Signs

Little by little, we are seeing signs of adjustment to our new world and culture...



The week before school began, we were driving to Vacation Bible School and there was some construction going on in our neighborhood. The workers had just put up the "barricades" which actually look more like bicycle racks than road blocks and I followed right along with the cars in front of me as they drove on the sidewalk to continue on our way. I realized I am not as seasoned as the locals as I did turn around when one of the workers pulled his large van in front of my vehicle and got out of the van yelling in French and shaking his fists. Some other drivers behind me went even further onto the sidewalk to go around his van and completely ignored the yelling and fist shaking.

When running along these same streets, I am constantly on the lookout for these same drivers who randomly use the sidewalk as an addition to the street and motorcycle drivers who alternate between the street, sidewalk and bicycle lanes.

I'm hitting less things with the car. There have been curbs, one mirror on a parked car and Nathan's friend's house. I didn't even feel this incompetent as a driver when I first started to drive as I have driving here. It was inevitable that I hit that house. They have the driveway from you know where. It is like trying to drive on a giant skate board ramp made out of brick. I get butterflies in my stomach just typing this. I managed to get out of there 3 times without hitting the house. The 4th time, I scraped the back of the car and hubcap on some bricks. I despise that driveway. I have backed down the little road leading to their driveway ever since that day...it is about 100 meters of backing, but I refuse to go back onto that skate board ramp ever again. I considered telling Nathan he could never go back, but when I actually hit the house was when I dropped him off so obviously I had to get over my fear rather quickly. My legs were shaking so badly on the drive home that I could barely push the clutch. I traumatized Hannah, who always says, "Mommy, be careful!" when we drive into that driveway.
One other car incident. We were dropping off some of Sarah's outgrown clothes at a friend's house and had not expected to stay long. Daddy got out of the car to help carry the box and left it running with Sarah sleeping in the back seat. The street they live on is a very steep incline and our car was parked so that it was heading down. As we stood there talking for what turned out to be too long, the car began rolling down the hill. Daddy had to run down their steps which happen to also be very steep, open the door, grab the parking brake--which is on the driver's side rather than the middle, just as the car bumped a light post. Sarah slept through the whole thing. The parking brake was up, but apparently, not all of the way. Lesson learned. While parking on steep inclines, turn off car, put car in gear, remove all valuables.

We were not at all surprised when we took an afternoon to go to the US Embassy to have our driving records from the US authenticated, that the Embassy was closed that day "by exception". Many places close at random times and days "by exception" and you can almost be certain that if you took some time off or made special arrangements to go some place, that will be the "exception" day and/or time.



Even our 2 1/2 year old (actually 2 3/4 year old) has grown so accustomed to looking out for doggie doo every place we go that she calls out watch out for doggie doo any time we are walking. One morning as we got in the car for school, she asked what the wet stuff was covering the windows because "I can't see Mommy!". When I answered that it was dew. She asked, "Doggie dew?"

I went through the drive thru by myself at Mickey D's today for the first time...This is a huge step for me. Not because it is hard to drive thru it (although it is definitely more narrow than the ones in the States), but because there is the fear that they won't understand me and I won't understand them. There are times it is hard to understand people in an American drive thru, so imagine hearing muffled French coming through the speaker. Major anxiety. The signs that I am not completely comfortable with this besides that it was my first time: are that I practiced what I was going to say on the way over "Un happy meal avec nuggets, avec fruit bag, avec Sprite, pour garcon... Et un happy meal avec cheeseburger..." Most of the menu is in English (hey, it is McDonalds) and I fooled no one--she started speaking English right away--I still couldn't understand her; I also asked Hannah 4 or 5 times on the way there did she for sure want a cheeseburger and not nuggets like Nathan or a ham and cheese sandwich. The last thing I wanted was to order and have her screaming from the back seat while I was trying to understand and speak to this poor person working the drive thru.

Nathan, who has a teacher from the UK, has been heard this week saying:
"Perhaps I'll drink my water now".
"Mom, Robby Rabbit's (to be introduced later) trousers are stuck on his feet. Can you help me get them off?"
"I had to wear ear muffs and watch a video about night because we are learning about the letter 'N' this week".
(We do not say perhaps. We do not say trousers. We do not call head phones ear muffs.)

We have started our list of things we want to buy while back in the States and while talking about how much shopping we want to do and if there will be enough time, Daddy mentioned that the malls will have extended hours. I had to really think to remember, are malls open on Sunday?

These comments and experiences have not exactly become normal for us yet, but we are no longer surprised when we hear similar things...
The realtor who showed us this house said, "Well, Monday is a holiday so of course, I won't be in the office until Friday". (My personal favorite)
In July our landlord's son said, "Well, the plumber is on holiday until the end of August so the handyman will come and see your problem". (The plumber? There's only one?)
When arriving at the commune office with a translator from Daddy's work for our registration procedure here, one woman who works there said, "The hours are from 8:30 AM until 3 PM, but you must arrive at least by 2:30 PM or we will be closed. Today you must arrive before 2:30 PM because tomorrow is a holiday and we are closing now. You should come early in the morning. It is better to come in the morning".