10 month layover in France…

Last Saturday (Sept. 1st ) we arrived in France. By now we have already had our first French class, where we learned how to say our first words.

We have a nice appartment on the school campus which we really enjoy. That gives us a litte hiding spot from the French culture which we are in the middle of. Such a place to retreat to has its pros and cons and we hope we don’t need it as a hiding place too often. Just going shopping and not being able to communicate a single word to a store owner or cashier can be very stressful. On top of that we have been trying to find groceries that look familiar :). So far, we have been coming up with some great meals, even though we have not found Amy’s favorite ingredient for Buritos – sour cream!

Well, I guess we are kind of glad we are studying French here, instead of in Africa, as a lot of things here are at least more similar to the US culture.

Anyhow, maybe you are interested in my latest frustrating discovery. And this it is: half of the letters that are written in French are almost useless, as they are not even pronounced in speaking. For example, the town we live in here is Albertville. Yet in French you would say Albertville like this:  Albervil. Another example: the word ‘est’ is pronounced merely ‘e’ !   🙂