Last week in Tours

So this is my last week in Tours, and I'm already kind of sad to leave my host family. I am especially going to miss their kids, including Amandine.

Sunday was the birthday of one of the girls in the program, Maddy. We went out to lunch and had some type of bruschetta sandwich/pizza called 'brousquettes', then we went to a patisserie and I had an absolutely delicious pastry called a 'nid d'abeille' (honeycomb, maybe?). We took our pastries to a cafe, where we sat outside and ordered drinks. It was really bizarre though; one of the girls at the table whom I really don't know well didn't want to order anything, and the waitress insisted that she order or leave. It was already late in the afternoon, so she decided to just go home, but it was really bizarre - especially if everyone else at the table orders something, I don't think it's very common in America to make someone leave if they don't order anything (especially initially-couldn't she have maybe ordered later? i don't know..)

Anyway, it returns to a theme that keeps appearing here: nothing, nothing is free. Not public bathrooms (20 to 50 centimes), not water (except for a small glass pitcher of tap water when you actually sit down to eat in a restaurant), not phone calls (usually), etc. And everything you do buy is often expensive, such as a can of soda for 1 euro or sometimes 2 (which is even more than $1 since the euro is stronger than the dollar), and cell phones (!!).

This is kind of interesting - the French do not always eat ridiculously healthfully - although I have eaten more salads and whole grains here than ever before. But, the other night (after I ate that pastry and just wanted a salad!), we had crepes. Apparently, normally when you have crepes for dinner, you just have crepes (aka, with nutella, sugar, jam, etc. inside). Thank god at least we had some type of breton crepe before that had eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, ham, etc. inside.

Yesterday I had a meeting with the housing director, and I'm really excited about my (potential), housing in Paris. When I explained my interests to her, she had suggested a family right away - they live in the 16th arrondissement (Paris is divided into arrondissements), and the mother is a journalist for 'Le Monde' (the big French newspaper) and the father is the President of Emmaus Europe (an organization that works to fight homelessness, poverty). He actually was just in DC (I googled him) for meetings, and I guess he was inducted as a fellow somewhere. They have three girls, about ages 8, 10, and 13 or so. I would live in a chambre de bonne (a maid's room) that is not attached to the house (it's on the 7th floor), but I would have a key to the house so I could enter when desired, and I would eat meals with them. A chambre de bonne is really small, but it would be nice to have my own entrance/exit. What's even nicer is that the 7th floor, where I'll be, will have other international students, who will also be staying in other families' 'chambres de bonne.'

Today, I went on a boat ride on the Loire. I'd like to say I enjoyed it - and it was really beautiful - but it was ridiculously hot (in the nineties) and I still have a sore throat from last week. The woman who gave running commentary during the ride spoke as if she had given the speech a million times, so her intonations were odd (think about someone giving a tour they've given a millioin times) and she slurred her words together so she was really difficult to understand. I almost fell asleep several times - you know that awkward head partially falling before you catch yourself thing - but I managed to stay awake (plus, where would I have laid?). For lunch I had quiche, and I have officially decided that when it is this hot you are only allowed to drink water and juice and eat salad or else you feel awful. Best of all, I trudged around in shoes that I bought over the weekend - white, leather sandals (multi-season!) that got so slippery from walking all over in the heat that I had to take them over and walk down the street barefoot.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to reading and going to bed!! Tomorrow, I'm going to see a movie called "je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas" (I'm fine, don't worry about me). Then, we have a party to say goodbye to our host families. Then, I have one last atelier where I go visit an old-fashioned silk loom place.

Last night, I was signed up to go to an atelier about a newspaper here. My family dinner didn't end until late, and I was waiting for a phone call, and I had to write a paper. I didn't go, since I had signed up for more than necessary anyway. Then this morning, the director of the institute knocked on my classroom door and demanded to talk to me - I'm not kidding! - and demanded to know where I was. It was like preschool! It reminded me of the instance in my Cultural Misunderstandings book - which has proven immensely helpful (if just to put you in the mindset of understanding the French from within their own complex logic and cultural expecations) - when the director of a university student "dorm" (which is really peculiar in Paris, only a very very few exist) went through the students rooms while they were gone. It wasn't particularly intended to be insulting; instead, the French students listened nonchalantaly while she ranted and raved at a dorm meeting. In this way, she was fulfilling the role of "director" and what would be expected of her - god, so similar to the French conception of parenthood! (but more on that later) - and the students understood that it was but her role, so it really didn't bother them. To the American girl staying in the dorm, however, it was so offensive that she left (I would understand!). Anyway, so I just kind of took it in stride when I was scolded publicly (in class!! ha) for not coming to an (otherwise optional) atelier. When they say the French are very into bureaucracy, I think it's very true - particularly in the sense that everyone needs to do what is demanded of them in the public sphere, while the private sphere (which is sharply divided from the public) allows for a lot more personality and freedom.

Great story - my French host mother told me that she once tried to mail books and a card from the post office. She brought her (pre-purchased) package up to the counter, and when asked said she wanted to mail two books and a card in the package to another part of France.

"You're not allowed," the woman behind the counter told her. Nathalie didn't understand. "You can only mail BOOKS in the package," the woman told her firmly.

So Nathalie went to the back of the line, put the card inside of the book and put the books and card in the package, went back up to the counter and told the woman she was mailing only books - and the woman didn't ask any questions. Did the woman know? Probably. But you just have to say what is necessary - what you're supposed to - and then everything can be smooth sailing.

Anyway, in final news, I also bought bandaids today for almost 5 euros at the pharmacy (you have to go to different places here to get what you want, unless maybe the supermarket would have been less expensive? they have so little though...) The pharmacist specifically recommended them (after recommending one that cost 6 euros, ha), and I didn't realize how expensive they were. So funny that she wouldn't recommended the 3 euro box, eh? You have to be quick, I guess.

I'm going to walk home - barefoot or not - and read.

bisous ; )