Banalites et Reflexions culturelles

6/9

Aujourd’hui j’ai enfin cherché mon portable au magasin Phone House. J’ai choisi l’opérateur ‘Bouygues’. I dare you Americans to try and say this ;)

Okay, I’ll be nice, it’s kind of like this : « Buoy-guh » as in a buoy in the ocean or for boats, and then “guh” but not very guttural, just a slight emphasis on the “guh.” It’s probably one of my new favorite French words haha.

Aaaaanyways… I get unlimited texting, 24/24. And it works like a pay as you go phone so I just add money to my SIM when the money runs out. I can text my parents in the states so that’s great! It’s probably expensive though… hahaha I need to look into that. I tried making a voicemail box tonight but I realized that I don’t know what to say in it so although it’s in French, it’s nonsense and probably comical to the French ear or anyone else for that matter hahaha. I will change it later.

The phone itself is a tiny piece of plastic Nokia crap. I don’t even have t9 texting. OR a camera. Like, I think someone jumped into a time machine and brought this thing back from the 90’s. For real. But it’s a phone, I can communicate with people on it and that’s what it’s for. (In the back of my mind I reassure myself that when I’m back in the States I’ll make up for it by getting an iPhone….. right mom????????????????? J)

Still haven’t got wifi to work on my computer at the apartment. Any techies know why my computer may not be recognizing the name of the wifi network? My host mom has Orange as her internet operator… My computer recognizes other wifi networks but not hers. So I therefore can’t connect because it’s not even listed as possible networks to connect to. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? I just don’t understand. I might have to call Orange but I’m afraid to do that because I mean yeah I speak and understand French but I’m NULLE when it comes to computers even in English…. How could I take tech advice from someone in French?!

Cultural note:

Même moi, qui adoooore le français et la France et les comprends déjà assez bien, même moi j’ai du mal à accepter quelques choses culturelles qui ne sont pas instinctuelles. Je me suis rendue compte que la raison que quelque gens n’acceptent pas une certaine culture ou qui réfutent ou dénoncent une certaine culture, ce n’est pas exactement parce qu’ils n’aiment pas ou qu’ils pensent vraiment que c’est mal. C’est parce que c’est différente et les choses différentes nous font peur des fois, ou plutôt nous rendent intimidés, donc au lieu de travailler dur à apprendre/accepter/adopter cette mentalité/habitude, on la dénonce parce que c’est plus facile et ça nous protège. Bon, même moi j’ai les mêmes tendances. Mais, l’anthropologue dedans moi me pose la question : « est-ce que c’est MAL ? est-ce que ça fait mal à quelqu’un ? » Et je réponds à mon anthropologue intérieure, « Bah, non. » « Donc, okay, Katherine, tu n’aimes pas cet aspect culturel, mais tu vas apprendre à l’aimer, ok? Parce que, c’est différent mais c’est pas mal. » « Okay , » je lui dis. Donc, voilà. C’est un choix. Ca c’est très important à comprendre… Et si tout le monde le comprenait, croyez-moi le monde serait un meilleur monde, hein !

Translated:

Even I, who adoooore French and France and understand them well enough, even I have difficulty accepting some cultural things that are not instinctual. I realized that the reason some people do not accept a certain culture or refute or denounce a certain culture, it is not just because they do not like or they really think is wrong. This is because it is different and different things scare us sometimes, or rather makes us intimidated, so instead of working hard to learn / accept / adopt this mentality / habit, we denounce it because it is easier and safer. Well, even I have the same tendancies. But the anthropologist in me ask myself: "Is this EVIL? does it hurt someone? " And I say to my inner anthropologist," Well, no. "" So, okay, Katherine, you do not like this cultural aspect, but you'll learn to love it, ok? Because it's different but it's not bad. "" Okay, "I respond. So here it is. Our feelings are a choice. It is very important to understand ... And if everyone understood it, believe me the world would be a better world, huh?