Joyeuses Fêtes!

Bonjour!

I just got back from the Rotary Christmas meal here in Montélimar. It's midnight now and I'm very tired, but I can't sleep, so here goes nothing. Before the meal, my Rotary counselor took me and the Brazilian to see where he works. He works in a nougat factory. I know understand why candy/chocolate factories are so cool. I got to learn the science behind how the nougat is made (yes, I'm a dork for liking science, leave me alone). It was really interesting to hear about the process and the actual amount of all the ingredients are integrated. I can now say that I've seen over 100 tons of almonds in one room. All in all, the factory was something new that I didn't expect to be fascinated by. 

After the factory, we made our way to the Rotary Montélimar headquarters. The meal was delicious (obviously, because this is France we're talking about). I was told four times that I have a good French accent (which was awesome because I've been feeling as though it isn't very good). It was nice to hear that from people who don't listen to me everyday. I met my "Rotary godmother" tonight too. She isn't a fairy (which is just too bad), but she is very sweet and she will live very close to me when I'm in my second family. She'll be my help line if I need it, or even if I just want to speak some more French. It's really good to have someone like that, but I just wish I had known about her sooner! But it'll be nice to have her along with my second family.

Speaking of my second family, I change in the beginning of January. Instead of living south of Montélimar, I will be living northeast (I think) of the city. Along with the change in family lifestyle, my bus schedule will also change. Hopefully it will be a little easier than the one I have now (particularly in the morning).While I love my first family, I'm looking forward to seeing a different lifestyle. Maybe it will be very similar and maybe it will be completely different. I don't know, and I won't until I'm living it. So with a new year I will have another family to add. 

For Christmas, I'm going to stay with some family in Montpellier. On friday, my dad's cousin will pick me up from Montélimar and we'll drive south for the winter (literally). Some people have been telling me that it isn't really good to spend Christmas with my family, but I disagree. It's not like I'm going to see my parents. I'm going to stay with people who I've met once before this year. They're like another host family, but they're actual relatives, which means that I will probably be able to bake random things without asking. :) The last time I stayed with them (when my host parents went on a hike), my French improved immensely. I'm hoping the same thing will happen again. 

I've really been working hard to learn French. Of course some of it is coming naturally with the immersion, but I've had to work at other things. I've studied a couple new verbs tenses and I'm working constantly on irregular verbs. I spent last weekend putting together a reference notebook full of verbs, tenses, vocabulary, and things like that (I was sick so it was the only thing I could do, don't judge me too harshly). I've definitely seen a change in my French. At this point, I understand almost everything. I won't say everything because at this point that is still impossible. I've gotten so accustomed to the accents that sometimes I forget whether someone told me something in French or in English. It's one of the weirdest mental trips I've experienced. It's even more bizarre than when I was on pain killers after my surgeries earlier this year (and I saw deformed spiders out of nowhere, so that's saying something). I don't really believe people if they tell me my accent has gotten better. I still feel as though I'm obviously foreign when I talk, but it's definitely not SUPER American anymore. 

On the topic of feeling super American (or rather not feeling American), I don't really feel the need to hug anymore. It's so strange because in the beginning I hated the whole French bisous thing, but now it's normal. Of course, I still hug people who merit hugs, but I no longer find it necessary. I feel like that's going to be the thing that throws me off the most when I have to go back. I'm going to want to kiss everyone's faces, but it will no longer be normal. I'm not even sure if I understand the word "normal" anymore. My life isn't normal... but I don't need it to be.

I may not post again until after the new year begins, but I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. Joyeuses Fêtes! 

Amelia

PS: I forgot the word "rather" in English and literally had to Google translate "plutôt" in order to figure it out. Just a warning, but my English may be really weird when I get back :P

épaule

Bonjour!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but my life has been a bit of the same. Honestly, that's wonderful for me, but it doesn't make for very interesting blog posts. I guess since nothing has happened I'll just talk about one of the things that's been a little difficult. That thing is making jokes. I can't make stupid ironic homonym jokes anymore. Also, it has been difficult to be extremely sarcastic. I just haven't learned how to be funny yet. 

In my family (back in the States), we make stupid jokes such as:

"I'm hungry"
"Me too"
"Me three"

It's funny because of "two", "too", and "to" and it's ironic or whatever. 

