I also feel that I should that I am reading Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason in french, and I am going to do my darndest to note important phrases, words and passages so that I may begin to speak like Bridget Jones - in french. May I have the patience to note them here on occasion.
To have the inflection of Bridget Jones is just a semi-ridiculous and irrelevant nuance that I feel its time my french should have.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
An italian, a mexican, and austrian, an english person and an american walk into a bar....
I don't know what will happen, but it might be cool - and I will get to see it firsthand b/c for the month of october, if not for more, I will be living with a bunch of foreigners. Hopefully I will find some people who will only speak french to me. I think I can count on the Calderos, and Solene, who I will hopefully see more often than never, not to speak english to me.
Speaking of the Caldero's - I'm going to speak in Solene's (the caldero's 11 year old daughter, who also happens to have my birthday) english class. Her teacher is irish, and says that not many of the kids know that americans are friendly after this whole war-business. Ok, cool, whatever, I will be an ambassador to a whole generation of frenchies. I think I'm also going b/c they don't know what school uniforms are like in America and that's the unit they're studying in english class.
Whatever, I love it.
I had the serious blues yesterday afternoon -- we're talking teary-eyed stares at reflections of cathedrals in the river kind of blues. I think I was just overwhelmed with myself trying to be all i can be and coming up a little short 2 weeks or so into the whole kit-n-caboodle of france, europe, travel, living, speaking, eating and having the occasional coffee.
Its just overwhelming and I can't find any folders to buy. Nor can i find an appartment. I'm not sure how i want to fly with that, b/c living for 50 bucks a month is like, sortof a wow factor. We'll just see about the quality of life, etc....maybe I can rent a place for like 3 months at the end of the stretch and really get to know Lyon as a Lyonaisse then, and save up? Do I need to save up? And so the questions in my head begin and I have no answers for them, and i subsequently go a little bit spazzy/crazy. Nothing a coffee and an Erasmus party (= DANCING) can't fix.
My roomates are all very cute and I think we shall really have a time of it once everyone's settled and we all know each other's personalities. I'm just the spazzy american, and that's ok by me, eh? I hope to chill with some american assistants as time goes by - we'll just see what develops. I've sortof given up on taking life in my own hands for the time being as its all in the french bureaucracy's! But soon it will be mine again and I shall go to other countries and be a spazzy american to them.
The oktoberfest for a day plan may be a little dumb. We'll see about the price though!
Ok, I'm going to get some coconut yogurt and think about going to Lyon tonight.
Speaking of the Caldero's - I'm going to speak in Solene's (the caldero's 11 year old daughter, who also happens to have my birthday) english class. Her teacher is irish, and says that not many of the kids know that americans are friendly after this whole war-business. Ok, cool, whatever, I will be an ambassador to a whole generation of frenchies. I think I'm also going b/c they don't know what school uniforms are like in America and that's the unit they're studying in english class.
Whatever, I love it.
I had the serious blues yesterday afternoon -- we're talking teary-eyed stares at reflections of cathedrals in the river kind of blues. I think I was just overwhelmed with myself trying to be all i can be and coming up a little short 2 weeks or so into the whole kit-n-caboodle of france, europe, travel, living, speaking, eating and having the occasional coffee.
Its just overwhelming and I can't find any folders to buy. Nor can i find an appartment. I'm not sure how i want to fly with that, b/c living for 50 bucks a month is like, sortof a wow factor. We'll just see about the quality of life, etc....maybe I can rent a place for like 3 months at the end of the stretch and really get to know Lyon as a Lyonaisse then, and save up? Do I need to save up? And so the questions in my head begin and I have no answers for them, and i subsequently go a little bit spazzy/crazy. Nothing a coffee and an Erasmus party (= DANCING) can't fix.
My roomates are all very cute and I think we shall really have a time of it once everyone's settled and we all know each other's personalities. I'm just the spazzy american, and that's ok by me, eh? I hope to chill with some american assistants as time goes by - we'll just see what develops. I've sortof given up on taking life in my own hands for the time being as its all in the french bureaucracy's! But soon it will be mine again and I shall go to other countries and be a spazzy american to them.
The oktoberfest for a day plan may be a little dumb. We'll see about the price though!
Ok, I'm going to get some coconut yogurt and think about going to Lyon tonight.
Some semi exciting photos?
Hey, picture time!
I hate being so pressed for time, as well as being pretty much unable to create any posts with any nuances or interesting turns of phrase or whatnot, but it seems to be symptomatic of france.
I just read the Riverfront Times Best of 2006 and I hope you lucky kids get to go to some of those places...I'm happy to see that RFT has good taste and chose some good places that I too can appreciate and have appreciated, and will appreciate well into posterity.
The RFT is excited about STL, and rightly so.
But pictures!
I havn't really had the chance to be very awesome and take lots of pictures b/c well, c'est la vie. Come to france and you will see....
I hate being so pressed for time, as well as being pretty much unable to create any posts with any nuances or interesting turns of phrase or whatnot, but it seems to be symptomatic of france.
I just read the Riverfront Times Best of 2006 and I hope you lucky kids get to go to some of those places...I'm happy to see that RFT has good taste and chose some good places that I too can appreciate and have appreciated, and will appreciate well into posterity.
The RFT is excited about STL, and rightly so.
But pictures!
I havn't really had the chance to be very awesome and take lots of pictures b/c well, c'est la vie. Come to france and you will see....
--- enchanting views from 600 year old appartments.....
.....and my dorm room.
It's an apt study in contrast. In good news I went to an Erasmus party (Erasmus is the European Union's effort to encourage happy EU relations through student university exchanges and studies, and mostly...PARTIES. I'm happy to say that in addition to the most annoying techno ever, they played "Think" and "Soul Man." After the occasional top 40 rap song from 2002, I don't think I have ever wanted to hear "Golddigger" more in my life. Save me kanye!More, as always, later!
