Today at the laundry mat I had the most interesting conversation in French thus far. I have found “une laverie” down the street where I can get a Wi-Fi connection, so skipping over Mac Do’s today I washed my sheets and got quite a bit done. A man was there with his wife, doing the same and made a comment on my computer or my typing or something. (The French are generally very impressed by my fast typing. Thank you third grade.) I took my headphones out to explain to him how I got Internet there, but not at my house and he was very surprised. He told me how at his house he has one of those little USB Internet keys but I told him that this one program I have, Skype, doesn’t work with the Wi-Fi keys. He didn’t know what Skype was so I explained it to him and told him how I use it to talk to my family, how cheap it was to call phones and how free it was to use computer to computer and it even had video! It was then that he realized that I was not French and asked me where I was from. I told him that yes, I was from the US and I was American.
This man was in his 50’s or so and I had the honor of being the first American he’s ever met. “ A real American” he told his wife. He was very impressed with my French, told me that I spoke very well, which is an excellent boost to my confidence. I told him what I’m doing here and where I’m from and all of that jazz. And he was very interested. He asked what my opinion of France was and any differences that I noticed. If it was more expensive to live here or there and how and why? Then he asked my opinion on the social security reform and Obama and such and health care and we had a nice long conversation on that topic. He was shocked to hear how much my emergency room bill was AFTER insurance when I went last spring for what was probably food poisoning. Except that I was there for an hour, they did not give me any sure answers and I saw a doctor for a few minutes. Take out the insurance and I still owed over $700.
We talked about where I’m from and like most St Polois or Dunkerquois, they think that their weather is soooo shocking to Americans. Then explain to him that I’m from the Northwest. It’s rainy and windy and cold there too! We had a winter where it rained for more than 30 days! And the suicide rate in Seattle is the highest in the country. So no, your St Pol rain does not bother me. I am quite at home here. He said how him and his wife like to vacation in the summer in the south, and although it is nice down there and cold up here, there are no catastrophes in the North. I tried to explain the Ring of Fire and told him that we have earthquakes in our area. He was so shocked! “You’ve been in a earthquake before?” Well, yes, but not a big one.
It was very nice to just sit and talk to someone in French about so many different things. And I felt like I was able to just talk for one of the first times. That I didn’t have to think a whole lot about what I said before I said it. And if I couldn’t think of a word in French, I was able to explain what it meant in French. Because it’s not like he would have been able to translate it from English. And it just seemed so easy for the first time. He was a very nice man, and it just cements my opinion on how wonderful the northern French people are. They are really very warm and welcoming to everyone!
Just about two months in and I think I’m doing alright.
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