Except here, I can no longer make that joke. I miss that joke. Also, I tried. I ended up curling up in a corner and thinking about exactly why it wasn't funny. It was surprisingly traumatizing to not be able to make such a simply stupid joke. I miss simply stupid jokes. I've only really found one replacement at this point. I have a friend called Paul. Now for those of you who don't speak French, the word for shoulder is "épaule". What I do is say "Hey Paul", but with a French(ish) accent, so I don't pronounce the H. So it sounds like I'm saying "épaule". It's so stupid that it's funny. That's the only one I've found so far. Hopefully I'll find other little stupid jokes soon, but until then, I just get to bother Paul, but he's a good sport about it. :)

I really need to learn how to be funnier, and soon, because I really like it when people laugh. I know that's really mushy gushy boring emotional stuff, but it's true. I'd rather spend time making people laugh. I used to use sarcasm and now I've had to resort to making weird faces. Yes. Weird faces. I now make weird faces at my French friends. Also, I smile at people all the time. Most of the time they smile back, but sometimes they don't. I'm honestly not sure if people randomly smile at each other here, but I do. I guess that works...? It's just been an adjustment in how I approach humor. Yet another thing that has changed since my arrival about three and a half months ago. 

It's crazy to think that it has been over three months already. Sometimes it feels like it has been forever and other times it feels like it has been a week. I don't understand this anymore, and I love that.

Amelia

Also, here's some rap. 
"Formidable" - Stromae

Ma deuxième famille d'accueil et le Rotary! (My Second Family and Rotary!)

Bonjour!

This weekend was very busy, and I apologize for posting a little later than usual! Friday night, I met my second family! I also met my third family, and the Brazilian's second family. All four families got together at my Rotary counselor's house. I finally got the chance to meet my second family. I will have four siblings, but two of them aren't at the house (all the time). I'm still going to live outside of Montélimar, but I'll be a little closer (even though the bus apparently takes the same amount of time...yay). 

After the meeting I realized a few things. First of all, I'm switching families in less than two months. That means that I've already been here about three months. That's really crazy to think that three months have already flown by. Also, I don't want to have to come back to the States. I know I will have to, and that exchange doesn't last forever, but I wish it did! That family switch in less than two months also means that the next Rotary event with my district is in about 2 months. It seems so close, yet so far away. That's the thing about all this, I want everything to happen now, but on the other hand, I want it to last forever. 

Saturday, I spent the night at the Rotary president's house in order to wake up at 5:45 AM on Sunday and volunteer at a Rotary event. I was not too happy about waking up early, but I got over it quickly. The event was packaging up breakfasts that were ordered in a fundraiser to help a Down Syndrome foundation. It was a giant assembly line of people making the breakfasts, with me at the end, running them over to their designated spots. It was really nice to be able to help out again. I think I'm going to be volunteering in two weeks as well! 

Nothing else really happened on Sunday, except that I was sick. It wasn't not too bad, but I refused to stay home on Monday because of it. I need to see all my French friends as much as I can! They have been so supportive and are helping me so much with the whole "learning a new language" part. I couldn't ask for a better group of people correcting me every time I say something stupid. Which happens a lot, but oh well. It will all come with time... I hope.

Au revoir!

Amelia

Don't become French........

Bonjour!

Before I left, one of my classmates told me "Don't become French." When I asked him what he meant by that, his response was for me to not become rude, smoke all the time, and hate foreigners. I'm sorry, what? He actually believed all the terrible stereotypes that exist about French people. I have to say that these are NOT what I would turn into if I were to become French.

First of all, the French people are not rude. Well I mean, there will always be rude people in any culture, but the French as a whole have not been rude. While you can't casually talk to strangers here, when you do talk to people they respond politely (most of the time). The first day of school, the teacher told one of the students to sit next to me and help me. She could have chosen to ignore me the next day, but she didn't. Rather than abandon me when her job was finished, she helped me again. She is one of my best friends here to this day. Another example is in the recreation room, where the foosball is. You would think that people would be viciously insulting each other over the game if they were that rude. In reality, the only thing people do is swear and make light jokes about their friends. Also, French people compulsively feel the need to say hello to everyone that they know if they see them. If you don't say "bonjour" and do the cheek kissing or handshaking when you first see someone... well that just doesn't really happen, so I'm not sure.

As for the smoking.... It is true that a lot of people smoke here. Some of the people who smoke look as though they cannot be more than 10 years old. I was told that it is illegal to smoke in France if you are under 18, but no one really enforces that. There's a police station next to my high school, so if the "no smoking under 18" rule was enforced, there would not be smoking at my school. Anyway, in the group of girls in my class that I hang out with, no one smokes (that I know of). There are people in my class who smoke, but not a majority (I think... again, I'm not sure). Also, I don't think any of my teachers smoke. There are of course, teachers who smoke, but not everyone. My point is that the French do smoke more than I was used to, but just because I'm here doesn't mean that I will feel pressured into it. So don't worry about that. Coming to France will not turn you into a smoker unless you want to be turned into one. It's a choice.

