Just Got Here...Oh my god.

June 30, 2013

AHHHHHHH!!! I am trying very hard to contain myself from screaming This is so unreal. I just want to scream and run because I just have so much energy right now and I'm excited and terrified out of my mind. I start work in four hours exactly. Yes, today. It's 1:45pm, my train arrived at Vernon at 1:05, Quentin picked me up from the station at 1:20 (yes, I was kind of scared for 15 minutes when no one was there, I didn't have anyone's number, I didn't know who was supposed to drop me off, my phone doesn't work here, and I had no wifi - but it worked out clearly), he took me to my room at the house I'm staying at 5 minutes ago, and at 17:45 (or 5:45pm), that's in FOUR HOURS, I start working. Holy. Shit. Breathe.

Okay, so I'm sitting downstairs in the house right now, writing this blog post. When they talked to me about housing, they said:

"Je reviens vers vous pour le logement, il a été convenu que vous seriez logée dans le logement de l'entreprise, c'est à 1 km du restaurant, donc facile d'accès à pied, une participation de 200€ par mois vous sera demandée."

I think that basically translates to:

"I'm returning to you about your lodging, and it would be convening if you would stay in the compnay lodging, it's 1 kilometer from the restaurant, so easy to access by foot, we would ask for a contribution of 200 euros."

I interpreted that as staying at Le Jardin des Plumes, the inn associated with the restaurant/company. (Which I thought was absolutely unreal, as it's normally around 200 euros a night to stay there.) So it turns out I'm staying in the house that all the staff lives in. And I don't mean like, other interns/stagiares, I mean like...the head chef, the 'wine man' as he translated when I didn't understand the French word, his friend, and the main server. Whoa. Quentin said I'm the first person to stay in this room. So this is different from what I was expecting. Now of course it's probably a more modest accommodation. But it's kind of sweet that I'm living with all of the main restaurant staff members....I'm a little intimidated. Like, a lot intimidated. Jeezus.

In the car ride Quentin and I spoke only French. (Naturally.) He said "Je suis nul en anglais", which literally means "I am zero in English". Je suis nul is a common expression to say I'm really bad at something. Quentin has studied English some but says he's still really bad at it. He says the main chef, Joackim, actually can't speak at all. Oh boy! But Nadia (also living at the house), one of the other main staff members, is fluent/bilingual. That's encouraging for me that there at least is someone who will understand me or translate something if something of vital importance can't be communicated. But I said that I thought all French people studied English in school and could speak some. And he said no, "les francaises sont nul en anglais", that the French in general are awful at English. Just like "les americaines sont nul en geographie" - ha!! I thought that was hilarious and told him I'm certainly not an exception to that. And I'm worse even than most Americans at geography! That puts me really low...haha. Though now that I think about it more, I'm worse at geography than most people from Stanford, students at Gunn, or students at Stanford. But that pool is probably above the average American at geography...so maybe I am still above average. Who knows. Point is, he was spot on with me.

Anyway, Quentin was really nice and friendly. I have to say, I had no idea what to expect, but I am very pleased. I nice welcome to Giverny and the staff. I just hope the rest of the staff likes me. I'm just scared that they'll expect better French/that they'll get annoyed when I don't understand what they tell me to do, or that I'll be below expectations in the kitchen. I really have no idea how fast, efficient, or precise I am at cutting, peeling, or preparing vegetables and foods I am. I don't really have much to compare to...especially in terms of culinary students and people who actually work in kitchens. I guess I'll find out in...three and a half hours...three and a half hours.......