La Famille Numero 3

Marilyn has bothered me to write another post, even though I was very content tanning in my backyard in the 70 degree weather.  It is SO BEAUTIFUL here this week.   It is sunny and warm and flowers are blooming and it was just a perfect day in Angers.  We were so French and picnicked next to the river for lunch.  Then I went running in a beautiful garden which is as close to Eden as I am ever going to get.  Then I tanned in our backyard (okay now I’m just taunting you).

The weather this weekend was also incredibly nice which was fabulous because I spent it on the west coast of France in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.  Our ND group was invited there because our director is friends with the English teacher at the private middle school in France.  To educate his French students about America, he put one of us in each of their houses for a weekend.  But first, he had to show the students where we were from, so we watched part of Rudy.  Needless to say, with a group of 16 domesick girls (+Jeff, Jason and Mike), the tears almost started flowing.   We pulled it together and educated students as best as we could by reassuring them that Americans do not eat hamburgers everyday, New York City is not the only city in the U.S., and that Americans are not, in fact, all obese.  Then the kids brought us into the courtyard where we treated as a small zoo.  Kids crept up and examined us and whispered about us and it was a truly awkward experience.  After shooing off a group of fourteen year old Justin Bieber wanna-bes, I left to meet my new host family.

It was love.  The family had four kids who ranged in ages four to fourteen.  The house was loud and hectic and there were tons of children running around—it immediately felt like home.  I quickly became bffs with the four year old and we played with legos for awhile.  Then I played “Pet Shop” monopoly with the eight year old.  Then we ate grilled cheese and pudding while watching Survivor-French edition.  After the rest of the family went to bed, I watched crappy reality TV with the older children, played Scrabble in English, and helped them with their English homework.  It sounds like such a lame night, but I was so so thankful to be somewhere that felt like home. 

The next morning, they gave me a bike and had the fourteen year old show me around the town.  We went to the beach, and the port, and then shopped on the boardwalk and had cappuccinos. 

We returned home to play wii and then went to mass.

Side story: I asked the Laureen, the fourteen year old, if her family was Catholic to which she adamently responded “yes!”  Then I asked what seemed like a normal follow-up question, “when and where do you go to mass?” To which I received a very confused, “No, we don’t do that.”  And that, my friends, is how Catholicism is done in France.  This was not an unusual occurrence, because even though the French do consider themselves a very Catholic culture they do not really practice.  A few weeks ago, I was discussing Catholicism with a French man (…maybe this is why I don’t have French friends), and he told me American girls are like Puritans.  Unfortunately, I did not know how to express “what the hell are you talking about?” so I just stared at him until he followed up.  He explained to me that almost no French teenagers and young adults attend mass regularly so they see some of our habits as rather outdated and super religious.

Anyway, the host mother thought it would be grand if I brought two of the children to mass, so I did.  I’m pretty sure they’ve never been to mass because they kept asking me what was going on…which was pretty unfortunate because I kind of wanted to know the same thing because the mass was a little strange.  But I was happy to have some time to think and pray and thank God for bringing me to such a wonderful family for the weekend.  After a beautiful French meal with some family friends (which lasted over two hours), I went to bed nestled in between the two eldest daughters.

Sunday we woke up and went to the market.  I love European markets.  The people are all running around from stall to stall, stopping along the way to chat with their friends and acquaintances.  And the flow of traffic is so ingrained in their French DNA that it is just amazing to me as an outsider (I’ve decided this is how visitors feel at SDH on football weekends).  At the market, my host family made two purchases: a watch for me (how sweet are they??) and a bag of oysters for me to try (…this I was less excited for).  We toddled home and cracked open the oysters for lunch.  Needless to say, I was terrified that I was going to vomit on their kitchen table and ruin my fragile relationship with this beautiful family.  But I was successful.  We ate them plain with bread and butter which was interesting, but fine.  I can’t say I enjoyed the oysters (they remind me far too much of the smell of the Shedd Aquarium), but I managed to get a few down and that’s all I was really hoping to do.

 

After dominating my new host siblings in the Michael Jackson Wii game it was time to leave.  I was actually really sad to leave because I felt so comfortable with this family after just a few days and it felt so homey.  They invited me to come back if I so desire this semester, and I have promised to remain in touch, but I am so thankful that I got this wonderful opportunity to experience a new side of French culture, speak purely French for a few days, and to have a few days to cure my homesickness with a family that wasn’t too different from my own.

For my tardiness, look for another post later this week. J  All my love to everyone at home xoxo.