IAS 380R Week in the Country & FHE

Cultural Proof
  
      I spent a lot of time with a family from the branch, first at weekly family home evenings with the missionaries, then later they invited me to stay at their house in the countryside for a week. The family are native Poitevins; the children born there and the single mother, Brigitte, has lived there since she was young. There are two girls, Marion (26 years old) and Nadège (29). They also have a brother, Eddie, who lives just outside of Poitiers centre, and who visits from time to time. During the week I stayed with them, we went to a dance/ theater performance he and his club put on. It was very modern, erie at times, trying really hard to be mysterious and expressive, but instead just came across as a little odd. At least this was the general consensus among us four female spectators.
    During my time there and my FHE visits with the missionaries, Brigitte and Nadège always worked hard to cook lavishly. Particularly at the beginning, the meals were very traditional and I imagine quite expensive. I ate things that I would never have eaten had the social setting not dictated that I try. Examples include a rabbit that was given as a gift from the neighbor. Also pig snout, which I didn’t ask about until after I had eaten it. One day that I wasn’t able to go out for FHE, the missionaries later informed me they’d eaten calf heart. Needless to say, I’m not so open minded about my meats as some people, and I was not disappointed to have missed that particular dinner. Even with the occasional adventurous meals, eating with this family was some of my favorite memories from Poitiers. Those women sure do know how to cook. Some of my favorite meals were eaten at their dinner table, and we (myself and the missionaries) were always so grateful at their willingness to take us in, feed us a good meal, and share a simple lesson together.
    The family home evening lessons were usually a conference talk that we would pass around and take turns reading. I always enjoyed this, particularly because this was a group of people I was comfortable around, who was French, and who I knew wouldn’t make fun when I stumbled across a word. Marion is dyslexic, so she struggles reading aloud. However, she always sat next to me and helped me pronounce the words. I remember her being very patient and I liked it when she corrected me, because I knew she understood what it was like to not know how to read a word, and I think it was good for her to see that other people struggle with that too. After we read the talk, we would discuss it or share personal experiences about the subject for 15 or 20 minutes.
    During the time that I stayed with them overnight, after dinner each night we would watch a movie and eat ice cream. They have lots of movies, and every night someone takes a turn choosing. We watched several classic French films as well as American ones with French subtitles.
    Brigitte and I talked a lot. We talked about her conversion to the church, voyages she made when she was young, her job, before she got sick and retired, her cancer, which is in remission now, her children, etc. She even took me with them to vote, and explained the whole process to me. I appreciated how welcoming she was, especially right at the beginning when I didn’t know anyone and felt awkward in the branch. I know that if I ever go back to Poitiers, no, not ever, but when i go back to Poitiers, I’ll most certainly be stopping by their little house in the countryside to say hello.

IAS 380R Teaching Teachers

Large Cultural Proof

For part of my work this year, I was given an extra assignment of team-teaching an English conversation class for primary school teachers every Tuesday evening. Every week my colleague and I would research topics or prompts to get the teachers talking in English. We had many interesting conversations, and often compared subjects such as education, politics, holidays, religion, and geography between France and America. We met usually as a fairly small group, which even then was a much more successful turnout than they've had previous years, where only one or two teachers would show up. The meetings were held in separate building of a library, and the six or sometimes seven of us would sit around a table and talk.
     I remember some conversations more specifically than others, but we always tried to come up with prompts that would be interesting for everyone involved. Because we were all working in the schools, we spent a couple of classes talking about education.
We often made charts, lists, or diagrams on a board to compare French systems with American, French grammar with English, and even spent one class playing card games.
We talked about the way elections work in France and the US, politics, energy conservation. Nathan and I were honest about the less pleasant aspects of American culture, for example the fast food epidemic and our not so eco-friendly habits. There were a few times however, when Nathan would go in my opinion a little over the top with negativity towards America, and at one point I remember pointedly telling him that was enough. I didn’t want those teachers to think that Americans have no national pride. They understood, however, that there are all different kinds of Americans, just like there are all different kinds of French. But that wasn’t an excuse to ungratefully list any negative aspects of American citizenship.
    We spent on particularly interesting lesson talking about stereotypes. I of course asked what stereotypes they had about Americans. One teacher wrote down “cool” and another wrote down “religious” because whenever an American wins a medal at the Olympics or something he’ll almost always say that he’s grateful to his family, his coach, etc. and God. The teacher said that in France they would just say it was because they worked hard, but Americans say it was because of God. There were some moments when the liberality of the teachers irritated me a bit. We were always diplomatic. All of the teachers are atheist, at least from what I gathered throughout the year, except one, who I know works at a private Catholic school. She never voiced her opinions against the atheists, but I assume she must’ve been Catholic. As far as politics go, I remember a teacher saying, regarding a politician's private life, “We like to know, but enough is enough. What he does is his business.” They all thought it was quite funny the way the American’s were so up in arms over the Clinton scandal.
    One lesson we had a Galette de Rois party and talked about Christmas traditions. Even though we spent a full hour talking about this tradition, I was still not at all prepared for it to last well into February. I loved those galettes as much as the next person, but after my 7th or 8th party, I thought if I saw one more galette I would puke, and I didn’t even care anymore who got to be the king! I was told crêpe month was coming up soon, but it couldn’t come fast enough.
    Although teaching this class was a lot of extra work, I really used it to discuss French cultural topics that I was interested in or that confused me. Nathan and I really formed a friendship with those teachers that came regularly; one of them had hens and brought us fresh eggs every week. Another one gave me a book with animal sounds in French the week following our discussion on the topic. At our final celebration, we ate a mixed up meal of French and American foods, from brown gravy to broyés to pinwheel almond cookies. I know that they appreciated having native English speakers to practice with and answer their questions, and I appreciated all that they were willing to openly discuss and teach me about the more subtle aspects of French culture.

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