Hi lovely friends,
I figure it's about time to write, because I'm getting homesick, and the scab from the last laydown game has finally disappeared completely, so I'm taking that as some sort of indication that it's time to write home...
I am doing really really well. My life here is relaxed, but not boring, and has a very nice balance of leisure time and work time. My courses take much less time than at school. They only meet once a week, but they're all really really interesting nonetheless. Economy of Sex, which is about prostitution and sex-trafficking in the 19th and 20th centuries, Contemporary Theater, which is taught by one of the most wonderful people ever, probably has one of the best teaching attitudes I've ever encountered, jokes with us, teases us but never in a mean way, and absolutely loooves theater, and philosophy, and goes off on these random tangents all the time... He was also the president at College de Philosophie, which is a pretty well known university in Paris...Then I have a course about religion and politics, which is a big deal here now because of the whole "affair de la voile" legislation etc., so that's going to be interesting...only problem is, the professor has a rather pronounced lisp, so while we're all struggling to understand French anyhow, the added lisp makes it sometimes near impossible. Then a class about immigrants in Paris, which is a lot of work, the only class I have now that nears the workload of a Wesleyan class, but that is still enjoyable and also really relevant because of the "crise de l'identité nationalle"...(So many crises, ah so French!)
In addition, I'm in a choir at the Sorbonne, which is nice. It's not a super good choir, but it's nice to get to sing a little bit, and I'm hoping with time I may make some French friends, so we'll see.
My host family is good. It's still a little awkward at times, as I'm still not totally comfortable just hanging around the house, and I still feel sometimes like I'm taking up their space, but things are in general really really good. The woman is an ex-actress, is very warm-hearted, sings the French language beautifully, and adores animals maybe more than humans. This has resulted in the four cats (Dou-dou, Freemouse, Rocco, and Ninochka) who run around the apartment like they own the place, jump all over the bookcases, lounge on top of the warm TV, and snuggle in bed with me if I leave my door open at night. I stopped doing that when I woke up to Freemousse's nose in my mouth, and then again several minutes later when she decided to give me an affectionate love bite. Nonetheless, it's adorable to see how much Genevieve loves them. They are her babies. Phillipe (I love that name) is her husband, and I was kind of scared of him at first, because he is very French, and was rather gruff at first, and I can't really understand him most of the time because he talks so fast...but now he's loosened up a bit, and is quiet most of the time but is very goofy and funny when he talks...He is an architect/works on the sets of movies making sets/used to be a body guard in London which is AWESOME. I've also met Genevieve's son and his wife, who come over every week with their 10 year old daughter. One of the most French moments so far was when we were all eating dinner around the table, and Dou-dou, the cat, jumped from the loft part of the apartment to the bookcase, quite a feat, and almost knocked something over, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by a chorus of "Ohhhlala.." "OHH lolo..." Oh la.." "OhLALA..." I just started laughing.
I've begun to pick up some of the French mannerisms, of which I am quite proud. The funny little puffy thing they do with their lips when they don't know the answer to something...Pfff...The "euuu" sound that takes the place of American "uhhh," the dropped words here and there, the way they're gruff and unobliging until the last minute when they do something really nice...(Today I was really fed up with this guy at a restaurant who wouldn't take the bill my friend offered him, and asked me if I couldn't pay for her...ok....fine....and then he gave me free candy.) One of the best moments so far was the other morning, when I said one of the most common phrases "Oui, d'accord" and Genevieve stopped and said, "you just said that without an accent just now. You said it just like a Parisian." I was happy for the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, the perfect Parisian accent doesn't extend to the rest of my speaking ability. I had this idea that I would get here, and just by being surrounded by French things all the time would somehow lose my accent...It's not that easy. Being here has made me much more aware of how non-authentic my accent is, and how unlikely it is that it will ever go away completely. Another frustrating thing is that while my comprehension has skyrocketed since I got here, speaking and writing take a much longer time to develop. I find myself understanding everything that goes on in a conversation, or in a lecture, and unable to respond without stumbling over my words, or having to take awkwardly long pauses to find the right words to express what I want to say. It's frustrating. But I'm learning, and I know I've made progress.
Although the budged Paris life consists mostly of crepes and baguette sandwiches, I do splurge on little things from time to time...yesterday, some friends and I went to Pierre Hermé, arguably the best macaroons in Paris, and certainly those with the most original flavors. I got two, fragola balsamique, and fragola wasabi, and gobbled them up. Then to La Durée, where we ordered the cheapest thing on the menu just to get to sit in the beautiful tea room with japanese tea garden themed murals on the walls, and dark cherry wood furniture, and shiny silver spoons. Then, on the way home, I decided to get a few macaroons for Phillipe because it was his birthday a couple days ago. So I get the smallest box and try to pay for it with my credit card. But there's a 15 E limit, and I'm three short....oh well, I guess three more macaroons won't hurt, so here come three more, milk chocolate passion fruit, rose (the most amazing rose flavor I've ever had in a macaroon, perfect), and rich salted caramel. You can't offer someone a box of macaroons for their birthday, and then take out the three you got for yourself and eat them right there, so obviously I had to eat them before hand. Then after dinner, chocolate cassis flavor. So basically I don't want to think about how many macaroons I ate yesterday.
Alright, I'm realizing this email is bordering on a novel. I'm going to try to write more often, and in smaller snippets.
I love you all to pieces. Really I do. I'll write again soon!
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