The end of June

I haven't added commentary to these photos (coming on Tuesday) but they highlight some of my activities in Tours over the last 2 weeks. My outside of the city trips will be in separate upcoming blogs.

At the end of June, I see how quickly a month flies by and I am anticipating that July will go just as fast. The BGSU program had 12 grad students living in dorms and 4 undergrads living with host families. There has been a big turnover this weekend with only 5 grad students and 3 undergrads staying in Tours for July. The rest of our group is headed home or to Burkina Faso, a former French colony in West Africa.

We ended the first month of classes (I passed!) and I will have new teachers and classmates in July. My favorite activity so far in Tours is going on walks. Although our dorm is on the edge of town, there are pretty gardens, parks, a lake, and some playgrounds that we have discovered!

I will miss the grad students who have left Tours. We shared dinners together one night each weekend and always had interesting conversations plus one exciting game night including Catch Phrase.

Lastly I'll admit that I have some sort of theater bug. After performing in a German play this past spring at BGSU, I could not resist signing up to participate in our language institute's talent show. Regardless of my (lack of) talent, I found a skit to perform that got great reviews. Wait for the photo commentary to get a better explanation of the pics. I will also ask around to see if there is video. Imagine me in a silent movie or in a scene where only one person's mic gets turned on, and it isn't my mic.

This week we have off from school and I will do some traveling and blog posting before classes resume July 5. How is the summer treating you? What are your 4th of July plans?

Culture - Soccer and Coffee

To fully tell you of my relationship to French coffee I must go back in time a little bit to when I first experienced France and its culture. It was December of 2008 and I along with 2 friends (one from Wofford and the other from Austria) had taken a trip. Our trip to the city of Paris involved seeing many sights and also winging it on some of our plans. (refer to blog posts on 12/27/08 and 1/9/09) The only negative experience I had with Parisians on that trip stayed with me and I have been cautious ever since.

Janice, Danielle and I went to see the Notre Dame cathedral and had finished circling it, entering it, and taking pics of it around 2pm. We decided that we were hungry and looked for a cafe to grab lunch. Since it was December it was also cold outside so I knew a coffee would go great with my meal. We find the cafe and take our seats. The garcon comes back to us to take an order when Danielle has to politely ask for menus which he didn't seem to take well. He returns after a long time... long enough for us to also decide our food choices. We go around ordering drinks and he just walks away! When drinks were served, Danielle mentioned that we wanted to order food which strangely confused him.

What was the problem in this cross cultural exchange? The french love coffee, they love fine cuisine, what could be wrong here? What everyone needs to know is that the French don't drink coffee with their meal, and by ordering a coffee I signaled to him that we weren't eating. And when we were his suspicions of us not being French were confirmed.

(fast forward to the present)

I'm searching for a coffee house or a pastry shop/bakery that serves coffee and allows you to enjoy the coffee there. This is a slightly more common find in Austria apparently, as I haven't had much luck around the school at lunch time.

1) I find a small cafe/to go sandwich shop with tables in the back. I order a coffee because I see there machine. Unfortunately, my desire for cream or milk in my coffee is not fulfilled. Oh well, keep searching and remember to ask for cafe au lait (coffee with milk) next time.

2) I spot a pastry/bakery/deli on the way to school with tables inside and outside. At lunch I remember to go there and I ask for a cafe au lait. She says no and I am thinking she is like the first place and only serves espresso. I say espresso, s'il vous plait. She says no again and then says something..... 2 o'clock. Right, since the french don't have lunch with coffee, she won't start serving it until 2pm. Super, keep looking.

3)All the restaurants near Place Plumerae (see photos Week 1) are expensive but one the night of the France-Uruguay? soccer match we go out to find a bar to watch the game. Me and some other girls decide we don't want to be out in the rain, nor do we care much for the match. And we have spotted the "French Coffee Shop". The waiter was super friendly using English with me. And we got delicious drinks. It isn't a very french feeling cafe. It seemed more like their version of a Starbucks, but I'm not complaining because I was able to return this week and study some French there alongside a coffee (cream and sugared).

4) Lastly on Monday, I went with one of my roommates (a german named Ulli) to a language cafe night near the Hotel de Ville (see photos Week 2) . Here I was able to enjoy a Cafe Creme and for awhile I just listened to those around me speak French and I picked up on bits of the conversation... a soccer match was happening at the time which Ulli and my new friends at the table were watching. This turned out to be a great night because one of the guys at the table wouldn't let me leave after 30 minutes and helped me have a conversation in French with him. It was super challenging but so fun at the end, realizing what I accomplished. When I couldn't understand, this guy was incredibly patient and never frustrated.

