Luckily I landed a nice family who is sympathetic to my situation, but, that doesn't mean they are going to let me off easy. Wednesday, Gilles let me sleep in by bringing les enfants to their nanny until noon. The rest of the day passed bien and Gilles sent me home to "reposer" right after dinner. Thursday was some kind of strike day. They are trying to shorten school days next year and Thursday was the day that none of the students were supposed to go to school. Hurrah for me! Sick as a dog, I got up at 8am, put my sweats on and went next door. I was shakey, stuffy, nauseous, and I felt like my sinuses were taking a strike day too. I watched the kids from 8am to 8pm! Quelle horror!! I was grumpy and tired and sick, and petit Jonas seemed to be on a mission to be the most annoying he could be. Hitting, yelling, jumping off the walls and all around not playing fair. When he is in a bad mood, he will not listen to anyone! It's amazing how a language barrier can make itself oh so present in that type of situation. I realized that the more frustrated I got, the less French I remembered. I kept my cool though and we managed to make it through the day.
I did have a brilliant idea to let Jonas danse his restlessness out of his body. My idea of dancing my wiggles out was to put on some fast paced, beat dropping song and just break loose. Not these cultured children. No, instead, they donned their tutu's (Jonas included) and handed me a "Classical Music for Dummies" CD. They took turns dancing for me as I rested on the couch. All I had to do was keep my eyes open, and applaud when they finished. Here's a video of Lucile showing me her moves to some Brahms.
Friday I got the opportunity to attend Karaoke night at institute. Great, if I didn't want friends so bad, I would not be here! I showed up an hour late, but that seemed to be OK because it hadn't started yet. I'll tell you what. Nothing can make a crowded room go silent faster than a lost American walking into a small room of people who have known each other since they were born. The only person I did know, hadn't got there yet....Awkward....But, thankfully he told someone I would be coming and they showed me around. Everyone was really nice. One guy heard me speaking English and came over really excited.
"You speak English?"
"Yes, I do."
"Oh, that's so cool,! Where did you learn English from?"
".....I'm American..."
"OH YOUR AMERICAN! I LOVE AMERICA! I LOVE AMERICA!"
Turns out he is an investigator from Nigeria. He came here because he couldn't get a visa to the States. He doesn't speak French and like that fact that I speak both French and English. Now apparently going to be his tour guide to both Paris and America because he has always wanted to go but didn't speak any French....Yeah, we will see on that one...
I managed to duck out of Karaoke all until the last song when they realized I was the only one who hadn't sung. Together I joined a group of girls and we sang every word (or at least I sang every word) to Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. When the verse lines got a little too long and a little too fast, all the Frenchies started slurring their words or just stopped altogether. Then there was me in the background singing away to every line...off key of course because this stupid cold has taken away my voice.
 |
| Ready for some good Mormon fun |
 |
| Good Mormon fun |
 |
| Yeah, that's right. I text in French too. No help either |
Saturday I still felt like crap. This cold is just doesn't know when it's over stayed it's welcome. I helped Mariette and Lucile make a cake (Ok, so I melted the chocolate.) and we left for a get together at a friends house. It was insane! Christoph, the owner of the house, let me help him make crepes. I flipped them like a pro! There were only about 8 adults there, but 6 kids running around made it a circus. Then when one tried speaking to me, everyone tried to join in and suddenly I had 8 different french voices coming at me at once! I probably looked so dumb, but it was so confusing I couldn't understand anything! Not to mention the fact that I was trying not to puke the whole time made the event rather tiring. The cake looks good though, no? the "acid" (sour strips) were Lucile's touch.
Sunday was the best day of all I think. I was in a good mood. I woke up, late, but had just enough time to get dressed, hop the bus, then the metro and make it on time to church. The Elders saved me a seat in Sacrament and one Elder translated all the talks for me. I hope we weren't disturbing anyone, but I don't think anyone could hear us over the screaming child behind our row. Then all of a sudden there was a tap on my shoulder. It was a man who was until just recently, sitting next to the Bishop.
"You're Abigail?" I nod.
"After the Stake President is done, you are going to get up, introduce yourself and bear your testimony, thank you."
WHAT?!?!?!? I only nodded to him because my voice is all but silent! I don't know religious words in French! No way Jose!! But he walked away before I could decline, and I knew that whether I liked it or not, I was going up there. Elder Heck was kind enough to offer to translate for me. After the Stake President was finished, he said:
"We will now hear from Abigail Caporale, she's 19 and comes from the United States"
Well, thank you, President, there goes half my introduction. Now what am I going to say??
I actually did most of my little speech in French. I even asked them to forgive me because my voice was lost and I don't normally sound like this. For the testimony, Elder Heck helped me out. I was shaking so hard! I said that I was grateful for a church that is world wide. That the same spirit I felt back home was the same spirit that I could feel with me today. Then I said something that kind of took even me by surprise. I said that by the end of my time here, I will get back up and be able to do this without the help of Elder Heck. I would say it all in French and all on my own. Great Abby, what did you do?
There was a Sister Missionary there who was from Eagle, Idaho. I was excited to find that out since she went to my rival high school and all. All of a sudden, I'm going to be attending a lot of missionary discussions with both the Elders and the Sisters. There's something about me being an American in France that automatically makes me an honorary missionary or something. I'm down though, even the Stake President invited me to have dinner with the Sisters on Wednesday. That's pretty cool if I do say so myself.
After church I was in a very good mood. I went home and celebrated my good first day of church by taking a long nap. Then I went next door and had dinner with the family. Lucile and Jonas wanted to play Monopoly...Monopoly? Vrai? I don't even know how to play Monopoly! So, being the smart girl that I am, I googled how to play Monopoly the easy way, and we ended up having a lot of fun. I got to speak a lot of French and make up some of my own rules.
All and all, Sunday was a good day. Mariette asked me if I would teach her how to French Braid (haha french!) Lucile's hair. I'm really good at doing my own hair, but every time I try to do it on some one else it never works out, so I showed her and hoped for the best. My mom is still way better at it than I am though. But, it worked! And here's proof!
Not bad eh?
Well that is that. Tomorrow school starts again and I must go. Bleh :P
Goodnight
Abby
No comments:
Post a Comment