It was cool though bc we actually had quite a few conversations & I managed to keep up! Well, keep up might be a bit of an overstatement; there were things I understood without having to think, things I understood after my brain processed them, things I got out of context clues, and things I only got after a quick game of charades. But the point is, we communicated & I'm proud of myself for spending the entire day "en francais".
one photo from "The Museum of Everyday Life" - the Frenchies show
For a chunk of the morning, there were volunteers helping & one of the frenchies, Pierre, cracked us all up with his English pick up lines, which I was helping him translate. One of them is the title of this post: your shoulder is the ear of my life. Ha ha! Turns out he meant pillow, not ear, but that's pretty damn funny. He also said, your butt is the pillow of my life & we told him he'd get slapped for that one.
The volunteers are mostly college (uni) girls & super sweet. There's one older retired lady; we started talking about LA & turns out she knows Curtis Stone, the Take-Home Chef on TV! She told me he's single & "such a nice, handsome young man" & that she could give me his phone number! Ha ha! I'm gonna get me a celebrity date! ;)
Late in the afternoon, the frenchies needed some fabric sewed. A sewing machine was procured & I made the rookie mistake of opening my big fat mouth & volunteering. As soon as I did, the panic set in; I'm not very good at sewing & if I screw up, its a really big deal! But I just kept telling myself its ok, you can do this, just think of how proud you'll feel when its done.
Its 4 panels, 3.5 meters long (which I did not comprehend - its looong), on a sewing machiene that threads way differently than I'm used to. It took me at least an hour to thread the damn thing. The thread kept breaking when I tried to catch the bobbin thread! Grrr! But I finally got it working (yay me!) and then realized it has no setting for a plain, lines in a row, stich. What kind of sewing machiene won't sew a basic stitch!?!? Grrr again. But, sigh, no use in growling; I picked a simple zig zag & finally sewed the first seam.
By this time I'd been working on it for about 2 hours & J called & said I could finish it tomorrow morning. I almost opted to stay & finish tonight but I'd had it with the machiene & I was hungry so I locked up & left.
On the way back, of course (bien sur!) the frenchies were leaving at the same time. I don't know why but I did NOT want them to see me; I totally hid from their view & took a different route back to the office. I probably looked like a crazy stalker hiding behind a column. It was immature but my brain just didn't want to process any more french & I didn't want to explain I hadn't finished their sewing.
I tried to go back to the Awesome office but the lifts need a key after hours (and 6:30 qualifies as after hours) and the stairway doors lock behind you - it would not be fun to get locked in the stairwell all night. So I had to leave my sweatshirt & wallet in the office for the second night in a row.
As well as I thought I'd avoided them, the frenchies kept popping up - it was like a game of war! Especially when I realized I'd gone the wrong way to catch the bus home & had to go back the way I came - oh la la la la. It probably wouldve been easier to just say hi. :)
At the bus stop - so cold bc my sweatshirts in the office! - I overheard an American guy describing LA. How funny.
Arrived at the house to a deeeeeelicous dinner courtesy of The Scot - red pesto salmon with an avocado spinach mango salad & a bean salad. I could get used to these gourmet meals! :) Then got my fix of home watching Glee & time for bed. Zzzzzzzz....
Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ keeping busy
~ knowing I can handle whatever comes, even if I'm not super confident
~ je parle un peu de francais
xo! n.
Posts
Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteYou could so do a reality show ala travellog.
Poppo
you better get that number guuurllll :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you can find Museum of Everyday Life on youtube. x
ReplyDelete