Learning languages

Today I took my first step in learning Creole. Simple enough, Marlene and Dominique were talking in the car, as all good friends do when they have been friends since middle school. All of the sudden Dominique stopped Marlene to alert me that they had slipped into Creole. Huh? Oh, right, I should be paying attention! So Marlene spoke really slowly....and then gave up. "This doesn't work in Creole!" She shouted (in perfect French of course). But they gave me a quick lesson: I = Mi (or Me?) and you = ou (ooh?). I need to learn how to write these, but so far I've got - "Mi amouu" = I love you... Which Dominique told me was important to know before I heard it around me at school from all the young school boys professing their love to me.

Poor Carrie is still trying to get a handle on French. I can understand where she's coming from, all that frustration of not being able to express and understand oneself in a foreign country. I tried to comfort her with my experiences in France, but I know it's different for everyone. I just know that learning a language involves a lot of endurance, determination, and patience. Oh, and being able to make a fool of yourself and still carry on, humbled by your attempts.

Dominique and Marlene carried on in French (even though Dominique and I had promised that every other day would be spoken in English, I let her slide, not that I really mind the extra practice). As they spoke, I got distracted as usual, but this time by a beautiful rainbow. "he he he!" I tried to alert them of the exciting event unfolding blatantly in front of their eyes. They stopped for a second and then Marlene turned to me: "Oh, that? That's normal, that happens all the time." Well I took a picture anyway. I think it's special, even if there will be tons more rainbows to come.

Clap if you want to get off

Dominique's house, not too shabby, huh?

Everytime I go to a new place, I'm always nervous about public transportation, and buses are the worst. It's that first time, awkwardly asking the driver whether you're on the right bus, fumbling through pockets for the right change, awkwardly grabbing the ticket. Then you have to figure out how to validate your fare, whether there is some sort of machine, or if you can just sit down and try to blend in (ha!).

Today was my first day trying out the buses in Reunion. I managed not to get lost, always a success, and even had a moment to enjoy the plush seats that made the "car jaune" rather plush and upscale Greyhoundish. What really amused me was how to demand a stop, instead of using buttons or handles, as there were none on the bus, everyone just clapped. As we rode along on the bus, you would hear "clap!" "clap!" every once in a while. I kind of enjoy it, it makes the ride more interactive. The last bus I took on the way home was driven by an old man that kind of mumbled at me in Creole, which of course I didn't really understand. I can't decide who was more confused, him or I, since I asked him to stop in Ste Therese....after the church?? But he put my Euros in his burlap bag, and shifted the bus into gear, closing the door...eventually. Funny how that bus ride cost 20 cents more than the other.

We drove through Le Port, which is the not as nice part of the island, where Carrie is going to assistant teach. You can see all the houses made out of tin, needless to say quite different from the part of La Possession where we live. I was curious to see what they looked like on the inside, but of course, the bus kept moving, and it was too dark anyway. All I know was I enjoyed the family I saw having a barbeque on the front step, they really looked like they were having fun. Finally I was the last one on the bus, and saw the church coming up. I was so worried about missing my stop that I clapped, and the doors opened on time. I made it home, rather proud of myself for having officially navigated properly.

Here's some more photos...

Ok, so admittedly nothing too exciting happened today. I was house hunting this morning, online like a bum. Then Dominique showed up and drove me to all of my schools, where I met with the principals, which actually made me rather nervous. Yikes, the boss! We went shopping, Dominique got a new dress. Then off to the grocery store to get food for tonight. We made a quiche aux poirots, which turned out pretty well, and then I made a tarte aux pommes (a la francaise), which was really good because we put REAL vanilla in, vanilla, that is, from MADAGASCAR. That was my highlight. Now here's two photos, because I've got a few. Enjoy. The bottom one is of a fruit and vegetable market in St Denis, and the top is of Peggy's cousin, and her cousin's friend, who is from Nancy!! Hahaha, the irony.

Ooh, the beach!

Ok, so today I hung out with Peggy, who is teaching at two of the schools I'm working at. She looks so young, I couldn't believe she's 31! But she's really happy to take us assistants around (we all met up at the beach kind of randomly), and she even bought me my first "Americain" - a specialty of Reunion, apparently: a sandwich with ham, cheese, french fries, and ketchup. It's actually really good....

As soon as we arrived at the beach, I could see why all these people love Reunion. The water is clear, the waves are good, and there's not too many obnoxious tourists (only some). Of course I've been told the beaches are even better in Mauritius, and that I "have to go." But anyways, these beaches are nice for sitting, talking, eating "des sandwiches americains," or samoussas. People here love to tell me about Reunion, about the culture, about the great things to see. I love it when people are excited about their country, bursting with pride. And everyone can't wait to cook me Reunionnais. I've already promised Mexican food for all, let's see if I can pull it off.

Tomorrow we look for more housing, although admittedly the other assistants are more on top of this than I am. I'm not in too much of a rush to leave Dominique's house, we're having fun eating leftovers in front of the television, although admittedly she did insist I eat some sort of vegetables. :-)

Day 2: Day of Rain and "samoussas"

Here's Carrie, my new friend, and possibly new roommate from Chicago

Today I woke up at a decent hour, and Dominique drove me around town to run errands together. We showed up at her mother's house just in time to have lunch. Well, we brought the chinese food and her mother made the rice. Then, for the grand finale, the smiling "maman" brought out her homemade batch of cake: some sort of delicious tapioca/vanilla/some sort of starch they couldn't quite explain to me cake. MMMM....my first Reunnais pastry...

