Even the Anglophones need translators sometimes

People have often asked me if the language barrier has been much of a problem. I have found speaking English to be sometimes more of a challenge than French. For example, last night I got together with some of the other English assistants working in Bourges. It was an international experience. Julia and Fiona are from England; Marie is from Scotland and Ciara (pronounced Kyra) is from Ireland. We were joined by Rémi, a student of Fiona’s, who spent his senior year of high school in Maine and is eager to work on his English. We decided to check out the local bowling alley. Finding it full, we moved to the billiards tables. These were also occupied so we sat in a booth while we waited for one to open up. During this time I noticed that the billiard balls were only two colors, red or yellow, and that there were no numbers on them. I remarked that this was different than what I was used to. Julia said that in England they have stripes and spots. I added that in the States we have stripes and solids. The others (except Rémi) didn’t seem to understand, so I tried to explain what our pool balls look like. This is the conversation that followed:

Me: There are 15 balls, each with a number. The eight ball is black. The first seven are all solid colored and numbers nine to fifteen are striped.

Julia: I don’t understand…

Me: The first eight are all a solid color…

Fiona: Green?

Me (laughing): I think we must have different balls in the U.S. The one ball is yellow; two is blue…I don’t remember after that.

At this point the other assistants started cracking up. With my American accent they thought that I had said salad colored instead of solid and were picturing balls of lettuce rolling around the pool table. Rémi, having spent time in the U.S., knew what I was talking about all along and also picked up on the reason for the confusion but decided not to say anything because it was more amusing to watch us flounder. At this point we decided that, even though we all spoke English fluently, it might be easier to understand each other if we spoke in French.

Just what is a cranberry? And other Thanksgiving Tales

I profited from the holiday season by using Thanksgiving as the basis for my lessons for two weeks. Unfortunately, the students did not seem to understand the concept of Thanksgiving. After having read and discussed the story of the first Thanksgiving, I still had students insisting that they celebrate it in France as well. They kept throwing out the names of various French holidays that they thought were the same as Thanksgiving (Valentine’s Day somehow worked its way in there). I guess the whole Pilgrims and Indians thing was lost on them. One of the girls asked if we received gifts at Thanksgiving. When I told them that we did not she replied, "well, that’s why we don’t have it in France." That was the end of that discussion.
Moving on to the Thanksgiving Day menu proved to be just as much of a challenge. Not knowing the word for cranberry, I looked it up in my French-English dictionary and wrote the translation (canneberge) on the handout as well. When we got there the students gave me a unanimously blank look. They were not at all familiar with the French word. I tried explaining cranberries and they kept suggesting strawberries and raspberries. We reached an impasse and so I had one of the students ask their professor when they returned to class. He said that it was a myrtille, which translates back to a blueberry. Not quite the same thing. I was dining at a colleague’s house the other night and somehow the subject of the cranberry incident came up. Neither she nor her husband was familiar with the word either. They looked it up in their French-English dictionary and had the same result as I did; so, they sought it out in their dictionary of cuisine. No luck. Needless to say we have yet to bridge the language gap on the subject of cranberries. I’ll be hitting the supermarket Monday so I’ll see what I can find.
Other than not knowing what a cranberry is, the students were quite enthralled by our dinner menu. When I told them that I would not be making a meal because that’s too much food for one person to eat, they suggested that I invite them over for dinner. As exciting as cooking for 500 sounded (even if I just invited the students from that school, I’d still have 200 guests), I explained that there wasn’t enough room at my place and that I’d pick up some turkey sandwich slices at the local supermarché.
Hope all of you are enjoying your Thanksgiving meal and perhaps even that little red fruit that has spawned an international quest for knowledge.

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Originally uploaded by at32819.

Cute isn't it?

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APTLIVE
Originally uploaded by at32819.

This is where I live!! Its pretty self-explanatory. :o)

No, the bedroom isn't pink. Its just the reflection of the sun off of my comforter.

