Lovely Awkward: A Year of Wine, Romance and Life Among the French

Lovely Awkward: A Year of Wine, Romance and Life Among the French

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Sweaters, chocolate and a new language of love

My return to France was a bit rough, I'll admit. Visiting is much different than building a life somewhere -- which I know I've mentioned before. So, I was a little scared as Valentine's Day approached because I still have a lot of settling in to do and Valentine's Days (like New Years Eves) are rarely what we might hope them to be. BUT, in a freak occurrence, our Valentine's Day turned out great and everything else has since started falling into place (at least, I'm remaining optimistic).

For Valentine's Day, the Professor and I went out to a strange little alley-way restaurant that had its menus hidden in old record albums. It wasn't too expensive and there weren't many other choices -- on Sunday, most places in France are closed.

We ordered and then sat for a little too long with our bottle of wine before they brought our food... which meant we were giggly and full of stupid jokes -- the perfect mood for such a silly day.

For dessert, I got a pastry with chocolate dripped over it, which I then dripped down the front of my shirt and on to my sleeve. The Professor laughed and then the French guy sitting at the next table started to laugh at me (his girlfriend had gone to the washroom). When she came back, I realized that the Professor has now come to know my accent so well that we can be idiots together in public...

Rather than trying Pig Latin on him, I started to make jokes using an entire English sentence as one word. I was never mean, so it didn't really matter if anyone else figured it out. Here's an example: When the laughing man at the other table ordered the same dessert a short while later, I taught the Professor the word, "Puddizarminit." I had to repeating it several times (and then explain it), but eventually my accent made sense to him. The guy had laughed at me, but then he'd wiped the sleeve of his sweater all over his dessert without even noticing! And then, all sloppy-sweatered and smiling, he sat there while his date sang him a song. Very romantic, really. This place is great for those moments... ah, the romance... but it's also a bit ridiculous.

5 comments:

  1. What a perfect Valentine's Day date - wine, good food, low key and lots of laughter. It's wonderful that you two are enjoying each other so much and have such fun.

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  2. I'm still freaking out a little here and there, but yes... mostly fun. What a relief!!

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  3. Where is Mr. Scooter - hiding in the garage?

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  4. Where is Mr. Scooter - hiding in the garage?

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  5. Oh, dear. We put one on hold today. And now we're going to talk about it on the way to the grocery store. It felt comfortable, but then the guy at the store scared us both by saying I didn't have the right licence for it -- which I apparently do. So... it's in a shop somewhere in Nice right now and will hopefully be in the garage tomorrow!!!

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