On y va!*

I guess my 6th month in Paris is as good of a time as any to start writing about my experience…  In this time, my knowledge of the French language has not progressed much, however, my knowledge of the French culture has increased infinitely.

I am often asked if there is anything in America that I really miss (like processed food or football).  To paraphrase my friend, Mike Zboray, who recently came to visit from Berkeley, "It's a bunch of things that are just slightly different… like the way the toilet flushes just a little bit differently from the way it does in America."  Although I am sure when he actually said it, he worded it more elegantly and with a lot more fig newtons in his mouth.  But it is quite true… it is not knowing what is the equivalent of "Target" to find random household items or these brands of lotions and detergents I've never heard of before…

Of course the biggest slight difference between living in Paris and living in America is that here, they speak French.  Understanding the fast-talking Parisian slang is a special talent in itself.  Parisians speak by shortening everything they can, and then saying it as fast as they can without moving their lips.  Tu as faim? becomes T'as faim? (Are you hungry?).  Je ne sais pas becomes Che-pas (I don't know).

But I am not always surrounded by undecipherable french speak.  I am slowly gathering words and phrases.  My absolute favorite french phrase is ça marche, which means "that works" ... and it works in many different ways.  For example(s):


French person: Let's meet at the cafe at 8pm.
Me: Ça marche

French person 2: I changed the pump on your equipment, is it okay now?
Me: Ça marche

Me: Can I say: "J'aimerai que je sache parler le français"?
French teacher: Ça ne marche pas**

I've been told that I am still in my honeymoon phase with Paris, and I need to wait for a couple more months before the rudeness of the waiters, and the smells of the public transport, and the massive amounts of dog poop on the side of the road get to me.  But for the time being, I think I am transitioning quite nicely into Paris culture.  In fact, during my recent trip to America… I was slightly annoyed (and suspicious) at the waiter for being too accommodating (eg he poured me a glass of water).

Me on top of the Arc de Triomphe... apparently ignoring the Eiffel Tower.

I had started this list a while back to track my transformation into a Parisian…

1. Ride the metro/bus/train (check!)
2. Get a French cell phone (check!)
3. Get a French email address (check!)
4. Eat a baguette (check check check check!!!)
5. Kisses on the cheeks as a greeting (check!)
6. Get a french bank (check!)
7. Get public transportation card-Navigo (check!)
8. Changing my current town to “Paris, France” on Facebook. Right now it will only let me pick Paris, Texas (check... finally!)
9. Get lost (check times infinity)
10. Get a French ID (check!)
11. Get my Card Vitale
12. Have a conversation in french
13. Mastering the french keyboard (AZERTY instead of QWERTY)
14. Taste wine from every region (Suggested by Marisa)
15. Get a French accent (Suggested by Marisa)
16. Go on strike (Suggested by Zboray)
17. curse in french at an american trying to talk to you in english first before french (Suggested by Prinda)
18. Eat all of the 56 protected French cheeses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_cheeses).  (Suggested by Megan)
19. Snowboard in French Alps (Suggested by Alper)

I am almost there!!!


*On y va means "let's go!" or "here we go!"
** putting a "ne… pas" around a verb negates the meaning