The True Meaning of Laid Back

The French are known for their laissez faire way of life, a term we've appropriated but that I never fully understood until I got here. Referring to a hands-off or "let it be" attitude, it has become synonymous with a relaxed way of living. The French are the epitome of relaxed living. As a failry organized, right-brained, Type A personality, this has been difficult to get used to. Everything (except the traffic!!) moves at a much slower pace here, including bureaucracy. In an attempt to obtain my titre de sejour (the card that permits me to leave and re-enter the country while I'm working here) I have been passed from one office to the next only to wind up back where I started. This process has been going on for 2 months now and I'm no closer than I was before. The last thing they told me is that I have to wait for someone to contact me in order to get a medical exam. When that will happen is anyone's guess.
The French also take their lunch break very seriously. Everything closes from noon til 2. Schools...businesses...Everything except the restaurants. Despite not being very religious (most French are C and E Catholics) they also take the 7th day of rest to heart. On Sundays nothing is open except the church and a handful of restaurants. Grocery stores and many restaurants are closed so you'd better have stocked up! Stores, movie theaters and other places of entertainment are also closed. It can get quite boring on Sundays with nothing to do.
The average work week is 35 hours but can range anywhere from as little as 10 to as much as 60, depending on your job. Most businesses close around 5pm and the streets are practically deserted in the evening. I was wandering around the centre ville one Saturday about 8pm and encountered maybe 5 people. Even the bar closest to me was closed by 11:30 last Thursday, unheard of in most US cities, especially college towns. In contrast, the "boxes of night" (nightclubs - one of my students attempted a literal translation of boites de nuit) are open until 4 am.

The Saga Continues

I called FranceTeleCom last Tuesday to get a more exact time for the arrival of the technician. The woman informed me that a technician had shown up at my place the previous Friday, the 5th, but that I wasn't there to receive him. Bien sur! I was at work on the 5th, the appt. was for the 6th (the woman at the store wrote it down for me). I can't stay home all the time in case they decide to change the date. So, we set up a new appt. for Friday the 12th sometime after 1 pm. When I returned to my place I found a note from FTC that they had been there at 9 that morning, while I was at work. I can see that giving them my schedule helped a lot.
I waited around Friday and had just about given up hope when the technician arrived (5:30 pm). He spent 2 hrs working but to no avail. He needed a key to get in somewhere and would have to call the real estate agency to get it. He would have to return another day, but couldn't say when. Monday arrived and with it came a bill for my phone service, according to them established the 23rd of October. Needless to say I went straight to the office in town and was first in line when it opened. On entering the store I was directed to a phone in the back to call the technicians, even though I doubted that was what I needed to do. I was intercepted by a guy who had helped me out before. He told me to head to his desk and he'd help me in a minute. He agreed that I should not have to pay the bill, considering I was still without service, and so he filed a complaint on my part. Because it will take 4-6 wks for it to be processed he recommended that I pay the bill and my account can always be credited later. He also said he'd send another fax to the technicians to hopefully get them moving more quickly. I returned home slightly disappointed (I was hoping for a more immediate result) but was glad that something was being done. Not an hour later, another technician arrived, key in hand, and after 1/2 an hour...success! I now have phone service! Now I just have to wait and see about that bill...

Ruminations

Two weekends ago I went to see "Gang de Requins" (A Shark's Tale) at the theater. I knew that Will Smith had the title role and it was strange at first not to hear his voice. Considering the film is naimated that thought quickly slipped from my mind. This was not the case, however, last month. While staying in the local hotels I had the chance to watch some tv, including some American films. One of these was Stepmom (which they translated as Ma Meilleure Ennemi, which translated back is My Best Enemy, go figure) starring Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. It was disconcerting to watch them on screen, knowing how they should sound, and hearing a totally different voice. I gave it no further thought until discussing actors and actresses with the students as a 'get to know ya' activity. A majority of students gave the names of Americans as their favorites. I found it amusing that they prefer these Americans and yet have no idea what they sound like. All they know is their image. Take Tom Hanks, for example. He has a pretty distinct voice, easily recognizable even in animated flicks...for Americans. This train of thought led me to wonder if they have special voice doubles for these actors (much as one would have a stunt double) or is it a different voice each time? I imagine it would be difficult to maintain one double throughout a career, especially one as impressive as Tom Hanks'. So then I wonder, if there is a voice double, do they rate the same as a stunt double? Do people ooh and aah when they announce that they were the voice double for Tom Hanks? Any thoughts??