Monday, September 25, 2006
...and by left I mean right
Yeah, I forgot to draw all the graffiti on the left side of the bridge...so in case you can't see it, look to the right (the river is the Saone)! We'll see if I can't create this picture in real life someday soon! MS paint is the bomb, ps. Did you know that MSN talk is free, and it works like skype...I may just have to save 2 cents a minute with that baby, though MSN messenger seems a bit low brow to me.
I just joined this semi-paid craigslist thing, and it looks like it might find me an appartment. This is good news. The banks are closed today, so I have to save my bank bravery for tomorrow...surely they have some youth package deal that will make life easy for everyone.
I hope all the assistants and whoever come here without too much trauma. So far life's been pretty good to me, though! Knock on wood and all that business, but yeah.
I really hope someday to be witty and poignant in these blogs, but for now, since I'm doing this after all sorts of internet business, I'm just feeling the need to post, but not the need to be a poet. That can be for laters.
And now for some bullet pointing:
- I met up with this lady Magdeleine and her daughter Camille to see if I am the one who gets to hang out with Camille and speak english! It could be fun, and I could totally get into this english+babysitting deal.
- I randomly went into this storefront that had a word that I think means "introduce you to/discover" in reference to lyon, and I met all these nice people and they were like, join the youth group, you'll have all sorts of friends/parties, and its not a cult or anything! Its some sortof "get acquainted with your new city" thing for france, but Lyon has an international branch, and I happened to walk into it. Neato. I met a lovely lady named Francoise who invited me to her apt. for coffee and she and her daughter gave me some appartment finding tips - they said it was going to be hard, but they were MEGA sweet. And their appartment so cute! They also told me that there's a big old french pop star (who I imagine is like, the french britney spears) and her name is Lori and all the young girls in the land wish their name was Lori. Francoise also said that when I came in with my cute outfit and my pink purse it was very much the fashion of "lori" and she thought it was so charming - and I was like, cool, I am pop star-esque. This cannot be a bad thing.
- Oh, i met up with a missourian dude who's going to be an assistant and subsequently got locked out of my room in arab ghetto lyon. Can anyone think of a cute nickname for my ghetto home? Potential Riot Land? PRL? Anyone? Submit your answers.
I did get rescued by the gallant Agnes, who is awesome and I love her family - they're really the coolest. I got back and we talked about the Purvines and whatnot and it was super lovely, actually. Here's what I wrote:
20.Sept.2006
Had a lovely talk (in French) with the precious Calderos. They like the Big Lebowski, we are totally friends. We talked about my cat, my big family, Mormons, Morteau (lots of snow), Edna Purviance and other things. After they saved me from my locked door at midnight sticky situation. Oh la la. Had lovely time with jetlag mike from JeffCo - he's a nice boy and will be a nice friend! Oh! And tomorrow I ill meet a family pour voir si I could babysit their daughter on wednesday afternoons! I hope that works out, I'd like to hang out and speak french with a real french kid! And she goes to dance class so hey, that is really cool. Fun fun fun meeting french people. I hope al lmy paperwork birth certificate translating and band account getting will work out. And that i will find an appartment soon! And that they don't need my soscial security card nor do they require that my carte de sejour be processed within a week of my arrival. Oh la la. FUn night. I like people.
Ok so that was a departure from coherence, but there you have it. Straight from my black leather notepad.
Anyway, it was very 007 waiting for Agnes to come get me from my 60s architecture dystopia. Like, I was in a video game. You can bet I had my keys in my fingers and had my killer instincts on, though I was gated in, so technically fine - but there are not spikes on those gates. Plastic bags moving in the wind nearly gave me a heart attack. But i was saved!
- I saw mormons on the subway and it made me think of Elder Sean P! Shout out!
- I managed to find the emails of some swing dancers in Lyon...we'll see if that works out. I'd like to get to dancing to help speed up my leg rehab b/c having even a slightly gimpy leg is a little achy breaky annoying.
- Walked around Lyon with the Calderos after seeing little miss sunshine with the family on a friday night. Note: always say english things with a french accent. The guy at the movie counter looked like I'd just spoken martian when I said I'd like 2 tickets to Little miss Sunshine. I said it in french, but the title's in English! I guess its like when news reporters switch to a super ethnic accent all of a sudden, and when people pronounce Paris "Par-eee!" - its a little weird. Steve Carell was just as precious as can be as the gay proust scholar in LMS - though the casting was super (greg kinnear, I have loved you since watching talk soup when I was 12) the movie was sortof like, yay for perseverance what a caper, ok whatever. Don't hate on the beauty pageants! The little french girls were like, OMG i would HATE that beauty pageant, how dumb. And i was like, hey now. I was in one, and I won it, so there.
- I met up with some usa girls on saturday - they're other assistants - and they were sweet. One has a real cajun boyfriend (they met at a crawfish boil, I am so jealous) and a penchant for altruism (excellent) and the other seems to be very obsessed with wearing skinny jeans and black flats like she sees everyone here wearing. I was like, ok, you go girl, whatever, did you not notice mischa barton wearing skinny jeans and black flats for like the last 5 years? More power to her, though. Enough of the character sketching - i dont' wanna get catty.
- I had to walk through relatively shady parts of french suburbia (= opposite of american suburbia) where all the guys told me they liked my dress. I was like, its a shirt and a skirt you idiot, excuse me while I ignore you. I managed to trek through and find the mailbox to drop of a copy of my birth certificate for translating. Here's hoping the cost is not from outer space.
- We're better off with our american run-down areas, at least in our cities, than the french I think. They've just got these GIANT human spice cabinets - like STL's old school projects - whereas oldnorthcity,etc... has the space and buildings and even a pretty well built skeleton of community hubs or possible ones to makea veritable community. A spice cabinet is a far cry from this.
So hey.
In other news, send me an email and start your own blog (anyone else discovered google reader? its pretty awesome)! America friends, I miss you! :)
a plus.
I just joined this semi-paid craigslist thing, and it looks like it might find me an appartment. This is good news. The banks are closed today, so I have to save my bank bravery for tomorrow...surely they have some youth package deal that will make life easy for everyone.
I hope all the assistants and whoever come here without too much trauma. So far life's been pretty good to me, though! Knock on wood and all that business, but yeah.
