Something About Southern France -- Toulon

A few things about France for my fellow Americans:

People over here eat with their forks and knives -- be it mashed carrots or a juicy steak. If you are seen eating with your fork alone, you will be thought of as rather crude. However, I don't suggest coming over here and immediately adopting the knife, as its proper usage is proving to be a bit tricky. Practice for a few weeks in the safety of your own dining room before trying it out in a fine dining environment. I ended up with a massive chunk of chicken on the floor the other night. Not embarrassing at all. 

People always say "Bonjour!" when entering any sort of shop. 

Travelling is teaching me an awful lot about things that are specific to American culture. People in France do not eat pumpkin pie, carrot cake, zucchini bread, or sweet potato pie. I suppose that since they have an abundance of figs, grapes, cherries, citrus, and all other manner of sugary fruits, they don't need to turn a naturally savory vegetable into a dessert. 

Southern France has the best climate I've experienced yet. 

People are incredibly friendly and helpful. I would recommend learning a few phrases in french as not many french people speak english, but there's nothing at all wrong with that. 

In America, we seem to hit letters like Ts and Ds extra hard if we want to emphasize something. "GeT off my beD." In France, they hit the R. This is proving rather difficult for me, as the french R is an entirely new sound to an american english speaker. It's an odd sort of vibration of the soft palate, and it adds a lovely texture to the language when a native speaker uses it. When I do it, it sounds like I'm hacking up a loogie (excuse my american slang).

Hence, I will never be assertive in France. 

French cartoons are pretty delightful and I get to watch them every weekday morning with Alessandro. I bring him out his platter of two crackers and a glass of orange juice, sit him down in his little chair in front of the TV, get my cup of coffee, and watch Franklin and His Friends, Mike the Knight, and something about a group of sea creatures rescuing other sea creatures in their high-tech submarine. The cartoons are in french, but I turn on the french subtitles so that I can follow along better. Watching cartoons with Alessandro is one of my favorite parts of the day. 

French people think that Americans sound like ducks. Our resonance is so far back that when we speak, they just hear, "quackquackquackquackquack." After Caroline told me this, I started trying to move my resonance further forward in my face (nobody wants to sound like a duck), but I don't think I'm making any progress. Jerome still teases me about my american accent by breaking out into a rather stereotypical western cowboy accent -- which makes me very aware of all the Ts I miss and the Rs I punch and the vowels I swallow. 

I will not swallow my vowels, I wiiiill noooot swaaaallooooow myyyyy voooooweeeeeels. 

But enough of that. 

Weekends are marvelous occasions with this family. Jerome and Caroline have very busy work schedules during the week, so they make sure to have an adventure every weekend. As a new member of the family (they really do treat me just like family), I have the pleasure of joining them for these numerous adventures. The Pernots are excellent tour guides. and I'm getting a priceless, authentic experience of Southern France. 

Caroline teaches english to people in the navy, and I was able to help her record a test for her students. 8000 french navy men and women will be subjected to my voice very soon. :)

I have discovered that the best way to bond/teach a language to a child is through baking. Especially if the baking includes chocolate. 

This might have been the happiest and proudest moment of Alessandro's life. 

Interesting proportions. 

A nearby town with a massive weekend market

Alessandro only gets to go to McDonalds once a month or so. It's like Christmas for him.  

A view on the way back to the Pernot home

Saint Tropez -- apparently this is where all the celebrities come with their yachts to have their pictures taken. 

A very famous restaurant in Saint Tropez

Caroline told me that the yachts were very small this time of the year. 

Alessandro wanted to do yoga too.

Goodness, I love this family.

Picture of the day

Cassis, the Circus, and Lazy Afternoons -- Toulon

This last week has been relaxed, productive and incredibly stimulating. I take Alessandro to school every morning at seven thirty, do a small household chore after I get back to the apartment, and then have the rest of the day to practice French, write plays, practice yoga, walk along the beach, visit the local market, and make dinner. 

The beach is a ten minute walk away from the apartment

Alessandro attends school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday, he goes to his nurse -- a delightful elderly woman whom Alessandro adores. However, this last Wednesday, Alessandro's beloved nurse called in sick. I offered to look after him for the day, but Caroline felt like half a day of babysitting would be quite enough for me, so she took the morning off of work and drove Alessandro and me to a beautiful little town not far from Toulon. 

I did not protest. 

Caroline says that this is an excellent restaurant

On Saturday afternoon we loaded ourselves (and Alessandro's "motorbike") into the car and drove down to Cassis -- an idyllic town not too far from Marseille. It's the sort of place you walk through and think, "this isn't real, is it? Something this beautiful couldn't be real." The streets weren't just cobbled, for instance -- the cobblestones had little snowflakes carved into them. 

After returning from Cassis, Jerome cooked us a mouthwatering pork rib dinner with an asian sauce he made up on the fly. He's incredibly passionate about food, and I asked him if he'd ever considered opening his own restaurant. Jerome replied that the restaurant business was far too difficult. 

This is a man who works as a navy diver. He deactivates bombs for a living. Puts things into perspective, I guess. 

Sunday morning was the circus. I've been to plenty of rodeos in Colorado, but this was my first circus experience. It involved a lot of men with superhuman core strength in very tight pants. 

Alessandro was very excited to see Spiderman

 I liked that they had humans jumping through hoops. 

After our morning at the circus, Jerome met us by the beach for lunch. Couldn't have asked for a better view.

I'm a very, very fortunate lady to have met this wonderful family and be able to share a home with them.