Fourth Days

My blog entries must be riveting.


Yesterday was particularly monumental for me in a few different ways. It started in my second period English for Beginners course which I assumed would be a piece of cake. WRONG. In exchange for me speaking in a flawless American accent every day for the class, my fantastic professor is determined to teach me some French. Today, the class was to ask me questions about USA and my exchange in English and I was instructed to answer them in French. Yeah, right. Hello, my name is Maya and I can't tell someone 'thank you' here without worrying if I said it incorrectly. Naturally I was petrified, standing in front of the only class in school that viewed me as some what of a superhero instead of a deaf mute and now that would all turn into dust as I revealed my  broken up, incomprendable garble that was supposedly French. When the first question was asked, "What do you wish you could bring to France from America?" I stood there for three minutes trying to remember how breathing worked. The eyes of native speakers bore into me. I suddenly wished I had on a spacesuit. I'm still not sure why. Finally, once I remembered how to breathe, I replied, "Ma mère et mon père," expecting the eyes that penetrated me to roll upwards in disapproval or shut completely in disgust but was instead greeted with warm laughter and murmurs of approval. "Ah yes," My teacher said, chuckling, "Now repeat after me 'J'aurais pris mes parents dans ma valise." I repeated and I swear not a syllable was off.
I was so excited about my first public speaking event that at dinner that night, I decided to try my new found skills again. I had an audience consistanting of not only my host parents and siblings but Leannée, the absolutely insane and completely wonderful old lady who comes around to help with chores frequently and reminds me of the drunk grandma in movies that tries to hit on young men. (I see a lot of myself in her) and her husband Morrice, her husband who is six times her size and may or may not have a dog fetish. I love people. Anyways, while we were eating I begun to tell them what happened in class today... in French. When I finished, I could almost taste the dead silence in the room and I felt sure everything had backfired and I had accidentally told the table to lick my ears or something. But than everyone started to clap. I am not kidding, my entire family was clapping for me and Leannée starting singing some old tune but I am positive she changed the words to something along the lines of 'good job, Maya'. And everyone was clapping and singing and I was so overcome with joy and love for my host family that I thought I might burst into a million pieces . Because I had been with them for a whole month. A month of reading off translators and constant headaches and utter confusion and I was just now saying my first understandable story for them and they still treated it like a precious gem, rare to find. I think this is what a foreign exchange is all about. The moments that overcome you totally with feelings you can't even explain. How did I get a family that sang and clapped for my seemingly minute accomplishments? I think a person is incredible lucky to have one loving, wonderful parent so how did I manage four? Let's not lie to each other: this trip has not been a piece of cake. I have embarrassed myself 1,000 times and I get plenty of headaches and 75% of my professors think I'm an idiot and the other 25% don't think about me at all and sometimes I myself agree with the 75%. But it is moments like yesterday where I am so grateful I am doing this. I am changing forever.