I really hope someday to be witty and poignant in these blogs, but for now, since I'm doing this after all sorts of internet business, I'm just feeling the need to post, but not the need to be a poet. That can be for laters.
And now for some bullet pointing:
- I met up with this lady Magdeleine and her daughter Camille to see if I am the one who gets to hang out with Camille and speak english! It could be fun, and I could totally get into this english+babysitting deal.
- I randomly went into this storefront that had a word that I think means "introduce you to/discover" in reference to lyon, and I met all these nice people and they were like, join the youth group, you'll have all sorts of friends/parties, and its not a cult or anything! Its some sortof "get acquainted with your new city" thing for france, but Lyon has an international branch, and I happened to walk into it. Neato. I met a lovely lady named Francoise who invited me to her apt. for coffee and she and her daughter gave me some appartment finding tips - they said it was going to be hard, but they were MEGA sweet. And their appartment so cute! They also told me that there's a big old french pop star (who I imagine is like, the french britney spears) and her name is Lori and all the young girls in the land wish their name was Lori. Francoise also said that when I came in with my cute outfit and my pink purse it was very much the fashion of "lori" and she thought it was so charming - and I was like, cool, I am pop star-esque. This cannot be a bad thing.
- Oh, i met up with a missourian dude who's going to be an assistant and subsequently got locked out of my room in arab ghetto lyon. Can anyone think of a cute nickname for my ghetto home? Potential Riot Land? PRL? Anyone? Submit your answers.
I did get rescued by the gallant Agnes, who is awesome and I love her family - they're really the coolest. I got back and we talked about the Purvines and whatnot and it was super lovely, actually. Here's what I wrote:
20.Sept.2006
Had a lovely talk (in French) with the precious Calderos. They like the Big Lebowski, we are totally friends. We talked about my cat, my big family, Mormons, Morteau (lots of snow), Edna Purviance and other things. After they saved me from my locked door at midnight sticky situation. Oh la la. Had lovely time with jetlag mike from JeffCo - he's a nice boy and will be a nice friend! Oh! And tomorrow I ill meet a family pour voir si I could babysit their daughter on wednesday afternoons! I hope that works out, I'd like to hang out and speak french with a real french kid! And she goes to dance class so hey, that is really cool. Fun fun fun meeting french people. I hope al lmy paperwork birth certificate translating and band account getting will work out. And that i will find an appartment soon! And that they don't need my soscial security card nor do they require that my carte de sejour be processed within a week of my arrival. Oh la la. FUn night. I like people.
Ok so that was a departure from coherence, but there you have it. Straight from my black leather notepad.
Anyway, it was very 007 waiting for Agnes to come get me from my 60s architecture dystopia. Like, I was in a video game. You can bet I had my keys in my fingers and had my killer instincts on, though I was gated in, so technically fine - but there are not spikes on those gates. Plastic bags moving in the wind nearly gave me a heart attack. But i was saved!
- I saw mormons on the subway and it made me think of Elder Sean P! Shout out!
- I managed to find the emails of some swing dancers in Lyon...we'll see if that works out. I'd like to get to dancing to help speed up my leg rehab b/c having even a slightly gimpy leg is a little achy breaky annoying.
- Walked around Lyon with the Calderos after seeing little miss sunshine with the family on a friday night. Note: always say english things with a french accent. The guy at the movie counter looked like I'd just spoken martian when I said I'd like 2 tickets to Little miss Sunshine. I said it in french, but the title's in English! I guess its like when news reporters switch to a super ethnic accent all of a sudden, and when people pronounce Paris "Par-eee!" - its a little weird. Steve Carell was just as precious as can be as the gay proust scholar in LMS - though the casting was super (greg kinnear, I have loved you since watching talk soup when I was 12) the movie was sortof like, yay for perseverance what a caper, ok whatever. Don't hate on the beauty pageants! The little french girls were like, OMG i would HATE that beauty pageant, how dumb. And i was like, hey now. I was in one, and I won it, so there.
- I met up with some usa girls on saturday - they're other assistants - and they were sweet. One has a real cajun boyfriend (they met at a crawfish boil, I am so jealous) and a penchant for altruism (excellent) and the other seems to be very obsessed with wearing skinny jeans and black flats like she sees everyone here wearing. I was like, ok, you go girl, whatever, did you not notice mischa barton wearing skinny jeans and black flats for like the last 5 years? More power to her, though. Enough of the character sketching - i dont' wanna get catty.
- I had to walk through relatively shady parts of french suburbia (= opposite of american suburbia) where all the guys told me they liked my dress. I was like, its a shirt and a skirt you idiot, excuse me while I ignore you. I managed to trek through and find the mailbox to drop of a copy of my birth certificate for translating. Here's hoping the cost is not from outer space.
- We're better off with our american run-down areas, at least in our cities, than the french I think. They've just got these GIANT human spice cabinets - like STL's old school projects - whereas oldnorthcity,etc... has the space and buildings and even a pretty well built skeleton of community hubs or possible ones to makea veritable community. A spice cabinet is a far cry from this.
So hey.
In other news, send me an email and start your own blog (anyone else discovered google reader? its pretty awesome)! America friends, I miss you! :)
a plus.
I am yellow and ready for adventure!
Did I mention that I think I misprounounce the french word for "young" (jeune) in a way that makes it sound like "yellow" (jaune)? So yeah, I'm telling everyone - in an effort to be a devil may care american type (not that hard) -- "I'm yellow and ready for adventure!"
I don't have my pictures with me, nor have I taken many (but I will!) - so I drew you all a picture.
Its me on the pedestrian bridge with my back to Vieux Lyon -- you can see the basillica (it looks like a grey bat, note the rose window, please) on the upper right, and all the graffiti on the cement by the river on the lower left. Isn't it beautiful? So french. I am of course wearing black, and my hair is a little mussy b/c french ppl don't use conditioner! But it's cool, I'm smiling!
I don't have my pictures with me, nor have I taken many (but I will!) - so I drew you all a picture.
