Day 8

Day 8:

Saturday, March 28, 2009: Today we started with breakfast at the hotel. It was basic but good. We had time to shower and pack up before moving our bags to the lobby. We would be meeting our host families there at 5pm.

Christophe, Katy, and Jenny took us on another tour of the city to orientate ourselves at noon. It was insignificant. We were on our own for lunch so a few of us had Italian. I had lasagna. It was excellent. The French really know how to eat. Afterwards, we had time to shop on Rue de la Republique but I wasn’t really interested. Shocking, I know.

So we found our way back to the hotel by 4:45ish and waited for the selection. Some were terrified, I was anxious. Basically, it is like an orphanage full of Americans. French families would come in and demand a name and you would go. I was selected first! (and my housemate, John; more on him later).

My new dad, Bernard Zemmit, walked in and we went with him. He put our luggage in his car and off we went. He did not live far, but of course: it was raining. We turned a few times and we were at our new house, pool included.

He helped us with our bags and we walked through their yard to the front door. Jacqueline, his wife (the French have no word directly translating to wife. The closest they get is calling her “his woman”. Sorry feminists) opened the door with a smile. We gave her bisous (kisses on the cheeks the French way; three in Avignon) and she sat us down for first impressions.

They both are very nice and willing to work with us on our French. Jacqueline wants to use us to improve her English too. They have two sons and a granddaughter. One son works for L’Oreal in Paris and the other is an English professor nearby in Aix-en-Provence. He is moving to New York City in July to teach French. They have been hosting foreign students for ten years.

We took the tour of their house which is very un-French. Normally, it is an extreme privilege to be invited to a Frenchman’s house for dinner and guests are never given a ‘tour’ like in American; that is seen as bragging. They explained at dinner that we were now a family so there were mutual expectations and boundaries. Next, we were shown to our new rooms.

John went first and got the upstairs room; smaller and more loft-like. I got the spacious downstairs bedroom with a huge window looking into the garden and my own door to the pool! We were given about an hour to settle in and relax by ourselves before dinner. Normally, I am a picky eater, but I knew that would not be possible here. It is seen as very rude to not eat what is put in front of you.

Dinner began with a fresh salad. Salads in France usually consist of only lettuce and tomatoes and in the south they generally use a balsamic dressing. The main course was a vegetable soup with carrots, potatoes, and chicken. We had bread, cheese, and wine for dessert.
After dinner, we watched the news and afterwards, Jacqueline and John went to bed, but I stayed up with Bernard for a while to watch the French soccer team play Lithuania. The Blues won 1-0 but I only watched about half the game and went to bed.

(Google proper nouns that you do not know.)