So...here I am...sitting at McDonalds, shamelessly abusing their free wifi. I feel slightly ashamed to be at McDonalds, but when you live in a town as small as I do and internet cafes do not exist, you'll do what you can. Of course, I get internet at the high school, but the majority of the sites I frequent are blocked...like facebook. I never realized how hopelessly addicted I was to facebook. So, I put my laptop in the basket on my bike and biked 3 miles to McDonalds, just so I could upload pics to facebook. That sounds slightly pathetic. But also, it was an excuse to get out, because this is the first day in many that it has not rained. And when it rains, I am absolutely stuck in Bourcefranc. I tried to ride my bike in the rain last week. Bad idea. I'm never doing that again. McDonalds in France has good music. Maybe I'll just come here to listen to the music. And eat peanut m&m mcflurries.
There are a couple of phrases that I hear continually being an english assistant. I've also started using these phrases and thought I should pass them on to all of you should you ever choose to visit France. The first one is "C'est quoi, ca?" Which roughly translates as "What's that?" Its not the most refined thing to say, but in a French high school, I hear it continually, and have even begun to adopt it myself. The other thing I hear probably 20 times a day is "J'ai pas compris." This means "I didn't understand". It is very useful. I try to get my students to they don't understand in english, but they just stare at me like deer caught in headlights. I had a small success in class with the BTS today. I taught them how to play mafia. It was a lot of fun, but it took several rounds of "Jean-baptiste, you opened your eyes again! Now you're dead!" for them to finally figure it out. I hope that we can play it more successfully in the future now that they understand it better. I think they call it "werewolf" or something like that in French.
The French love to swear. I mean, over the most mundane things. And I can't help but laugh. I know, I should be more disapproving, especially with my students, but it just strikes me as so funny. Playing bball last night with the boys, I heard my share of words. Especially "putain". Originally, it meant something like "whore", but the strength of it varies depending on the situation. It just strikes me as funny. I really need to stop laughing (or at least sniggering to myself) everytime someone swears. Anyhoo, those are just a few reflections for now. I've uploaded two new albums to facebook for your viewing pleasure. The first can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030769&l=7d9c0&id=64300928 and the second can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030768&l=d30ed&id=64300928 Enjoy!
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Dang, that's kind of annoying... gives you an excuse to bike ride though (unless it's raining... in which case it's just annoying). It's totally worth it though; the pictures are great!
I think Werewolf might actually make more sense than Mafia too, come to think of it. "It could be any of us!" I Wonder if the French version predates the American one by much.
I'm not really sure what makes foreign swearing so amusing, but I know what you mean. Even in Australia, where they speak english, the sheer... erm... "versatility" of some words cracks me up. Hmm, then again, maybe it's the accent and the crazy colloquialisms that accompany them.
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