I had a mini panic attack the other day when I realized I have just over 2 weeks left in France! Time really does fly. I’ve decided I’ve been sleeping too much so I’ve changed my routine to listen to more French podcasts before I go to bed and to wake up by studying new vocabulary and grammar structures. That may sound really boring, but I’m a nerd so it’s not. I’m trying to be a sponge and soak up all this immersion. I love it! Every day, I pick up on a new vocabulary word in conversation or practice a new phrase that I learned the day before. It’s like the whole language is starting to make sense. Or maybe a more accurate analogy is I’ve finished the frame of the puzzle, and now I just have to finish the inside. No, that sounds too confident. Maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s a 5000+ piece puzzle. Ok, ok, maybe I’ve just separated the edge pieces in the 5000+ piece puzzle. Actually, forget the analogy–the point is I’ve made progress! Like tonight– Catherine and Lionel had a dinner party to go to, so the kids and I had the evening to ourselves. When I don’t understand their fast French or their expressions or when they speak le verlan (when they pronounce their words à l’envers (from left to right)–which apparently is popular among the young French in general–why do they feel like they have to make my life harder?) the kids just repeat/reword/redefine, but of course still in French. So, even when I get confused talking to adults gossip or listening to children talk nonsense or watching the news, it’s a cool feeling to realize that, in general, I don’t need English to understand French anymore, I just need the French [reallllly] slowed down or worded in a different way. I still have a long way to go even after I come back home, but I’m looking forward to taking advantage of another two weeks of immersion!
One of my favorite activities from the past week was going with Catherine to Laurette’s school to help with their “Scrabble Day”. I didn’t know this was a thing, so in case you don’t know either here’s the spiel (skip the spiel if you really aren’t interested in Scrabble. Again, I’m a nerd):
There are Scrabble competitions where there is a big Scrabble board projected at the front of the room. Each participant has his or her own Scrabble letter tiles, a mini Scrabble board, and sheets of paper with a copy of the board as well. There is a program that randomly chooses the tiles and these are shown on the screen. Everyone then has two minutes to come up with a word with the highest points possible, then 30 seconds to write down the location of the word on their pieces of paper. The papers are collected and brought up to the judging panel. The judges input the words and locations into a computer program that verifies the validity of the chosen word and determines how many points are earned by each competitor. Then, the “head” judge displays the location of the word with the highest points possible in that round with those letters (don’t worry this is a step in the computer program–no need for a head judge who is a Scrabble genius). After, the program randomizes the next letters (instead of each player “grabbing” the tiles), and these are again displayed. Using only the highest point words from each round to build his or her board, each player tries to get the most points possible after all the tiles are used (like regular Scrabble, except everyone is “reset” each round–you are looking at the same openings on the board with the same letters as everyone, even if you didn’t find the highest point word in the previous round). And just in case you’re still curious (shout out to you Julia because I know you are) the Scrabble letters for the French version are pretty similar in terms of the amounts of each letter, but the points for some letters change considerably. The “surprising” letters are K, W, and Y; each are worth 10 points (with X and Z as well) and J and Q are both worth 8 points! But, overall, not so different.
Anyway, some French lady in Voreppe is part of the association in France that does this competition, so she organized a day for the schools in the area to compete against each other, first alone then on teams. I went with Catherine to help out the first part of the morning, when they played “alone”. So, 200 kids playing Scrabble at once. Oh yeah, and in French, of course! My job was to be a paper runner; I collected the papers from 189-200 and brought them back to the judges. One of the girls also had a hard time spelling/recognizing French words, so I helped her a little and practiced my French vocab! It was so fun; I want to go to one of these in America (in English, of course!).
My other really fun, French experience was another “Month of Happiness” event held by Voreppe. Catherine and I went to the local cooking school to attend a course on making bread! We made pain de compagne (country bread) and yum! So fun and so good. I could not understand our chef because of his talking speed and mustache (he reminded me of the chef in The Little Mermaid that tries to cook Sebastian), but I could just look around and figure out what was going on. We even learned how to put a design on the tops of our breads. We each got to take home two of our own loaves and then an uncooked dough. Now, hopefully I can replicate the recipe in America!
Along with the cooking theme (my favorite theme), Zoé and I decided to do something with all the dandelions in the garden so we made jam! After picking all the flowers and keeping just the yellow parts, we boiled the flowers to extract their liquid and then added lemon juice, sugar, and pectin. And… [drum roll]…
it tasted just like…
honey.
So nothing special. But another experience! And it’s so cool to use ingredients straight from the backyard (earlier in my stay we also baked cookies with violet flowers from the garden–now those were good!). The same day we made the jam, we also ate a salad with just the dandelion greens (another first for me– a little bitter, but I liked them!). I love meals like that–it doesn’t get any more local!
The other trigger to my realization of time quickly passing was an email from the Peace Corps. In the next two weeks (i.e. right before I leave France), I need to submit an updated resume and an aspiration statement. This is basically just an introduction of myself to the Peace Corps staff in Namibia. Peace Corps volunteers don’t find out their exact town or specific volunteer position (I just know I will be a science teacher at some middle or high school somewhere in Namibia) until in-country training, so the aspiration statement helps my supervisors determine the location/role I would fit best based on my language/travel/teaching experience, as well as my strategies and attributes for adjusting to a new culture, before arriving in August. So this email not only reminded me of the short time I have left in France (2 weeks is nothing!) but also of the short time I have left before the Peace Corps (3 months is nothing too!).
I’m currently just trying to live in the moment, but when I do pause and look back, time really does fly.
Hope you are all doing well!
A prochaine semaine!
Pictures and adventures from last week:
My bread! I hope I can replicated these in America…
Another day in Grenoble! The flag with the dolphins represents this area, the Dauphinois (dauphin means dolphin in French).
The Dauphinois Museum in Grenoble was converted from an old convent. The old chapel is the bottom floor.
I love Grenoble!
I read a part of a Polish story in French at the Dauphinois Museum. Interesting combination of cultures I have an attachment to!
These smell so good!
200 nine year olds playing Scrabble.
Only the word with the highest possible points remained after each round. The only high point word I figured out was jambon, or ham. I think it says something that I figured out the one related to food.
Lots of trees make for nice shade and nice runs in the middle of the day. It’s been unseasonably warm for April here (70-80F) this last week.
Dandelion jam!