Then Carrie and I wandered around town. Sure, there's stores like anywhere in France, you've got Carrefour, H&M, Pimkie, and Virgin Records. But there's something different about the place: the smell. Here, unlike anywhere else I've been, you've got this really spicy smell in the air, due to all the samoussa stands. We of course tried them, and they're delicious spicy Indian pastries, with chicken, fish, you name it. And when you go to the market, there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables from the island, that you go wild with desire to buy all of them. It smells so good there, with all the delicious bananas, papayas, mangoes....oh, and of course, the Reunion island specialty, Victoria pineapples....

This island really is special. Carrie and I thought about this as we walked by the mosque, chinese church, hindu temple, and catholic church. Even everyone's complexion is different. Sure, you've got a lot of African influence, but a lot of Reunnais also have really pale complexions, with blue eyes and blond hair. And everyone seems to be so mixed together, it's as if all these cultures are blended together. It's as if there's no room for people to segregate themselves. I like it, it's more colorful.

Still having a great time chez Dominique. She hosted an aperitif at her house tonight, inviting several of her friends, including her crazy Marlene, who convinced me that we should stick the grape and cheese toothpick skewers through a melon or fruit of some sort....everyone praised it as genius, I should have taken a picture of her brilliant idea. Tomorrow night I'm cooking Italian, gulp, I hope Dominique likes it. Oh, and I'm going to the beach. finally!!

Enfin, La Réunion de mes rêves!!!

So my flight ended up being very cushy indeed. Air Austral is the type of airline that gives you a goody bag with headphones and earplugs (the usual), and then a travel toothbrush and a pair of socks (mom you didn't have to get me new socks after all, and these are without holes to boot!!). But despite the wonderful movie selection (I managed to watch Milk, Bridget Jones's Diary, Ratatouille, and Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis), I was still excited to get off the plane.

The first view of the island was impressive: I saw palm trees, lots of green jungle like forests, and the most breath taking was the sheer cliffs and huge mountains. I guess this place is pretty after all!

So everything went according to plan, rather smoothly actually. One teacher picked me up at the airport, took me into St Denis for a drink (a I need to get off the plane and do something soda). As we headed over to the school, she talked to me in perfect English, explaining the ups and the downs of the island. Sure, there's big spiders, washed out roads, and its best not to go swimming in the evening near river outlets because that's where the sharks hang out, but all in all Réunion seems like a rather relaxed place.

The rest of the day I spent with Dominique, an English teacher at my school who is very welcoming, and at the moment, daughterless. She seemed to take it upon herself to help me and another American assistant who we picked up along the way. She talks about her 21 year old daughter a lot, and when she explained that I could rent out a room in her house for very cheap, I could tell this was to remedy a little bit of empty nest syndrome. Admittedly her house is really cool, with a great view and a pool to boot. At any rate, I have a place to stay, and she seemed rather excited to have someone else cook for her for a change. So far so good, I think I'm really going to like it here. :-)

The start of an official and hopefully exciting travel blog

Hi Everyone! As promised, here is my travel blog, hopefully to be continued and updated every once in a while. Although I must warn you in advance that this blog may get repetitive as time goes on and I am still on the same island, doing the same job from day to day, just like anyone else. Anyways, here's my first entry!

To get you up to date on all my adventures, I left California a few days ago and rushed to Milan to pick up my things. Sadly I didn't have time to say goodbye to everyone, but I know I will see the Marelli family again, and have more wonderful nanny adventures. I then rushed to Zurich to meet up with my friends, the PiRats for one last hurrah before I left. A goodbye was definitely in order, after a great summer of meeting up and having good fun. Somehow I also managed to squeeze in a few days in Nancy, France, where I had studied for a year, and saw my old French host family (that's a photo of my host dad and me, before you get really confused) and a few friends. It was a bittersweet trip to end my summer in Europe, as I had flashbacks of all my great memories there, as Katka and I walked by the park, the square, and the university. Figures I got in trouble with my host parents for only staying 2 days! They sound like my real parents...Next time, I promised to stay for at least a week!


So here I am, I finally made it to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and now I'm on my way to "La Reunion" (pronounced ray-you-yohn with your best French accent). After a good 6 months of sweat and tears (no blood was shed, on my part or on the part of the French government, although it was tempting...) I am finally ready to go, with my visa and one huge suitcase and a good size backpack (I finally downsized my luggage...). The lady at the check in line looked at me a little strangely when she saw my American passport, as Reunion is not a popular US vacation spot, but she checked me in and told me, "You know you have a weight allowance of up to 40 kilos?" What she didn't know was that I had been lugging that stuff around for the past several days in 3 different countries, and that one more kilo probably would have broken my back or something.

So I am sitting in good ol' Mac Do, using their free internet. I don't really know what to expect when I get there, but hopefully I will be met at the airport, and given a ride to my new home. More updates after my 11 hour flight! Goodbye Europe, hope to see you again soon!!!