The Capital of Madeleines and French Family Fun

After spending the last ten hours at my host family’s family reunion, I have come to the conclusion that families are crazy and quirky all over the world. If any of you were wondering whether or not your family is especially strange or bizarre, the answer is no. They are not. I am now fully convinced that there are more similarities than differences among families across the world. Take for example this family reunion I attended. There was the grandmother who passes around pictures, the grandfather who tells jokes and anecdotes, the aunts who all look alike and laugh alike, the uncles who talk movies and politics amongst each other, the cousins who sit together awkwardly until somebody breaks the ice and everyone begins to laugh, and the newborn grandkids who add the worldwide noise of a baby to the hustle and bustle of it all. It was a French-style Lewis family reunion – with one exception. Usually after a family reunion chez moi, my head feels perfectly fine. However, right now… my head literally hurts. Halfway through the afternoon I excused myself to use the bathroom where I rummaged in my purse for two Advil. I don’t think my brain has ever worked itself that hard. I had yet to be in a situation of that sort – where conversations cross in all directions and my brain has to work twice as hard not only to keep up with who is talking, but to also keep up with what each person is saying! But I survived and feel much more competent in French than I did this morning. Ten hours of a language will do that to you.

Overall, I had a lovely day being part of a French family. The “reunion” was held at my host mom’s parent’s house and we had a most delicious lunch with naturally sugared wine and the most delectable cake for dessert. I did a lot of sitting and observing and often felt quite awkward. However, I managed to hold my own and to carry a handful of conversations in French throughout the day. Everyone was incredibly kind and supportive. The best part of the afternoon was when my host mom (who rarely gives compliments) began bragging to everyone about how much I’ve improved with my French and how my written French is practically flawless. Needless to say, I felt quite good about that!

Upon being introduced as the “American,” I am usually asked questions about American culture or Barak Obama. Today proved to be no different. At one point, we were discussing the French lifestyle versus that of America. One of the uncles began comparing the ritualistic nature of the French family dinner (eating together EVERY night) against the very inconsistent nature of the American family dinner. One of the “cousin-in-laws” chuckled to himself and said, “Yeah, the only time American families eat together is at Thanksgiving.” Now usually when these stereotypical comments are made, I just smile and nod. However, when the Thanksgiving comment made its way to the table, I snapped. In an icy sort of tone I said, “I think we eat as a family a little bit more than that.” It was amusing, at least to me, because the look on his face was one of surprise and shame. I really wasn’t upset and I think my tone only came from being tired. But I decided to let him think it had offended me. Because even though we do have inconsistent family time, we still value its importance and Thanksgiving is only one of MANY meals we share together!

One last noteworthy story to share… I was sitting at the dinner table (doing some more observing) and all of a sudden one of the great-grandkids ran up to me. This little boy couldn’t have been more than three or four years old. He looked me straight in the eye and says (in French), “It’s time for you to give me a kiss now because I’m about to leave.” Even the littlest know the importance of the bisous!

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated here. The past couple weeks have been rather stressful planning for vacation and writing 6 page papers in French! Sometimes I forget that I’m here to do school because the workload is much lighter than it is at home. But this past week especially I have been reminded that school is school and I must buckle down and finish my work!

Last weekend we visited Normandy. We woke up really early Saturday morning and made our way to Caen. Caen is this cute little city where the huge memorial is located. It is also the capital of Madeleines! Madeleines are these petit little muffin type cakes. They’re baked in a particular shape and are made with a very specific recipe. When I first saw them at the local grocery store, I just had to try them because my name was on the bag! Since then they’ve become a favorite part of French food and I will be quite sad to say good-bye to the Madeleines when I leave. Caen is evidently the creator of this deliciousness and so I now have one too many a picture of me in front of the Madeleine store. We spent the rest of our time in Caen picnicking and enjoying the beautiful sun. If any of you make a trip to Normandy one day, I highly recommend staying in Caen – it was the cutest little town AND you may just get to try a Madeleine!

After our lunch, we spent the afternoon at the memorial. The first part of the memorial is a “spiral into Hell” – basically all the steps each country took after World War I to get us to World War II. The second part of the memorial showed how Germany slowly but surely took over. It was an incredibly interesting and powerful memorial. We certainly didn’t have enough time to see it all! We then watched a film that was literally just footage of what happened in Normandy. They showed flashes of the American soldiers charging up Omaha Beach followed by a shot of the calm, peaceful beach today. What a moving contrast. The first film was followed by a second film with the word “hope” in its title. As the film began, I sat there wondering to myself how in the world this film could be about hope. It was basically a summary of all the major disastrous events that have occurred in the world over the past 100 years. However, while it showed the turmoil, it also showed the positive outcome of so many of these situations. And to see, even though we are still in conflict today, the great progress we have made was incredibly hopeful.

Dinner at our hotel followed the memorial. That night, ten of us girls just hung out in our room playing cards and talking. It was a wonderfully relaxing, laughter-filled night.

Sunday morning began with a trip to the American cemetery. I could have spent hours walking through the grave markers and looking at all the different names. It is an absolutely beautiful cemetery. And the soil used to make the memorial is actual American soil. So for just a few minutes I was standing on American soil again. Walking around that cemetery listening to the American anthem, I found my heart swelling with American pride. I know that as a powerful country whose borders needed protecting, it was the right step to debark upon the beaches of Normandy and to begin the fight against all that was evil and wrong. But it was such a sacrifice for so many of those men and their families. They weren’t technically fighting for their own loved ones. They were fighting for justice and for all those being persecuted. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve never been more proud of America than I was that Sunday morning. We also walked down to Omaha Beach and again, the contrast between what I know once took place there and what it looks like today was very powerful.

We then made our way to Pont du Hoc. This part of the coast was a German station. Part of the American’s initial attack involved bombing this station. Their goal was to rid of the weapons supposedly hidden there. However, the weapons were moved before the bombing and it ended up being a lost mission. What is left of the station today, though, is a sight to see. There are actual holes in the ground where the bombs exploded – holes the size of my bedroom! We were able to explore some of the remains of the German bunkers. Interesting fact about Pont du Hoc: apparently about twelve years ago, a group of tourists was exploring Pont du Hoc (as thousands do every year) and a man stepped on the grass only to have is foot blown off! Evidently, when they opened up the Pont to the public, they made sure that all the German mines had been cleared out. It seems, though, that they perhaps didn’t see one! Our trip concluded with a visit to Haras du Pin, a famous horse farm. Normandy is famous for its horses and these horses have won million dollar prizes!

I’ll go ahead and sign off now… this has been more of a novel than I expected!
If possible, I’ll try to update one more time before I leave Friday morning. If not, though, I’ll update with a legitimate novel when I return. I covet your prayers for safe and smooth travel. I leave for Rome this Friday and Athens the following Saturday. I’ll be back on Saturday, April 18.

Best wishes to all of you as you jump into April… you’re all in my thoughts and prayers!

Gros bisous,
Madelyn