Casper …in the United States! Can you imagine a foreigner coming to the United States with the name Glue? It’s no wonder the French never have trouble pronouncing my name when I tell them for the first time! It is French! It’s glue! Hi, my name is Glue!

Today I had five hours of very boring classes! It was tough to stay awake! I had one class that has around 100 students and a professor that stands at the front of the room and talks about pronouns! GAG ME WITH A SPOON! Today on my way out of class I told my friend Marie that this had better be the last grammar class I ever take in my life! I have not only had to put up with French grammar since high school; I’ve also taken two upper level French grammar classes at Baylor and now this one that lasts for an hour every week and comes with a supplementary two hour class on Fridays! By the time the weekend is here I’m spent! I also had to give a presentation in my Sociology of Language class on the differences between the French second person pleural and second person singular. This is the difference between you and ya’ll; except in France they use ya’ll to speak to someone formally. I wrote about this subject when I first started the blog and told you how Hélène said that I could use you instead of ya’ll when talking with her.


After class I went to the gym and had a conversation with a mumbler. He told me that I should use the sauna when I’m done working out because it calms the nerves. We’ll see about that one. On my way home from the gym I was confronted by a bum wanting a cigarette. When he started to talk I said, “Excuse me?” in English so that he wouldn’t bother me for much longer. Just when I did that, a friend of mine from church drove up and rolled the window down to say hi. I was caught! I tried to pretend I couldn’t speak French, but now I was obliged to speak it fluently. I therefore lied to a bum! For once I wanted to be the dumb American, but was caught red-headed! C’est la vie!



You know the feeling you get when you’ve eaten the last piece of candy out of the Pez™ dispenser? It hurts! Thanks mom for the Valentine box full of goodies and BEEF jerky! Even in France she still provides for me when she hears that I’m not eating enough meat! I wonder if I could get away with telling her that I’m not meeting enough French girls. You think she’d mail on to me? I guess I’m in the best location to find and mail one of those. Maybe I’ll mail myself one back to Texas!

lundi 18 février 2008

Les Yeux Ouverts!

Eyes wide open. That’s how I feel right now. Tonight Hélène and Yves-Marie invited Rachel and Linden over for dinner. There was meat! I had told her that the girls really wanted to meet (not meat) my family, so we had a big dinner with cocktails and the works! It was SO nice. After dinner we all sat around the table and had a very deep conversation about religion in France and amongst young people. Hélène said that we were three out of four Americans that she has recently had in her home, and four out of four of us are all Christians. She was saddened to think that she could not find the same thing in her own country. She said that if she were to gather four French people for conversation, maybe one of them would be Christian, but not practicing. At that Rachel went off the handle. She started talking about how important it is for Christians to pray for France and for those who refuse to believe. Yves-Marie just about stood up and shouted AMEN. They were very impressed that students would have such a strong faith in God. They were very pleased to spend their evening speaking with us.

All through dinner Yves starred at me with a very intrigued look. He was consistently smiling for some reason. This was actually the first time for me to lead the entire dinner conversation. He usually comes to the table, scarfs down his food, talks ninety to nothing about some event of the day or wanting a scooter, and runs away. Tonight he just sat and watched. He sat for a long time too! I wanted to ask him what he was thinking. At one point he heard me make an inside joke with Yves-Marie and he asked me if I would tell him about the joke later. It was almost as if I was his American buddy. Like I’ve said before, working with students Yves’ age has been a passion of mine every since I became a Community Leader (resident assistant) at Baylor. These students are always going going going. They’re hard to capture, but when you do capture them, they never want you to leave. Tonight when I went to find Rachel and Linden to show them where the apartment was located, I invited Yves to come with me and he actually came this time! On the way back to the apartment from the Tram we started to talk about girls. I mentioned something about my future girlfriend being a Christian. He asked me, “Does she have to be a Christian?” I struggled to respond, but eventually said, “Well, yeah”. He then told me that he didn’t think his girlfriend was a Christian, but that she didn’t believe in God at all. Perhaps this was why he was intrigued with me all through dinner. I’ve never talked about Christianity with Yves before, but now I’m curious. Just because he comes from a practicing Catholic family doesn’t mean he actually believes in God. Now I’m intrigued Yves!