Moving on to the idea that all French people hate foreigners. Completely false. The students in my high school have all been very accepting of foreigners. In the school, I think there are 6 exchange students total (2 Rotary, 3 AFS, and 1 CIE). As far as I know, none of us have been rejected. In fact, when people find out that I am American, they don't seem disgusted. They either don't really make a big deal out of it, or they flip out over New York City or LA (which is on the opposite side of the country). Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like. The high schoolers here may make a few little jokes, but they are never insulting, or at least, they don't try to be insulting. 

The only thing that bothers me about how they treat me, is that people tend to start speaking English with me when they find out that I'm American. It happened this morning! My host dad was explaining the exchange and told his friend that I'm American, and his friend started speaking English with me. It's insulting. I have been here for over 2 months and people are still under the impression that I don't understand anything. Maybe they think that Americans wouldn't have bothered to learn the language before arriving for a YEAR LONG stay or are so egotistically inept that they can't be bothered to try and understand. No, I do not understand everything. Yes, it is difficult for me to be confident enough with my French to initiate conversation. I AM TRYING. 

I can't help but wonder. Maybe if I was from some other country, like I don't know, Germany we'll say, and I told people that I spoke English very well, but was still learning French, what would they do? Would they start speaking English with me because I know it better or would they speak French because they know that I'm learning? Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion, but it seems that being American implies that English is the one and only language that I will ever speak. I hope this is not the case. In the States, we start foreign language in high school. That isn't early enough. English may be the "international language" but that doesn't mean that people who originally speak English shouldn't learn other languages.  Perhaps if I become super rich, super quick, I can become a Politician and pour my life into trying to change the system. For now, all I can do is deal with the fact that people will speak English with me if I don't tell them not to. 

My level of comprehension has actually skyrocketed. I understand more than I can speak, but that's still progress. I understood an entire French class, an entire SVT (biology) class, and an entire math class. I took a test in SVT that was given verbally and I understood it. Two of the questions were a little confusing, but I think I got the gist of them. Now, I can't write profound essays in French, but I can do math and attempt biology labs successfully. I'm happy with where my French is at this point, even if I say I'm not. Also, my friends have started teaching me random words and quizzing me about them later, and they aren't afraid to correct me if I make a mistake. That isn't insulting. That is helpful. When I'm talking with people I don't really know, I'm afraid to make a mistake because they may not correct me, and I may go on thinking that I said it right. It's a weird system, I know. Hopefully it will work.

This was a lot longer than I expected it to be.... Au revoir!

Amelia

Les Vacances de Toussaint (Fall Vacation)

Bonjour!

For the past two weeks, I was on vacation! Back in the States there isn't a fall vacation, but I didn't mind getting one... The first weekend was pretty normal. My host family and I didn't really do anything special. The first Tuesday, however, was wonderful! My host parents had to go to my host brother's school in Valence, so I got to see EXCHANGE STUDENTS! I saw people from Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, and the USA! I had really been missing everyone in my district, so seeing them was a wonderful pick me up. We walked around the city and talked for about 4 hours. Hopefully, I can go back to Valence and see them again! 

On Friday of the first week, my host mom, host siblings, and I went to Toulon for three days. We stayed with my host mom's parents. My host mom's family is very different from mine. It was a little more serious and formal than it would have been if I were with my grandmother. It seemed as though each person was trying to out-nice the other. I don't know exactly, but it gave off different vibes than I'm used to. The first day, we went to the beach and I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. It was so beautiful. I wanted to stay with my feet slowly sinking in the sand as the tide came in, but sadly I could not. We ended up walking along the shore for a few hours. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, but it was still nice. I just wanted to stare at the water, but I couldn't do that while trying not to trip and fall. The next day we went to Sanary, a town by the Mediterranean Sea. We climbed the stairs of a building to the roof and had a wonderful view of the harbor. Next to the building, there was a fountain with games set up around it. After the games, we did some window shopping in the center of the town. The third day, we walked around Toulon some more and then my host mom and I left after lunch, leaving my host siblings in Toulon with their grandparents. 

For the second week of vacation, my host parents went on a hike with their friends, so I stayed with my great aunt and then my (real) dad's cousin and his family in Montpellier. The first three days, I was with my great aunt in the center of Montpellier. Each day, we went for a walk in the city in the morning, had lunch at her apartment, took a nap, had tea, played scrabble, ate dinner, and then slept. The second day's trip to the city was actually very special for me. My grandparents met in Montpellier way back when. They fell in love through the French language (because my Swedish grandmother didn't let my American grandfather know that she spoke English...needless to say, she made him work for it). I got to see the park where they would take walks and I got to see city where they met. It was all very touching to see that part of my family's history. I guess that may be why I chose to take French in 9th grade, put France as my number one choice when I first applied to this exchange, and why I am so motivated to learn the language. 

