Yesterday afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go the beach in Cannes (don't forget we're on break, hence the free Tuesday afternoon). At one point Kerri, Julia, and Henry were playing with a soccer ball and Patrick and I were looking very American playing (American) football (we were playing that very fun game where one person throws to the other near the sidelines -- drawn in sand -- and he tries to make a spectacular catch while getting both feet in bounds. It's great fun in the sand because you can really dive for the ball and not get hurt). But I digress. Suddenly we looked up and saw a strange man approaching. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't really pinpoint it. Then he walked right up to us and asked: "Are you French for A While?" That's when it hit me. Before I could even get the words "Yes!" out of my mouth I realized that this strange man wasn't so strange after all: he was the guy from La Vie Échangée, a blog that we read quite often. It's amazing how the mind works.
La Vie Échangée is a couple with 4 kids from Arizona. They are here for a year (but perhaps more?) on a house exchange program. They live in Mougins which is just about 15 minutes from us. We spent quite a while chatting on the beach with them and their (French-speaking only) friend. It was a lot of fun getting to know them a bit and talking about some of our similar experiences. Just before we left we took this photo (you might notice that two of their children aren't in the photo. We'll get them in the next one):
If you want to read about yesterday's 'chance meeting' from their perspective, check out their version of the story at La Vie Échangée.
CJS
3 comments :
How cool is that!
It was very cool. Neither Stasha nor I had realized that we'd been missing the occasional American conversation, where you can speak a hundred miles an hour and all the cultural subtleties are inherently understood.
We will always love France, its language and culture. But we will also always be Americans and aren't looking to change that. To interact with other Americans was a real pleasure, especially when it was ones we've come to think of as famous, since we only know about them from the "media"!
Next time I'll bring a pen and ask for an autograph.
Y'all were at the beach and playing catch and swimming???? I've been inside for the past few weeks, next to my little portable heater, drinking warm tea every chance I get. ::sigh:: Stupid Alps.
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