How to Ride the Metro

I find the metro one of the most exciting places in all of Paris. It's always smelly, normally decently clean (as opposed to filthy) but it's still such an adventure. One travels down into the "under-life" (as opposed to the "above" life), through a maze of tunnels and pops up at his destination as if it was magic.

There are a few simple things that are wise to remember when taking the Paris metro to avoid being spotted as a tourist. Rule Number 1, don't speak loudly. I used to talk extremely loudly in the train, until I realized I was the only one doing it and other passangers were smothering me in looks of disgust.

Rule Number 2, you need a ticket or you can't get through the turnstiles. If your going into the suburbs like where I live you need a slightly different ticket which costs more because of the further distance. If you want to stay inside the greater Paris area, fork over around $1.6 in euros which is relatively decent.

Rule Number 3 is an unspoken rule; you mustn't speak to anyone. You must stare at the floor, read a book, listen to your i pod, anything but look or speak to other people (unless it's your boyfriend with whom you are liberally allowed to make-out). Your also supposed to give up your seat to the elderly but I've only seen that happen once or twice.

Another lesson I learned was push the button on the door when you want to get off the train. Otherwise, the door does not open and you'll go on down the line and end up who knows where. Don't be a tourist, push the button!

How a Normal Week Looks

Life at Ecole Les Cedres, is not one of mystery and intrigue. It is the life of an individual casting off his native tongue and accepting with open arms the French language with all the rules, complexities and precise phonetics. The individual is consumed, engrossed, devoted to it (and often to socialization over English movies, card games, and pot-lucks).

And while a day consists of 6 hours of classes and another 2 hours of homework, there's still a fair amount of free time. French primary schools have 4-day weeks, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As a result, I have a 4-day school week as well so parents with kids don't have to worry about baby-sitters.

Tuesday night is most often an evening of craziness since Wednesday can be entirely devoted to recuperation. Last Tueday night, some of us girls engrossed ourselves in a excursion to the local cinema (oops! theater) to see La Môme (directly translated,"the female kid"). It's a French bio-epic about Edith Piaf, the most famous French musician of all time from the 1930s-1950s. It was an extremely French film, some of the art being lost on us but we still liked it. And of course, we found the most amusing part of the film when the Americans spoke French with heavy American accents tipping us into fits of laughter.

Friday, it was my turn to give an exposé. An exposé is when you speak confidently in front of your class on a particular subject in French for 30 minutes. It might be the most stressful part of the school experience. My subject was the history of embroidery in the United States and it went pretty well. In the end, you're just so glad it's over you don't care how you did!

Friday night, my sister and I went with another student to an English music/church service in Paris. We normally go to a French church on Sundays but decided we really wanted to check out Hillsong. Hillsong is a church denomination out of Australia (with the great music) so everyone talks like an Aussi. It was like one really cool rock concert, the English was great, and we're trying to justify returning.

Sunday, we went into Paris for church, covering our noses in the metro and pretending to be French. We've found a French speaking Baptist church we've loyally frequented since October. When I first started going, I understood close to nothing. Now, I regularly understand perhaps 70% of what I hear. "Context clues" makes up another 5% so all in all I fair well but it takes a lot of concentration. After the service, we eat lunch some of our other church friends before heading out for a Sunday afternoon walk or even just back to school.

Tomorrow, well tomorrow I'll hand in my homework, take a pop quiz and continue to willingly drown myself in French.

Une Meilleur Moment en Espagne

This is a short paper I had to write for class about my favorite moment of my Spanish vacation. It's about waiting for a bus that never arrived, an event I found hugely amusant. This is also a small sample of what my French looks like after starting from scratch 8 months ago, this is about it.

Pour mes vacances, je suis allée en Espagne avec ma sœur Rose pour rendre une visite à mes grands parents. Ils sont à Malaga sur l’océan. Lundi, le troisième jour de mes vacances, mes grands parents ont décidé de visiter une vieille petite ville, dans les montagnes. Cette ville a la meilleure vue sur l’océan mais il faut prendre un bus pendant 30 minutes. La rue est très étroite et c’est impossible pour deux voiture d’y passer en même temps.