Lastly what I have learned from this is that if you order a coffee you must tell them you also plan to eat otherwise, they will take away your place setting and your silverware. But I have at least found a few places to order coffee or I can enjoy an instant espresso at home.

But equally important but more briefly shared here is my encounters with soccer. If you haven't heard about it yet, there World Cup is taking place right now in South Africa. The USA tied England 1 to 1 so we will need to win tonight against Slovenia in order to reach the next round. Also Mexico beat France last night! Watch a game and witness what everyone in the world (except for Americans) lives for every 4 years.

Week 2 in Tours

I'm accumulating interesting exchanges between myself and French speakers. I've learned numbers, introductions, greetings, and some other terms for describing people or objects in a room. Still lacking the ability to converse, I resort to pointing or asking to use English (less preferred but I might look less silly).

For starters, I really need to practice saying "Au revoir" "goodbye". Somewhere in my mind, I have difficulty remembering this. Instead I leave a person and tell them "Bonjour". This has happened twice just today. Bonjour means hello so I'm sure they were a bit confused as I said this walking away. Oh man.

I was at the grocery store to buy kitchen towels. I picked up a pack but didn't buy it because it left fuzzy stuff all over my black jacket. So I picked out other towels and headed to the register hoping I didn't look like I had a serious dandruff problem on the front and side middle region of my jacket. The cashier and I exchanged friendly smiles and then she started speaking to me... Huh? I have no idea. I told her "non francais" and then she started picking at the fuzz on my jacket. This is where hand motions became helpful. I demonstrated with the towels I was buying that the fuzz came from that, sort of.

Another check-out experience, I was at the end of the register ready to start bagging my groceries. The cashier rang up a loaf of bread and a stack of school paper and got ready to do the 3rd item but there seemed to be scanning error. I already had the paper in my bag, when she took back the bread and starting saying something to me. Again the phrase "non francais" and she just reached into the bag to see what I already had, I think to make sure there wasn't a 3rd item unaccounted for. Whew.

Lastly, I was at the post office. "Bonjour, mademoiselle" "Bonjour (smile)" I show the envelope, I point to the word Austria on my envelope, and I say Austria in the way I think they pronounce it in French "Autriche". Got through the "I need a stamp"-interpretation and she tells me the price. I heard "quatre...." This is 4, so I'm thinking : Is it 40 cents. Is it 4 euro? or Is it 80 cents which is like 4 times 20? Other places have a digital screen I can read to figure out what was said. Nope not here. So I hand over a 10 euro bill and wonder how much change I'm about to receive. A lot, because it was apparently only 40-something cents to mail a letter to Austria.

Goals for the week :
1) incorporate s'il vous plait (please) into my rough French exchanges.
2) start saying the full sentence Je ne parle pas francais (I don't speak French).
3) figure out how to ask May I buy/have ____? or say I would like ____ please.

Week 1 in Tours

Well it has taken me a few extra days to get settled and then take enough pictures to share on this blog. If you haven't noticed yet, I am living abroad again. This time in a new country, France.

I should start by saying that Tours is pronounced tour, without the 's'. I am learning French for the first time and that is a rule with exceptions to the rule which I am painfully and slowly figuring out.

I am living in Tours for the months of June and July and after completing the semester I will be officially done with school as a student! It feels great and I am enjoying this learning environment even though I miss the friends I made in Bowling Green, Ohio over the last 9 months.

That brings me to another thought. Often I have been asked how I feel about coming here and living. Very aware of how short 2 months is, I have this strange attitude that I remember moving to BG with. I like it well enough here, but there is no use getting excited or attached, because you are going to have to move again soon. I don't find this to be a bad feeling, though maybe I should be more ecstatic.?

So far I have had super positive experiences. I won't begin to compare life in Germany, Austria, and France, because 1)I haven't been in any of those places long enough and 2)it just wouldn't be fair. People have been friendly. Prices for food, etc seem reasonable. The weather has had its ups and downs but overall nice.

During the first week, I have had my share of feeling frustrated, bored, exhausted, nervous, and shy. As with German, I am starting out very shy when it comes to speaking and using French. Please pray that I can get over this or find people to speak with that have patience for me. My french really is terrible at this point, but it won't get any better if I don't speak.

This post is probably long enough. So I will stop here and offer you the chance to ask questions. What do you want to know? I'll include pictures with me in them next time, and I will tell you more about the program and folks I live with.

Btw click on the picture above to see more, and my comments, if you haven't yet.