Learning French Takes More Than Four Days

I saw ROLLERBLADING POLICE today!!  Three of them, inline skating down a busy boulevard, waving to their counterparts sans wheels who were directing traffic.  It was the coolest thing!  I didn't get a picture (I need to work on my speed photography), but I knew there would be some online.  And I was right:  

super cool, right?

Also, I had two or three experiences in shops today that bring me both hope and despair.  I bought a sandwich and some juice in French, and the lady was super nice!  She taught me how to say "sit down" and "take out", and she recommended the Pomegranate juice when I asked (or tried to).  I then went into a hat shop with some super snazzy hats, and the lady said something to me... and I just couldn't figure it out.  I don't even know how to say "sorry, what was that you said?" in French, so I was stuck.  She could tell and switched very kindly into English.  Very nice but mostly horrible.  Not that there was any better way to handle a random American girl tripping over her tongue in her haste to spit something out in French...  sigh.  Then I went into a book shop, and the guy said something to me, probably the same thing that lady said, probably something basic like "may I help you?", and I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.  I somehow managed to stutter "I can't speak French" en Francais, but in such a way that I'm sure he believed me.  He grunted and proceeded to pretend that a poser like me wasn't in his shop.  How depressing.

I went to the church building for institute but found out that it classes don't start again until July.  But it was a nice institute center, like they had in Frankfurt, where you can go and hang out, so I stayed.  I met a bunch of French people.  Some of them talked to me for a bit and were very nice.  I couldn't understand a thing anyone said, but I suppose that isn't surprising, given that I've been learning French for a grand total of four days.  I guessed correctly on some of the questions I was being asked, like "how long will you be staying here", "how long ago did you serve a mission", and "how many brothers and sisters do you have?", and I was able to answer them all!  ("trois mois", "trois ans", and "deux freres et deux soeurs", respectively)  I think that was pretty good!  Then one girl asked if I was staying for the dancing.  Dancing?  Yes!  Turned out they were rehearsing some EFY production.  It was silly, but I got really good at counting to 8 and knowing my "gauche" from my "droite".  

Let me tell you, mormons are super lucky to have a built-in network of people to meet and make friends with wherever we go.  I refrain from saying that they are built-in friends, because they aren't.  It is just a set of people you could befriend.  Liz says it is so hard to meet real French people as they are super* private--she scarcely has any French friends and she has lived here multiple times in the past fifteen years.  In marked contrast, I had ten French people my age kiss my cheeks tonight (only a bit awkward when you have never seen them before), and one of them even noticed when I left! 




*Super is my default word tonight.  I'm tired.  Don't judge.

Je suis la nounou

I have a theory for why Europeans don't bathe very often.  It is because they haven't learned to enjoy the cleansing process.  Look at our tiny shower:

Teeny tiny bathtub, the perfect size for Sophie but with scarcely any room for my two feet.  Yes, it is quite cute, but in "cute" read "cramped".  With that stupid hand-held shower-head that makes daily bathing a nuisance.  I'm not showering tomorrow morning.  I just don't want to.  When in Rome and all that.

Also, I held a pseudo conversation with a French mom I met at a park!  Her little girl, Romi, was so friendly, with un belle sourire (new word!).  I also learned that I am a nounou!  a nanny!  I somehow managed to convey that by saying "je non suis... mama".  I think that was wrong, but she got the point and told me what I was.  She pointed to Sophie's big blue eyes and mine, and asked if we were somehow related (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what she asked), and I said "non".  I'm practically fluent!

Me!  The nounou! and the cutie-pie Soph :)

I also learned how to say "bless you" when someone sneezes, mainly because Liz has been sneezing all day.  It is... now let me remember...  "au te..."  oh, dash it all.  Interglot.com help me!  À tes souhaits.  Thank you.  It is pronounced "Ah teh sweigh", approximately.  :)

Also I saw Le Moulin Rouge.  It isn't that grand, and it is on a street with all kinds of sex shops.  I wonder if can-can girls still dance there.  And if they wear enough clothes for me to feel comfortable attending one of their shows.