Apres une bonne journée dans cette petite ville, nous avons décidé de revenir à notre appartement à Malaga. Nous sommes allées à l’arrêt de bus pour l’attendre le bus. Le bus n’était pas là donc nous avons attendu avec tout le monde. Au bout de 20 minutes, un bus est arrivé mais ce n’était pas pour Malaga. Ma grand-mère n’était pas contente mais il n’y avait pas d’autre choix. 20 minutes plus tard, un deuxième bus est arrivé mais ce n’était pas non plus pour notre destination. Rose a décidé d’aller aux magasins à côté de la arrêt du bus et elle a trouvé quelque chose à acheter. 20 minutes plus tard, un troisième bus est arrivé ce n’était toujours pas notre bus. Environ 50 personnes attendaient le bus pour Malaga et tout le monde était très fâché. Nous avons fait une queue et nous avons parlé au sujet des problèmes avec le système de bus. Ma grand-mère était très fâchée quand une femme française a essayé de couper la queue.

1 heure plus tard, notre bus est arrivé et tout le monde l’a acclamé. Nous y sommes entrés mais il y avait un petit problème. Les portes n’étaient pas fermer mais le conducteur conduisait le bus. Je pensais que c’était encore une aventure et c’était très amusant.

How to Cheat Your Way into Africa

There is really only one way to get to Africa. You pick a country, book your plane tickets and just go. However, you can cheat. You can take a ferry over from Spain to Tangiers Morocco; go in a day, return in a day. How about that!

Something I absolutely had to do when I was in Spain was take that trip to Tangiers. I spent 7 years in Africa. My worldview and values were shaped in Africa. I’m hope to one day work in Africa. I love Africa and I’m always looking for ways to see more and experience more.

In order to make the tour bus, you have to wake at 4:30 am to catch the 5:30 am bus. You drive for 2 hours picking up other passengers until to reach Spain’s largest harbor and the ferry. The ferry is a fabulous 1 hour and 20 minutes through the straight busy with ships coming and going from all over the world.

As the ferry arrives at Tangiers, it looks like you never left Spain. There are the huge shipping cranes, the ships and white Arab modeled homes covering the hills. How on earth could this be Africa? Here’s what I found.

Tangiers (with a one million population) is a historically important city. It rose to influence in the 6^th century and passed through Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese and American hands. Now, it’s Morocco single most important port and one of the most influential in Northern Africa. It’s divided into “quarters,” American, French, German ect. with schools, embassies and residences, left over from the colonial days but very much in use now. The old city is inside the ancient walls, the new city has grown up outside the walls keeping the same architecture.

Tangiers streets are small and narrow, many are impossible to drive though. It’s busy, seemingly crammed but very clean and organized; very clean and organized. Mosques chant out prayers, the Berbers mix with the Muslims, the world seems more peaceful then it actually is.

If you've never been to a developing country, Tangiers might be a bit of a shock. Africa is shocking which personally, thrilles me. For others, it will take a bit to grow on you but don't you ever give up! Tangiers is a great introduction to Northern Africa. I found it a great trip, great day, and great city. I’d move there tomorrow and maybe one day, I will. One never really knows does one?

How to (Really) Enjoy Spain

When your globetrotting grandparents invite you to visit them at their winter retreat in Spain, what do you do? Duh! You go!

Malaga, on the coast in Southern Spain, has a lot going for it. It’s warm, it’s sunny, and there’s the magnificent Mediterranean Sea. It’s a popular winter retreat for elderly Brits seeking sunshine and warmer weather. I heard a lot of English and when Rose and I walked along the beach, we were perhaps the only people under 60. Malaga has precious little connection to their history and traditional architecture but sports an air unique to Spain and hills I’ve never seen replicated before.

In order to really enjoy Spain, there are several things you simply have to do.

You must walk the beach. There’s no way you can visit the Mediterranean Sea and not walk along the beach. It’s not a glamour beach, not like the Bahamas but its quite beautiful. And come on! When are you going to the Mediterranean Sea again! I did, I put my toes in.

