Three weeks in...

13 Septembre, 2008

French vignettes

As I had anticipated before coming, living in France has provided me with ample opportunity for cross-cultural frustrations and amusement. Today I share a few of those with you:

Bilingual conversation: I have found that group conversations in two languages can be quite amusing, especially when several of the people involved don’t fully know both languages. For example, this past Wednesday we had lunch with a few French guys who Claire and Laura had known from the previous year. One of them, Eli, spoke very good English, but the rest not as much. Katie and I were the two who spoke French the least, so following the French was very frustrating at first, until the conversation switched more to English than French. As we tried to communicate with each other, it suddenly dawned on me how much funnier things were when there was a language barrier. The conversation took longer as things were explained in each language, and as we tried to say things in the language we were unfamiliar with, several amusing results came out. We also had a very funny conversation spawned by Eli asking what the proper definition of a “geek” was. Apparently they once had heard someone use the phrase “faire le geek” and so they picked it up, not really knowing what it meant. Literally that would me “to do/to play the geek.” They used it in reference to when they would stay up until 3am playing video games. They also turned it into a French verb so they could say “je geeke.”

The grocery store: Yesterday I went to the grocery store to start stocking my kitchen. As I went through, I starting compiling a mental list of “you know you are in France when.” Here are a few of the better entries that I can remember:

- the first visit to the grocery store you buy 2 liters of water and drink half of it before you leave because you are so dehydrated, and the second visit you pass right by the water and go buy some wine for the same price

- you realize that not only can you not understand the label on a cut of meat, but you’re not sure what it is by looking at it either

- you’ve never been so excited to see Caesar dressing, after being told that it didn’t exist in France

- you’re able to justify congratulating yourself on a successful visit to the grocery store by buying yourself a chocolate chip cookie afterwards (which also are impossible to find in France, since they don’t have chocolate chips here – these were totally gone the next day)

- you find it hilarious to be humming along to Earth, Wind and Fire singing “September” as you stand in the checkout line

- the cheese aisle is two aisles long

The tram: The city of Montpellier boasts two tramlines (sorry Minneapolis, they’re ahead of us here), which we use to get just about everywhere in the city. Riding it is very often an experience all in and of itself. In busy hours, the tram is often very full, and so everyone just crams on. Usually the little old ladies command the seats, at least those that are not taken up by punk high school kids (it’s always amusing to watch the high schoolers and the old ladies try to sit together – they try so desperately to ignore each other). The aisles and open spaces are then crammed with people. It is a trick to try to hang on to the tram poles while also trying to not put yourself in a position to be awkwardly pressed against some unidentified body part belonging to your neighbor. It’s important to hang on, because some of the tram drivers don’t slow down enough while going around corners. It also seems that often you get right behind someone on the tram or in line somewhere and you are bluntly reminded that French people do not hold the same cultural value on showering often as Americans do.

You often get to experience mixed cultures on the tram and so far we have seen everything from groups of Brits to one big group of Argentinean tourists who I got to watch get apprehended by the tram patrol for not all swiping their tram passes. You also get to see people take all sorts of exciting things with them on the tram. Lots of people jump on the tram with their bikes or strollers laden with children, and then have to usually push through people to get off, since everyone crowds the doors trying to get on quickly when the tram stops. We have been responsible for hauling a bed frame onto the tram, and just two days ago rode from IKEA with a giant box with a loveseat convertible in it, along with two plants, a desk, and three giant (full) IKEA bags. A loveseat convertible is a couch that folds out into a little twin bed. Like I said, it’s always an adventure…especially because we ran off with (aka borrowed without permission) an IKEA cart to get the convertible to the tram stop…

18 Septembre, 2008

Dominos and the Association Fair

It amuses me to no end how our wonderful country is slowly but surely infecting so many corners of the world. In Montpellier there are at least two McDonald’s (MacDo), at least two Subways, a KFC and two Dominos pizza. Welcome to taste of America night. We broke down and ordered Dominos for our team family night last night. It was super fun – I hosted the Skurs and the ladies at my place. It was my first of hopefully many parties. J It was fun to have everyone over. I was sufficiently trounced at Settlers by Colson Skur, the rest of us tying for second place (“the rest of us” included Gabe, who is 6! Who knows how to play Settlers as a 6-year old?!?). This was ok, since I resoundingly beat all the Skur gentlemen the week previous at Settlers. After the delightful clamor that is the Skur children died down, the five of us STINTers played a few rounds of our favorite new game, Blokus. It’s quite fun, and comes highly recommended. It is best played with competitive people. ;-)

Our family night last night came after a fantastic day on campus yesterday. We were able to connect with one of Katie’s friends from last summer, who introduced to four of his other friends. We also ran into two guys and later another girl who Laura and Claire knew from last year. These kinds of meetings are important for us early on as we seek beginning to build relationships while we are here in order to be able to more naturally share the gospel throughout the year. We also were able to meet two students in the cafette on campus, and had a fantastic conversation with them over a spiritual interest survey called Soularium. It is a fairly open-ended survey involving using pictures to describe your life and your views of God and religion. It is very well received by the French, who in general have a more keen taste for the classical arts than Americans do. We are praying that we’ll be able to meet up again with them both and continue to be able to share with them.

This week in language class we got several very interesting insights into the French culture. Last Sunday there was an Association Fair held right outside my apartment building and all through Antigone (the part of Montpellier where I live). Several thousand people attended to walk through the 1200 stands that were set up to advertise for everything from martial arts and sports teams to clubs dedicated to specific countries, from social causes to dance, art and music. It was basically a fair to get people involved in the various clubs available in Montpellier. Our whole team went, as did many of the people in my language class. As we were talking to our professor about it the next day, she was explaining that all over France every year these huge Association Fairs take place to get people involved and help them connect socially. In France associations are very huge and are subsidized by the government to encourage people to participate. Our professor explained that associations have become so popular because the church has become so much less important in France than it once was, and people don’t have the church anymore as a place to gather socially, nor do they have a place to unite over a common interest or cause. See, in 1905 the church was officially separated from the state, as a reaction against the power struggles that have marred the history of the church in this part of the world. Since then, the church and the state are strictly separated. This past week the Pope visited France, and people were very upset that some government officials even went to the mass held at Lourdes. Politics and religion must be strictly distinct and not mix. In the last year there was a significant debate over not allowing Muslim girls to wear the headdresses required by their religion because it is too much of a public display of religion. Likewise Jewish boys are not to wear their proper caps in public. There is a size limit on any cross worn as a form of jewelry here. This is also why we cannot advertise on campus, since the University is a state-run school and we are a religious organization.

Our professor explained that the French hold this concept called laicité. It is a concept that religious beliefs are to be kept extremely private. Publically one should be neutral, and not display one’s religious beliefs. Because they are very personal, that boundary should be respected. According to our professor, the French are not against beliefs, they simply hold them at arm’s length or farther publically. This mindset has not only contributed to the palette of beliefs (or lack thereof) in France, it causes our work here to be very much outside of the normal French mindset. People have usually been surprised when we ask them what they believe about God. It simply isn’t something that is discussed here.

If that doesn’t point significantly to the need for prayer here, I’m not sure what more will…