It is snowing again!
Today I went to visit my best friend in Paris, who unfortunately is Geographically Undesirable-- she lives outside of Paris to the southeast, exactly on the opposite side from me. Jenny usually drives into Paris, and we lunch at some little place, but it doesn't seem fair to me that she always does the traveling, so today I volunteered to go down and meet her. What an ordeal! Tonight it took me 2 1/2 hours to come home from her house. Part of that is that there was another demonstration this afternoon, thousands of students marching against the CPE, a new type of employment contract. I passed about forty police and CRS cars and buses on the way into the city.
She is an Australian who married a Frenchman and lives a totally French life-- she had been here fifteen years before she had children, and the whole household speaks French. "I'm so ashamed! It's so bad, I give Paul English lessons once a week!"
We went out to lunch at an unprepossessing farmhouse, outbuilding to a nearby chateau. The restaurant was packed when we arrived, and there was a big fire blazing in a chimney big enough to roast an ox. They actually still cook on it, for grilling and barbecue. The maître d', wearing a 1970s-style green print shirt, met my friend with a warm welcome and insisted on holding my purse while he took off my coat. "Even if I'm not that kind of guy," he said in English.
We sat near the window and caught up on two months apart.
"Your SMS [text message] was in French," I said.
"I didn't notice it till after I sent it!" she said.
"How is Nina doing in school?" I asked.
"She was having some trouble, but she fell on a good teacher this year," Jenny said.
Did she get hurt? ;)
Isn't it funny how you mix up the two languages?
Posted by: Claude | 24 February 2006 at 02:17
LOL. i had to read it twice to understand...
I'm Québécois... you Hundertand?
Posted by: Laza | 24 February 2006 at 21:27
I hate it when I'm lost for words, or find myself translating French colloquialisms back into English.
Watching UK TV and speaking English regularly is so important. I could not withstand losing my grip on my own mother tongue.
I've lived outside of the UK and in Francophone countries since 1998 and I'm doing OK so far. Regular contact in business with English speakers has helped though.
Slap me if I ever say or type something like "she fell on a good teacher this year", unless it's deliberate bilingual irony spoken in front of others that are equally bilingual.
-Fruey
Posted by: fruey (Let's Have It!) | 25 February 2006 at 11:02
Hmm-- judge not lest ye be judged, Fruey! Let's see how well you would do with a French partner, French-speaking children, and 20+ years in France!
Actually most of us old-timer expats are guilty of this kind of thing from time to time. We try to confine it to each other!
Posted by: Sedulia | 25 February 2006 at 11:23
Sedulia, I'm enjoying your blog! I have only been in Paris a short time, and have a painfully bad grasp on French. I have 6 hours a week of lessons at work (Institute Francais du Petrole, BEICIP-FRANLAB), and my brain warps into German when I get lost during the lesson.
Can you tell me the name/town of the restaurant in this post? I'd like to go there when I have visitors from the U.S. Thanks...
From Sedulia: Unfortunately, it's in the back of beyond in a not-charming area, and would be very hard to get to without a car. I don't think it's worth it. There are a bunch of restaurants in Paris with fires though. Offhand I just know the Coupe-Chou in the 5th and the Quincampe, r Quincampoix near Beaubourg.
Posted by: txyankee | 19 March 2006 at 11:39