I have finally really connected with my little French sisters, Gabrielle the 5-year-old in particular. Initially, she was very timid around me, which I can understand. I am a stranger suddenly living in her house; I speak French with a funny accent; and I don't always understand what she's saying. However, something must have clicked, because now she is permanently attached to me. I think it was our trip to the fair on Sunday after I came home from the world's fastest tour of Avignon. (photos here) Gabrielle, her mom, me, and a family friend named Cecile drove to Carnon to go to a traveling fair, which is called a fete foraine in French, and Gab absolutely had the time of her life. She rode everything that she was allowed to ride - bumper boats, bumper cars, the giant slide (6 times, in fact), trampolines, bungee trampolines, and finally the ferris wheel. She also "won" prizes at a couple of games that were rigged for kids such that you couldn't lose. Ironically, the very first thing she did was play a game where she shot balloons with a rifle...even though the French don't have the right to bear arms....yeah....
The ferris wheel was definitely my favorite thing at the fete foraine because I got to ride it too; the trip was really an outing for Gabrielle, and I didn't want to ask my host mom or her friend to pay for me to ride stuff lol. What was really funny about the ferris wheel was the fact that my French mom is absolutely terrified of heights, and yet she agreed to get on the ferris wheel anyway...The entire time, she has her head buried in her arms and she's freaking out, telling Gabrielle not to move so that she won't fall out. Cecile and I are just cracking up, and when my French mom says she'd rather give birth than be on the ride, Cecile (who actually was her midwife) starts pretending to coach her through breathing exercises for birthing children. Hilarious. Anyway, sometime during that evening, Gab decided that I was her new favorite person.
The next evening at dinner (Monday night), she insisted on sitting next to me and then spent the entire time after dinner passing tiaras around the table, making everyone a princess including me. Then, after dinner, she and I played together in the living room where, of course, we were wearing princess crowns. She drew pictures, we worked on numbers and letters, and she started asking me about how to say lots of things in English. She had been doing this intermittently, but yesterday evening I think it finally clicked for her that I speak another language most of the time and that I can help her learn it. It was really sweet.
This morning, I was finally able, for the very first time since I've been in France, to sleep in!!! Yay! After I'd gotten up and had breakfast in my room, I was working on my project (which seems to consume my life, booooooo), when I heard a tiny French voice outside my room. "Amanda? Tu veux manger avec nous?" Teehee! Gabrielle was outside my window and she wanted to know if I wanted to have lunch with her and her family. Duh! At lunch, again, she insisted on sitting next to me. Then, after lunch we played together some more, and I have to say, our communication is improving drastically. For the most part, we understand each other all the time now!
This afternoon, both of my French mom's sisters and their husbands came over to hang out and play in the pool. Gabrielle insisted that I get in with her, and that is where I spent the rest of my afternoon - throwing her around and otherwise horsing around in the pool. And boy does she squeal if you do something that she doesn't want you to lol!
And lest you think the tiny French baby doesn't like me, she and I have developed a special bond too. She now "talks" to me, which is ridiculously cute because it's baby French. Example: At lunch today, Raphaelle handed me her empty bottle and said "Core", essentially "encore" or in English "more". She also hands me things randomly - like her bib - and wanted me to walk around with her today while I held her hands. Yay!
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