IAS 380R Marché à Nortre Dame

Small Cultural Proof

        Every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday we have a morning market in front of Notre Dame. I often felt like I was benefiting the most from my time here in France when I was on my way to our little market. Vendors have tables and tables set up of everything you could need for good, fresh, healthy cuisine. And the prices generally beat those at the grocery store too. The fruits and vegetables are bright, vivid colors, the produce is smooth and scathe free. There’s always a man who sells soups in jars who sometimes gives free samples. There’s always a woman with macaroons and local cakes; the shortbread-like broyé of Poitou has to be beat with one’s fist to break it up into manageable pieces. We always have two or three stands selling flowers, and when I’m feeling fancy I indulge in a bright mixed bouquet from the countryside. There are of course a few stands selling bread, but none of them beat our Délisses de Poitou baker just down the street from my apartment. We have paté, cheese (brie is our favorite, unless you count local chèvre chaud), eggs, saucisson of any kind of meat (which I have begun to take a liking to, especially considering how wary I was at the beginning of the year), more kinds of meat than I could ever care for: pork, rabbit, chicken, lamb, beef you can ask the butcher to grind for you right there. The list goes on. My brother and I usually stuck to the basics: lots of fruit and veggies, some eggs (which don’t come by the dozen), and sometimes a broyé for him or some flowers for me. When we knew we were going to go all out, I would bring my chariot like a real local so we could get it all home and up our million flights of stairs to our unairconditioned apartment. Everyone is always so friendly and helpful. You just point to or pick up what you want to buy, hand it to the person working the stand, they weigh it and print up a receit. On the other side of Notre Dame, we also had a non-produce section of our market, which included antique trinkets, books, sometimes furniture, porcelain, or musical instruments. There was never any shortage of interesting things to see at the market!

FR 311 Vocabulaire 12

1. joli comme un coeur        cute as a button
2. kiffer                                to have a "crush" on someone
3. Il fait "un bazard."           He makes a mess.
4. Elle fait "du bazard."       She is making a crazy racket/ having a fit.
5. Il fait lourd.                     When the weather is hot, muggy, makes you feel lethargic.  

Regional expressions (Bretagne):
6. korigan                                                   gnomish creature
7. prendre un reposer                                  to take a nap
8. .....eh bien? (at the end of a sentence)    tag on word. doesn't really have a meaning.
9. le crachin                                                drizzle

(en Lorraine)
10. Il disent souvent "comme ça"          "Like this/ that"
11.                              "du coup...."          "In short...."

 Grammar Class
12. rompre          casser, quitter quelqu'un
13. une rupture   une interruption
14. chuchoter      to whisper
15. murmurer      to murmur, to mutter
16. articuler        to speak clearly, articulate
17. miauler         to meow (cat)
18. aboyer          to bark (dog)
19. il convient    il faut, should
20. d'inculquer   enseigner
21. amènent       conduire
22. transmission commercial
23. régir              govern
24. régissent       govern
25. commande    order

FR 311 Vocabulaire 11

1. une capuche     hood on clothing
2. biner                 to hoe
3. une tache          stain
4. cracher             to spit
5. supporter         to handle (cope with)
6. s'occuper de    to handle (deal with)
7. se charger de   to handle (deal with)
8. un manche      a handle (tool,  pot, or object)
9. une poignée    a handle (door)
10. une cicatrice  a scar
11. une bride        a horse's bridle
12. un portemanteau     coat stand
13. un porte-chapeau    hat stand
14. un guéridon             stand for plants or trophies
15. pupitre                     music stand
16. un éventaire             stand for market or festival
17. casser            to break
18. un bavoir       a bib
19. croquer          to bite (for an aminal)/ to crunch
20. à mâcher        to chew
21. le poil             animal fur
22. un plateau       tray
23. un bâton          a stick (from a tree)
24. un biberon                baby's bottle
25. nourrir au biberon    to bottle-feed

FR 311 Vocabulaire 10

1. le rouge-gorge    robin
2. le pigeon            pigeon
3. la mouette           seagull
4. la chauve-souris  bat
5. le hibou               hawk owl
6. la chouette           owl
7. le flamant rose     pink flamingo
8. l'aigle                   eagle
9. la baleine             whale
10. la pieuvre           octopus
11. le phoque            seal
12. le crabe               crab
13. le dauphin           dolphin
14. le requin              shark
15. le manchot          penguin
16. la chenille           caterpillar
17. le ver de terre     earthworm
18. la mouche          fly
19. la fourmi            ant
20. une tarentule      tarantula
21. l'araignée                  spider
22.  un cloporte               roly-poly bug
23. un papillon de nuit    moth
24. un acarien                  dust mite
25. un ciron                     cheese mite