In Pursuit of Life, Happiness and a Telephone Line

I entered teh France TeleCom store on Oct. 15 and, after waiting 1/2 an hour, filled out all of the necessary forms and signed on the dotted line. I was told that the line would be up and running on the 23rd. Not sure what was going to take so long, but it was only a minor inconvenience at the time. The 23rd came...and went...no service. The 24th was a Sunday so I had to wait until Monday to deal with it. I stopped at every phone booth I passed on my adventures about town, calling the toll free number they had given me to call in case my phone didn't work (the irony of this was not lost on me). The line was always busy. On Tuesday I managed to get ahold of someone. They told me a technician would be at my place Thursday morning. I waited until 3:30 in the afternoon but I had errands to run and couldn't sit around all day waiting for someone who should've been there hours earlier. Friday the 29th I returned to the store, not wanting the phone hassle again. I patiently waited (forever) until my number was called and explained the problem to the salesperson. She spent 1/2 hour on the phone trying to find out what was going on. I was eventually told my line was still "under construction" whatever that means, and that it would be working Tuesday Nov. 2. But it wasn't. So on the 3rd I went back to France TeleCom where the woman was put on hold for an interminably long time before discovering that the line, by all accounts, should be working. Since it wasn't they decided to send a technician out the morning of Saturday the 6th of November. I waited until 1:30 then headed back to the store. After waiting my turn I was told to return later in the day because the person they needed to call was out to lunch. So I went back an hour later. This time the person took down my availability and said he would fax it to the technical people. One of my colleagues lent me her phone to see if it was the phone, and not the line, that was the problem, but her phone wouldn't work either. And so now I am off to try to get anotehr appointment set up with a technician.

French Reaction to the Elections

The US presidential elections have been the topic of conversation over here for the last month. Being from the controversial land, everyone wants to know my opinion. I have been careful to give the most PC answers I can (such as: each candidate has their advantages and disadvantages) so as not to start an international incident. As the elections drew near it became rather intense. I met a British ex-pat who went so far as to propose that the odds were 3:1 that Bin Laden would be suddenly taken into custody the Sunday before the elections, thus securing another term for Bush. That obviously didn't happen, but it was an interesting idea...As one can imagine, the French are very anti-Bush regime. I'm sure changing the name to Freedom Fries didn't help any (especially since French refers to the cut of the potato and not the nationality. Oops!) Pre-election polling of my students resulted in only 1 saying he would vote for Bush, given the chance. He felt that it was the president's duty to defend the country and that after the Sept. 11 attacks the war was just. Although some Americans have lost their lives, the war against terrorism is worth fighting. When asked why they would vote for Kerry most of the students replied that, "he's not Bush." It's sad when choosing the leader of a country comes down to the lesser of two evils. Part of it, I imagine, can be attributed to the fact that the students are 14 years old and their knowledge is limited to what they've heard their parents say in passing at the dinner table. How then did the French react to the news that Bush garnered a second term? I picked up a copy of the local newspaper and have translated the highlights for you:
"A zest of incredulity, a good dose of pessimism, it was a cocktail of blues that a good number of French swallowed at the revealing of the presidential election results...Did Europe idealize Kerry, desire a vision more tolerant, more solidified in international relations in ignoring how much the Americans live, before anything, afraid of the next day, haunted by a primitive form of terrorism...The gap of incomprehension between 2 approaches to modern democracy was again widened this week; to which point America and France take the same reproach: arrogance."

There is a bar in Paris that is popular with American ex-pats on election day. A straw poll taken there on the 2nd had Kerry winning with 419 votes to Bush's 242. It is the first time since 1924 that the vote did not reflect the outcome of the elections. I'm sure as time goes on things will die down a bit and people over here will stop talking about the disaster in the States. :o)