Meeting the Family

My host mom is great. Her name is Colette and she is really nice and very French. She has four children and works as a desk receptionist at a hospital. She used to be the director of a preschool but she said it was too many hours and she's getting ready for retirement, so she switched careers. Her children are pretty much grown up (the youngest is 23) so she has two extra bedrooms in her apartment, which is why she has students from IES stay with her. She has three grandchildren (although she can't be more than 55 years old, so she is a "young" grandma) and they come over all the time.

We've been here for exactly a month today, which is pretty weird to think about, but there are definitely signs from Colette of her becoming comfortable with us and fully opening her home to us. For example, the other day Madeline and I were sitting in the living room talking and Colette came home from work and just sat down and talked to us for about half an hour. It was so nice to just sit and talk about everything/anything. It definitely was a bonding moment.

Another sign of Colette opening up is that she invited her son over the other day for dinner. Mathis, the youngest one, was really nice and we all had a great time sitting eating a big French meal and laughing together. It was cool because Mathis is close to our age, so we were talking about music and going out and things to do in the city. He wants to take us to one of his favorite hangouts next week.

Colette's other son also came over a few days ago with his wife and kid. They were all really nice and it is a good sign that Colette is finally introducing her family to us. A cultural difference exists between Americans and French people with regards to sharing personal information. In general, the French are much more closed off and introverted. You could theoretically be friends with someone for five years without knowing what they do for a living or how many siblings they have. Also, they are more reluctant to share personal information. Madeline and I are so glad that we've broken the barrier and that Colette feels at ease with us and wants us to meet her family. It is also great because she clearly loves her children and grandchildren very much. I like seeing her interact with them because I see her on a whole new level.

One thing I love about Paris is the style of dining. Lately my friends and I have been making dinner together, drinking wine, sharing baguettes and talking for hours. It is very relaxing, very fun, and I love the times spent with friends during a meal. We've also been doing that because this is a very popular time for French people to vacation. For us, that means that many host families are gone for a week or two to take their annual trips. My friends are left alone in the house to make all of their meals, so they invite us over (of course with the family's permission) to dine with them. Part of this vacation time also means that our exterior courses are cancelled for two weeks, so we have a little more free time to hang out and walk around. Katy and I walked outside of the Louvre and down the Seine the other night and it was absolutely beautiful. The Eiffel Tour was lit up, the river was sparkling, and there were people everywhere.

***Haha I just re-read this post and realized I wrote "Eiffel Tour" instead of Eiffel Tower. That is a perfect example of how I'm thinking in French and becoming bilingual. In French, it is called La Tour Eiffel. I'm going to leave it up on purpose. Welcome to my confused thoughts =)