Its me on the pedestrian bridge with my back to Vieux Lyon -- you can see the basillica (it looks like a grey bat, note the rose window, please) on the upper right, and all the graffiti on the cement by the river on the lower left. Isn't it beautiful? So french. I am of course wearing black, and my hair is a little mussy b/c french ppl don't use conditioner! But it's cool, I'm smiling!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
There's no such thing as a French Hipster, and other thoughts
In other news, things I may feel like talking about later, but feel are worth a mention. There’s no such thing as a French hipster. Ok…?
It must be because the concepts of free wi-fi in may places, and old beautiful buildings refurbished in funky ways are somewhat absent here on the continent…for many reasons, backward (not quite into the internet-everywhere thing yet) and forward (their old beautiful buildings, if not blown up by Germans, were never in need of refurbishing, or city-museumifying).
I do not look French. I’ve decided there are two types of native French – there are the ones like Solène who have wide set eyes, and little noses, or there are ones who have big noses and tinier eyes, and they both are not without their charm when all the genetics work out. I don’t really have either of these looks going for me. But it’s cool.
Holy crap, there are a lot of cafes, and they’re very intimidating.
My Italian future roommate likes the Mississippi river she says. (?!?) And she wants the internet, and to improve her American Accent (my ability to speak American English - or just English I suppose - is really giving me some currency value). I wonder if I can actually help her speak better. She will definitely learn how to say, "i know, huh?" and "I mean, hey." along with "I mean..." and of course "OMG." Not sure if these will help with her accent, but they will give her mad street cred.
Emerique, a french dude I met at solene's freind's dinner party, thinks the south is more open minded than other places in US, and he thinks Katrina is just as bad (if not worse) as 9-11 – especially since we could see it coming. I agree. It’s funny, b/c just the day before I read Blythe’s post about pretty much the same thing and was like, “whoa, how come I have not thought of that.” There's a semi-good article in the DP about a girl who gave up her consulting job in california to work in new orleans, and she sounds super cool.
Yes, i have facebook messaged her.
Side note: there's not congress in france! I don't think the parlaiment is the same.
No French understand how you can have 2 candidates in a presidential election (though they end up having 2), nor do they understand that its usually the same w/ two pretty moderate people. I believe they don't think they understand, but they do. Though they had Chirac “the robber” and LePen “the Hitler” so that’s extremes. They really do call him hitler here. He's a bad dude. And then there is this year probably a flip floppy candidate and a sorta scary right wing guy who buys a lot of advertising and has a lot of money backing him up. Sound familiar to you? Sounds familiar to me – only the flip floppy candidate is a (pretty) woman. Ooo.
Another note on the The French American idol-meets-big-brother – um, no one can sing. Is it just the French voice? Are the bars lowered? Like, no one sounds good to me. All nasal head –voice crap. No soul. Speaking of which, I rock the gospel – "oh happy day" to be exact -- (and a can do a mean Hopelessly Devoted to You), with Phillipe, Agnes’ husband, on piano! We have as close to an old fashioned revival as you can in a 600 year old French apartment that was built by Venitians.
I met a girl down the hall, her name’s Constance or something (yeah, I forgot), and she says apartments are easier to find mid October…so that’s only a month! Then 7 months of chillin’ at night. If you know me, you know I like to be out at night, lookin’ at people and trippin’ on uneven bricks and whatnot.
It must be because the concepts of free wi-fi in may places, and old beautiful buildings refurbished in funky ways are somewhat absent here on the continent…for many reasons, backward (not quite into the internet-everywhere thing yet) and forward (their old beautiful buildings, if not blown up by Germans, were never in need of refurbishing, or city-museumifying).
I do not look French. I’ve decided there are two types of native French – there are the ones like Solène who have wide set eyes, and little noses, or there are ones who have big noses and tinier eyes, and they both are not without their charm when all the genetics work out. I don’t really have either of these looks going for me. But it’s cool.
Holy crap, there are a lot of cafes, and they’re very intimidating.
My Italian future roommate likes the Mississippi river she says. (?!?) And she wants the internet, and to improve her American Accent (my ability to speak American English - or just English I suppose - is really giving me some currency value). I wonder if I can actually help her speak better. She will definitely learn how to say, "i know, huh?" and "I mean, hey." along with "I mean..." and of course "OMG." Not sure if these will help with her accent, but they will give her mad street cred.
Emerique, a french dude I met at solene's freind's dinner party, thinks the south is more open minded than other places in US, and he thinks Katrina is just as bad (if not worse) as 9-11 – especially since we could see it coming. I agree. It’s funny, b/c just the day before I read Blythe’s post about pretty much the same thing and was like, “whoa, how come I have not thought of that.” There's a semi-good article in the DP about a girl who gave up her consulting job in california to work in new orleans, and she sounds super cool.
Yes, i have facebook messaged her.
Side note: there's not congress in france! I don't think the parlaiment is the same.
No French understand how you can have 2 candidates in a presidential election (though they end up having 2), nor do they understand that its usually the same w/ two pretty moderate people. I believe they don't think they understand, but they do. Though they had Chirac “the robber” and LePen “the Hitler” so that’s extremes. They really do call him hitler here. He's a bad dude. And then there is this year probably a flip floppy candidate and a sorta scary right wing guy who buys a lot of advertising and has a lot of money backing him up. Sound familiar to you? Sounds familiar to me – only the flip floppy candidate is a (pretty) woman. Ooo.
Another note on the The French American idol-meets-big-brother – um, no one can sing. Is it just the French voice? Are the bars lowered? Like, no one sounds good to me. All nasal head –voice crap. No soul. Speaking of which, I rock the gospel – "oh happy day" to be exact -- (and a can do a mean Hopelessly Devoted to You), with Phillipe, Agnes’ husband, on piano! We have as close to an old fashioned revival as you can in a 600 year old French apartment that was built by Venitians.
I met a girl down the hall, her name’s Constance or something (yeah, I forgot), and she says apartments are easier to find mid October…so that’s only a month! Then 7 months of chillin’ at night. If you know me, you know I like to be out at night, lookin’ at people and trippin’ on uneven bricks and whatnot.