I have arrived

I'm back in Europe!!
And these are the things I have missed:
- European yoghurt.  European whole milk (it tastes like sweet cream).  European bread.
- Beautiful architecture for even the most mundane apartment buildings.
- Quality cars (or maybe just precise and skilled drivers).
- All the little shops that sell real stuff (as opposed to little ghetto shops that sell junk--though those are here, too)
- Walking to the grocery store, cool foods to choose from, and having to bag your own stuff with your own bags.
- Amazing historical monuments that you casually walk by every day.
- Little motorbikes zipping everywhere!

The things I have not missed:
- Smokers EVERYWHERE
- The odd, disgusting smell of exhaust in the small, congested streets.  I swear exhaust smells worse here.
- Creepy men who dress way too snazzily.

I was slightly worried about getting through customs, since I don't have a visa and I'm staying for longer than 90 days, but Liz speaks French, and the customs people just looked at our pictures, stamped  our passports, and let us through.  It took less time than it has taken for me to get back into the United States!  So, I didn't get deported!  Yay!
Also, big milestone, I got hit on before I even got out of the airport.  Or something like that.  The guy who brought us to our reserved taxi gave me his card with his name and number on it.  He told Liz to tell me to call him if I needed someone to show me around.  She was like, um, no, she's not interested, and he said that he was being entirely philanthropic; he has a wife and a baby after all, he only wants to help.  Whatever.  His card is my first souvenir.

Odd thing:  Army guys dressed in camo with huge automatic weapons were sauntering through the airport like they owned the place.  Who ever thought it was a good idea to give big guns and uniforms to 20-something young men who already have big heads and a overdeveloped sense of their own importance?  They are supposed to save us from the bad guys?  It seriously didn't look like they were good for anything but picking up girls and perhaps starting some fights themselves.  The three that I saw swaggered around in the Arrivals area and stared at me with cocky smiles as they walked past.  Oh the lechery.

I'm looking forward to being able to communicate.  When the taxi guy came up to me at first, Liz was in the bathroom.  I opened my mouth to say who I was (I can totally do that in French!!) and all that came out was "Ich bin".  Curse my German tongue!  I have to wean myself off of words like "ja" "nein" "danke" "bitte" and start saying "oui" "non" "merci" and "s'il vous plait".  Here are some words I learned today:
billet (bee-yay) = bill (as in a dollar bill or a euro bill)
pieces (pee-es) = coins
comment dit-on... (com-uh deet oh[n]) = How do you say...
l'oeuf (luf) = egg
le chien (luh shee-eh[n]) = dog
Please do not mock me if any of these words or pronunciations are wrong.

Also I am very tired.
I will start taking pictures someday.  Maybe tomorrow.  Until then, use your imaginations!
Love,
Alexandra

plane tickets: check!

Ok, I have a plane ticket back to Boston on the 2nd of November from Paris.  That means I need to spend the 1st of November on a train getting back to Paris.  So I'll have HALLOWEEN to be in Santiago!!  woot!  Maybe I'll send a package ahead of myself with a 16th century pilgrim outfit, so I can be in costume on that most glorious of holidays...

Where to start...

Now that I have decided to walk to Santiago from Paris, the internet tells me that it would take me more than two months to do the whole thing.  Sigh.  I don't really want to be walking in November.  So I won't.  I'll cut out some time, somehow.  I might not start in Paris after all.  Rumor has it that the first week or so out of Paris is depressingly suburban anyway.  I might start in Orleans.  Or maybe Le Puy.  They were both popular medieval starting points for pilgrimages.

