Ehh, où sont les draps de lit?

Translation: Uhh, where are the bed sheets?

I suffered my first really embarrassing lost in translation episode yesterday (Sunday). I guess it’s lucky that it never happened in Bordeaux but today I really felt like a fool. The D’Ussel’s thought it was drôle (funny, amusing) but I was très gênée (embarrassed).

The root of the confusion was the fact that I am not yet as comfortable speaking French with the D’Ussel’s here in Paris as I was with the Marlier’s in Bordeaux. My Paris family speaks faster so I feel like I have to speak quickly when I respond. I’m making a lot of nervous mistakes and forgetting my vocabulary. Hopefully as I get more comfortable with them and they get more accustomed to me, things will get easier.

So, back to the story…When Caroline (my host mother) was showing me around my room, she was pointing to the towels on my bed and asking if I had washcloths or if I needed more towels. I told her that I did have them and didn’t need any more. I wasn’t exactly sure at the time that she was saying exactly this but I thought I had the gist of it. So when I got home on Saturday night and was about to climb into bed, I realized that my bed didn’t have any sheets, only a pillow and a comforter. Maybe my host mother didn’t ask me about washcloths but instead about sheets! Did I accidentally tell my host mother that I didn’t need sheets because I brought them myself? It was too late to do anything about it and I was epuisée (exhausted) so I just climbed in and passed out. Sunday morning, at breakfast, Caroline asked me if I slept well, typical morning politesse. I replied that I did but that I misunderstood her question the day before when she asked if I had draps de lit. She looked at me like I was crazy. I repeated myself, thinking that she didn’t understand my terrible morning French accent (it’s hard to speak French after just waking up). Again, she looks at me like I’m a bit folle. She goes into my room, sees the comforter on the bed and says that there’s no problem. She showed me her daughter’s room and that’s how it is. I have had sheets my whole life and I had sheets on my bed in Bordeaux but I couldn’t even recognize a duvet cover when I saw one! On the positive side, if this is the most embarrassing thing that happens to me here, I’ll take it. Hey, at least I didn’t blow out the electricity this time!

Besides the embarrassing situation in the morning, I had a great Sunday. I wandered around mon quartier a bit in the morning, returned at 12:30 for a delicious lunch with the family (Sunday tradition peut-être?) and then wandered around some more in the afternoon. I did a ton of walking because it was such a beautiful day, only taking the metro a few stops to get home because I wasn’t exactly sure of my route back. I wandered with my little map, without any real purpose but I got to see some beautiful sites in Paris.

Today, I had a jam packed day of orientation stuff at Reid Hall, my program headquarters (also the headquarters of the Hamilton, Columbia, and a bunch of other American college/university programs in Paris). It was more securité , info about classes, and transportation info. I did make my favorite purchase so far in France though this afternoon! It’s called Paris par Arrondissement. It’s this cute little red book with everything I will need to get around Paris: a list of every single street with accompanying maps and metro directions! Apparently, every Parisian has one….oh la la. Je suis très chic. I can’t wait to go exploring with it!

Bonne nuit!