I woke up to the news this morning that Senator Kennedy passed away. Boston.com posted the announcement right around the time I was getting up for school. I did find multiple stories about Senator Kennedy on LeMonde.fr, the website of France’s big paper. The stories all said very nice things about le Lion du Sénat and how it may impact healthcare reform. My host mother, Marie Christine, knew about it when I talked to her after school today. Needless to say I was thinking about Massachusetts throughout the day.
I have started my classes at Alliance Française, a school here in Bordeaux for foreigners to study French. I have French class in the morning from 9-12 and then a two and a half hour lunch break. In the afternoons we either have activities in Bordeaux with the group our we have workshops on cinéma, gastronomie, or actualités politiques (current events in politics). The classes have been a little disappointing so far but lunch is my favorite part of the day! We get two and a half hours so we usually end up going to multiple cafes. We’ll eat at one café, wander around a bit and then go to another cafe for coffee (actually espresso) or a little dessert. I feel like I’m in second grade, saying my favorite class at school is lunch, but it’s true! Le déjeuner, c’est génial!
It is now time for me to introduce you to the Marlier’s, my French family. I have been here 5 days, so while of course that is not enough time to completely understand a French family’s daily life, I definitely am getting the hang of it. My host mother, Marie Christine is a social worker and grew up in Algeria. I found out at dinner tonight that there is even more to this story. Marie Christine’s grandfather was a collabo during WWII. He worked with the Germans and the Vichy government, including turning over Jewish neighbors to the Nazis. After the war, he was sentenced to death but was pardoned so he took his family to live abroad in Algeria. Marie Christine told me that she still feels very ashamed that her own grandfather could do such a thing. I just learned all about Algeria and its history as a French colony in three of my classes at Hamilton last year (history, government and french class) and this sort of putting the pieces of history and government together is soooo cool to me but I don’t want to offend her in any way. Her father actually died fighting the Algerian war. I assume they returned to France after he died but I haven’t asked. The Marlier’s have a vacation home in Senegal so they still go to Africa every summer and the house her in Bordeaux is decorated with a lot of beautiful African artwork.
My host father, Patrick, is a médecin, specifically a psychiatrist, at the local hospital. His father also fought in the Algerian war. He is really nice and easy to talk to. I talk about soccer with him and the Girondins de Bordeaux (first place right now!). He has asked me a lot of questions about hockey and sports back home. I don’t see him during the week because he leaves for work very early and doesn’t get home until 10 or 10:30 when I am already in my jammies.
The Marliers have two kids at home right now, Maxime and Fannie. Paul, their other son, is 23 and a student in Paris. Fannie is 18 and I think she just enrolled in the University of Bordeaux. I don’t know Maxime’s age but he looks to be about 20, like me. Neither of the kids are home that much. We eat dinner all together but they usually go out afterwards. From what I understand, the family hosts a lot of exchange students so I’m not too interesting to them but I like talking to them about my life back home and their life here in Bordeaux.
I also want to introduce the neighbors, David and Katie at their very cute 3 month old Charlie. I think they frequently come over in the evenings and on the weekend. They came over last Saturday night for my little welcome dinner and they were so nice and fun to chat with. Towards the end of the evening, David and Patrick even went across the street to get a bottle of Armagnac (like cognac but from a different region) that Katie’s mother made in 1959! And this was after I blew out the electricity! I guess no harm done if they insist I must taste the last bottle of the mother- in-law’s moonshine!
Note about picture: Fannie and Marie Christine are repainting the front gate white. Fannie wrote “Bonjour et Bienvenue” et “Chez Marlier” on the gate but her mother is making her paint over it.
I have started my classes at Alliance Française, a school here in Bordeaux for foreigners to study French. I have French class in the morning from 9-12 and then a two and a half hour lunch break. In the afternoons we either have activities in Bordeaux with the group our we have workshops on cinéma, gastronomie, or actualités politiques (current events in politics). The classes have been a little disappointing so far but lunch is my favorite part of the day! We get two and a half hours so we usually end up going to multiple cafes. We’ll eat at one café, wander around a bit and then go to another cafe for coffee (actually espresso) or a little dessert. I feel like I’m in second grade, saying my favorite class at school is lunch, but it’s true! Le déjeuner, c’est génial!
It is now time for me to introduce you to the Marlier’s, my French family. I have been here 5 days, so while of course that is not enough time to completely understand a French family’s daily life, I definitely am getting the hang of it. My host mother, Marie Christine is a social worker and grew up in Algeria. I found out at dinner tonight that there is even more to this story. Marie Christine’s grandfather was a collabo during WWII. He worked with the Germans and the Vichy government, including turning over Jewish neighbors to the Nazis. After the war, he was sentenced to death but was pardoned so he took his family to live abroad in Algeria. Marie Christine told me that she still feels very ashamed that her own grandfather could do such a thing. I just learned all about Algeria and its history as a French colony in three of my classes at Hamilton last year (history, government and french class) and this sort of putting the pieces of history and government together is soooo cool to me but I don’t want to offend her in any way. Her father actually died fighting the Algerian war. I assume they returned to France after he died but I haven’t asked. The Marlier’s have a vacation home in Senegal so they still go to Africa every summer and the house her in Bordeaux is decorated with a lot of beautiful African artwork.
My host father, Patrick, is a médecin, specifically a psychiatrist, at the local hospital. His father also fought in the Algerian war. He is really nice and easy to talk to. I talk about soccer with him and the Girondins de Bordeaux (first place right now!). He has asked me a lot of questions about hockey and sports back home. I don’t see him during the week because he leaves for work very early and doesn’t get home until 10 or 10:30 when I am already in my jammies.
The Marliers have two kids at home right now, Maxime and Fannie. Paul, their other son, is 23 and a student in Paris. Fannie is 18 and I think she just enrolled in the University of Bordeaux. I don’t know Maxime’s age but he looks to be about 20, like me. Neither of the kids are home that much. We eat dinner all together but they usually go out afterwards. From what I understand, the family hosts a lot of exchange students so I’m not too interesting to them but I like talking to them about my life back home and their life here in Bordeaux.
I also want to introduce the neighbors, David and Katie at their very cute 3 month old Charlie. I think they frequently come over in the evenings and on the weekend. They came over last Saturday night for my little welcome dinner and they were so nice and fun to chat with. Towards the end of the evening, David and Patrick even went across the street to get a bottle of Armagnac (like cognac but from a different region) that Katie’s mother made in 1959! And this was after I blew out the electricity! I guess no harm done if they insist I must taste the last bottle of the mother- in-law’s moonshine!
Note about picture: Fannie and Marie Christine are repainting the front gate white. Fannie wrote “Bonjour et Bienvenue” et “Chez Marlier” on the gate but her mother is making her paint over it.
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