For the second half of the second week, I stayed with my dad's cousin and his wife and children. I had met them once before, about 4 years ago. I wasn't really able to get to know them back then, but now I know them pretty well I'd say. They have two little girls, and my dad's cousin has an older son from a previous marriage. I loved staying with them. They spoke only (well... mostly) French with me, and in that one week, I really opened up more when speaking. It has become easier for me to speak with more confidence. And contrary to popular belief, I appreciate it when people correct me. I'm not going to be offended! It's not like they're screwing up my language... Anyway, it was helpful. We walked around the suburb that they live in and went to the Zoo in Montpellier. I also helped make pizza. I like making pizza. But I don't like that the French compulsively put olives on their pizzas. It's weird, but apparently that's just how it is...  

It was wonderful to get to know some relatives, but I still love Montélimar and living with a host family. Today was LA RENTRÉE. The day where you begin again after vacation. I missed my French friends and it was actually nice to have classes. I know that sounds really weird. Well, it is really weird, but I actually like school. I made some new friends today, I assumed that I had who I had at this point, but someone actually waited for me after class in order to talk to me. She also told me that I didn't have an accent. I guess that means I don't sound French, but I don't sound American. Maybe I just sound like an exchange student at this point. That's a good representation. I don't sound like I belong where I am, but at the same time I don't sound like I belong where I'm from. That works for me. I can forever be a nomad. Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I like the sound of it. 

Au revoir!

Amelia

PS: I'm sorry I haven't been updating my photo blog. It takes forever to upload, and I get impatient, so I've just stopped until I find some time to sit down and upload. 

Classics

Bonjour!

So today I'm not really going to be talking about a specific experience, just some things that I've noticed here. Mainly how much more prominent the "classic gender roles" are where I am in France. Now, I am not saying that these roles are nonexistent back in the US, I'm just saying that they stick out more in my life here.

At school, there aren't really a lot that I've noticed. Then again, I don't follow every conversation and I don't see every interaction, so there may be more, or there may not be. The first thing I noticed was with the foosball, or "babyfoot" as it's called here. No I don't know why it's called that. Anyway, there are really only 3 girls (besides myself) who play relatively seriously. I say relatively because some of the guys get really intense over a game of foosball... Moving on. I don't know why this made me think of classic gender roles. It just seems that the girls don't have a strong enough presence in the competitive things here. Like in my sport class. The day we chose which group of sports to take, almost all (not all, I promise) went for the easy ones. I'm sure that would happen in the States too if we were given the option, but like I said, it's more prominent to me here. Also it seems like guys almost expect girls to be weak. I don't have a specific example, but I just got that vibe. Like they think it's cute (like little kid cute) and expected when a girl can't play a game (like foosball) or get a problem right in math or science. I don't understand it. Most of you who know me in person know that I don't exactly like following those stereotypes...

It's also really present in my host family. Now I will say again that this could all be coincidence. I don't mean to say that my host family is bad for being like this. They aren't bad. They are wonderful. Anyway, the structure is very classic. My host mom is home for the day (she works from home), cooks the meals, and cleans (not to say that my host dad doesn't). My host dad is working at a middle school all day, serves the food, and plays video games with my host brother. The way my host mom talks about some things also make it seem super stereotypical. Like when we had crêpes the other day. We used a griddle thing in the middle of the table, but she explained that usually the mother makes the crêpes while everyone else just sits and eats. As if a dad is incapable of doing that. I don't know honestly. It could be that all French women are wonderful cooks and all French men are terrible cooks. Except the restaurant industry, with the cuisine France is famous for, is a male dominated profession. Also, they just have the stereotypical air about them. I can't explain that one. It just seems like they're a classic gender role type family.

Now, these are generalizations, it isn't concretely like this. I feel like I'm defending this a lot. I just don't want to offend anyone. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm merely stating observations that have formed my opinion. I'm not terrible. I promise.

Au revoir!
Amelia

Une petite histoire (A little story)

Bonjour!

So today my host family and I went to a Kebab restaurant for lunch. By the way, if you're in France and haven't eaten a kebab yet, you should. Anyway, I had successfully ordered my food when the waiter asked me what I wanted to drink. Now, I wanted a Sprite, but I didn't know how the French pronounce it. So I said it in my best French accent. It sounded like "spreet". The waiter then proceeded to correct me and pronounced it the American way. 

Are you serious? I flipped out inside over not wanting to sound foreign when sounding foreign was completely appropriate? No. That is unacceptable. 

After the waiter left my host dad asked me if I spoke English. Apparently not......... He and my host mom explained that a lot of English words were kept the same, except for the ones that aren't. French is so complicated that English in French is complicated. I tried so hard to not sound like an idiot and ended up sounding like an idiot. I don't even know anymore. I should just embrace the fact that I will be forever foreign. Here, I'm foreign. When I come home, I'll seem foreign. I just can't win. Oh well! 

Au revoir!

Amelia