9/26/2015

Hi!

I have been pretty absent for the last month because I always feel like nobody wants to hear about what I’m learning from P. I am well-versed in potty talk because of all of my girls and I had the unfortunate moment of learning what a penis is from P since I never learned anatomical words in my French classes. I mean, I know how to say collarbone and foot and arm, so I felt weird when a six-year-old was teaching me more words.

P and I have also been playing the same game of war for 2 months. She’s winning.

Big M likes to correct me. I still haven’t gotten the nuances between desert and dessert and I feel like it kills her every time I say “votre maman a dit que vous pouvez manger une glace pour le ‘dezer’” then i get “dezSSSer”. Thank you, Big M. I still forget and hopefully when I go home I will say it correctly.

Little M loves me still. That hasn’t changed. We get to hang out together every morning while her sisters do schoolwork, and it’s one of the best parts of my day, honestly. She loves to play with playdough and feed the ducks who live in the Seine and play prehistoric women. This was a “fire” we built to keep our babies warm pendant “les femmes prehistoriques”.

I have started thinking in both languages. On occasion, I’ll think “okay, les princes go in the placard” and it makes perfect senso to me. I also have started using french fillers to talk to people. Like, I was talking to my best friend the other night and when i didn’t hear her, I would say “quoi?” or “Pardon?” because my brain automatically goes to that, instead of “what?”. All of my dreams are a mix of French and English. I say certain English words with a French accent and for the life of me I cannot say fueille. Or spell it. Also phoque is a toughie.

Um, I lost my glasses yesterday. I don’t know where they went, but they can’t have gotten far.

THis is me and Little M at the park. She was taking videos of the geese who climbed up on the riverbank and started rhythmically tearing grass out of the ground. It was terrifying. She loved it. I think little kids are innocent enough that they don’t understand the horror that is geese. That, or they’ve never been chased by them.

We went to Blois last week, and I went to the chateau twice. My host dad seemed so confused that I would go twice, but I’m kinda obsessed with it. I mean, Catherine de’ Medici lived there. What more do you need to spend the rest of your life there? Also, it was free, so why not take advantage of that? It was the coolest chateau I’ve experienced so far. I think next time we go to Blois I’ll check out Chambord, which isn’t too far away. I have yet to check out Versailles, but the house of Valois is where it’s at, and don’t let anyone else tell you differently.

Anyway, hope this tides you over until I have more things to write about.