California-style burrito13 octobre 2009 (Day 43)
Today in writing we spent the full two and a half hours analyzing Jadis by Guy de Maupassant. He was a realist writer who lived from 1850-1893. I liked Maupassant’s short story. We talked about the general idea, the format of his writing, the subtle sarcasm that revealed his opinions, and the witty humor. I personally enjoyed Maupassant for the basic story itself and for the rich vocabulary words it provided. I now know how to call people things like a pimp or a flirt in sophisticated literary terms that they won’t know.
I took my time at lunch enjoying my delicious Hawaiian pizza which I got scolded for. The Franco-Italian was in the theatre practice room playing the piano. My teacher, Madame Cherafoui (whom we all call Annick, quelle surprise) tried to stall him by talking to him. I of course, rested as the deer in the headlights. It is difficult enough for me to talk to boys whom I think are swell in English and then if you add the foreign language part I become completely speechless. Yet taking first in the expressions category was a cute tiny Bolivian who started choking when she saw the Franco-Italian, Annick, and me. Many of my classmates were quite disappointed that they missed the Franco-Italian. I got quite the scolding by everyone (my teacher included) that I didn’t talk to him and the jokes have continued strong about me and the Italian.
In orale class today the hispanophones didn’t disappoint. It is common knowledge and a common joke that the Latinos tend to be very boisterous and talk a lot. Take for instance Karen. She is married to a Frenchie so she is now living in Nantes learning French. Her French is very rich; it has many rolled Rs and porquais (spelling!). She was to give a 10-15 minute presentation. She talked for 30 minutes about the biodiversity of Colombia. After a while I stopped paying attention and started working on the outline of my presentation because she continuously, albeit accidentally, kept on using Spanish words.
Tonight was the monthly Burrito Fest at the church. I arrived about 45 minutes late which means I was right on time for eating. This month there were actually more English speakers than Frenchies! I tried a burrito “California style” aka with fries. It wasn’t too bad. I helped clean up in the kitchen. I love the people here, they are such characters. I got a kiss on the cheek from one member who is a jokester and loves to flirt, and laughed all the time while cleaning with a jolly round man who kept saying, “Oh! And look at this, it will not do, oh no.” We had an amazing cake talked a lot with Elder Riley and Elder Walters. Elder Riley, although seeming to be the good hardworking one, is actually the lady’s man of the four. He may not be the most dashing, but he has seduced (in his innocent piano playing way) many of the young women in the ward. The other elders like to joke about this. Cute surfer boy from Florida Elder Walters was terribly tired because it was almost his bedtime. I grabbed one of his bags and we started to go along with Cheryl and Elder Riley. The Elders called and said the tram was leaving in 5 minutes, the next tram being in 30 minutes, and the missionaries already out past their curfew. Cheryl began to run and Elder Riley (who grew up in Kaysville) who also did track was trying to beat the cross country star Cheryl. He lost. Elder Walters was trudging along quite slowly so it was evident that we would miss the tram, but bless the tram drivers heart, he waited for us. We hopped on the tram and laughed all the ride home (apart from Elder Walters who was falling asleep poor kiddo).
