My First French Outing

Hello everyone!  Happy Friday :)  Thanks for all your comments and kind words of encouragement.  I'm slowly adjusting, and will probably figure things out just in time to leave.  

I had a great time last night!  For the first time I felt overly full, and it was wonderful.  My Australian friends were lovely, and even treated me to some wine.  The first course was a salad with a mustard-based dressing, topped with a piece of bread with melted chevre (goat's cheese). 

Extremely excited to eat my salad!

The second course was beef with a rich, creamy cheese sauce and pasta. Finally, dessert was chocolate mouse.  Wine was from Crozes-Hermitage, an eastern region of the Rhone valley.  It was excellent.  This afternoon my friends have generously offered to let me tag along with them to visit the basilica.  Should be good.  Then Saturday night I'm dining with some Americans I met at school.  Wishing you all a great weekend!!  Love,  Caro

My friends Frankie and Steve

La salle de bains et les toilettes

I'm feeling better today.  Maybe it's because I took a nap yesterday afternoon and watched two episodes of Scrubs.  Truthfully I think it's mainly thanks to my new friends, a lovely Australian couple who live just around the corner from me.  We are going out for dinner tonight (!!), and I am so excited to finally try a French restaurant.  They are very kind, and it is a relief to be able to speak a bit of English.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be speaking any English...but sometimes you just need some human contact and communication!

Le salle de bains (laundry drying above)

 As promised, I'm going to explain my unique bathroom/shower situation here at my flat.  Until today I thought maybe it was completely normal, but my Australian buddies assured me that it's not.  In French homes what we call the bathroom is split into two separate rooms: one with a tub, shower, and sink, and another with a toilet.  This is standard.  However, my house doesn't have a shower.  There is only a bathtub with a shower hose.  This makes for a very strange bathing experience.  At first I wasn't exactly sure what to do. Standing would be quite messy due to the absence of a shower curtain.  But a sitting shower??  I'll spare you the details but let's just say its not my preferred way of bathing.  I had a similar experience when I was in Romania, but didn't expect it here in France.  Now I understand where the word water closet  comes from.  The toilet is just that--a tiny room with a toilet. 

Another part of my French adventure :)  Who knew Europe could be so exciting?!  Something new everyday.  Love,  Carolyn

I can't think in French today. No creative title.

Man, I really need to write today!  So many things going through my mind that I can't say...I've only been here a few days and I'm already super frustrated with my limited French.  I have a new respect for people at home learning English, it is quite intimidating to learn a new language!  

This afternoon I was trying to psych myself up to go eat at a restaurant.  I did manage to leave the house, walk around, and look at several menus, but couldn't find the courage to actually enter anywhere.  Why am I so terrified?  Maybe if I had a friend with me it wouldn't be so intimidating. As of now I'm stuck eating Trader Joe's trail mix and starving until I can finally eat dinner at 8pm.  They eat very late here, another apparently normal part of French life.  

My home situation is only fair.  My hostess is nice enough, but somehow not as warm and welcoming as the Latin hospitality I'm accustomed to.  For example, in Ecuador I am always served more food than I could possibly eat!  My host families always took me everywhere with them and made me feel part of their lives.  Here it's more like I'm renting a room and eat dinner with a stranger.  It's hard for me not to compare everything to Ecuador, but its something I find myself doing constantly.  

It is freezing in my apartment.  I talked with some other students who say their houses are all headed very well.  Today it's about 40 degrees outside, and I feel warm for the first time.  My hostess just entered my room and said, It's so hot in here!!  Maybe she has a thyroid problem. 


Today in class we were talking about the differences between France and our home countries.  Eventually the subject of government, health care, and social security came up.  How embarrassing.  The German girls said they saw a Republican protest against the health care bill on TV and couldn't understand why anyone would want to deny such a basic right to their fellow countrymen.  The Russian woman said she thinks health care should be a basic right for everyone.  I didn't have an answer.   

Anyways...

The walking tour of Lyon was quite nice.  A woman from my school spent about an hour showing us important parts of the city.  I couldn't take any pictures because it was already dark, but enjoyed it nonetheless.  Tomorrow I may go see a French movie at school, and will then dine with a nice Australian couple who are my fellow students.  I can't wait to actually eat at a restaurant!!  

