I have spent the last day or so poking around blogs and learning how to do things on my site here. Cyr is in Norway on some island working until Friday so I have some time on my hands. I found a way to post a link to a slide show so I set one up. If you look on the right hand side under "pictures, videos and websites I like" you will see "Slideshow - Jan to April 08". I have put together a group of pictures so that you can see a little of what Cyr and I have done over the last two months or so. Overview: moved from Houston, got engaged here in Lille (one year and one day after meeting Cyr), Karen visited and we went to Amsterdam, Bruge and Brussels.
I also had three visitors today! We bought an oven and it was delivered today. After that a repair man came to fix our dryer. It went like this:
Buzzer sounds on the intercom system. I answer "Oui? Yes?"
I don't want them to think I can actually understand them, so I throw the "yes" in there. Otherwise they launch into something I don't get. Well, they do that anyway. I don't know what they want, I press the buzzer, they call back. I give them an "Un minute s'il vous plait!" I then run down 5 flight of stairs because it's faster than the elevator. We are on what in the US would be the 5th floor, but here it's called the 4th. Half way down I realize they were asking me what floor I was on. I reach them, smile and say "quatre etage" which actually means "four level" but they get it.
The elevator is a bit small for two men, an oven and me, so I run up the stairs for both exercise and to avoid the awkward elevator silence. It's even more intense when you can't speak the language. Once up at our place they then want to install the oven. After some linguistic gymnastics I get them to understand that the electrician is coming and just to put it in the space and we will hook up the power later. Well...it doesn't fit. See picture.
We can fix it later though so it stays. During this whole charade I just gave up and called Cyr then handed the phone over. While he is talking to the first guy, we can call him Marc, the second guy, we can call him Jean-Luc, told me that Marc liked Britney Spears. I smiled, was this French humor? I don't know...then Marc laughs and shakes his head. Ah!! Humor!! Jean-Luc (feeling talkative I guess) then says, "America - Michael Jackson?" I say "Oh, yes..." He then asks me if I have ever been to Neverland. I laugh, more French humor!! He doesn't laugh. He is totally serious. "Oh. Uh. No. It's in California. Je suis du Texas." He replies "Ahhh. I like Michael Jackson." and we both nod our heads as if living in Texas would be the only reason I have never visited Michael at the ranch.Two hours after my oven friends leave my buzzer sounds again. This time...I am ready. "Oui? Yes?" (insert French speaking here) I hear the word for clothes dryer and say "Oui, le quatre! Quatre etage!" and I hear "Merci, (insert French with the words "quatre etage" somewhere in it). VICTORY!! I am so already doing this thing! He arrives, I show him the dryer. He explains he needs to replace a part. I ask if it will be done today. He says "Non, (insert French)" He keeps saying something like "pee-ace". The only word I know that sounds like that is the word for "feet". Hope he isn't a weirdo...no bare feet. I have on shoes. He leaves, I have no clue what is going on. I could get another visitor today. I don't know. I signed something though. I then gave him the code to get out of the gate. I then had to run down 5 flights of stairs so I could catch him when he got off the elevator to let him know I forgot to tell him to put a star (*) after the code. Not sure when the dryer will be fixed. I think I have to call to set another appointment up. This was apparently just the diagnostic visit.
I froze on my French a little, but I didn't use "cheval" again (horse) so maybe I am not developing a case of turrets after all. Don't forget to check out my pictures on the side!!
Until next time...bon courage to all!!
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