Deux Rives and "What I've Learned"

I've been at Deux Rives for quite some time now. It's probably the best placement I've ever had. I've learned more from my students about language and culture than anyone else in France. The reason for this is because they aren't afraid to laugh at my mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes: I don't care if I make them, but the students do. They don't just care--they're terrified to make mistakes. Most of this has to do with France's school system. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021009,00.html --pretty archaic, in my opinion, to point out everything that's wrong. My students may not learn anything else from me, but I hope they learn that it's alright to learn from mistakes instead of never trying because of fear. But, until they do, I'll allow them to laugh at mine--turns out I'm pretty entertaining.

The other thing I've learned is how to take compliments--or rather, how NOT to take them. I had a moment at home once where Nathalie complimented a dress I was wearing and I responded with the normal "Thank you," being polite. She continued to say, "No, it really does look good on you. Very cute. Isn't it nice, Emmanuel?" I wasn't quite sure why she felt she should reassure me so I did my usual smile and look like I know what's going on thing (which I don't actually think works). Well, the same thing happened at Deux Rives later. One of the girls told me she like my scarf and I said, "Thanks! I like yours, too," to which she responded, "Oh, I don't actually think it matches." Awkward. Same day, as I was leaving, I told another girl I really liked her coat and she resonded with, "Oh, it's nothing special--I've had it for a long time." NOW I see what's going on. The French are masters at rejecting/fishing for more compliments. I made this observation aloud (a bit more tactfully) and my students looked at me like I'd just accepted a compliment. "We're just being polite." Again, awkward.

I did finally teach my students something that I KNOW will stick. The sugar over here is called Sugar Daddy. Now anyone who read that has smirked, or chuckled, or thrown their head back and cackled--bunch of Americans. Anyways, when we had our vacation in Vannes at the beginning of the semester, that sugar was on the table and we were all laughing and taking pictures and such. So, when I saw it at Deux Rives I giggled a little bit and asked my students if they knew what a Sugar Daddy was in the United States. Needless to say, they were quite amused to learn. They said, "It's just sugar to us." Yeah, and a compliment is just a compliment to me.