Best rapping french basketball players ever - sorta
So French English teachers – I met a few, right? Those who passed their exam (or took it even) had to study lewis and clark, so they know Missouri really well. And the definitely know St. Louis b/c guess where Lewis and Clark left from? St. Louis? (I thought it was Independence, but maybe I’m just thinking about the Oregon Trail game…banker from boston, y’all! RIP pepperoni and chease)
They have to study Coriolanus for the next exam ( a lot of ppl don’t pass, like, 1500 out of 5000) and like, how boring does Shakespeare get, really? Like, Coriolanus is it. It is the most boring Shakespeare play ever. I only know it b/c it was in a scandalous part of the song, “Brush up your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate. I wonder if I can teach the French how to say “like” all the time just like me. I’ve discovered I say, “like” a lot and “I mean,” at the beginning of sentences, and I also say “its annoying that…” – and I don’t know the word for annoying. To the dictionary! I also don’t know the word for “spell.”
Solène knows words like velvet in English – impressive! I tried to teach her how to say “jk” and “omg” – but I realized I would be making her sound like a semi-weirdo/13-year-old/me by doing so, but then I realized that if I met a Frenchie who said, “OMG, zees eeez amazeeeng!” I would think they were the coooooolest French person EVER. I tried to teach Solene about “holla back” – its only a matter of time until I have her saying “rep yo citaaaay!” --- did you know that rappers and like, cool kids in france say, “big up” when they really mean to say Holla, or like shout out, or something. Like, good try, but no rapper would ever say, “Big Up to Snoop” or whatever. I’m not expert, but I really don’t think it would happen. I saw a French rap video, and it was pretty good, the French part was a little confusing/funny to me, but one thing I thought the whole time was, “ French rap videos: why are they playing basketball?” Does ANYONE in France play basketball? That is like playing lacrosse or like, Beirut/beer pong in a video. Americans do these sports for American reasons, right? There aren’t any basketball teams that will pay you big bucks in France – so in your rap video about the street, mr. French rapper MC man, why do you have street lookin’ people shootin’ hoops? They have no hope for social mobility in a measly hobby of street hoops! basketball!? Make them play soccer! Or better yet, have them play “go to university”?
Or at least have them shaking a polaroid picture, or getting their eagle on.
Come on.
Take your cues from the RIGHT rappers, France!
Don’t even get me started on the French people dancing hip hop I saw on the French version of American Idol (which I LOVED)….it was like, all the cheese you could hope for from American Idol but don’t get. Plus, there’s the added element of big-brother, so its quite comprehensive. And Pink sang! She did not understand French. But there were back up dancers, and like, wow, even when they were doing semi-interpretive stuff they were just not good. But I love hip hoppin’ French people, who am I kidding?! It’s got that awesomely bad silver lining that I am so often drawn to.
Speaking of awesomely bad, not only are there no French clip shows (do the French know how to make fun of themselves/are they capable of it? Submit your essays in the commentary section) …. There’s no phrase with the same caché as “best ___ ever.”
It bums me out.
I have to find all new phrases. It’s probably a good thing, since when I speak French I say about 10 different sentences all mixed up, and I always make sure to throw in a bunch of French-looking weird faces and sounds. I think it is working and that people understand me, though I do NOT think anyone at all thinks I am French. I have had mostly English dreams, though I did have ONE in French with English subtitles, and no I am not trying to be cute. It really happened (in my dream). It was a good translation, too.
Anywah, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him French. …which reminds me, dirt came out of my faucet when I first turned it on today. Its ok, I’m used to well water from the farm, so I thought it was just iron in the water, but it was dirt. Lucky for me I’m very ok with dirt. Its not dirty anymore, though! I am a little bit, but I’m really not looking forward to using the Camp Tuckahoe showers they have going here in the super old-school dorms. I hope to metaphorically drink the French water if that means like, being fluent. But I’m not so sure about the devoid of technology prison-y dorms. It’s waaaay too Camus for me. (Bonus points for existentialism reference: 15)
They have to study Coriolanus for the next exam ( a lot of ppl don’t pass, like, 1500 out of 5000) and like, how boring does Shakespeare get, really? Like, Coriolanus is it. It is the most boring Shakespeare play ever. I only know it b/c it was in a scandalous part of the song, “Brush up your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate. I wonder if I can teach the French how to say “like” all the time just like me. I’ve discovered I say, “like” a lot and “I mean,” at the beginning of sentences, and I also say “its annoying that…” – and I don’t know the word for annoying. To the dictionary! I also don’t know the word for “spell.”
Solène knows words like velvet in English – impressive! I tried to teach her how to say “jk” and “omg” – but I realized I would be making her sound like a semi-weirdo/13-year-old/me by doing so, but then I realized that if I met a Frenchie who said, “OMG, zees eeez amazeeeng!” I would think they were the coooooolest French person EVER. I tried to teach Solene about “holla back” – its only a matter of time until I have her saying “rep yo citaaaay!” --- did you know that rappers and like, cool kids in france say, “big up” when they really mean to say Holla, or like shout out, or something. Like, good try, but no rapper would ever say, “Big Up to Snoop” or whatever. I’m not expert, but I really don’t think it would happen. I saw a French rap video, and it was pretty good, the French part was a little confusing/funny to me, but one thing I thought the whole time was, “ French rap videos: why are they playing basketball?” Does ANYONE in France play basketball? That is like playing lacrosse or like, Beirut/beer pong in a video. Americans do these sports for American reasons, right? There aren’t any basketball teams that will pay you big bucks in France – so in your rap video about the street, mr. French rapper MC man, why do you have street lookin’ people shootin’ hoops? They have no hope for social mobility in a measly hobby of street hoops! basketball!? Make them play soccer! Or better yet, have them play “go to university”?
Or at least have them shaking a polaroid picture, or getting their eagle on.
Come on.
Take your cues from the RIGHT rappers, France!
