Monday’s update: Lesson Learned

The rumors turned out to be true: the buses were on strike today. This obliged me to walk a half hour to school and back today. Fortunately, this wasn’t a problem because the weather has been wonderful lately and I get to pass through a large city park to and from school. The park is very nice, with peacocks and airplane statues throughout. I know, it’s a strange combination, and while I’m not sure what the peacocks are doing there, the planes can be justified. According to my host sister, Toulouse is not only home to Airbus, but was also the home of Antoine St Exupery. For my Francophile friends, this needs no explaining, but for the French haters/apathetics, St. Exupery is most known for his book Le Petit Prince, written as a children’s story but containing some pretty heavy philosophy. He also happened to be France’s first pilot, I think, whose plane went down in WWI and whose body was never recovered. The park as well as the neighborhood where my host family lives is filled with airplane and St Exupery references, it’s really pretty neat.

But let’s get back to this park because, as I learned today, when one walks through it, one opens the door for all kinds of odd interactions – in particular, interactions (if you happen to be female) with a variety of odd and somewhat charming men. Let’s begin with the actor. As I was walking through the park, I decided to sit down on a bench and read a bit. As I was reading, a man with a little boy came by. The two were “debating” something, and sought my advice. As he passed, the man looked at me and asked “Vous pensez quoi? Dix fois dix?” (“What do you think? Ten times ten?”). An odd debate, but then again, the boy was seven. I responded “cent?” again not exactly sure what was being asked of me, which opened the door for an uncomfortable and rather long conversation. The man, whose name I never got, was originally from Haiti but living in Paris and staying the week in Toulouse to help his sister out with her son who was “malade.” As his nephew played in the dirt (probably the reason for his illness), the man struck up a conversation with me with included subjects like studying French, dirty puns, subtle sexual questions involving the Virgin Mary, how shocking the French are, prudish Texans, and ended with an invitation to have a drink with him this evening. I respectfully declined, although he seems to think we have a rendez-vous at 9:30 tonight…”completely innocent,” though.

Once my conversation with my Parisian friend ended, I waited until he and his nephew were out of sight before high-tailing it in the opposite direction, which fortunately happened to be in the direction of home. Within sight of the park’s exit, the park’s guard spotted me and flagged me down. He soon discovered English, not French, is my first language, which he found very exciting. He took the opportunity to practice his English while I continued in French. He then proceeded to tell me several mildly humorous jokes, to impersonate several celebrities, and to call Steven Spielberg on my behalf, all while standing uncomfortably close to me. After several minutes, he felt comfortable enough to confide in me his dream of one day appearing on Miami Vice. He really liked Miami, and our conversation of Miami soon transitioned into a comparison of all great American cities: Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Houston (which he graciously threw into the mix). My second conversation was definitely more animated and much less awkward than the first, and it left me looking forward to seeing Dave de Toulouse again.