The diary of a British girl, learning french!

In French they don’t ‘I miss you’ they say ‘Tu me manques’, you are missing from me.
                                                                                 Its kind of beautifull.

Salut le Monde!

I am writing this post from the blustery north of France, in a little village in the Aisne part of Picardie. Picardie being the province, a small understated part of France. In my previous post I told you briefly about my month in England, the main reason I decided to move to France was to improve on my language skills, something which I will talk more about later on. Firstly why Picardie, I was searching for job opportunities all over France, and in fact I was offered a Job in Saint Tropez, (Yes all scream, Saint Tropez) but shockingly enough, I turned it down. The job involved living with an English family, and I would be able to earn money and create a working holiday, meaning sit by the pool and have a few glasses of wine on my break. As nice as that sounds (and believe me, during these rainy days here in Picar... I dream of the sun) I knew I would never picked up French. So nevertheless, I took a leap of faith and believed another opportunity would arise, and so it did. Well three at once, I joined an Au pair agency and decided on a lovely half French- half Mexican family in Picardie. Before I knew it my time at home had come to an end, and I was heading off on my next adventure.

I had vowed as a New Year resolution to be conversational in another language, my language of choice was easy, French. I had already the basic’s, mastered, I understood a lot during conversations around French people and my family had a house in France, it made natural sense. As most people would know the best way to learn another language is to be thrown in at the deep end and live in a place that speaks the language you want to learn. Hense why I am now living in this petite part of France.

With great apprehension I arrived, at the Gare de Saint Quentin my nearest local town, the family were all well equipped with having au-pairs, so it was more of a case of me getting used to them, than them getting used to me. The first British girl problem I had, was mistaking ‘on y va’ for ‘en hiver’, the first one meaning ‘lets go’ the second ‘in winter’. I bit confused, by the courteous, ‘in winter’, good bye, I soon mastered the ‘H’ and the ‘Y’ sounds. I am overly shy when it comes to starting speaking another language, and that's really the worst thing. I have come to understand, that you have to make yourself look stupid, to fully master a language and also don’t mistake ‘beaucoup’ for ‘beau cou’, the latter meaning beautiful bum.

Culturally, I feel I am blessed, with the opportunity to pry into the authentic French lifestyle, and even getting the third degree from the grandma, who insists in eating dinner at 12.30 everyday. (When she caught us eating at 3 pm) Such strict attitudes, I think represents the broad French culture, (Does get in the wa of french people and food) as most shops still close for lunch, this would be unheard of in England. Also getting used to eating, in the evening, at around 9.30 was a shock, but these are all part of the experiences.

I have been spending my summer days whimsically, riding around the French countryside, playing quintessentially French games, such as happy families. Learning French, listening, digressing so much about this beautiful culture and now September is already upon us and I have only three weeks left

I have indeed so much to write about, but firstly check out my adventure,'Parc Asterix's' to and my first attempt at making ‘'Tarte Aux Pomme'’ (All French readers, I hope you are not too disappointed my my first attempt.

I vow from now on, to become a ‘blogger junky’ and providing you all with weekly updates on my whimsical adventures, hope you stay tuned.

Tu me manqué...

Nattie x