Don’t even get me started on the French people dancing hip hop I saw on the French version of American Idol (which I LOVED)….it was like, all the cheese you could hope for from American Idol but don’t get. Plus, there’s the added element of big-brother, so its quite comprehensive. And Pink sang! She did not understand French. But there were back up dancers, and like, wow, even when they were doing semi-interpretive stuff they were just not good. But I love hip hoppin’ French people, who am I kidding?! It’s got that awesomely bad silver lining that I am so often drawn to.
Speaking of awesomely bad, not only are there no French clip shows (do the French know how to make fun of themselves/are they capable of it? Submit your essays in the commentary section) …. There’s no phrase with the same caché as “best ___ ever.”
It bums me out.
I have to find all new phrases. It’s probably a good thing, since when I speak French I say about 10 different sentences all mixed up, and I always make sure to throw in a bunch of French-looking weird faces and sounds. I think it is working and that people understand me, though I do NOT think anyone at all thinks I am French. I have had mostly English dreams, though I did have ONE in French with English subtitles, and no I am not trying to be cute. It really happened (in my dream). It was a good translation, too.
Anywah, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him French. …which reminds me, dirt came out of my faucet when I first turned it on today. Its ok, I’m used to well water from the farm, so I thought it was just iron in the water, but it was dirt. Lucky for me I’m very ok with dirt. Its not dirty anymore, though! I am a little bit, but I’m really not looking forward to using the Camp Tuckahoe showers they have going here in the super old-school dorms. I hope to metaphorically drink the French water if that means like, being fluent. But I’m not so sure about the devoid of technology prison-y dorms. It’s waaaay too Camus for me. (Bonus points for existentialism reference: 15)
And it was good. Bon? Bien?
Bon? Bien? I don't know how to properly say 'and it was good' in french yet. It's like the well vs good thing in english, and I'm one of those people that does not get it right. I get the feeling that there are not many of "those people" in france, so i'd better learn quick!
Anyway,-
So I’ve only been here like, 4 days, but I’ve been hanging out with French people! Its been pretty neat, and they’ve all been extremely charming, and I feel quite lucky, especially since all any well intentioned American wants to do when they travel is : MEET FOREIGN PEOPLE, and chill with them. Trade off: living in the arab/algerian ghetto, and its not even cute like Casablanca, or Lawrence of Arabia or like “Algiers” where all the people partied in the 20s and wore interesting and colorful hats…though it is not like Not Without My Daughter, thank heaven. Rent the French movie “la Chutte” and you’ll have some clue as to where I live, though to an extreme. I don’t hang out with those guys, they’re on the other side of the gate. I sortof wish I had never seen “La Chutte.” Its cool though, I’m locked in my (2 stories tall awesome 60’s concrete block architecture with awesome lung-colored radiator) “tower”.
I hung out with a lot of French English teachers, or candidates for English teachers on Saturday night. I tried not to sit and look blithely overwhelmed the WHOLE time, and managed to squeeze in a few conversations. There was one English girl there who had her French wedding ring on her English finger that she got from her French husband. She said, Oh, I’m just like you! I came to be an assistant when I was 23! Um, ahhhhhhgghh! We agreed that I did not come over to find a French husband, but she did, so hey. I didn’t go to Penn to find a husband, and like, I didn’t. So we’re good. Enough foreign husband paranoia, I don’t want to develop a complex and end up with a xenophobia reserved only for foreign boys. Because that would really happen.
All these people I partied with the other night are friends of Solene’s – she’s a student teacher at Duchere. She’s 24! It’s very cool, and she is very cool. One of her friends Melanie (I think) – did the sister cities exchange probably right around the time I did, and she lived in Webster Groves, can you believe it! When I see her again I will ask her what family, though I am sure I don’t know them b/c I don’t know anyone from Webster,I really don’t. Another gal there, Tini, she said her sisters – who live in new york, queens to be exact, with her family, told her she had a Canadian accent. I told her no, but she did not have a London accent like she wanted. It’s hard to describe Canadian accents, though I did ask her if she said, “..,eh?” at the end of sentences a lot. But French people do that a lot, too…putting something like a nasal/guttural “eh” that’s spelled, “hein?” Either way around it, I was not good at asking if she said eh at the end of sentences b/c she was way confused. So I just said, not to worry, Canadians were very polite.
I get the vibe that everyone’s a little bit racist in France, but they don’t talk about it as much as we do in USA (can you imagine?). I’ve only been here for 4 days, but I really don’t think an equivalent of Chris Rock could exist here, and definitely no David Chapelle…or even Blue Collar Comedy for that matter. Solene told me that her jewish friend didn’t tell many people about it b/c people get judged for being jewish here. I guess its sorta like that in the US, but people are proud of their ethnicity to the point of making things annoying, so maybe its just being polite? And we’ve got the racism in the US. It just feels different for me as a foreigner. Speaking of which, Its really exciting for me to be here b/c I keep on getting to go around saying, “I am an American!” all the time, and I feel like I am totally repping my country by default. I sortof want to do a little arm motion you see Jimmy Durante do when he goes, “atcha chachacha” when I say it, and sometimes I do.
Here is also one of the rare times when all I have to really be is American, and not like, oh, but are you irish? business…since I never can do that anyway b/c I have no ethnicity, and I think “American” is foreign enough for most Joe’s on the street. And - since I’m more apt to feel connected to where I was brought up, its nice to be seen through that lens, only w/o the “aren’t southerners stupid, and Midwesterners overly enthusiastic” or whatever. I can deal with the American stereotypes of like, food re-namers – which I’m not running into, actually.
I
I feel sortof “Look at how wise I am. I am so wise.” --- about saying all this crap about class/racism/whatever but hey, I’m not trying to be that girl. Walk in my shoes, these are occasional deep things things I think – when I’m not trying to think of how to form the correct tense = impossible -- about over all the tartes I’ve been eating. (I think the tart count is something like 6 now…tartes of all kinds! Lots of plums.) Can I mention now that French people eat a lot, and for a long time, and they take really BIG bites? Yeah, I think I can mention that now. Its sortof crazy dudes. I’m always the last one finishing my tarte. Aaaand apparently you’re not to cut your salad ahead of time, but rather as you eat it. And, at agnes and Philippe’s, we’re always eating like, little deli slices of ham with dinner. It all works for me, its just different. Vive la difference, hein?! I am really loving the having 2 drinks like an hour before dinner with peanut flavored cheetos and vinegar flavored chips…l’aperatif. Though I’m sure no one ever does homework after dinner, b/c you’re all full and like, not drunk but all ready to chill…so that would not work, unless you do all your work before dinner. Which would not only be genius, but possible, since they eat here (expectedly) around 9.
