Giverny At Night...

July 2, 2013

Well it's Tuesday morning. I just woke up and took my shower.

Last  night, like I said, I went out to walk around. It was probably around 10:30 when I went downstairs, and Alison and Francesco were cooking dinner (yeah, they eat really late...). They looked at me skeptically, asked, "are you going out?", and when I said yeah, I'm just going to walk around, they just confirmed that there is nothing to do here at night/no bars or clubs/no people outside. Well, I went out anyway and took a little stroll. Boy were they right. Everything was so deserted. I passed one old man who was standing outside his house and his dog was running around. We said good evening, and I strolled a little further, until I hit the big road that had signs toward Vernon and Paris. Vernon: 4 km. Hm. Yeah, I wasn't feeling a 2 1/2 mile walk to an only slightly less deserted town in the middle of the night. Francesco told me Vernon has like 2 bars. Well, there's the end of my stroll. I turned around and headed back.

The old man was still in the same place. We greeted again, and then talked a little. He was pretty confused about why I was walking down the street at this hour. I said, yeah there's really nothing to do here at night. And he invited me in for a cup of coffee. Well, why not. So I went in. He lives in a small little room that has his kitchen, his dining table, his bed, and all his stuff in just that room. He told me he has a house by the sea, but he works here, so he only gets to go to his house once I week when he has his day off. The house seemed very old, not very well kempt, and naturally quite minimalistic. He had a pretty white cat and a big brownish grayish dog. I asked what kind of dog but I don't remember the answer. Not that I knew the French breed name anyway. The dog's name was Bijoux, which means jewelry. I smiled, and he explained that he was the most beautiful of them all. He was huge and very friendly and cute. He was also really greasy. I tried to learn/ask how to say greasy (referreding to a dog's coat) in French, but he laughed when I asked whether the word 'grassée', which means greasy for food, would work for a dog. He said you would just call him 'sale', meaning dirty.

The man's name was Patrisse. He rambled on and on about everything. He was really weird. Like really weird. He works at the museum (in the garden I think). He was very enthusiastic about talking about all the people he knows and encounters, how he keeps in contact with so many people, showing me flyers he's gotten from everyone he still keeps in touch with. He was very intent on looking through a whole stack of papers and stuff to find something from one dude because he said the guy is from California, and is coming back to Giverny, and he is going to see him again. I told him it's really not a big deal, I don't need to see the flyer or whatever he was looking for. But he really wanted to show me. Eventually he gave up. He said he wouldn't sleep if he drank coffee and I realized maybe that was a good point. So We had a glass of wine instead. It was Indian red wine, he said he got it from a restaurant here. It was disgusting. I mean red wine is never my favorite. But Indian red wine, man that stuff is weird. He looked through a bunch of CDs until he finally found the one he was looking for, which was of an American male singer. He said someone had given it to him - because there was a song called 'Giverny' on it. So we listened to the song.

He said he meets tons of people by working at the museum. I asked if he knows any other young people from around here. He said, well young is a relative term! And went on about his friends who live around here. I clarified, what about anyone my age. He talked about two American female interns at the museum. I was interested, but then he said they had just left. Hm. But, he continued, new ones should be coming in now! I expressed interest in meeting them, because it would be nice to know people my age. He said if I gave him my email he could tell me when the new ones come. He then talked about how he has an email list of all the emails of these people he knows, and he sends things about exhibitions his friends are putting on at the museum, or events that are happening, or his little dinner get-togethers I think. I might be a little wrong about the email list purposes. I don't think I really want to get all these email. But I really would like to meet new interns my age/maybe for him to tell me who they are when they come. So I gave him my email.

I really didn't feel like hanging out longer though. It was hard to understand (as usual), and I didn't understand a lot, but I think I'm right in that he was rambling about all kinds of useless things I really didn't care about. So I said I had to go, and finally got out of there.

It's already 11:45! Almost noontime! I was going to make breakfast and lunch, but I guess I'm just having brunch. I think I'm going to eat quail eggs, sautéed mushrooms, pâté...and jambon and cheese...hahaha I just listed all my food items (except the other piece of steak which is in the freezer). Well I'll see. Anyway, time to do something. The main frustrating thing right now is not having Internet at the house. If I did I could study my French anytime I wanted or didn't have anything to do. I could also watch movies or Game of Thrones, upload my blog posts without going to the tourism center, Skype with people (I've only Skyped once since coming to France, and that was with my parents when I was in Laval). I hope mom and dad are reading my blog enough to be assured that I made it here safely. I actually watched a few episodes of Modern Family last night when I got back from my walk because I'd downloaded the whole Season 1 a while ago - I'd forgotten about that!

As it is I can't study my French at all unless I go to the tourism center. Duolingo (my iPhone app I've been using to learn) requires wifi and ALL of my translation apps require wifi. It is really quite annoying because I wish I could translate things on my phone when I don't know how to say something. For example this morning I wanted to ask Alison if she could show me where to take out the trash. I didn't know how to say trash, I didn't know how to say take out, and I didn't even know how to say full to try to say when it gets full. So I used some charades, explained that I was talking about the thing next to the sink, etc etc (I couldn't actually point to it because Francesco was getting ready in there still) until she understood what I was talking about, and she said she's gladly show me after she finished getting ready.

Oh my French. Please become better.

Uuuuuuuggghhhhhhhh. I just plugged in my mini steamer with the adaptor but forget to use the converter. It starter boiling in about 5 seconds, then the water started spurting out the steam holes at the top, and then it stopped. Oops. There goes my steamer. I hope they have an iron I can use. I didn't realize how important it is to iron my clothes actually - like my cardigan is so wrinkly I'm just not going to wear it. i'm wear my maxi skirt as a dress today - it's a little wrinkly. I hope that's not too bad. French people dress so well.

I'm excited for my second day of work today. I start at 5:45pm again. I'm scared though, especially since Jean-Baptiste has the day off for his birthday today. He was my...mentor, or whatever, my first day. He actually speaks a little English, so he could sometimes translate something if I didn't understand him in French. He is also really patient and was so nice with me. He showed me so many things and didn't get (or seem to get) annoyed by me. He was good at communicating things to me in French, whereas some people really don't know how to speak slower and more comprehensible for new learners. I hope it goes okay.