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Third cultural challenge: The saying of numbers in French is not as easy as it looks on paper!
We continue the car journey to the post office and make our way inside the seemingly disguised post office building. Amy orders her stamps first and tells the clerk that she would like 3 stamps for postage to the U.S. Then it's my turn and I repeat after Amy to the clerk that I would like 10 stamps. Okay so far we are doing great! Now it's Kristen's turn and she would like 5 stamps. Well Amy tells the clerk that she would like "cent" stamps, the clerk repeated it and then walked to the back room. We all look at each other in puzzlement because she had just layed about 20 stamps on her desk. When the clerk returns she tells Amy that she doesn't have enough stamps to give us. So we leave in puzzled confusion, wanting to tell the lady that there enough stamps right there in front of her. However, not wanting to over step our bounds, we leave thinking we'll just have to return again. We didn't realize the reason for the confusion until we were retelling the story and Amy repeated her phrase. Turns out that she said "cent" which is actually 100 instead of saying "cinq" which is 5. Big difference and apparently the small post office doesn't carry those large quantities of 100 stamps. Now we have to travel back there and get stamps for Kristen and just our luck the lady probably ordered like 200 stamps in anticipation of our return.
We continue the car journey to the post office and make our way inside the seemingly disguised post office building. Amy orders her stamps first and tells the clerk that she would like 3 stamps for postage to the U.S. Then it's my turn and I repeat after Amy to the clerk that I would like 10 stamps. Okay so far we are doing great! Now it's Kristen's turn and she would like 5 stamps. Well Amy tells the clerk that she would like "cent" stamps, the clerk repeated it and then walked to the back room. We all look at each other in puzzlement because she had just layed about 20 stamps on her desk. When the clerk returns she tells Amy that she doesn't have enough stamps to give us. So we leave in puzzled confusion, wanting to tell the lady that there enough stamps right there in front of her. However, not wanting to over step our bounds, we leave thinking we'll just have to return again. We didn't realize the reason for the confusion until we were retelling the story and Amy repeated her phrase. Turns out that she said "cent" which is actually 100 instead of saying "cinq" which is 5. Big difference and apparently the small post office doesn't carry those large quantities of 100 stamps. Now we have to travel back there and get stamps for Kristen and just our luck the lady probably ordered like 200 stamps in anticipation of our return.
2 comments:
We vote that you use your fingers next time. They can't possibly think that you have 100 fingers!!!!! Tabitha said that when she was younger she had a similar struggle when trying to find the high beam dimmer in her dads truck. He told her that it was on the floor so she proceeded to bend down and try to get it with her hand!!!! So how is it that they let you drive without a license? It was good to hear your voice tonight. Nathan said that he wants to send you a piece of his "Melmo Cake"!!
Hi Michelle,
You probably already know this, but a U.S. drivers licence is valid in France up to one year, after which you must exchange it for a French one (should you wish to continue living here, of course...).
You should check with the car owner regarding insurance. In France, it's the car that's insured, not the driver. However, you should double-check that the owner's policy allows non-family "third party" members to use the car. Normally, this is standard. However, seeing the age of the car, it might be that the owner has taken the cheapest policy required by law (as the car has little value), and thus may not have the standard "third party use" clause.
Once you've confirmed this, another thing to keep in mind is that in France, once you loan your car to someone, you give him/her the car's papers ("carte grise" = registration and "assurance" = proof of insurance). Definitely make sure you have these papers with you when you take the wheel, as it would be very "grave" (serious) should you get into an accident without these documents!
Also, unlike in the U.S. (or at least in California, where I grew up), you must NOT simply leave the papers in the car. The car's registration papers are proof of ownership - thus, should someone take your car & get the papers with it, then he could simply state (and prove it with the papers) that he didn't steal the car, but paid for it (in cash, of course, thus eliminating any paper trail....).
Not that you're going to get into any accidents or whatever, but you can alway give me a call if you're stuck sometime (language, culture, looking for a good Chinese place in the area that delivers...)
cell phone 06.21.01.01.47
home phone 01.47.01.52.68
Remember when calling from anywhere in France, you always have to press the 0 which preceeds the area code, even if you're calling from within the same telephone area code.
Enjoy yourself at "Le Château!"
Your cousin, John Gaynor
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