Was I speaking of stereotypes before? I have an analogy:
Arkansas is to everyone marries their cousin as france is to no one showers ever.
The frenches I’ve been staying with shower all the time, and they all of course smell like Jean Paul Gaultier (the scent I think that is contributing to the spicy apricot smell I remember). Speaking of showers, the other night I had a lost in translation moment when I washed my hair with bodywash b/c I thought “peau” meant hair, which is really dumb. I KNOW deep down in my soul that the word for hair is “cheveux” but in my state of jetlag or SOMETHING I thought I was a cat – b/c the word for cat hair/fur is “peau” so I was like, hey. And then I was like, “this lather is suspicious.”
But alas, it was too late.
I know my French friends are going to read this and throw cheese at my head. It’s just observations, guys! Isn’t it enough that I washed my hair with bodywash?
Anyway,-
So I’ve only been here like, 4 days, but I’ve been hanging out with French people! Its been pretty neat, and they’ve all been extremely charming, and I feel quite lucky, especially since all any well intentioned American wants to do when they travel is : MEET FOREIGN PEOPLE, and chill with them. Trade off: living in the arab/algerian ghetto, and its not even cute like Casablanca, or Lawrence of Arabia or like “Algiers” where all the people partied in the 20s and wore interesting and colorful hats…though it is not like Not Without My Daughter, thank heaven. Rent the French movie “la Chutte” and you’ll have some clue as to where I live, though to an extreme. I don’t hang out with those guys, they’re on the other side of the gate. I sortof wish I had never seen “La Chutte.” Its cool though, I’m locked in my (2 stories tall awesome 60’s concrete block architecture with awesome lung-colored radiator) “tower”.
I hung out with a lot of French English teachers, or candidates for English teachers on Saturday night. I tried not to sit and look blithely overwhelmed the WHOLE time, and managed to squeeze in a few conversations. There was one English girl there who had her French wedding ring on her English finger that she got from her French husband. She said, Oh, I’m just like you! I came to be an assistant when I was 23! Um, ahhhhhhgghh! We agreed that I did not come over to find a French husband, but she did, so hey. I didn’t go to Penn to find a husband, and like, I didn’t. So we’re good. Enough foreign husband paranoia, I don’t want to develop a complex and end up with a xenophobia reserved only for foreign boys. Because that would really happen.
All these people I partied with the other night are friends of Solene’s – she’s a student teacher at Duchere. She’s 24! It’s very cool, and she is very cool. One of her friends Melanie (I think) – did the sister cities exchange probably right around the time I did, and she lived in Webster Groves, can you believe it! When I see her again I will ask her what family, though I am sure I don’t know them b/c I don’t know anyone from Webster,I really don’t. Another gal there, Tini, she said her sisters – who live in new york, queens to be exact, with her family, told her she had a Canadian accent. I told her no, but she did not have a London accent like she wanted. It’s hard to describe Canadian accents, though I did ask her if she said, “..,eh?” at the end of sentences a lot. But French people do that a lot, too…putting something like a nasal/guttural “eh” that’s spelled, “hein?” Either way around it, I was not good at asking if she said eh at the end of sentences b/c she was way confused. So I just said, not to worry, Canadians were very polite.
I get the vibe that everyone’s a little bit racist in France, but they don’t talk about it as much as we do in USA (can you imagine?). I’ve only been here for 4 days, but I really don’t think an equivalent of Chris Rock could exist here, and definitely no David Chapelle…or even Blue Collar Comedy for that matter. Solene told me that her jewish friend didn’t tell many people about it b/c people get judged for being jewish here. I guess its sorta like that in the US, but people are proud of their ethnicity to the point of making things annoying, so maybe its just being polite? And we’ve got the racism in the US. It just feels different for me as a foreigner. Speaking of which, Its really exciting for me to be here b/c I keep on getting to go around saying, “I am an American!” all the time, and I feel like I am totally repping my country by default. I sortof want to do a little arm motion you see Jimmy Durante do when he goes, “atcha chachacha” when I say it, and sometimes I do.
Here is also one of the rare times when all I have to really be is American, and not like, oh, but are you irish? business…since I never can do that anyway b/c I have no ethnicity, and I think “American” is foreign enough for most Joe’s on the street. And - since I’m more apt to feel connected to where I was brought up, its nice to be seen through that lens, only w/o the “aren’t southerners stupid, and Midwesterners overly enthusiastic” or whatever. I can deal with the American stereotypes of like, food re-namers – which I’m not running into, actually.
I
I feel sortof “Look at how wise I am. I am so wise.” --- about saying all this crap about class/racism/whatever but hey, I’m not trying to be that girl. Walk in my shoes, these are occasional deep things things I think – when I’m not trying to think of how to form the correct tense = impossible -- about over all the tartes I’ve been eating. (I think the tart count is something like 6 now…tartes of all kinds! Lots of plums.) Can I mention now that French people eat a lot, and for a long time, and they take really BIG bites? Yeah, I think I can mention that now. Its sortof crazy dudes. I’m always the last one finishing my tarte. Aaaand apparently you’re not to cut your salad ahead of time, but rather as you eat it. And, at agnes and Philippe’s, we’re always eating like, little deli slices of ham with dinner. It all works for me, its just different. Vive la difference, hein?! I am really loving the having 2 drinks like an hour before dinner with peanut flavored cheetos and vinegar flavored chips…l’aperatif. Though I’m sure no one ever does homework after dinner, b/c you’re all full and like, not drunk but all ready to chill…so that would not work, unless you do all your work before dinner. Which would not only be genius, but possible, since they eat here (expectedly) around 9.
