Word Choice

My dear husband and I don't speak each others languages. Now I'm not saying we don't see eye to eye on certain things, I mean our native language is not the same. In fact when we first started dating my French was horrible and his English was almost non-existent. We used dictionaries to communicate as well as his bilingual roommate and best friend. In the beginning of our relationship I would speak French to him and he would respond in English. When we chatted online it was usually in French. From there our relationship has progressed into English when together and French over the phone or when texting. I am pretty much fluent in French (but that wasn't without the help of a French major) and Matthieu does pretty well for himself orally, though we still need to work on his reading and writing skills. I have no doubt that living in the US will do wonders for his English as living in France did for my French. Being that language has played such a vital role in our relationship, it doesn't surprise me that our communication skills are very strong. I sometimes think what it is like to be in a relationship where you aren't forced to repeat yourself or find a different way to say something. A few years ago I would long for that, but I don't anymore. I see the positive affects on our relationship because of it and I wish everyone could have a language barrier in their relationship. Besides, I am fluent in another language, a goal I set for myself in high school and that is one of my proudest accomplishments.

Yesterday we were writing thank you notes from our French wedding, thus, they were all in French. I gave Matthieu this responsibility, though I was there to help because no matter the language, he is still a guy and some men struggle with this type of task. So as we are writing the thank you note to one of his cousins, he wants to include a little something about how much he enjoyed her daughter. He writes "she is a lot of fun and has lots of energy." I ask him if he is sure he wants to write this, doesn't it sound a little negative, like "control your daughter, she has a lot of energy!" Because for me in English, to say a child has a lot of energy isn't the first thing a parent wants to hear. I would say something more like " she is very energetic" But Matthieu and his mother quickly reassured me that it doesn't mean that at all and it isn't negative and in fact my suggestion doesn't work for a person. In French, only food can be energetic. So we wrote "she has a lot of energy" and went on to the next one.

This aspect of our relationship, the sometimes, though diminishing, language barrier is something that we deal with everyday. Luckily for us it only made our relationship stronger.

Football, errr, Soccer is King!

Living in a country where soccer (football) is king, it is hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement of it all. I'm more of an American football kinda girl. I still don't understand all the rules even after many attempts to explain them to me. Last year during the Men's World Cup, I gave a strong effort into developing some sort of interest into the sport. It was all France talked about for a month and being that I was living with a French family who really liked soccer, it was all around me. Every night, the hot topic on the news was the French soccer team. But they didn't just talk about the World Cup at hand, everyone seemed to refer back to the 1998 World Cup. You see, France won that year and when it comes to national pride, winning the World Cup ranks as being one of the most prideful moments for a Frenchman in the last 50 years. When there are world-wide events, France must perform well (at least in men's sports). So last year, when France didn't do so well, it was a big let down. But it wasn't just that they didn't advance very far in the tournament that caused so much pain, it was the shame the team brought upon their country by acting like a bunch a babies and going on strike. That's right ladies and gentlemen, the French National Soccer team went on strike during the 2010 World Cup. So while all that was a little entertaining and wasn't all that surprising considering the French are the Kings and Queens of Striking their jobs, I still couldn't find much interest in the matches, even those of my own country.

The main issue I have with the sport (men's) is how much the players act. Every time you turn around, there is a player crying for his momma because another player ran into him. I just don't get how that helps them that much. From the few matches I've seen, the acting doesn't seem to pay off all that much.

So all that to say, once the Women's World Cup got to the final few matches and France and the Unites States were still in it, I wasn't all that interested. Of course I didn't mind glouting in front of my husband and his family when we beat France in the semi-finals, but I only caught a few minutes of the game. But, the little that I did watch, proved to be more interesting than any of the men's matches I've ever watched. I believe this all stems from the way women play the game. There is almost no acting, just strong athletes playing their hearts out and doing their job. So tonight I watched the game (while scrapbooking) and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It didn't have my full attention, but perhaps I'll grow to like the sport a little more and one day I will be content to watch a women's match without scrapbooking at the same time.

Congratulations to the Japanese National Team and a job well done to the US team!

I (momentarily) live in France

Yes, it is true. I live in France. I have been for the last two years (well almost, our anniversary is July 25th) and it has been an up and down ride. I studied abroad three years ago for four months, so cumulatively is two years and 4.5 months, but who's counting?

I moved to this country two months after graduating from college to be closer to my (at the time) boyfriend and now husband. You see, he is French, but not the beret wearing, baguette carrying, wine drinking, curly mustache French guy. In fact, his look is quite stereotypical American - jeans, t-shirt, college sweatshirt. He calls it a 'skateboarder' look, I just call it American. So I moved here.

But where is here? When I return to the States for visits people say "OMG Lauren! How is Paris??? You live such a cool life! I'm so jealous that you live in Paris!!!" Although I would love to play into their jealousy and tell them I have the most fabulous flat, overlooking the Eiffel Tower and every morning I drink my tiny little expresso reading Le Monde on my tiny little terrace, but that would be lying. So I quickly correct them and say I live a few hours North of Paris in Lille. (No, not Lyon, though my mother did tell people I was living there too). But soon, all that will change as we are moving back to the States in a few short months.

I hope this blog will be a place for me to share my last few months of permanent life in France, the experiences being married to a Frenchman and well, anything else I think is semi-relevant.