FR311 Vocabulaire 9

Reading to kids.....Le gros livre des Animaux
1. le canari                 canary
2. la souris                  mouse
3. le perroquet            parakeet
4. le poisson rouge     goldfish
5. l'âne                        donkey
6. le paon                    peacock
7. la poule                   chicken
8. le clef                      deer
9. l'écureuil                squirrel
10. le sanglier             boar
11. le hérisson            hedgehog
12. le lièvre                hare
13. l'ours                    bear
14. le chaton              kitten
15. le poussin             chick
16. le veau                  calf
17. le poulain              foal
18. le chiot                  puppy
19. le héron                 heron
20. la libellule             dragonfly
21. la grenouille          frog
22. la salamandre        salamander
23. le cygne                 swan
24. le porcelet             piglet
25. le loup                   wolf

FR 311 Vocabulaire 8

1. décoller        to take off (air plane)/ to peel off/ to remove
2. s'envoler      to take off (air plane) / to blow away /to fly/ to vanish
3. encombrer   to clutter/ to block
4. gêner           to bother/ to disturb/ to annoy
5. tripoter        to fidget with
6. débarquer    to land (unload)
7. accoster       to land (come ashore)
8. atterrir         to land (airplane)

Learning to drive a stick shift
9. le frein                      the brakes
10. le frein à main        hand brake
11. un volant                steering wheel
12. un engin                 engine
13. la vitesse                speed
14. indicateur de vitesse  speedometer
15. l'embrayage               the clutch     
16. débrayer                    to let in the clutch
17. embrayer                   to let out the clutch
18. une pédale d'accélérateur    gas pedal
19. le gazole                              diesel
20. le gaz                                   gasoline
21. une station-service               gas station
22. le sac gonflable                    air bag
23. le coffre                                trunk
24. le capot                                 hood
25. un clignotant                        turn signal/ blinker

IAS 380R Babysitting

Large Cultural Proof

Yesterday I spent the whole day babysitting for two little French children. Célia is three and a half and Lucas is 15 months old. The day had a rigid schedule which we were able to successfully stick to, for the most part. I noticed many little differences in how they’re treated and raised compared to American children.
    We started the day with a breakfast of bread, butter, jam, or honey, organic fruit juice and rice cakes. Then at 10:00 we got out the stroller and went for a long walk to the harbor. Célia often has to go the the bathroom when we’re outside, and it’s customary for her to go in a bush, even if we’re near the house and there’s a bathroom just inside. After the walk Lucas had his bottle, which is prepared with breast milk, even thought he’s almost a year and a half old, he still nurses. He wasn’t at all interested in the bottle, and no matter how hard I tried to get him to take it, he cried for mommy and still wanted to nurse. Célia also takes bottles with organic cow’s milk. In those respects I thought it was interesting how much they’re treated like small babies; American babies would usually stop nursing at a much younger age than Lucas, and certainly most American three-year-olds wouldn’t be given a bottle. However, there are other aspects in which they are treated much more maturely than American children. For example, Célia is starting school this September. To me that seems much to early to start school, and I would think that would be an incredibly long and tiring day for a little girl. Her mom says she’ll start out just going in the morning and we’ll see how she does before sending her for a full day. It actually sounds more like a preschool, except that she’ll be in the same school with children much older than her.
    Lunchtime was another event in which they are expected to act more mature. They are expected to eat everything they’re given (even thought Célia rarely eats everything, and wants to be spoon fed like her baby brother) which is normal, almost adult size portions of some mild food like soup or veggies. Everything is prepared without salt and nearly everything is organic. After the battle over anything green, they are both given a piece of fruit or a yogurt for desert, something an American child would probably protest. Then at 13:00 it’s time for everyone to take a nap. Célia takes her naps and sleeps at night with a diaper instead of the panties she normally wears during the day. I found their naps to be unusually long: they were expected to stay in their rooms and sleep from 13:00 to 15:00-17:00. They’re never woken up early, like many mothers would do in the US for fear that if they nap too long they won’t be able to sleep that night. Their mom says if they’ll sleep a long time, let them. But I find that it makes going to bed at night much more of an ordeal for them. For example, Célia napped yesterday from 13:20 until 17:30. That’s over 4 hours. Come bedtime she was merciless, and cried from her room for almost an hour, which is much longer than normal. However it’s true that little kids need lots of sleep, and it’s interesting to see the different cultural methods, tactics, or beliefs behind the “best” way of doing things.
    After their naps it’s time for a big bottle for them both and then c'est l'heure de “goûter.” Goûter is a sweet snack eaten between the hours of 4 and 6pm. It is always something sweet, and for the kids it usually comprised of compote (like applesauce made with various kinds of fruit) and a cookie. After goûter we play for a couple of hours (playtime doesn’t differ much from typical American playtime) and then it to the table for dinner. Again, the kids are expected to eat well because if they don’t, there won’t another chance for the rest of the day. Eating is a ritual that is done only at the table and has a definite start and a definite finish, and everything in between is done in a certain order. So when they’re told they’ll go to bed hungry if they don’t eat at the table, they know that’s true. Dinner might be soup or vegetable or a little bit of meat, like lunch, but they get a piece of cheese if they eat well and also a little desert of compote or yogurt.