There was a crazy dancer, who I later found out is named Carter and that he's from Utah, but at first I thought he was just a crazy French guy. Nope. Crazy Utahn. ;) He's cool though; he (and Miro--pronounced Me-row) walked with us from the church building in Versailles to the metro stop that took us back to where we all needed to go. He's in the Paris ward we go to as well. He's got a pretty cool story--he graduated from BYU in film a few years ago, lived in SLC for a while worked for Excelfilms (he helped a little with Forever Strong), then he was looking for a reason to get out of SLC so he signed up for an au pair position in France. He ended up getting through his tough situation, but still having the position and he decided "Why not go to France?" so here he is.
I also talked with a guy name Lehi, who is the only Lehi in France (and it's pronounced a little differently in French, but when he introduces himself in English it just sounds like the normal Lehi from the scriptures). :) He's a neat guy too. He's from France--he's lived lots of different places in France (southern, northeastern, west coast, east, back to southern, and now in Paris) and he didn't really claim just one place. He served in Ogden a few years ago so his English was actually pretty good and almost devoid of an accent. We talked for a little bit in English but then he tested me on my French. And then I became really confused about the cultural rules I had learned! I had been taught to use vous (formal form of "you") when speaking to someone that is older than me, superior to me, or that I don't know; whereas tu (inform form of "you") is for those your same age or younger, or for more familiarity. Well, I didn't know this Lehi kid, so I was talking to him using the vous forms and he repeated my question (a trait of the French apparently, according to my book) only he switched it from the vous form to the tu form. I was a little confused because we'd just met...but now that I think about it, it's probably just because we're in the same age bracket.
The other thing is that I know I wasn't supposed to ask about his family because that's not something you do in France, but he used the tu form so I was all mixed up so I asked him if he had any brothers and sisters. His response was that I shouldn't ask that question to other people in France because it's not appropriate when you just meet someone (yeah, I know...and I shouldn't have but I didn't know what else TO ask because I was all hung up on why he switched from vous to tu when that went against what I'd learned...whatever, I'm over it) but since he served in the US and knows our customs (plus he's a member of the Church and he's merciful about my cultural blunder) he did answer my question.
Now for today: I went to church this morning in the Paris ward. I could understand what they were saying in Relief Society and during Testimony meeting, but I was zoning off during Sunday School because I was tired. Ugh, I was tired. I kept waking up last night afraid that I was going to sleep through my phone and miss church. But church went backwards--Relief Society, Sunday School, Sacrament Meeting. I really liked the testimony meeting. The Church is true wherever you go. :) Plus in Relief Society at the end the Relief Society president bore her testimony and man was that powerful.
After church we went to the Louvre because the museums are free the first Sunday of every month. It was good--we were all pretty tired so it wasn't as fantastic as it should have been. Plus there were thousands of people there (probably because it was gratuit, aka free, today) which put a damper on things.
(In front of the Louvre)
(Yes I actually saw the Mona Lisa; no it really wasn't that big of a deal.)
I was able to talk to Mom, Jacob, and Ben today. We weren't able to get Amelia and Rem on because of a technical misunderstanding, but it was fun talking to the others.
Because of church today I realize that I can understand a lot of French when it is spoken, but I really need to work on speaking French to other people. It was good when I came home tonight after being with Richard and Giles (I used Richard's computer to talk with my family because I wasn't sure if the Internet would work here yet), Grace and I just naturally spoke in French. It was awesome. It may also have been because I wasn't inhibited which is probably because I got to listen and watch two adorable four year old boys talk to each other on the RER in French about their action figure toys. So so cute! It really made my night. That was a tender mercy. :)
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