Lunch in the Sunshine

The weather in Gay Paree has been supernatural. No rain. My apartment came with an umbrella, but I have not taken it out of the closet. It has been cool, but not wet. Yesterday, was the nicest day to date. Lots of sunshine. I found the largest yarn shop in Paris and decided to check it out. The yarn shop wasn't much (very expensive and nothing I couldn't buy at home), but it was located across the street from a 16th century church, St Eustache. The church is large and in restoration as one would imagine for something that old.

After walking around the block. I was delighted to find a nice little bistro in the sunshine. I popped in and ordered lunch. Yep, a cheeseburger and "cafe creme" Just like home...except for the price. When I ordered, "la serveuse" (lady waitress) asked me how I wanted the meat cooked. I grasped for the vocabulary word to a): hope she thought I was French and to b): pray I was saying something appropriate. I answered, "A Point". I don't think I convinced the server that I could speak French, but "a point" does mean "medium". However, the word, "medium" is subjective and the degree of "doneness" must vary from restaurant to restaurant. This meat pattie would have frightened my husband. I ate it anyway. So far - no mad cow disease.

As I have mentioned before, my school is a melting pot of many cultures. I've become friendly with some of my classmates and I am always curious to hear the reasons why they left their homeland and/or landed in Paris. My friend, Kunsang, left Tibet to escape inhumane living conditions.  But the main reason they come to Paris is for "opportunity" or in other words: work. They all want to "make more money". They can't get visas for the US, but for reasons not known to me, France accepts everyone, or so it seems. But, they can't get work until they can speak the language. Thus, because of all kinds of personal reasons, our lives have intersected at "L'ecole Alliance Francais". Patricia is from Poland. She is young and hoping to get work in her field, dental technician. She lives in very cheap housing and struggles to make ends meet.  I'm sure managing day to day is very difficult.

They are all smart, hopeful and work hard. I sit next to "Terry" from Hong Kong. He is in my grammar class. He has a masters in economics from Hong Kong University. And although he will most likely return to China, he pointed out to me the difficulty of learning a language that has no resemblance in sound or appearance to the one you grew up with. It is true. Because English derives approximately 60% of our words from the French language, I can (and you probably can too) read and understand the newspaper here. For Tam, my Vietnam classmate, the pronunciation is so very difficult. She understands every word of spoken French, but will not be employable until she masters "ze french mode of speaking".

I am leaving you with one of my favorite things: The cafe creme. Enjoy

Sally