You Must Visit Mijas. Mijas is a little village up in the hills with an incredible view of the ocean. It’s more then an incredible view! The bus ride going up is something else on a one-lane switchback road with a huge bus, wondering if any moment you’ll meet the rocks far below on no pleasant terms. You’ll like it better when you reach the top. There are cute little shops with a million different souvenirs and lots of nice little restaurants with varieties of menus. Two years ago, my grandparents happened to meet David Beckham and family there so you just never know who you’ll run into in Mijas!

You Must get your Hair Cut. I got a do for only €11 and after spending €35 in Paris, well…I was pretty happy considering I got pretty much what I wanted! Having cash left over, I went and got a pair of Spanish designer sunglasses, enormously pleased with myself.

That’s just a few of the must-dos at Malaga. The southern Spanish coast is highly commercialized so there is lots of shopping and restaurants. The coast is covered high-rise hotels and apartments for the thousands that come down every year. There’s little coast, mostly high-rises which surprised me I must admit. You shouldn’t be disappointed however, it’s impossible not to like.

How to Carry a French Baguette

Rose in front of Massy's finest Boulangerie

If you are interested in purchasing a French baguette (also know as a stick of bread), you should visit a boulangerie. Often a patisserie will carry a good baguette, but these shops specialize in pastries and other delectable confectionery. You can often get a baguette in a large grocery store but that's like...well...they're often very hard and since a baguette by definition is already hard...you get the picture.

After entering a boulangerie, you must first admire the gorgeous pastries, fresh breads and expensive chocolates. You may even have to wait in line with the locals also getting their meal-y bread. (I can't say daily bread because a baguette must be purchased each meal. They don't keep from morning to evening without becoming rocks.) You will lay the equivalent of $1 in change on the counter and trying your humble French meekly ask, "Une baguette, s'il vous plait."

If the woman in the shop likes you, she will give you your one baguette. If she sizes you up and judges you a tourist (as is often my story) she will correct your pronunciation. "UNE BAG-e-T! C'est une BAG-e-T!" She might even correct your article. "It's not UN baguette! It's UNE baguette. It's feminine you foreigner!" You will stand stupidly while everyone in the shop listens to your little grammar lesson then hurry outside with your purchase.

Then comes the difficult part. How does one carry a one's purchased French baguette? Under one's armpit like in kids picture books? In one's hand like a teenager? Cramming it into one's shopping trolley? Shove it into one's purse? On one's head Africa style?

I've clenched a baguette so tight it broke in haft. I've swung it around and broke it on a wall. I've eaten it on the street and strewn crumbs all over public property. But it's impossible not to enjoy it, once you decide how you want to transport it.

How to Take a Dictee

Okay, question 1 you must always ask before taking a dictee is, what is it?

Your French teacher will give a dictee as a tool to gage your French level. She'll read a passage, in French, and you will try to write down exactly what she reads, word for word. Grammar and everything must be perfect. She might read (the French equivalent of), Julie and Pascal decide to go shopping in Paris. They leave at 6 in the morning and plan to return at midnight. In the metro Julie gets pick pocketed and loses her credit cards. They contact the police but nothing can be done. Julie is very sad.

The grammar, spelling, conjugation and context are each worth 5 points and 1 point is taken off for each error. The best you can get is 20. If you get over haft, your pretty clever. If you get over 3/4s your really clever. Children expect a little present if they get 15/20. If you get a 20...well you just can't get a 20!

The French grading system is harsh, considered by some to be repressive. It's extremely difficult to be a straight A student and exams are often pass/fail. However, the education system is better then the United States and students are required to studying 1 if not 2 languages in addition to French. That's one thing we Americans lack.

Les Cedres follows the French system of grading and scoring. We have a final exam at the end of term which determines a huge part of our score. We're also graded on our fluency and grammar. Fluency and grammar seem like the same thing but there's a difference. You can spit out complete monologues and no one has an idea what you just said. On the other hand, your grammar can be impeccable but it takes you 2 full minutes to ask where the peanut butter is. Language isn't easy, but when you finally get the peanut butter, you realize the effort is rewarding.