Three Cultures - The South of the Maritimes, the Southern US, and the South of France

So moving to the United States of America, especially the South, has been a big change for us. They say (the psychologists and such) that it takes a good 18 months to adapt and get over the worst of the homesickness. Well, here we are 16 months into it and things are pretty good. Now we've had our ups and downs but overall I enjoy the weather, the people, the work, and the opportunities.

The changes just keep coming though as we adapt, and grow up, and get older, and all those good things.

My work seems to be steady and I'm finally comfortable with it. The role is certainly challenging but I don't worry about getting blindsided by other people over things I should know or have to deal with anymore. My travel schedule isn't too bad and I get to go back to Nova Scotia every few month. Ireland is great, France was beautiful, and my one trip to Mexico, even though it was short, was lots of fun.

I still feel weird about the culture sometimes and have to consciously be careful about some things. The drivers are one thing, but I'll leave that for another post. The food is another. Politics is a dangerous subject, even for a Canadian, and health care is getting lots of press these days. Religion is out as a topic of discussion, although it's still everywhere, but not as in my face as I thought it would be, most of the time. Now we still pray at the Y after cycling class and before Isabelle's soccer games but I can live with it. Sports are crazy, and football is king. Take your pick of high school, college, or pro, just don't cross anyone's team.

That pretty much describes the transition from the Southern part of Nova Scotia to the Southern part of the United States.

The latest transition sometimes feels like we've moved to the South of France. As most of you know Isabelle started at L'Ecole Francaise Bilingue last month. We knew it would be a big change but I had not prepared myself for all the other things that go with it. You see the school is mainly made up of French expatriates here working for Michelin. There are a few others who are either French from other companies or from mixed families (French mom/American dad, English mom,/French dad, etc... although no mom/mom or dad/dad) who take advantage of the school for their kids too.

A few things became very clear right off. The school only has about 70 students and has a very close, family feel to it. Everything is done by the students, the teachers, or the parents. Bake sales, dances, field trips, all are organized from inside. It means everyone knows everyone, and of course the language is French. It's not a cult or anything, its just how things have evolved. The parents, particularly the moms (and the one dad) who drop off and pick-up the kids (no buses) always hang out in the parking lot and catch up and plan the next activity and share the latest gossip. Jane has jumped right in taking part in the discussions, reading in the library, going to the PTA-type meetings (mainly because they are during the day), and participating in the bake sales.

The bake sales are interesting for two reasons. First of all, its just a way of getting money out of the parents to pay for activities and such. I don't disagree with it. Its much more fun than just donating money since each mom (and dad) makes all sorts of cool pastries and desserts for the sales. So we, but mainly Jane, will get to have all the goodies at school when she picks up Isabelle. Also she’s been getting into making neat things for the sales herself. In an effort to not be outdone by the other parents (I think), as well as to combat the aforementioned homesickness, she put together a Gâteau de Crêpes à la Florentine for the pizza sale. It sounds like it was a hit.

The other thing that could work in my favor is that each family in Isabelle’s class (seven in all) are asked to supply a snack for the kids on a rotation. Our turn has been fairly easy up to now. We’ve done cereal and milk, yogurt, and bread and jam (homemade bread). The latest challenge was crème. That’s essentially crème caramel. I’m don’t know about you but this is not a regular occurrence in my house. I can remember making it once. Otherwise I’ve had it a few times in some of the better restaurants that I try to frequent.

As for Isabelle she seems to like it despite only having one other girl in her class. Because of the size of the school it seems like the big kids look out for the littler kids. As for her French it is much better. Let me explain. When we first interviewed the principal at the school he assured us she would fit right in. He had no reservations about how she would adapt. He figured about two or three months and she would come home one day speaking in French. He thought once she had saw that her new friends and teachers speak French all the time at school that she would see it wasn’t just her weird old dad. Boy was he wrong!

It only took about a week for me to notice the difference. Now she actually puts complex sentences together and makes an effort to keep up with my French. I won’t get into the fact that she’s correcting my pronunciation and vocabulary. I can live with that for the sake of the big picture. I can only guess that the principal didn’t know how much French she already had in her. Either way its great. I’m very proud of her even though she speaks with a proper French accent. Although, I still have her throwing in some Acadian now and then. Sometimes I wish I could be there when her teachers hear her say something like: fraite instead of froid, chequafair instead of quelque chose, itout instead of aussi, and icite instead of ici. I just hope they are more open to my native tongue than some of the teachers I had in elementary school.

Here are a few more Acadian words you might either find interesting or not understand. The link at the bottom takes you to a site that explains them.

- Abriller - Aiguiser - Ajeuve - Asteur - Attoquer (s') - Bagouler - Basir - Begou - Berlicoco - Chacoter - Comprenure - Cri (aller) - Deparler - Derbu - Désabrier (se) - Échine - Éloèse - Foudreil - Gadelle - Galance - Garrocher - Grafigner - Hachouillé - Hâcre - Itou - Lumelle - Mouiller - Pigouiller - Ricasser - Zire (faire)

Here are the definitions but they are all in French. The best dictionary I've found is the Dictionnaire du Francais Acadien by Yves Cormier, although this online Glossaire Acadien by Pascal Poirier and Pierre Gérin is pretty neat, although a little tricky to use.