I know it has been way too long since I last posted, but I've been pretty busy with mostly boring stuff that you guys probably wouldn't be too interested in. Suffice it to say, there was an ear infection, some school stuff, and just general life stuff happening. It's been a while, but I don't have too much to tell you, to be honest. I've really connected with my new host-family here over the past few weeks, so there's that to talk about. An interesting story involving my 9- and 11-year-old kids asking me what Wal-Mart is, and the possibility of a summer job when I get back to the States in a few months. But that's about it. I may be in Paris, but I still have to do the boring, un-glamorous life stuff. And with seriously limited funds, I can't afford to do museums or monuments or anything like that if it costs money. So besides the fact that I live in Paris, my life is pretty normal. Just not much to tell at this point.
So, first off, my new host family bonding and stuff. If you know me, you know that I tend to come across older than I really am and often form closer friendships with people outside my age range. It probably comes from basically growing up in a church without many young people around. As a kid at a church function, I'd have to find somebody to talk to or hang out with, otherwise I'd die of boredom within about 5 minutes. Sometimes I'd spend the time with an adult I already knew, like my first-grade teacher; to this day, that teacher and I are very close friends. I like people my own age, and I have friends within my generation, but I'd say that most of my closest friends are much older than I am. I don't like to think of my friends in terms of "best" or anything like that, but I will say this: the person I call when I just want to talk about something exciting or bad that just happened or just want to talk, the person I call to come pick me up when I'm in a bad situation, the person outside of my family that I look forward to seeing the most when I come home, I guess I would classify her as my "best" friend. Most of the time we're mistaken for a mother-daughter duo, because she's more than thirty years older than I am. I know some of my old high school classmates' parents better than I know their child.
I'm saying all of this just to point out that I'm used to being the youngest person in the room and with making friends with people of my parents' generation. So it surprised me last semester when I wasn't able to form a friendship with my host mother. I think the main reason it didn't work out with us friendship-wise was that she still felt the need to mother me. In France, it's not unusual for young adults (particularly young men) to live with their parents until they are 25 or even older. I haven't lived with my parents for more than three consecutive weeks in nearly three years; I don't really need to be parented anymore. Now, with my new host mother, I have a friendly relationship in which we talk about current events and discuss cultural differences with an open mind. I can come to her with a cultural or political or personal question, and we have an actual discussion about it, rather than a lecture in which she tells me what I should think or do. It's really great, and I'm so much happier. The food is really great as well. The dinners are nice and balanced here. There's always a good source of protein, traditional French food, and I never leave the table hungry.
On to other things: I'm still tutoring my two French kids once a week, helping them with their French and English homework and getting them to speak in English more. Recently, I've been re-teaching myself how to do 3- or 4- digit subtraction and multiplication long-hand so I can help 9-year-old Angèle with her math homework. It came right back once I really thought about it, but it took me a couple of tries. I'm not stupid, I promise; just really not a math person! I am really happy that my level of French grammar is higher than hers, so I can help and correct her grammar exercises. Louis is 11, so he doesn't need as much help with the other things, so mostly I just help him with his English. This past week, we had an interesting conversation about American culture. They had finished their homework and eaten dinner and everything, so I let them watch some educational tv on the National Geographic channel. It was this show (in English, with French voice-over) about the tornado in Joplin and the aftermath, etc. They were really into it, and there was lots of English being spoken throughout the program, so I thought it was a good choice. Mostly it consisted of big shots of the carnage the tornado caused; there was a really impressive shot of the Wal-Mart, with tons of cars stacked on top of each other in the parking lot, the roof missing and all the landscaping equipment all over the parking lot. It was still recognizable as a Wal-Mart, of course. I hate Wal-Mart. I never shop there unless I have another choice; seriously, I haven't been in one in at least two or three years. But for some inexplicable reason, I saw that Wal-Mart and felt a little homesick. I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that I miss Wal-Mart when one of the kids says, "Hey, Suz! What's that? How did all of those cars end up there?"
At this point, I should probably point something out about Europe. Mega-stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Sam's, etc. don't exist here. It's a completely different culture. Here in France the closest thing to it is Monoprix (that's pronounced mah-noh-pree, guys; don't let me hear you say mah-noh-pricks, ok?) but it isn't really the same. Monoprix has large stores that have both food and clothes, but nothing near the size of a Wal-Mart or Target. There are shopping centers and things like that, but the idea of a store where you can buy books, movies, groceries, clothing, toys, electronics, and really anything else you might want or need all in one store just doesn't really exist here. My kids Angèle and Louis are real city kids, so driving a car to the grocery store was actually a pretty foreign idea. They may do it outside of the city, but here in Paris you only drive a car if you're on a road trip or going out to the suburbs. My host mom works outside of the city, so she drives nearly everyday, but that's pretty rare. My last host family didn't own a car at all. So to Angèle and Louis, the image of all of those cars in front of this huge building, all parked out in the open just didn't make sense. It lead to a very interesting conversation. Now they want to come to the States just for the mega-stores. Kids are so funny sometimes.
My last bit of news is really not France related at all. The last two summers, I've worked at Montreat Conference Center, a Presbyterian Conference Center in Western North Carolina, not far from Asheville. It's been great, but I decided back in October or November that I wasn't going to return this summer. Mostly because reverse culture-shock can hit people pretty hard, so I wanted to be somewhere familiar with a little less craziness. Introvert that I am, I know that all the high-energy, big event sort of thing that a summer at Montreat is would just not be good for me while I'm trying to reintegrate. I don't have the job yet, so I may end up staying home for the summer, but I did apply for a job at Ghost Ranch. The idea is similar to Montreat, but much smaller and more relaxed in a lot of ways. It's out in New Mexico, basically in the middle of nowhere. It's where Georgia O'Keefe did a lot of her paintings and lived for a while. It's special to me and my family for a number of reasons, one of which is that my parents met at Ghost Ranch. Seriously, if Ghost Ranch didn't exist, my sister Beth and I probably wouldn't be here. I also spent a couple of summers there when I was in middle school, and have very fond memories of it. Basically, I'd be doing the same sort of thing that I did at Montreat (day-camp counselor), but on a smaller scale. At Montreat there were more than 100 people on summer staff; with this program, there are only thirty slots. The conferences and programming are much smaller and have a more relaxed feel. The two things that really sold it for me were that it pays a bit more that Montreat does, and all of the staff sign a pledge for a substance-free summer. That means there's no smoking, drinking, or anything among staff members on or off campus. You guys who know me know that I don't have a problem complying with that. It was actually a selling point because of the general American College culture that I've been exposed to over the last few years. Going somewhere that allows me to meet other students my age who aren't all about the partying is really rare. I had my phone interview last week, and it went really well, so I'll just wait and see. I'd really like to get the job, but it's not the end of the world if I don't.
That's all I have for now. I'm going to try to find more things to post about so I don't leave you hanging again. If there's something specific you'd like to hear about, whether it's a cultural thing, more on an experience I've mentioned before, or just my thoughts on something French or non-French related, leave it in the comments! In about a month, I'm spending a weekend down in Provence (the south of France) with some students from my program, so there's definitely some more touristy pictures coming in a few weeks.
à bientôt!
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