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!

Je Reviens

I must apologize! I finally brought my laptop to the university to update you! Let me just say, this internet thing is going to be the death of me! There are now three brand-new stories to read! I’m sorry that it has to be this way!

Yesterday was interesting. As you may know (from reading the previous “brand-new” stories) I have been sick. My head feels like it’s going to explode. I finally went to see a doctor, and let me just say, things are NOT like they are in the United States! First of all, when I showed up, I looked for a place to sign in. That’s not how it works. You just sit in a room with all sorts of random other people and wait for the doctor to open the door and call in the next person. This means that you have to remember what order you came into the room. When it was FINALLY my turn, I was made to come in and explain my problems in French. This wasn’t too bad except for the fact that I was feeling like hammered doodoo and my throat was inflamed. This makes for a difficult French conversation. She gave me some prescriptions and filled my others then sent me on my merry way.

After the doctor I went home to lay down for a little bit. I couldn’t fall asleep, so I got up and got on the computer (NOT THE INTERNET! – sad face). I then had dinner with just Yves and Benedict while Yves-Marie and Hélène went to the cinema. We had some meet and CRÊPES WITH NUTELLA™!

After dinner I went out with Andrew to an apartment with some of his French friends from his business classes. It was semi-fun. Everyone spoke English, so it was like spitting in the wind for me to speak French; however, I ended up speaking French to them and they spoke English to me. One of his friends, Hervé (you might remember him from a previous post) tried to hook me up with this girl named Alexia. She was nice, but I don’t think it was a good situation to meet her. There was loud music and everyone was smoking. I finally went home and caught the last tram back to my tram stop (Quai de Juillet (kay de jwee-ay)). I was still feeling sick, so I fell right to sleep.

Today I have been feeling better, but I’m still a bit under the weather. Now I’m sitting in something called La Maison d’Étudiants (It’s like the SUB at Baylor). I’ve been having a conversation with a few friends (in English) discussing our experiences in France. We’ve been talking about how annoying it is to meet a French person and have them ask you “Do you like Bush? Which kinds of AMERICAN music to you listen to? Do you want Hillary or Obama to win? I want to go to the USA! I can speak English!” I want to launch those people to the moon when they start in with those comments! Now I’m going to lunch and maybe tonight I will hang out with some French people! On va voir!

Ego

Lego my ego! Today was definitely a day that stroked my ego! First of all, my professor came up to me in my culture class and said, “Because I noticed that you can speak French really well, I want to give you a supplementary article to read if you would like.” I was a bit embarrassed because she said this in front of the entire class, but I was SO enthralled! ME? SPEAK FRENCH? You’re kidding right? Surely she was hearing someone else speak! After that class, I went to the gym and had a nice workout. After working out I had a short conversation with the two ladies that work there. One of them goes to the same church as me here in Caen and so I had the opportunity to talk with her a bit. While I was talking with her the other lady said, “You speak French really well!” Like I said before, she must have been listening to someone else! I objected, but she just kept on insisting. She then said, “I also love your accent.” Now that’s nasty! American accents are not attractive! They sound like a Ford™ Tempo gasping for its last breath of carbon monoxide. But hey, whatever works! It is true that Americans like French accents, but I find it hard to believe that the inverse is true. Who knows, maybe my accent will find me a wife!

When I got home, Yves-Marie and Yves tried to help me figure out the problem with the internet. Yves-Marie tried to call the internet company and ended up handing the phone to me. I was a bit shocked, but was able to understand what the person on the other line was saying. I don’t know how that happened, but it did! ALERT THE MEDIA! After our nice little internet escapade with no positive result, I had the supreme opportunity to eat with just Yves! It was SO fun! After an hour or so of conversation I forgot that I was speaking French! This was ego booster number four. It didn’t matter what I said, he was all ears. He started talking about how much he wants to come to Baylor to study. I then told him that he would need to practice his English. We tried to practice a bit, but the conversation soon switched back into French. He is VERY timid and afraid to speak English in front of me. I basically told him “You’re gonna to have to buck it up cowboy! Ain’t nobody in Texas gonna speak French!” He wants to come and hangout with my American friends one day to try and hold a full conversation. After a short failed attempt at English, I showed him some American praise and worship songs. He was very pleased and told me that he wanted to copy them and blare them on his stereo. He’s not used to hearing that sort of music in the churches he attends. We then had a very nice conversation about dating and having a relationship with someone who wasn’t a Christian. As you may know, his girlfriend doesn’t believe in God, so things are going to be very interesting when they start to talk about his Catholic beliefs.

Had it not been for God’s blessings upon my ego, today would have been a terrible day. I am currently sick and came home after my morning class to take a three hour nap (missing my very boring grammar lecture). My ears, nose, and throat are inflamed like none other! It’s going around. It was bound to hit me! It always does! I found some pain and inflammation pills from Baylor, so maybe that will help! Tomorrow I will try to hit up the doctor’s office on campus!

Escaliers

Seventy-seven! That’s how many stairs I climb every time I come back to the apartment. I could take the elevator, but when I’m actually seventy-seven years old, I will be willing to give anything to be able to climb seventy-seven stairs every day!

