More interesting everday things

So, I know I wrote one yesterday, but I just had to write another one today to share some things that just amuse my mind while puzzle it at the same time.

1. Today, a Chinese student in my class was trying to say that he was going to walk somewhere late at night (to which our teacher had a strong opinion that he was "fou" or "stupid/crazy") but it was ok because he has a friend who bought a gun. He proceeded to talk about how his friend bought the gun and that he walks around with it and that it isn't dangerous. The entire class was cracking up in disbelief. It took a while to get it out, but he was actually talking about an airsoft gun. We still had a hard time explaining that to our prof, but I think I will forever remember this guy trying to explain why guns aren't dangerous...

2. My classmate who is from Canada was sitting next to me and she asked me if I had any gum. I said sure thing and pulled out my Trident gum. She was like "Is this American gum???" And I looked at her, kind of confused, and said, "Yeah... Why?" She said, "Oh, nothing... It's just Hollywood gum." Wait. Hold on. Hollywood gum? Wow. For those of you who don't know, buy Trident gum because it apparently is the gum of stars.

3. I went to the post office today to track down some letters that have taken forever to get to me and I noticed that the post offices in France are very different than the ones in the US. For instance, it's set up much more like a bank that I thought I had walked into the wrong building for a second. Also, the "tellers" were feeling up the packages that people were trying to send out, making sure that the customer was telling the truth about the contents. That made me laugh because I was sure that this one teller was going to refuse to send a package for this girl. I was then scared because the same mail-miser called me to his desk and I tried to explain to him that I had been waiting for about a month for some letters from the US... That was interesting. He ended up explaining the postal system to me... I felt about 10 years old. Thank you, France. Needless to say, there is nothing you can do about missing mail.

4. I have one French prof who never comes to class on time. I would be ok with that, except for the fact that most of the class is there, waiting for her... and she keeps us 10, 15, sometimes 20 minutes late. She's crazy and I enjoy being in her class, but I also enjoy my time away from school. This is the same prof who has a mustache. She picks relentlessly on a guy from Belgium, who has been nickname "Mignon Garçon" (Cute boy) by a Chinese girl in my class. This is the same class that all the crazy stories come from (the gun and the face decorations). Thank heaven that this class is interesting because it's normally during the time when my body just wants to sleep.

5. This last item isn't funny, but it definitely grabbed my attention. Alix, who works in the prenatal section of the hospital here in Tours for the 6 weeks she's here, told me on Monday about some of the things she got to do that day. Among the great stories of hearing about births and then her boredom with C-sections, she shared that she saw/had to assist with abortions. That broke my heart. There are so many things that people do not understand about life, I think. Alix told me of this lady that was there for her 4th abortion... She already has 4 children and the lady is 24 years old. This was the discussion at the dinner table that night and, while everyone at the table was prolife, it was really sad to think about. I was very surprised because I hadn't even heard of such things in the US happening, except for in special clinics. I wouldn't be surprised now if these things happen in American hospitals...

So, needless to say, I'm learning a lot here. I'm sure I'll include more misunderstandings later. I think my host parents' son is here from New York, so I'm looking forward to the dinner conversation tonight... I really want to see if he has a New York accent when he speaks English. We'll see. Still really looking forward to it!