I mentioned to Regis that I would like to rock climb while I’m here, whether in a gym or in the Vercors (the mountains nearest to Romans, you can see them in the horizon) and he told me he knew of two professors here that are in a climbing club. We tracked one of these professors down with Regis explaining to every teacher we came across in the hall that I was the new assistante d’anglais américaine from les Etats-Unis (the US) that lives in the petit appartement in the batîment administratif (administrative building). He also must always also mention that I’m from Miami, where there’s beaches and sand, and that because of this, I hate skiing. Then he explains that I am an excellent hardcore climber (untrue, I’m just intermediate and I’m not even that brave) and that we’re looking for so-and-so professor. Each of these little stops to talk to the teachers and make introductions take about 5-10 minutes. So everyone basically knows my whole life story. I think I’ve met the entire faculty (over 50 profs) in a matter of two days.
The point is, we finally found this rock climber teacher and he proposed that I join their rock climbing club. They get together every Monday and Wednesday night to climb in the rock gym of a middle school that’s about 5 minutes walking distance from the school where I’m living. Because it’s in a middle school, I thought it would just be a wall with one or two courses but I went to check it out with Regis and it’s BIG! It’s about half the size of GRG in Gainesville, pretty legit. And on Fridays, they take trips to the mountains to do REAL outdoor climbing!!! I’m SO excited to start climbing with them on Monday, which I haven’t done since the end of August. It’s just like 80 euros for a membership to the club for the whole year and it includes all the rendez-vous. Today, Regis introduced me to the president of the club and he seems excited to have me on board. He says they often get together on the weekends too and go out, so I’ll have new friends. I hope there are a lot of hot French guys climbing without their shirts on, haha. Woo!
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4 comments:
Just as I expected, Vilmarie, they all love you over there! And maybe you will find some hot French "mec" sans chemise while rock climbing...hahaha...
What you said in your previous post about the welcome you have had is exactly like the welcome I have had everywhere I've been in France except maybe Paris. I really HATE it when people make jokes about the French being rude and snooty. Nothing could be further from the truth -- at least outside of Paris. Even in Paris people are not that bad, especially if you speak francais.
The thing about the teachers all getting your life story and being introduced to them all was great and also reminded me of my last trip to a lycee in Saint-Nazaire. Also, not surprised about people being impressed you are from Miami. It's possible some of them will have seen CSI Miami or other such TV shows on French TV (and that's another story since rather than subtitling, French TV tends to dub the voices, so seeing American actors speaking perfect French is hilarious, a mon avis...)
Do the other teachers, students know that you speak Spanish natively as well as English? The French, in my experience, are fascinated with Latin American culture, so don't be surprised if they ask you about that -- or you can even volunteer to tell them about Latin culture in the U.S.
Little linguistic question: Do the teachers use tu/toi (tutoyer) with you? Just wondering.
Bonne chance with les mecs. Hope you find un mec qui te fait craquer!
Tom
Yes; the teachers use 'toi' with me and also insist that I call them 'tu' instead of 'vous', which i found surprising.
Just what I expected them to do. That means they are treating you as a colleague and not just some student native speaker helper. When my friend Pascal introduced me to the teachers at his lycee, he told them I was a French teacher from the U.S. I had never met his colleagues before, but they immediately used tu/toi with me. I was surprised at first, but later found out that that is normal for colleagues, particularly teachers.
Haha....I bet they have hairy chests. Not that there is anything wrong with that....lol.
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