A visitor from France: All about Thibaud Real (our new French speaking friend)

So for about 3 weeks we had an extra member of our family. Thibaud Real came to stay with us on June 19^th and left July 9^th. He is a kind, considerate and intelligent young man. We learned a lot from him and enjoyed having him with us for those 3 weeks.

The funniest things happened when a language barrier arose. He was only supposed to speak English, but sometimes that was hard. I can only imagine it’s not fun finding the words you really want to say when you have a limited vocabulary. But he got way better at it as the weeks passed by. He had to think less before speaking and had gained some new vocabulary (some of it compliments of our family’s usage of words like “Weird!” and “Seriously?!) But here are some fun, and funny, things we experienced while he was here. They are forever saved in our memory files, but here are ones that were fun but no one took pictures of but we hope to always remember.

Dutch

So one of the first nights, Paul and Thibaud decided to download Starcraft. It was a 24 hour download. The next day, when they checked it…lo and behold they had downloaded the entire thing in Dutch, a language neither of them spoke. Nice guys. Nice. We kept joking that we should find the Dutch versions of things since they had apparently become quickly fluent in it.

Hands on

So we were told French people eat very little with their hands. It’s true. I watched him eat a sandwich wrap with a knife and fork. I mean, who wants to get their hands dirty any way? But this translated into not also wanting to get to much food on his hands. Enter buckeye candy making. You must use your hands to mix the sugary peanut buttery dough. And we let Thibaud go first. See attached picture. He took the candies home to his family.

You First

Paul and Thibaud are both nice guys. As a result they spent a lot of time trying not to be rude which sometimes ended up just silly. They would come to a door and both try and open it first to let the other go and then stand their insisting the other go for like a minute. I finally joked with them to figure it out or I’d have them count off and have them take turns. Also, Thibaud did not want to be an inconvenience and Paul was trying to let him have space, so for the first week or so they would spend their days while I was at work apart…Thibaud upstairs in his room, Paul on the computer. I can only imagine they were bored out of their skulls. I finally sat them down and pointed out it was okay to make requests (Thibaud) and offer ideas (Paul). It got much better after that.

Crazy Cakes

One of the biggest jokes were American styled decorated cakes. He always called them “crazy”. No one slathers fat and sugar on top of stuff like Americans can baby! We went to a bakery and showed him the tools of the trade and explained some of how it was done. “So its like an art form?” he asked. Yes! It really is an art form. He was surprised to find out big fancy cakes cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. The fascination continued all the way through the visit. Hence the picture of the Meijer bakery. He forgot his camera and needed something to show the people at home.

Wheat and Huit

So we introduced him to 2 new games; Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. We played them a lot. The first time we played settlers, there was a particular number that when rolled, half the people got wheat. They would call out the name of their prize as the die fell where they may. It was coming up a lot. And it took a few times for me to realize that everytime someone yelled “Wheat”, Thibaud was taking ore from his tile with and “8” proudly displayed in the middle. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Well, they keep saying huit.” I smiled and laughed, pointing at the grain tile. “This kind of wheat. Not the number!” It continued to be a joke throughout all the times we played.

Pictures

For some reason I had the darndest time getting any pictures of him. He hated having his picture taken. Finally, at 577 Foundation he was hopelessly trapped in a hammock. Ah-ha!

Great places

Here’s what they got to do for those weeks; lunch at Chipotle (compliments of the manager!),farmer’s market, zoo, art museum (tour and dinner!), Fort Meigs, Library, 577 Foundation, Air and Space Museum, Neil Armstrong Museum, Bisseggars, Country Fest, Cars 2, Transformers, Perrysburgers, Fireworks for the 4^th, Hannahs Socks Library Handout, Game night at the Yosts, Sauder Village, Cedar Point, Family Weekend and big BBQ on the 4^th (With ribs and chicken and homemade root beer!), Cracker Barrel, and lots of movies at home, games at the table and dinners together.

All in all, I would say it was a great 3 weeks!