 It was finally clear enough to take some pictures of the city. 

 There's a lovely walkway along the river, le Rhone

This is the square by my apartment

 

Tomorrow I will tell you about the unique bathroom/shower situation.  Stay tuned!  Miss you all and love you lots!  Caro 

Comment dit-on 'Jetlag'?

Good morning everyone! I hope this posting finds you all doing well. 

My French classes started on Monday morning and are going well.  For some reason they put me in the intermediate level, which is very challenging to say the least.  Many of the students in my class have already been in France for weeks, months, or years, and can speak quite proficiently.  My vocabulary is very limited, but I can understand a lot.  Still, it's unbearably frustrating not being able to express myself.  Hence the therapeutic value of blogging :)

My hostess is nice, albeit strange.  A retired woman of 64, she has a charming little apartment on the 4th floor of an old building in the center of Lyon with a room she regularly rents to students.  She's quite busy; I haven't really spent much time talking with her.  Although we did briefly talk about food (she's feeding me two meals a day), at which time she informed me that she doesn't like cheese.  Or butter.  Or garlic. Please tell me why my school put me with the only woman in the entire country that doesn't eat cheese?!?!  Crazy!  So I went out and bought my own chevere at the local market and ate it for dinner.  And then again for breakfast this morning, which my hostess found quite amusing (she did actually giggle at me).  Oh well, I don't really care, I think she's the crazy one for not eating cheese.  


I finally slept last night, but am still waking quite early in the morning (4 or 5 am).  I'm not used to having to adjust to a new time.  This afternoon I'll go on a walking tour of Lyon with my school, should be good.  In the meantime I continue my studies while listening to French radio.  Wishing you all a very happy Tuesday!  Much love,  Caro

 Le pain au chocolat.

This stuff is awesome.  However, my hostess quickly corrected me and said I need to buy it only at bakeries (I bought this at a corner marker). I tried to explain that I'm working up my courage to go into stores, but I don't think she understood.  Maybe tomorrow :)

 Les endives au jambon

(I think that's what she said, not 100% sure)

The cheese, cream, and ham were delicious, but endives quite strong! 

Je ne comprends pas.

This is my new phrase.  I use it almost all the time these days.  For those non-French speaking, it means I don't understand.  Yes, I've been greatly humbled by starting to learn a new language.  Never again will I laugh at beginning Spanish-speakers as they struggle to form a sentence.  It's been nearly 10 years since I started learning and speaking Spanish, long enough to truly forget the challenge a foreign language presents. 

The good news is I had a blast riding the train.  Like at the airport, the whole process was very self-sufficient.  Passengers go to the platform, carry and stow their luggage, and find their seats independently.  It wasn't until a stinky uniformed man came along that I actually had to show someone I'd paid for my passage.  The young man next to me knew I wasn't French. Apparently everyone does.  I tried to stay behind and let everyone pass so I could take my sweet time lugging my heavy suitcase down the stairs.  But alas, this man was so kind and politely motioned for me to pass.  So there I was, huge suitcase in hand, and the man utters something to me.  Blank stare.  He repeats.  Insert my favorite phrase, Je ne comprends pas.  Remember we're holding up the line of passengers waiting to get off the train.  Wow, I feel lame.  Finally, a woman nearby said would you like some help? Oui, oui, merci.  The gentleman and I descended, suitcase in hand.  The French aren't exactly living up to their so-called rude reputation.  

I found my hostess waiting for me at the Lyon train station, and am now settling into my new home.  I can understand about 50% of what she says, enough to get the basic idea but far from all the details.  Definitely struggling to express myself.  Though I can form the thought perfectly in Spanish, the French just isn't coming.  Tomorrow I have my first day at school, which I'm looking forward to.  I'm a bit nervous because I'm to walk there by myself, as my hostess has to leave town for a funeral.  The adventure continues (please realize I'm being sarcastic, things have gone very smoothly).

