The Yoder Family: July 2011

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Bowling Night

Logan and Pierre

Phillip

Pierre

Who thinks we look a like?? :)

Phillip and Logan

Aud, Maria, Crystal and Shan

Monday, July 25, 2011

I just wanted to pop in with a quick update. Pierre wanted to treat us to a French apple pie. Such a labor of love! I wonder how much he cooks at home? I know my boys don't cook enough here that they would be so brave to tackle it in another country. Anyway. There was a one word miscommunication that spelled failure for his first attempt (Shannah thought he said salt.) We rebooted and started over so this new pie of his looks fantastic! I made an "American" apple pie to give our upcoming taste testing a multicultral flair.

French apple pie, by the way, has something similar to apple sauce as the filling for the apple slices which are artfully arrayed in a circle. There is no topping or top crust. American apple pie is known for its cinnamon spicey taste. The French use none of our typical spices, but have a product called sucre vanille which my googling tells me is a vanilla flavored sugar with perhaps a little starch (for thickening maybe?)

The older childrrn took Pierre bowling tonight.

Parlez-vous francais?

Sorry, America, but all of France is going to think our country is just like the small little world that we have projected to one brave seventeen year old boy from Nantes, France. It is awesome when you realize how much responsibility you have in the formation of another's opinion of something.

We have had Pierre From France staying with us since the beginning of July. He came here by way of an organization that couples host families here in the United States with students from abroad who want to hone their English skills. We had hosted another exchange student before, but this time it is different in that Pierre came with a workbook he's supposed to spending 15 hours with. In Europe, the school children are taught many years of English from little up. I kind of think we Americans miss an opportunity with our young minds by not teaching our children a foreign language sooner.

Pierre came to us with a very heavy French accent. None of us speak a word of French and all my attempts to locate a French speaking person was fruitless. He was on his own. I give him a tremendous amount of credit for allowing himself to be plunked down into a family he didn't know, in a country he'd never been to, while never hearing a single word of his mother tongue. He has done well. The rigor of it all has to be exhausting!

As for teaching Pierre English, like I said, he came to us with a healthy head start if not a thick accent. It's been my job to help him gain a firmer command of the language. It has been fun, but challenging. There are things about English that I never really thought about until now. Like what's the difference between saying: fewer and less? For instance, you can have less ice cream and fewer cookies, but it can get awkward to say it the other way around. The thing is figuring out on the fly why and then how to explain it to someone else using hand motions and crudely drawn pictures. And then there is the reality that you must convey to your student that many Americans themselves do not necessarily speak grammatically flawless English either.

Pierre has informed us that the French really don't have their own special variety of vanilla ice cream (you know, as in french vanilla). Like so many other things in America that we consider a little "fancy", we call it "french". Like fries, braids, dressing, and knots.

I can't say that the escargo (that would be snails, by the way) he was showing me pictures of looked all that appetizing, but by looks of the rest of it, those French people make some incredbly delicious foods! He is going to be going home telling the folks at home that Americans eat watermelon and ice cream for lunch. Hopefully he notices that we only do this on the hottest days!

Did you know the French do not see stars like Americans do when they bonk their heads? No. they end up seeing 36 candles instead. Hmmm, I wonder if a head injured American in Paris would see stars or candles? Maybe it depends on if he speaks French or not.

The stifling hot weather we've been having has not been very company-friendly especially given that we have no air conditioning in our home or vehicles like Pierre does back home in France.

Pierre has wanted an authentic experience here and hasn't wanted us to contrive things for us to do together. We did decide that with this heat that it was a good time take the family canoeing on the Mohican like we've been talking about.

We've taken Pierre shopping a few times. I'll admit I am not a natural born shopper type, but the air conditioned stores felt great! Pierre, on the other hand, loves to shop! Had he landed a spot with another family, he would've gotten a completely different shopping experience. I think he rather liked thrift stores and I know he really enjoyed the library's used book sale. He says they don't have such things in France. As he would say: "they are not lucky".

Pierre may not have been too versed about the ins and outs of farm life when he arrived, but when he asked us to take him to the farm store so he could buy himself a pair of rubber boots, he was going to give it his best shot! I think his mother will thank him for trying to salvage what remains of his shoes from his initiation into farmlife without the boots!

Well, for now I will go. Will try to get another update later

-Colleen