Or: the wedding!
One of the things I was asked a lot over the weekend and few days following is whether French weddings are different from American weddings. I generally answer that they’re pretty similar, but it would actually be more correct to say I’m not really sure, since I haven’t been to a wedding since my early teens. I guess the main points are the same: friends, family, food, booze, nice clothes, dancing, etc…but I also could not imagine a bread crocodile filled with petit fours at an American wedding. Having the married couple ride on a tractor is actually something I could see happening in North Dakota, though J
The other thing that was pretty different is how international it was: people were speaking French, German, English, Italian, even a little Dutch…it was interesting to meet older people fluent in a foreign language. The groom’s family comes from the region right on the border with Germany, and it was quite common for them to start in French, but seamlessly switch to German when they noticed their interlocutor didn’t understand.
It was all in all very lovely, and also a ton of fun—but when you mix the Erasmus-in-Berlin crew and an open bar, what else can you expect? Some of the highlights were undoubtedly:
--M. comparing me to an autumn leaf
--Hearing one of the Lac du Bois birthday songs sung in a real French context for the first time, excitedly telling this to A., singing it to him, and having him join in
--M. telling me he gets it, I can stop talking about Lac du Bois
--Me proclaiming I am an awesome drinking buddy and A. and J. wholeheartedly agreeing
--Learning the titular Dutch phrase (Hi! I’m Rachel, and I’m crazy). Apparently J. thought it was a priority that I learn this…
--Getting complimented on my pronunciation of “Geweldig” (great)
(Note: the reader should imagine a smiley face emoticon after every one of these J)
I’m sure there are more, but that’s what comes to mind!
I guess my only regret (apart from not bringing my camera, argh!!) is not brushing up on my Dutch a bit before I went. When you’ve only tried to learn a language for 2 weeks, a 2-week break is pretty long L I really wanted to say more, but I just couldn’t remember anything, and also never really learned modal verbs, so…meh. Sorry, J., maybe next time! (Hopelijk!)
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