When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? Wrong. When in Rome, ignore the Romans and celebrate an American holiday! By far one of the coolest things I will have done yet, this Saturday I will be inviting over twenty French people to my host family's house to eat a real Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Not a single one of the guests has ever experienced Thanksgiving, so I decided I would bring a bit of my own culture right here to Le Havre, France. There'll be friends, family, and family friends spread throughout the house eating à l'américain. Thanks to a few state-side packages containing American food not readily available in France, I'll be able to cook a true American classic holiday feast. After all, the point of an exchange is just that: an exchange. I've eaten (and loved) lots of French food, but the French have yet to be enlightened on the subject of American cuisine, a fact that I will soon change. Bon appetit American-style!
The second exciting event that has happened to me recently was a meeting with my second host family, the Bonins: Bruno (father), Sophie (mother), Margaux (daughter), and Simon (son). Bruno is a surgeon and Sophie is a psychologist. Margaux was an exchange student last year in Mexico, so the situation is much like my current family whose daughter is currently in Argentina. She's 17 and goes to a local private school called Jean d'Arc. Simon is 16 and goes to a different high school called François Premier. I'm very lucky to have at least one host sibling in both of my families who is the same age as me: and even better, two host brothers of the same age. Pablo, my current 18 year old host brother, has been incredibly helpful by bringing me to parties and introducing me to his friends. En plus, the Bonins have already told me that we'll go to Paris a few times, to Rouen (a very important city in Normandy) and Caen (the most important city in Normandy). They live in a thin but tall house that looks very French in the centre ville, about a three minute's walk from the beach and a five minute's walk from the mall and the pedestrian streets. Even though I'd rather not leave my current host family, if ever I had to go, I would choose to live with the Bonin family. Ils sont trop gentils.
On Thanksgiving day, it had been three months exact since my arrival in France. On that day, I reflected on the stages of language development I have gone through so far. For the first month and a half, I often spoke English, whether I was at home or at school; however, during this time, my comprehension of the language went from 0 to 95%. I was still unable to speak effectively, or even at all, but I after a month and a half, I was able to understand anything said to me.
After the comprehension stage came the reading and writing stage. I began to read real books (Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, 1984) in French and I could hold up real conversations on Facebook chat with my friends in French over subjects other than where I come from or what my name was. This lasted from week 6 to week 10, and during this time, I began to copy and understand notes taken by classmates in class. This was by far the hardest part for me because, even though I could hold up conversations in written French, if I tried to emulate these same conversations in real life, I would fail.
Now, I have entered the third stage: speaking. About two weeks ago, it just clicked. I can now hold up actual, lengthy conversations in French with little or no errors in grammar, and not many difficulties with pronunciation. I have also begun to collect an advanced vocabulary and even started taking notes in class by myself. I rarely have difficulty expressing myself, and almost never have to search for a word. However, the real task will be the fourth stage: the perfection of the accent. Even though I am starting to speak intelligible French, my accent is just as noticeable as always, especially between the words rue (street) and roux (wheel), which have surprisingly different pronunciations. I'll get there, but not until after several months of speaking out loud to inanimate objects or layabout pets (it is, in fact, more enjoyable to speak to inanimate objects than to speak to yourself, until they start talking back). Dès qu'ils commencent à parler tout seul, c'est là où on sait que quelque chose ne va pas.
Between the meeting with my next family, the idea of an American meal with French friends and my exponentially improving French skills, I'm really starting to feel at home here. Certainly I'm having more fun, speaking more, and being more active with my friends. Oh, c'est la vie!
