African Journeys

Bad pun, I know. But I did learn to make these ridiculously tasty and equally as hard to perfect, paper-thin disks. My dear friend Letizia taught me and Ruth how to make them yesterday at her apartment. I had previously tried, using a bad store-bought mix, but they turned out way too thick and kept sticking to the pan, making them tear and burn. In short, it was a complete disaster. Yesterday, on the other hand, we found ourselves in culinary heaven. It was a great afternoon because we rode the bus there, which may seem like not a big deal to you, but getting to ride instead of walk everywhere was such a nice change of pace. Once we got there, we were greeted by Letizia and her sweet baby girl ,Thea, and immediately got all 3 kiddos playing with a monstrous basket of toys so we could get to work in the kitchen. Letizia started the mixture with flour and eggs, and we added milk and water slowly. We took turns stirring, because it took a while and was a little bit tiring. I am truly sorry for being such a food nerd, but the batter was beautiful. Liquid silk. So smooth it looked like perfection. Our hostess made the first few ones, showing us how to do it. She made it look so easy. Then it was my turn. Let’s just say mine didn’t turn out exactly as they were supposed to. Some were too thin, some had holes, and some were just plain ugly. But thankfully, the appearance didn’t affect the taste of those little guys. After we used up the whole batter, the real party started. Her table was set with colorful dishes and decorated with lemons, sugar, jam, whipped honey, and all sorts of wonderful things to put in your crepe. Alya loved hers with strawberry jam. Letizia’s favorite was sugar and fresh squeezed lemon juice. I tried it all, and loved it all. Seriously. It was a great afternoon with my friends. It was a great afternoon with one of France’s most famous and delicious dishes. I love french food!

We have actually started a tradition here in France. I guess it is our little way of staying connected to America. Every Tuesday, I walk  down the street and order pizza…from Domino’s. Yes, there is Domino’s Pizza in Chambery, among other American restaurants. (McDonald’s, KFC) It actually started the first week we were here. I, Nathan, had been in class only one day and actually had to psyche myself up to go in there to order. Part of the reason I was so nervous was because the place was packed with native Frenchies. I imagined them staring at me thinking, ‘Look at this American who is trying to order pizza. Sad American!’ They would then go home and tell their little French families about the bumbling American who can’t even order a pizza. Then the French president would get word of it (don’t ask me how I made the jump to the president) and he would call President Obama who would in turn call my home in France and tell me I had to come back to the States because I was ruining his foreign diplomacy by making a mockery of Americans everywhere. So as you can tell, it took a lot of courage to finally step up to order.

But when I started ordering, I seized up. All I could do was point to the menu and say ‘I would like’ in French followed by ‘por favor’ (in Spanish). Luckily the Domino’s girl on the other side of the counter laughed and spoke some broken English. I was saved!!! 15 minutes later I had a hot pizza in my hands on my way home. Now fast forward 3 months or so.

I am able to walk in, knowingly wait for them to acknowledge me, greet them cordially, understand their questions and respond accordingly in French (no Spanish needed) and, after receiving my pizza, wish them a good evening with no stress involved. Needless to say, I dreamed this day would come after that first attempt. I think our language learning is complete.

So lately, I’ve been forced to do something different in my language learning process. Even though I studied French in high school and college, there’s still A LOT for me to learn. The thing is, though, I only attend a formal class one day a week, mainly due to my language level – I am already at the level I need to be at when we leave here for Cameroon.

Such a small percentage of what I learn comes from a teacher in a classroom. Most of it comes from interactions with native speakers and from directed studies done on my own on our couch at our apartment. I have made French friends relatively quickly, I feel. It hit me today walking home from church in the snow. I realized how lucky I am to have such patient and friendly French friends who seem more than willing to correct me when I make up a word and unknowingly slip it into a conversation.

This week I am attending two Women’s Small Groups, during both of which French will be the main laguage spoken. This both frightens and excites me. I really feel like I’m thriving in these sorts of learning opportunities, but it’s often so scary to put yourself out there, risk sounding like a child, and give it a go. I’ve found it’s the absolute best way to learn a language, by being willing to make mistakes.

The directed study that takes place most nights on my couch goes something like this: I sit down and read whatever current French book I’m working my way through, writing down unfamiliar words. Then I look them up, and try to commit them to memory. Then I move on the workbooks, one of which I bought, others were given to me. In one I read a literary excerpt written by a famous French author and then answer reading comprehension questions. In others, I try to complete as many grammar exercises as my brain will allow. It’s very tiring, but I always feel like I’ve accomplished something when I allow myself to quit.

I hope this mixture of real French interactions and at-home studies will prove beneficial. It’s got to. I can already feel myself improving. It seems slow some days, but then it’s encouraging when I find myself in real French conversations, able to keep up and interact at a normal pace.

Keep praying for both of us as we continue to plod along in the day-to-day , often mundane adventure known as language immersion.

-Jo

I realize we have been silent over the holiday season. I guess we were a little too excited about our break from school and took a break from communicating with everyone also. Well, we are back and want to wish everyone a belated, ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’. We haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions yet (not sure if we will), but if you guys have any, that might be fun to hear some of them. I guess the biggest New Year’s resolution for me is to learn French. Or maybe that is cheating since I was going to do it anyway.

Tomorrow we get back to the grind of language study and a regular schedule again. Jo is going to start taking an art class in town to give herself a different perspective of the French language and is planning on meeting with a new French friend every Wednesday afternoon. These are both answers to prayer since Jo has been looking for other outlets to use her French.

Also, praise the Lord for the invention of Skype. Seriously. It was a blessing to see our families over the holidays.