Sundays, Politics, and the Night Bus

This past Sunday was possibly one of the more relaxing days of my life (minus the having to speak in French part). In France on Sundays, everything closes down. EVERYTHING. A couple girls and I tried out one of two Protestant churches that morning and afterward, we went to find something to eat and there was nothing open! I thus returned home and ate lunch with my host family. We had a long, relaxing lunch and then the parents suggested we all go for a walk in the park. So we drove to a nearby park and walked around for close to an hour. It's been about fifty degrees here on average, so it was a bit chilly but everything here is so green! It's like spring in January and I'm loving it. Anyway, we took our walk and then we headed home. When we got home, we had tea and croissants in the living room. Then everybody brought what they wanted to do into the living room... for example, I knitted, the mom crocheted, the dad read, one sister drew, another sister played with her iPod touch, etc... After spending some time there, we ate dinner and then watched the news. Can you imagine if you spent every Sunday afternoon doing nothing but spending quality time with your family? This was keeping the Sabbath in every way possible! Perhaps, I will incorporate this into my family someday...

On Saturday night, we did a little shopping and went to see a movie. We actually ended up watching a French movie. It was called L'autre Cote du Lit with Sophie Marceau and Danny Boon. It was actually quite amusing and we were all very proud of ourselves for understanding the plot and for laughing at the right moments.

Monday, a few of us went to Monoprix to buy notebooks, groceries, etc... Monoprix is kind of the Meijer or Target of Nantes (except a bit smaller). However, we probably go to Monoprix three or four times a week. :) Anyway, we were standing in the cookie aisle minding our own business when an old, petit man approached us and asked us if we were American. We answered yes and he asked us what we thought of Barak Obama. So we smiled and said "Oh, well..." And before the words could even come out of our mouths, this man launched into a 15 minute lecture regarding American history and America as a nation. It was all I could do to keep nodding my head and saying "oui." He would ask us questions and then give us no time to respond. But he somehow dropped in names like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln along with Barak Obama and George Bush. It was hard to tell whether he was disgruntled by America and her actions or if he respected us for the long way that we've come. I'm thinking more disgruntled because he was talking of the national debt at one point and kept using a French phrase meaning "It's aggravating." This man also had no concept of a personal bubble because he kept waving his finger in our faces to make his point. Anyway, I recall during our study abroad orientation someone telling us that when we went abroad, people would be interested in hearing our opinions on American politics. But I was certainly not expecting an American history lesson in the middle of the supermarket! It was a little amusing because other French people would walk by and hear what he was saying and they would shoot us sympathetic looks. :)

Last night (Tuesday), we had a Conversation Club here at the IES center. It was absolutely wonderful because for 45 minutes, we talked French and then for 45 minutes we talked English. Local students who are studying English join us for the evening and it's a really great opportunity to practice talking on both ends! Before that, we watched the Inaugration (called l'investiture here in France). Unfortunately, we were unable to get any American channels, so we watched the ceremony with French "voice-overs." I think I'm going to get on CNN later and watch it in English. After all this, we went to a local creperie for dinner. It was one of the most delicious meals I've had here thus far. A friend and I split a Brestoise crepe (ham and baked apples) and a Paysanne crepe (some sort of French cheese/ham combination). They were both delcious. We then enjoyed a chocolate crepe with ice cream. Sigh. Sometimes I love French food! There were so many of us at the creperie that we ended up getting done very late. Thus, I had my first experience taking the night bus. It was quite the experience to say the least. Fortunately, one of the girls from my program was with me. We had to wait for quite awhile to catch the bus we needed. While we were waiting, a very nice guy approached us and asked us if we were waiting for the night bus and he explained that we were waiting in the wrong place. He pointed us in the right direction, which was very nice of him (our guardian angel). Anyway, we then had a not-as-nice man approach us and ask us if we would like to join him and his friends for some “fun.” I immediately said “Non, merci” and he asked us if we were American (we must look and sound very American). The girl with me lied and told him we actually spoke Spanish and we didn’t know English (she actually speaks Spanish, so this was not a problem)! So he put a little puppy dog look on his face, took his cigarette in his hand, and blew us a kiss. How very kind of him. I never want to take the night bus again! I know I will have to, but I certainly hope I never have to take it by myself. There are some semi-sketchy people around late at night (as there would be in any big city).

Two more little cultural differences for you before I go:
First, the notebooks here are not lined like ours… they are graph paper. ALL of them! They don’t have your typical Five-Stars here (I’m not too fond of this difference… it messes with my handwriting).
Also, the keyboards here are different. For some reason I had no notion of different countries having different layouts of keyboards. I realize now that this makes a lot of sense. However, the “m” and the “a” and most of the symbols are out of place here and it’s quite difficult to type on the computers at the center. I look like a 7 year old just learning to type!

Love to all,
Madelyn