Le Premier Jour

Je suis ici!  Enfin! Don't want to bore you to tears about my long plane ride and issues with the airline and airport...  How about just some highlights of my first day in France?


-On the air plane I sat next to a man from Togo.  It took me about a wine split and a half to gather up the courage to talk to him... but we had a fun conversation in Franglish with another person sitting near us who was a funny Parisian man.  At one point during the flight I got the hiccups (trop du vin?) and the African man said to me, "sept.. sept.." and motioning for me to drink some water.  "Sept!" I replied,  "Ouais! Je dis la meme!!" Or... "Seven sips of water! Yes, I say the same thing."  I guess I was over taken with surprise that Africans use the same hiccup remedie as me, because the woman in front of me told me to quiet down.  She was American.

-First thing I ate? ... baguette et l'eau.  Apres.. Dorothée (my host mom) bought some salads of carrots, beets, and rice with tuna.  Followed by more bread and camembert.  Miamm!  Miam is French for... yummy!

-Right now my house is being renovated, so pictures to come later, but there is a group of Romanian men working on it... it's funny to try and communicate with them.  Generally our conversations go something like...
-Ca va?
-Oui, ca va...ca va?
-Ca va!

-After lunch and a shower, Dorothée took me out to walk around our neighborhood.  It is quite charming.  She showed me Victor and Alphonse's school, the metro, the library, a park, the mall etc... everything in walking distance!  While walking on the main street, we passed a café with tables outside.  There was one boisterous table that was occupied with three men and a woman drinking, talking loudly, and laughing... next to them at a smaller table was a couple who couldn't keep their hands off each other and kissing.  Dorothée glanced my way and said, "un café vrais français!"

-Dorothée owns and runs a pharmacy right near our house.  We had a petite fête there in the evening to celebrate my coming and to say au revoir to one of her employees.  So we sipped on champagne and rose while eating canapés (the fois gras was my favorite) in the back.  And if you wanted to know, yes, the French do say, "ou la la!"

-Bon.  Mon premier jour en France!  Today I am going to Paris!  Ou la la!