Since I decided to embark on this adventure, Marcy told me she'd come visit me to celebrate our 30th birthdays together - and, she followed through! Despite a big snowstorm in the northeast and a change of plans that took her through London and to Orly instead of CDG and a malfunctioning telephone network that prevented me from getting Marcy's calls on my cell phone letting me know she had arrived, Philippe and I managed to pick her up from the airport a mere 3 hours after her flight arrived (and almost 9 hours after her originally scheduled arrival time).
Let me just say that I was ready to smash my cell phone after that ordeal. My phone would be in my hand, but it wouldn't ring. Then, five minutes later, I'd show a missed call. When I tried to call back, the call wouldn't go through. Philippe and I tracked Marcy's flight online and drove to Orly to get her, but it appeared that we'd missed her by about 10 minutes (the woman at the information booth had told me she put her on the OrlyBus headed to Paris), so we drove to the Neuilly-Plaisance RER to meet her there.
Turns out, she never actually left the airport - about 2 hours later we finally connected on the phone and she was still there. So, we headed back to Orly while Marcy enjoyed a strong cup of French espresso, and we finally found each other! From there, we headed back to Neuilly-Plaisance because Marie-Christine and Philippe have been generous enough to allow Marcy to stay here for the week.
It has been so great to have Marcy here and to share my love of this beautiful city and country with her. Plus, she knows me so well - she arrived with a jar of peanut butter and a box of Cheez-Its for me!
Friday, Marcy was a champ - she managed to stay up until about 10:30 (though she wanted to take a nap earlier, I wouldn't let her) and then slept until about 11 Saturday morning. I promise, that is the way to do it to avoid as much jet-lag as possible.
I'll have many more posts from this week chronicling our adventures, including a road-trip to Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo in an awesome Peugeot 308 that was beautiful and a little stressful (driving in Paris is not fun), but I'll start with our weekend excursions.
Our plans on Saturday were to visit the Eiffel Tower and then to meet up with Hannah, my au pair friend who was returning to New York on Sunday. We saw the Eiffel Tower, met some other tourists, and decided the ridiculous line (I wish I had captured a picture) was not worth waiting in, so we continued on and just walked around for a bit.
We grabbed some mushroom and cheese crepes for lunch and for the first time, someone actually asked me if I was French! (albeit, he was not originally from France, but hey, I'll take it.)
We then took the metro to Montmartre to meet up with Hannah, Amanda, Maureen, and Eduardo (Hannah's boyfriend) where I had some vin chaud (hot wine) and Marcy had coffee (that girl really loves her coffee and is all set to buy a french espresso machine now!).
It started to rain, so we headed back to Neuilly-Plaisance since we were going to dinner at Marie-France and Andre's (Philippe's aunt and uncle). Dinner was great. We met a lot of family and everyone was really kind and welcoming. Marie-France made an awesome couscous with veggies, meatballs, and sausage. It reminded me a lot of family get-togethers at home where everyone just sat at the table and talked for hours - we were there until after 1 am!
Over the last week, I have watched Marcy interact with many people who don't speak much English - Marie-Christine, Philippe, most of Philippe's family, and many shopkeepers. And, Marcy doesn't really speak much French (though she's been trying to learn and is doing great!). What I realized is that I've never really been in that situation - the only person who doesn't speak a certain language in the room. Sure, I have traveled a lot, but when I've been alone, I've mostly been in English or French speaking places, and when I've traveled with companions, we have either all spoken the language, or none of us speaks the language and we can empathize with each other (like when I was in Spain and Italy).
But, even though she doesn't speak much French, Marcy manages to communicate and get her point across. Her kindness towards others just naturally emanates from her and makes people warm to her personality, even if they don't understand exactly what she is saying. Sure, I've been helping by translating when I can, but there's more to it than that. I can only hope that I come across like that when I go to a country I'm not familiar with.
No comments:
Post a Comment