Tonight I spoke with my family about the internet and Yves found a code for me to use. I’ve not received it from him yet, but we’ll see what happens! Today started off a bit slow, but eventually picked up and ended up being a very nice day. At the beginning of the day I was feeling down, but the Lord blessed me at lunch by allowing me to run into some of the French friends that I had met two weeks ago. One of the guy’s names is Démen and he was the one who approached me when I was getting food. He just came up to me and asked if I wanted to hang out sometime soon! YES! My words couldn’t come quick enough! I then asked him and the other two guys to sit with us and eat. They did! Praise the Lord! I hope that things start going somewhere!

After and my afternoon class I got my very first French haircut! I look so good! They lady started by shampooing my hair and messaging my scalp! AMAZING! She then took her time and gave me a very nice European look! I’ll add some photos as soon as I have the internet again. She then only charged me €15 (€3 less than the advertised price)! I’m going back there!

After my haircut I went to the gym and then home for dinner. We had meat! I was very pleased! I then discovered the secret behind the lack of meat in the past! Hélène revealed to me that they only eat meat for lunch! Who does that? Anyway, we had a nice dinner and I helped Yves with his English work. He had me read some story written in British English that would have made absolutely no since to me if I hadn’t taken years of English courses. I don’t know how he understood! After dinner I went to a bible study with my church. Can you say hide me under a rock? Four Americans: Andrew, Jonathan, Rachel, and myself, all speaking French (or making an attempt to do so). For some reason it just wasn’t working for us. At one point I tried to use the verb accueillir (to welcome: pronounced ah-keu-year) and ended up saying ah-quee-ear. You should have seen the looks on those people’s faces! They were perplexed! I tried to cover it up, but the damage was already done. Out of over seven years of learning the French language, one would assume that I would know that all words with the letters “q” and “u” make a “k” sound. Québec is pronounced kay-bec and accueillir is pronounced ah-keu-year. I’m an idiot! Oh well! Live and learn! That’s what they say!

After bible study we went to the Lounge Café and met our friend Guillaume. One of the first things he said when he saw me was, “HEY! I read your blog!” How did that happen? Guillaume, if you’re reading this blog right now, please grant me pardon for any faux-pas I might have committed in the past fifty-five posts! I promise you I’m getting better! We had a nice evening and enjoyed talking about French pop music and Religion! Nice combination!

Conversations Intentionnelles

The rest of yesterday wasn’t too bad. I went to the house of my friend from Norway. She and Marie were there with one of Marie’s friends from Mexico and a friend of Julia’s who is visiting from Norway. We had fun as we ate really good tacos and listened to some music. I got up and danced and they all thought it was insanely funny. They recorded it with the cameras on their phones and on their digital cameras. If you see me on the internet, please look the other way! After that we went to some club that was very boring. We just sat and talked. Julia and her friend from Norway (Cecelia) decided to leave and find a better place to dance. Marie, her friend (Eli), and I just stayed a while and talked. After that I went with them back to the university to get my things from Marie’s room and start my two mile walk back home. Here I am now. In my room without internet! Oh well! Tant pis as the French would say!

Today I went to church with Jonathan and Rachel. We rode the tram to church with our friend Carley from England. Church was very nice. One of the songs was called Emmanuel. It’s the same tune to a song called Emmanuel in the USA, but it was obviously in French. The reason I mention this song is because it has sort of been the theme of the past few days. Emmanuel means God with us. When Rachel and I met those three French girls, you might remember that one of them was named Emmanuel. Rachel pointed that out to me. I know that things have been tough, but I also know that God is with me. I don’t know what the heck He’s doing, but I know he is here! A friend of mine (JOHN KITCH!) recently reminded me of something I used to always say: If would be rude if God gave you a passion for something and never allowed it to be fruitful. That isn’t to say that God is rude by any stretch of the imagination, but that if God weren’t God, then He would give useless passions. God is God; therefore, His passions are always intentional. I hope that is understandable! In so many words, what I’m saying is that something good will happen! Just wait!

I’m in that café again with my friend Carley from England, my friend Dion from Jamaica, and Jonathan. We’re just here hanging out and enjoying the happy English music playing in the background. Because I have to come here for the internet, please understand that if I don’t post one day, it’s not because nothing happened, but because I am a bit restricted! I will write something every day in my temporary blog I have saved in word, but I won’t always get to post it right away. Some days I might have several posts from several days, so always look back to see if anything happened previously. I’m still a bit taken by the fact that the internet won’t work, so I will be having an intentional conversation with my family tonight at dinner. €23 per day is a lot to have to pay just to sleep in a room! Without the internet at the apartment I’m not able to call anyone from Skype at midnight in France. I guess I could walk down to Centre Ville and hope the café wifi is on at midnight, but that would be quite a bit of trouble! If you’re used to talking to me on Skype, please forgive me for never being online! I’ll do my best to fix things! I’m an American right? I’ll see what a little American complaining does, but I’m not guaranteeing much. You might receive another ranting blog post, but I’ll pray that the necessity isn’t such!