Was I speaking of stereotypes before? I have an analogy:
Arkansas is to everyone marries their cousin as france is to no one showers ever.
The frenches I’ve been staying with shower all the time, and they all of course smell like Jean Paul Gaultier (the scent I think that is contributing to the spicy apricot smell I remember). Speaking of showers, the other night I had a lost in translation moment when I washed my hair with bodywash b/c I thought “peau” meant hair, which is really dumb. I KNOW deep down in my soul that the word for hair is “cheveux” but in my state of jetlag or SOMETHING I thought I was a cat – b/c the word for cat hair/fur is “peau” so I was like, hey. And then I was like, “this lather is suspicious.”
But alas, it was too late.
I know my French friends are going to read this and throw cheese at my head. It’s just observations, guys! Isn’t it enough that I washed my hair with bodywash?
In the beginning, there were french people
I really should elaborate on my formative days in france, but dude, we’ll just see, k?
Some bullet points for you:
- on Jet lag – I'm about to pass out from all this drama: 8 or so hours of my life were stolen (along with my guitar, though I’m getting that back, hurrah!) by British airways and the cruel, cruel rotation of the earth.
- driving through the French cornfields with Agnes my English teacher savior
- The school and the library (sortof reminds me of a Priory meets Lindbergh meets Sumner)
- I’m overwhelmed but I don’t feel like inducing a coma (though I never do want to wake up In the morning, like ever – but that is actually nothing new!)
Phillipe and Agnes, Solène and Ciril – cute little French, Martinique family. Les graves, Stevie wonder, la voix de la Mississippi !
- I met solene last Friday, she’s a 24 year old student teacher in English here, and she said “hows it goin’?” Impressive! I spent the weekend with her, and she is totally cool, and managed to help me find a cell phone, and walk me around amid my shell-shocked jetlaggedness.
- Oh my, the weekend means big breakfasts, I almost found housing near solene, but it was sold out, but then we went to her friend’s house for a dinner party (the sort that you learn about in French class in high school…it was a living lesson indeed)….it was a lovely dinner party, and I met French people! How exciting for me!
Some bullet points for you:
- on Jet lag – I'm about to pass out from all this drama: 8 or so hours of my life were stolen (along with my guitar, though I’m getting that back, hurrah!) by British airways and the cruel, cruel rotation of the earth.
- driving through the French cornfields with Agnes my English teacher savior
- The school and the library (sortof reminds me of a Priory meets Lindbergh meets Sumner)
- I’m overwhelmed but I don’t feel like inducing a coma (though I never do want to wake up In the morning, like ever – but that is actually nothing new!)
Phillipe and Agnes, Solène and Ciril – cute little French, Martinique family. Les graves, Stevie wonder, la voix de la Mississippi !
- I met solene last Friday, she’s a 24 year old student teacher in English here, and she said “hows it goin’?” Impressive! I spent the weekend with her, and she is totally cool, and managed to help me find a cell phone, and walk me around amid my shell-shocked jetlaggedness.
- Oh my, the weekend means big breakfasts, I almost found housing near solene, but it was sold out, but then we went to her friend’s house for a dinner party (the sort that you learn about in French class in high school…it was a living lesson indeed)….it was a lovely dinner party, and I met French people! How exciting for me!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Mississippi Valley girl finds her own doppelganger
...and she includes useful and educational links about her new city, Lyon, France!
http://lolololori.blogspot.com
I'm through double blogging - so expect this one to get more active, and especially more active once I have found my own internet connection! Oh how lovely it will be. In the meantime, everyone say a real american prayer of thanks that there are wonderful french people who are taking care of Lori - I am so grateful, and I am truly feeling some good karma that I hope to repay!
http://lolololori.blogspot.com
I'm through double blogging - so expect this one to get more active, and especially more active once I have found my own internet connection! Oh how lovely it will be. In the meantime, everyone say a real american prayer of thanks that there are wonderful french people who are taking care of Lori - I am so grateful, and I am truly feeling some good karma that I hope to repay!
Bonjour, Lyon!
I was going to think of a more clever title (la belle et la chutte, for example) but what first entry of a foreign travel blog doesn't begin with *local language way of saying hello*, *city where you are*? So I join the bandwagon for the sake of clarity!
I have a lot to say, but don't have much time to say it (i'm on the computer of Solene, super cool perfect english speaking english teacher at La Martiniere Duchere) but I wanted to update b/c hey, its nice. Speaking of which, so are most people I've met thus far, though they're all mostly english teachers, who are probably grateful that I speak more french than none at all.
Or maybe they just can tell I am awesome. Maybe both?
It's been overwhelming, and I've been here a day, and have yet to get my papers together... the citizen card (I always imagine being at like, some casablanca-esque bar where police come in to demand my "papers" ...anyway, that's what I think of when I have to do all this crappy paper work for the zany french bureaucracy) and what not, and I have not found a nicer appartment, etc...but so far, the experience has been rich, and I have almost been able to articulate just what the Daily Show is.
I'm not there yet, but my hope is by the end of the trip -- among other things, bien sur --- all my french colleagues will have a full and rich understanding of satirical american fake news.
I have a lot to say, but don't have much time to say it (i'm on the computer of Solene, super cool perfect english speaking english teacher at La Martiniere Duchere) but I wanted to update b/c hey, its nice. Speaking of which, so are most people I've met thus far, though they're all mostly english teachers, who are probably grateful that I speak more french than none at all.
Or maybe they just can tell I am awesome. Maybe both?
It's been overwhelming, and I've been here a day, and have yet to get my papers together... the citizen card (I always imagine being at like, some casablanca-esque bar where police come in to demand my "papers" ...anyway, that's what I think of when I have to do all this crappy paper work for the zany french bureaucracy) and what not, and I have not found a nicer appartment, etc...but so far, the experience has been rich, and I have almost been able to articulate just what the Daily Show is.
I'm not there yet, but my hope is by the end of the trip -- among other things, bien sur --- all my french colleagues will have a full and rich understanding of satirical american fake news.
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