Let's see... If my return flight gets scheduled for sometime in the last week of October, and I definitely want to walk the whole of the Camino Frances (the pilgrim path in Spain, takes supposedly ~32 days of walking), I need to get over the border of France by the end of September, leaving me 20-25 days to get there from Paris.  So.  There may be a train ride in there somewhere...

Le Puy to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port is ca. 645 km, and at 25 km/day, that is about 26 days.
Chartres to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port is ca. 687 km or 27.5 days.
Orleans to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port is ca. 700 km, or 28 days.
Vezelay to St. Jean-Piel-de-Port is ca. 721 km, or 29 days.
Paris to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port is ca. 791 km, or 32 days.

Hm.  If that is the only difference, less than 10 days, then maybe I'll just start in Paris....  I have to see when my plane ticket is for.  Maybe I'll start in Paris proper and take a train to Orleans to avoid suburbia.

Also, duly noted, the French word for pilgrim is pelerin!

Spoiler alert!!

I found a day by day break-down of last bit (well, last half) of my route!!!   This is my path once I make it into Spain!  This is just so exciting that I can't help but post it all willy-nilly.  Here is the link to the webpage. 

The stages of the Camino Francés
St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port Stage 1 25 km - 58 pictures Roncesvalles Stage 2 26 km - 76 pictures Larrasoana Stage 3 15 km (to allow sightseeing in Pamplona) - 36 pictures Pamplona Stage 4 25 km - 40 pictures Puente la Reina Stage 5 21 km - 24 pictures Estella Stage 6 22 km - 22 pictures Torres del Rio Stage 7 21 km - 28 pictures Logroño Stage 8 29 km (+40 km detour to Clavijo) - 44 pictures Nájera Stage 9 21 km (plus a 40 km. side trip to Yuso and Cañas monasteries)- 28 pictures Santo Domingo de la Calzada Stage 10 23 km - 23 pictures		Belorado Stage 11 24 km - 29 pictures San Juan de Ortega Stage 12 27 km - 24 pictures Burgos Stage 13 39 km - 30 pictures Castrojeriz Stage 14 25 km - 28 pictures Frómista Stage 15 19 km - 20 pictures Carrión de las Condes Stage 16 38 km - 30 pictures Sahagún Stage 17 18 km - 10 pictures El Burgo Raneros Stage 18 19 km - 10 pictures Mansilla de las Mulas Stage 19 17 km - 16 pictures León Stage 20 22 km - 12 pictures Villadangos Stage 21 26 km - 34 pictures		Astorga Stage 22 21 km - 32 pictures Rabanal del Camino Stage 23 33 km - 50 pictures Ponferrada Stage 24 23 km - 38 pictures Villafranco del Bierzo Stage 25 28 km - 65 pictures O Cebreiro Stage 26 39 km - 29 pictures Sarria Stage 27 21 km - 46 pictures Portomarín Stage 28 24 km - 36 pictures Palas de Rei Stage 29 29 km - 42pictures Arzúa Stage 30 39 km - 42 pictures Santiago de Compostela Page 31 42 pictures The extension to Finisterre Page 32 48 pictures The city of Santiago de Compostela

So, 30 ish days after I cross the border into Spain, I'll reach Santiago!!  

Resurrecting the Dream...

In an amazing twist of fate, I have the opportunity to live in Paris, France this summer!!!!  I will spend June, July, and August walking all over the city with a stroller full of adorable little girl.  I will paint watercolors as she naps, hand-sew a 1790's gaulle to wear on July 14th, see all the lovely medieval, baroque, and art nouveau French things, and learn French while buying baguettes.  It will be amazing!

And, since I will already be in Europe, I figured that when I'm no longer a nanny, I might as well take a walk over to Santiago de Compostela, a famous medieval pilgrimage site where St. James is supposedly buried...
I'm going to be a pilgrim!!! 
It will not be quite so hardcore as Amsterdam-Venice-Jerusalem...
It will not be in period garb...
But it WILL be AWESOME!

(this is the modern pilgrim symbol)

More to come!!!