In Caen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings there are always open markets somewhere in the city, and one happens to be very close to my host house. My host dad and brother and I all walked down to the market (after a much needed well night's rest) and bought cheese. Lots of cheese. We had two guests last night who are teachers in a preparatory high school in Bayeux. One teaches French literature, among other things, and one teaches ancient Greek and Latin. That wasn't intimidating, considering I want to be a French teacher.
Despite my fears, they arrived and were too sweet. The wife is very soft-spoken and constantly smiles, which to someone who possesses these characteristics too, that was a relieving sign. She asked about where I was from, what I wanted to study, why I was in France, the normal questions most people ask me here. I began tripping over my words and tried not to get flustered. She just smiled and patiently waited for me to spit out my words. After a while, and a glass or two of wine, I was able to find my words much easier, or I just didn't care enough if I got something wrong, not sure which was more accurate.
After my host mom got home, the men went into the kitchen to make the fondue, and we women sat in the salon gabbing and giggling. A noxious aroma suddenly filled the air, which gave way to a delicious, more subtle smell that suddenly made me feel famished. We sat at the table and began digging into the fondue pot. Fondue here is not like in the US, like most of the food. It is two parts French cheese and one part swiss cheese with a white wine base and some spices. It was ridiculously delicious. After that heavy portion, we had a salad with homemade vinaigrette.
We sat and chatted a bit more, talking about etymology of languages and accents. The husband's first language is Catalan, which I've read about, but have never heard, so after some begging, he acquiesced and recited a few proverbs. It's beautiful; it sounds like music. It's like two parts French and one part Spanish, with the tongue rolling "R" instead of the throaty French "R." I don't know how many languages this man speaks, but the few English words I heard him say were very clear.
During desert, which was an amazing display of a pistachio, mousse type cake and a coffee and chocolate flavored mousse type cake, with a desert wine from the Loire Valley, we began discussing language acquisition and they both complemented my French accent, which made me blush of course. Compliments are appreciated, but they tend to make me uncomfortable. I'm weird.
We had tea after that, and the couple left. Soirée durations are much longer here, because of all of the courses and visiting, it's nice.
Today, we got up and went to the open market to buy fruits and vegetables. This market is the biggest one of the weekend, and causes the downtown streets to be shut down for all of the people and carts. We ran into a family friend and then my host mom ran up to us after parking the car. She had bought some fried egg roll things that had chicken, shrimp, or veggies in them. They were actually really good! She handed them out laughing, saying that she usually hates things that are so fried, but smelled them and was drawn like a moth.
We then congregated at a café and had thé à la menthe with fresh mint leaves. MMM. We then drove for a good 30 minutes through the country and arrived at Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer. The drive was typically Normand and beautiful, minus the rain.
I must say, writing in English is growing to be incredibly difficult. My entries will probably grow shorter, with less flowery language. I may end up just writing in French. I'm in a weird language limbo à ce moment là.
Despite my fears, they arrived and were too sweet. The wife is very soft-spoken and constantly smiles, which to someone who possesses these characteristics too, that was a relieving sign. She asked about where I was from, what I wanted to study, why I was in France, the normal questions most people ask me here. I began tripping over my words and tried not to get flustered. She just smiled and patiently waited for me to spit out my words. After a while, and a glass or two of wine, I was able to find my words much easier, or I just didn't care enough if I got something wrong, not sure which was more accurate.
After my host mom got home, the men went into the kitchen to make the fondue, and we women sat in the salon gabbing and giggling. A noxious aroma suddenly filled the air, which gave way to a delicious, more subtle smell that suddenly made me feel famished. We sat at the table and began digging into the fondue pot. Fondue here is not like in the US, like most of the food. It is two parts French cheese and one part swiss cheese with a white wine base and some spices. It was ridiculously delicious. After that heavy portion, we had a salad with homemade vinaigrette.
We sat and chatted a bit more, talking about etymology of languages and accents. The husband's first language is Catalan, which I've read about, but have never heard, so after some begging, he acquiesced and recited a few proverbs. It's beautiful; it sounds like music. It's like two parts French and one part Spanish, with the tongue rolling "R" instead of the throaty French "R." I don't know how many languages this man speaks, but the few English words I heard him say were very clear.
During desert, which was an amazing display of a pistachio, mousse type cake and a coffee and chocolate flavored mousse type cake, with a desert wine from the Loire Valley, we began discussing language acquisition and they both complemented my French accent, which made me blush of course. Compliments are appreciated, but they tend to make me uncomfortable. I'm weird.
We had tea after that, and the couple left. Soirée durations are much longer here, because of all of the courses and visiting, it's nice.
Today, we got up and went to the open market to buy fruits and vegetables. This market is the biggest one of the weekend, and causes the downtown streets to be shut down for all of the people and carts. We ran into a family friend and then my host mom ran up to us after parking the car. She had bought some fried egg roll things that had chicken, shrimp, or veggies in them. They were actually really good! She handed them out laughing, saying that she usually hates things that are so fried, but smelled them and was drawn like a moth.
We then congregated at a café and had thé à la menthe with fresh mint leaves. MMM. We then drove for a good 30 minutes through the country and arrived at Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer. The drive was typically Normand and beautiful, minus the rain.
I must say, writing in English is growing to be incredibly difficult. My entries will probably grow shorter, with less flowery language. I may end up just writing in French. I'm in a weird language limbo à ce moment là.
I did get a fondue set from my wedding, so add fondue to our list of french recipes to make. I would not mind if you wrote in French. I need someone to talk to en francais to keep up the practice. I had brown-bag lunch with Mme Knight today, and was able to speak French with her. I love the idea of open markets and I really wish we had them here.
ReplyDeleteI love the blog. I think writing in both French and English would be really cool. I would certainly enjoy reading it. Maybe you could use the progress as a basis to write a book about someone traveling abroad. You would definitely have record of how the language would naturally progress into the other.
Well, I look forward to your next installment and have enjoyed your blog as well as our Skype time.
Tu me manque, Eskimo.