Field Work or The trip to Tahiti

Bonjour tous!

My french lessons continue...when I ask people what they think of my french the answers range from "A little, then a little, then a little" from a shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "It's not bad" from another shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "Well, I can understand you, but it's not good" from the ever critical Mohsen. I guess Tahiti would be a good place to start this blog.

A couple of days ago, Alexandra, one of the students here at CRIOBE, had to get surgery on her finger, so Florent, Julie, and I took her to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. To get there, there is a forty minute ferry ride. To get to Moorea, you can take a ferry or a plane. When I first arrived, I took a plane to Moorea; it was about 10 minutes long. To get to Papeete this time we took a ferry. Jada knew that I really wanted to go shopping, so she proposed that I go with them to Papeete. Although this trip was really for a hospital visit, I went shopping in the meantime.

The market at Papeete is really terrific. There is touristy stuff for sale (mostly consisting of pareos, vanilla beans, and monoi oil), and lots of food (fresh fruits and vegetables and precooked meals). When I was in London last year, they had a bunch of markets like this, full of delicious foods, and they were one of my favorite places to visit (ed. note, if you're bored, you can scroll back to these older posts in my blog). The marche at Papeete was similiar. I bought some souvenirs and for lunch I went back and bought some poisson cru, a traditional meal here, it is raw fish marinated in coconut milk and lemon juice, then mixed with cucumbers, onions, carrots and sometimes lettuce. It is quite delicious and refreshing.

Other than the market, I can't say there is a ton to do in Papeete. Alexandra, Florent, Julie, Jada, et al. are not too impressed with Papeete for various reasons, including that it is dirty, crowded, not pretty, etc. But for me at least, I was excited to be in a big city again. I really enjoy big cities just because there is so much to do, and see, concentrated in an area where everything is in walking distance. Shopping was such a change from Paris in that all the shopkeepers had long conversations in French with me. I could understand most of it, and used charades for the rest. Some of them spoke English, but I told them that I preferred to speak in French because I was learning. When I walked into one surf shop, the guy there struck up a long conversation with me about how I was doing, how it was going. It was actually pretty strange because I felt like I hadn't told him that I was doing research but he already knew that? It turns out he has a house just right down the road from CRIOBE and was looking for someone to rent it. Anyways, he implored that I get more tan before I leave. Will do, slightly creepy guy.

Long conversations ensued with other people there. It's so different visiting a country where you speak the language. Even if it is as terrible as mine. Which brings me to something else I have realized- in order to succeed at learning a foreign language you must be willing to look stupid 24/7. I always look like a fool speaking French, but I'm learning! And people are quite willing to help if it is evident that you are making an effort.

Alexandra speaks English quite well, and when we speak to each other, I speak to her in French and she speaks to me in English. She has also been teaching me some bad words. Some of the guys at CRIOBE caught wind of this, and one, Johann, told me as a consensus among everyone, "We do not think Alexandra is teaching you very good French." I also use words like "bouffe" which is a very casual way to say food, to which they have replied, "You may say that here, but elsewhere, it must be nourriture." D'accord (ok!)!

I could go on and on about adventures in French I am having. Overall though, I think people are impressed that I am trying at all, even if it is ridiculous. So I encourage people to speak terrible French/Spanish/Italian, etc., if really makes all the difference.

Anyways, so field work continues. We are not in the water as much because Jada has cuts all over her hands and feet. MDR Staph is very common here, and the marine biologists in particular get it quite a bit, so if you don't take care of your cuts, you can lose your body parts. Yikes.

Later,
Emily