Most of you return to work and/or school tomorrow, many blessings as you officially start the new year!  Love,  Caro

My room

 

View out my window

Cool, huh?

le 1 janvier, 2011

The year is off to a good start.  Juan Luis Guerra plays as I stare out the steamy window of my European-sized hotel room in the airport.  The shower felt heavenly but was uncontrollably scalding hot! Now begins the impossible task of staying awake.  My eyelids suddenly are made of wrought iron as my body yearns for rest--it is 4:11am in Minnesota, after all.  Still, it's worth the effort to remain upright and alert until it's really time to sleep (French bedtime). 

My journey went surprisingly smoothly.  Having heard predictions of sleet, ice pellets, and snow forecasted for the exact time of my departure, I had anticipated a rough pond-crossing.  As Murphy's Law would have its way, it started sleeting the minute we were aboard and excited to beat the weather.  Not to worry, we only sat for about an hour, eagerly awaiting the deicing that would be our ticket to ride.  A smooth connection later, I found myself sitting next to the two most deeply-in-love birds on the entire plane.  After kissing a bisquillion times, they finally cooled off about halfway to Paris.  Rub it in why don't you?!?!

Waiting in line to clear immigration, I was, as always, uber-excited to get a stamp in my passport (yes, lame but true).  To my disappointment, the official offered no greeting, no conversation, and worst of all, no stamp.  One look at my picture and he sent me on my way.  At the baggage claim, I took my sweet time and let my bag pass so I wouldn't have to squeeze through all the anxiously waiting passengers.  The second time round I had mustered the courage to actually take the bag off the conveyer belt and, to my surprise, didn't have to talk to a single customs officer.  Huh.  Weird.  Maybe the French just trust.  

I found a kind, English-speaking man at the information counter who informed me how to reach my hotel.  Walking for what seemed like miles, I couldn't help but smile as I struggled to walk against the flow of traffic--a fish out of water and swimming upstream.  At the hotel desk I stood at a polite distance as I waited for the two attendants to finish their conversation.  Not so fast, Madame Minnesota nice!!  A Frenchman walked right in front of me and interrupted the conversation with a pleasant, "bonjour!"  Oh yeah, I forgot.  I'm not in Minnesota anymore.  Ha.  


And that brings me to this lovely, modern, clean, and most importantly, cheap ibis hotel room literally in the Charles De Gaulle airport.  Thankfully 24hrs of internet access is included in my rate, and I once again feel connected to the world (yes, pun intended).  Tomorrow I embark on another adventure--high speed train!  Yep, no clue how that works but I will figure it out and tell you all about it tomorrow.  


Oh, one more thing.  As I'll be here in France for the next two weeks attempting to learn a bit of le francais, I will undoubtedly have both more to say and more time to write.  I am very much looking forward to continuing my solo venture to Lyon.  Bonne anne a tout le monde!!


Much love,  Caro

W-O-M-A-N

I recently had to create an image of my practice philosophy for my women's health class.  Given my general lack of artistic ability, I was pleased with how this collage turned out.  Some friends and family are included, hope you don't mind :)  Below is the accompanying essay explaining my approach to caring for women.  It is admittedly a little cheesy, but professors love that!  Happy Sunday to all. 

~ Caro

My overall goal is to provide care to a diverse, multi-cultural, underserved, and underinsured population.  This goes hand-in-hand with my passion for travel, love for learning languages, and intrigue for exploring the food, music, and customs of other cultures.  From my experiences both here and abroad, I've come ot learn that there are many ways of being a woman.  One way or belief is not superior to another; rather, it is unique and deserves to be recognized as such.  I strive to approach each patient, especially women, with an open and humble mind.  I hope to learn something about another human being and myself with each encounter.   I purposefully included a variety of women representing different ages, cultures, races, professions, and socio-economic statuses.   Personal friends and family are included because they have been so fundamental in my development as a woman, and in my understanding of who a woman truly can be.  The words forming the picture frame read "woman" in thirty-seven different languages from Spanish, to Russian, to Urdu.  Though there are many ways to express the idea of a woman, they all share the same fundamental meaning.  Regardless of where we live, what we look like, or what language we speak, we are united as women by our common experiences, hopes, and dreams.