If you could have only been with me a lunch today! Mom, you’re going to love this one! After class my two Chinese friends were waiting at the door with big smiles, ready to eat with me. We went to the cafeteria with another American friend from our class named Amanda. As lunch was wrapping up, I started to eat my bread. The bread in the cafeteria is hard, but I can usually manage. Not today! Today I just happened to swallow too much and it got stuck in my esophagus. As I tried to make it go down, the voices in the room became babble. I did no longer understand words in English or in French. My face got really hot and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I finally poured my water glass out onto my tray and puked into the glass. I felt SO stupid! I just knew that everyone was watching. Min was very nice as she got up and ran to get me some napkins. Now that’s a good friend! If I had been her and I threw up in the middle of the cafeteria in front of God and everybody, I would have been tempted to get up and take my tray. God bless these pour people who are tolerant of my stupidity! If you ever eat in the cafeteria with me in France or in the US, please don’t let me eat the hard bread!

After lunch we had one last class and then I went to the gym. I still can’t understand the mumblers, but I’ll know I’m completely fluent when I can! One guy asked me if there was a sink in the dressing room, but when he first said it I thought he sounded more like he was imitating a motorboat. I just stood there and looked at him until I finally said, “J’ai mal compris” (I misunderstood). When he finally enunciated, I could hear him as clear as a bell! It’s funny how that works!

Quelque Chose!

Remember when I said that speaking French makes me tired? Try being tired and having to speak French! Wow! I’m pooped! Today was a gift! I didn’t deserve it, but it was given to me anyway!

This morning I met Rachel, Linden, and Jonathan at the tram at exactly the right time. We made it to church before it started, and enjoyed every minute of it! The songs were wonderful, the message was great, and I could understand almost every word spoken! At the end of the service we were surrounded by people that wanted to know us. It wasn’t like the zoo, but more like the petting zoo. When we stood up, there was a woman behind us who happened to be from the United States, but moved to France to be with her daughter who was married to the pastor who is from Morocco, but lives in France with his American wife and French/Moroccan/American children. Crazy! She was SO nice! Not only did she invite us to come over to her house sometime for dinner, she spoke French to us the entire time! It was amazing! Even when we were confused on a few words, she still stuck with the French! Amazing! After we talked with her, we spoke with her daughter (the pastor’s wife) and she invited us over to her house for a gathering of college and college age students at 19h30 (7:30pm) tonight! We were much obliged! After that we went downstairs for some coffee and fellowship with the other church members! It was Petting Zoo Part Two!


After church we went into town and ate Kabobs! AMAZING FOOD! Dad, if you come to France, this is the one thing you will love! It was so nice! After Kabobs we walked through the market and then to a bakery for desert. After desert we went to a café for coffee and talked for two hours! We then decided to depart from one another to freshen up for our soirée.


In order to get to the pastor’s house, we had to take a tram to a certain stop, and walk about two miles. It was actually very fun! We knew exactly where we were going, but it seemed like it took us forever. When we got to the apartment, we rang the bell and went right on up to a place full of people who welcomed us with open arms! There was food and fellowship out the ying-yang! I spent the entire evening chatting with everyone in French while Rachel targeted the Jamaican girls again and spoke English. She was having a ball! I met a guy named Kemuel from Haiti who spoke French very quickly! But as the night progressed, I was able to understand him without a problem. We laughed and joked all night and then exchanged numbers so that we could meet up some time at the university for lunch. I also got the opportunity to talk with the other students (only two of which were French, while the rest were just Francophone). It was great to have such an international group, but sad to see that only two of them were actually French! As I said, young French people don’t like to go to church at all! It’s very sad! There was a girl from England, two girls from Jamaica, one guy from Haiti, one girl from Martinique, a couple from Gabon, a guy from Hungary, the pastor from Morocco, two French girls, and of course, several Americans. It was such a special night! We stayed for three hours! At the end, we all caught rides home from various people so that we wouldn’t have to walk two miles back and catch a tram. These people are amazing! I’ve found a place to go to church and be involved!