Family Day at the Naval Base -- Toulon

Last Wednesday was a very special day; a very special day indeed. Once a year, the French Navy has a family day for its officers and sailors. The navy member gets to show his family his place of work, have a free crepe lunch, and then leave work early. As a temporary member of the Pernot family, Caroline worked some magic and obtained a special visitor's pass for me. As Caroline teaches operational English to men and women of the French Navy, I was able to audit and participate in one of her classes. She's an incredibly capable teacher, and as I'm considering getting my TEFL certificate, it was really inspiring to watch her teach and see what a classroom environment could possibly be like. I'd probably have a classroom full of children as opposed to men and women of the navy, but I think I still gleaned a few valuable lessons.

Words that are funny when French people say them:

Ate and Hate. French people have a bit of difficulty pronouncing the H, so many of them leave it out entirely. This results in general confusion around the dinner table when, "I ate za dinner," can mean, "I hate the dinner," just as easily.

Angry and Hungry sound exactly the same. If someone says, "I'm angry," assume that they just haven't eaten in a while. As French people seem to be extraordinarily even-tempered, it's usually the case.

Sheet is often pronounced Shit. Beach is often pronounced Bitch.

This is a funny Dylan Moran sketch on the French -- not completely accurate, but they do eat chocolate bread for breakfast. ;)

After Caroline finished her morning class, we walked over to Jerome's ship. As it's a ship used to deactivate bombs, it's made entirely of plastic. Jerome told me that any metal onboard could cause vibrations in the water that would detonate a bomb. Hence, it is a VERY expensive ship.

That's Jerome's ship in the background

This is what Jerome wears when he dives. He says that it's ridiculously heavy.

Where the officers eat.  

Bibou in the captain's seat

A view from the ship

This is what's used to detect bombs.

I enjoy that he has a hat. 

Crepes! I just ate the ham, but they sure smelled good.

After touring Jerome's ship and spending a couple of hours meandering around the crepe tent, Caroline took me back to her office. I audited one of her assistant's english classes, spent a couple of hours journaling (it's absurd how much I like to journal -- I can spend hours riveted on the silliest little things going on in my life), and then I met up with a pleasant young officer who offered to guide me through Toulon's oldest ship. It was a win-win situation that made me very thankful to be a native english speaker -- during our hour and a half together, she got to practice her english, and I got a free tour. It was a refueling ship, so while MASSIVE, was not nearly as interesting as Jerome's. The officer gave me a very thorough tour, though. I would have taken pictures, but told me that she didn't feel comfortable with me photographing anything. Hence, the enemy shall not see how Toulon's oldest ship directs helicopters onto its landing pad, where the crew eats lunch, or how enormous its gas pumps are.

Shucks.

I got back to the Pernot apartment around six, prepared a quick dinner for Jerome, Bibou, and myself, and then walked to town to meet up for my interviews with Xavier and Malween.

One month in France, four interviews. I'm pretty happy with that.