wait, that was who?!

Last evening, we went down to the other assistants' for our normal Sunday night abuse of their kitchen. When we arrived, Maria was talking to some man. She introduced us, but she gave us no indication of who he was. We just sort of stood on the sidelines of their conversation, kind of wishing he would leave, because we were hungry and wanted to start dinner. Then, he asked me a few questions about the States. I froze up a bit, because I ran into the age old question of whether I should use the informal or formal "you" with him. So I didn't say some of the things I had thought to say.

After he left, Maria came back to the kitchen. Our conversation was as follows:

Maria: "Tu sais qu'il connait Bie Gate?" (You know he knows [heavily accented name])
Me: "Qui?" (Who?)
Maria: "Bie Gate"
Me [realization dawning on me]: "Oh, Bill Gates!"
I sort of shrugged my shoulders thinking that he just knows who Bill Gates is.
Maria: "Oui, il le connait vraiment. Il est directeur a Microsoft France." (He really knows him. He's a director at Microsoft France)
Me: "Quoi?! Tu rigoles?" (What? Are you kidding?)

And she was not kidding. I've even googled him. I seriously met one of the directors of Microsoft France. Talk about a wasted opportunity. They did exchange numbers, so I might just have to tag along if they hang out.

Oh, and in case you're wondering how Maria knows him... Maria is taking French classes with a teacher from the high school she works at who is on medical leave this year. This guy is her son.

Okay... other than that and the ever changing Picardie weather where today we had in just ten minutes time: scary threatening looking sky, rain, sun with rain, and sun, there's not much else to say. Though I did have a very proud moment today. I took my little notebook of sayings I've been keeping track of all weekend to Claude. He helped me translate them/give me the French equivalents for the idioms. One was "put the kettle on" which is very useful when you live with a British girl. Yes, we know that's easy to translate, but we just wanted to make sure we had it right as the phrase needs to be specific for tea. Well the word for kettle in French is "bouilloire". Talk about my worst enemy. I loathe both the "ui" and the "r" in French. We had all even spent about 10 minutes Friday night trying to say it correctly. Needless to say, no matter how many times I repeated it, I could not say it to his satisfaction. Even poor Natasha got caught in the crossfire as we ran into her outside the school. But as the British talk more from their mouths than their throats like Americans (at least this is what Claude was saying), she could say it a bit better than me.

Cut to this afternoon. I had said the word all of twice in my room on my own. The students were having trouble saying the word "sing" correctly. They pronounce the "g" too much. Claude decided that he was going to torture me a bit as well. He got them all to say "bouilloire" which is so simple for them. He then turned to me and asked me to say it. I said it perfectly. It was one of those moments where the other person is like "See? I've just proved my point" only to realize a second later that you showed them up. He then backtracked a bit saying that I must have trained myself all afternoon, I just sort of shrugged. He then told the students that I was incapable of saying "Paris" like a real French person (because my "R" doesn't sound natural enough). What do I do? I nail it right on the head. Guess I'm starting to improve. It doesn't sound right to my ears, but I guess it does to theirs.