Before leaving for France my uncle Harvey had told me of distant cousins my father’s family had there. He suggested that I take the chance while abroad to meet them. After becoming a month of being in France, when I was more comfortable with my French I decided to take him up on his offer and reached out to my cousin Sophie who lives in a small village called Liausson.
Sophie was happy to hear from me and we immediately set up a date for me to come and visit. The entire way there I was a nervous wreck completely sick to my stomach. I was so worried that my French wasn't good enough and that I wouldn't be able to communicate. I could tell that my facial expression was that of complete horror, but I continued on, I already bought my tickets so there was no turning back.
When I finally reached Montpellier, I was greeted with open arms (and of course kisses, I am in France) by Danielle and Bernard, Sophie’s parents. They were very welcoming and happy to see me, which eased me a bit, until I could not understand them. This quickly made me nervous again and I lost the power to speak (both in French and English). Fortunately for me Danielle understood and slowed down, which made the world of difference for my comprehension. All was well again. From there we headed to their house making a quick stop at the local school to pick up Sophie’s daughters, Margo and Garronce.
Both the girls go to “école primaire” equivalent to an elementary school in the US. Given that they live in the country the school was very small, having only one class per year. Also, given that they live in the country the children and even the people do not often have the opportunity to meet people from other countries, especially America. Therefore Danielle took me into the school where I was sort of put on display if I may. It was actually really funny because the kids were super excited to meet me and I am no one special to meet. But I am American and therefore I am interesting (to them at least). I was bombarded with tons of questions, both in English and French (the students have already started learning some English as their second language). Of the course the primary questions being do I know various American celebrities, many of which can be found on the Disney Channel. I liked speaking to the students because they were easy to understand and on a similar language level as me (grammar wise, vocabulary no). I also met my young cousins and quickly learned that they were quite sweet and wanted desperately to help me with my French.
At dinner, which was typical French dinner, late and light, I finally had the opportunity to meet Sophie and her husband Christophe. They were very sweet and funny (if I understood their jokes correctly) and I looked forward to spending more time with them the next day.
My reflections on the day are simple. First I really had nothing to worry about because they made it so that I could understand quite well (from time to time I did have difficulty) and they were very kind to me. Secondly, my pronunciation is horrible, which was the major difficulty because they couldn’t understand my accent. I knew my accent was bad but I didn’t know how bad before this weekend.20 March
On Saturday, the family took me to the city of Nimes for the day. Nimes is a small, ancient city that used to be a Gallo-Roman city.
When we first arrived in Nimes we went to Les Halles, which in contrast to Les Halles in Paris which is for clothes, this one like in most cities is an indoor market for food and flowers. It was cool to see a market on such a large scale because the one in Cannes, which is partially outside, is much smaller.
From there we roamed the city center, where we would find Gallo-Roman Monuments and artifacts. One of the monuments that we came across was a Temple called the “Maison Carrée”. Unfortunately it was under going some restoration so I did not have an opportunity to go inside but it was still spectacular to see from the outside. It was a stunning ivory color (after being cleaned) and was made of wonderful roman style columns. It was in amazing condition considering it was built around 9AD. From there we went on to see the main attraction, “Le Arène” or the city’s Amphitheater that was built in the 1st Century.
I fortunately had a chance to tour the Amphitheater (with an English audio guide) and learn of its history. This particular amphitheater is the best preserved in the world and like the others was used to put on great spectacles such as the Gladiator fights. In more present years it is used for “Les Corridas” or bullfights.
On top of having a wonderful day exploring Nimes I spoke better French that day. Both the girls, who I really enjoyed speaking with, and Sophie, said I was more relaxed in my French and I spoke much better. This made me realize how much I would have benefitted from doing a program that offers home stays, but I guess there is no going back now.
21 March
My last day with my cousins, Danielle and Bernard took me on a tour of the lake. Liausson is located on a man-made lake that is only about 40 years old. Before going on the tour we stopped by the mayor’s office so they could vote in the regional elections. Because they live in a small town of 100, there was no line and they didn’t have to show a voter’s card because everyone knows each other. (Later I did see a voter’s card and it looked similar to one from the US)
During the tour I learned how the area where they live is mostly used for producing grapes for wine and olives. The entire lake was surrounded by olive trees and grape vines. I also learned that Roquefort cheese comes from the area near by and the taste mostly comes from the vegetation the sheep eats in the area.
Following the tour of the lake we had a typical French lunch, before going to the train station. At lunch I got to meet one of my other cousins Jean Claude and his son Nicolas. It was so nice to find out I had so much family in France. No longer did I feel so far from home.
Sophie, the girls, me and Jean Claude (sorry it is blurry)
Becs, I am so proud of you! I think it was incredibly brave for you to go and meet up with our cousins.
ReplyDeleteHope you are enjoying your spring break! Miss you!