It's pretty weird being the foreigner
You know, growing up in America and hosting French and German students was a great experience, and whereas it did give me something to work with in terms of studying abroad, I still was never the foreigner. Always the one slowing down to talk because the other didn't understand me, the one who had to rephrase myself and omit words that might be too complicated for the other personal's grasp of my language. What I'm trying to get as, it's a test for the American ego to be the foreigner!!
Last night I had dinner with a friend Germain and his family. I understood almost every word exchanged over the meal of shellfish, mackerol and potatoes, cheese, fruit, and wine. I remember the meals I shared with the Camus family in Angers during the month of September, where Madame Camus repeated everything she said several times and only ever spoke about her husbands health problems and how her homemade yogurt sauce was "good for your health." C'est bon pour la sante! Back when after every meal, she would ask if everyone had had enough to eat and I would always reply with what I thought meant "I'm full, it was delicious" when in reality my response meant "I'm drunk" (je suis pleine--which is also the adjective you use to describe an animal that is pregnant--but obviously, either way you were screwed).
Now I discuss politics and phonetics and current events over my camembert, chevre, brie, roquefort...It's true that French cuisine is so much more delicate, modest, and delicious than most American cuisine. It's not about eating a lot, it's about taking care to match flavors and to savor every bite. I'm convinced that you never eat fish with the bones still in it in the US because you can eat it faster that way. I don't say that to be judgmental about America; I say that because I truly find it so annoying and so slow to eat fish with the bones still in it!!
More than anything right now, I'm adoring making small but frequent discoveries about French as a language. Some differences between French and English that I have realized are: French sometimes has a wider range of vocabulary for a subject such as food or animals; Engish has a far wider range of vocabulary for such subjects as technology. From personal experience, believe me, I'm not impressed with technology anything here--America gets the prize in this category. But honestly, I'm not like you Adam, I know you're a 24 yr old boy and you like food--correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet you find computers much more interesting than wine!
This entry is plenty long enough--hope it shed a little light on my year here so far. I miss everyone!
Last night I had dinner with a friend Germain and his family. I understood almost every word exchanged over the meal of shellfish, mackerol and potatoes, cheese, fruit, and wine. I remember the meals I shared with the Camus family in Angers during the month of September, where Madame Camus repeated everything she said several times and only ever spoke about her husbands health problems and how her homemade yogurt sauce was "good for your health." C'est bon pour la sante! Back when after every meal, she would ask if everyone had had enough to eat and I would always reply with what I thought meant "I'm full, it was delicious" when in reality my response meant "I'm drunk" (je suis pleine--which is also the adjective you use to describe an animal that is pregnant--but obviously, either way you were screwed).
Now I discuss politics and phonetics and current events over my camembert, chevre, brie, roquefort...It's true that French cuisine is so much more delicate, modest, and delicious than most American cuisine. It's not about eating a lot, it's about taking care to match flavors and to savor every bite. I'm convinced that you never eat fish with the bones still in it in the US because you can eat it faster that way. I don't say that to be judgmental about America; I say that because I truly find it so annoying and so slow to eat fish with the bones still in it!!
More than anything right now, I'm adoring making small but frequent discoveries about French as a language. Some differences between French and English that I have realized are: French sometimes has a wider range of vocabulary for a subject such as food or animals; Engish has a far wider range of vocabulary for such subjects as technology. From personal experience, believe me, I'm not impressed with technology anything here--America gets the prize in this category. But honestly, I'm not like you Adam, I know you're a 24 yr old boy and you like food--correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet you find computers much more interesting than wine!
This entry is plenty long enough--hope it shed a little light on my year here so far. I miss everyone!