La petite allemande
There are four rooms on the third floor of my house. The first isn't even finished - the floors are just wooden and there's no wallpaper on the walls - and is used as a storage room. The second was my room for the first few days, when the third, my current room, was still occupied by the Middkid who lived there first semester. And the last housed an English girl for my first week or so here, but has been empty for the past three weeks. This past weekend, however, la petite allemande, the little German, moved in.All I knew about this girl was what my host family had told me - they always referred to her as la petite allemande, but apparently her name was Jennifer. When she finally arrived Friday night, I found out a lot more. So technically, yes, she's German, but for the first 14 years of her life, she lived in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia! She's Russian! After the German version of high school, she worked as an au pair in the south of France for a year, and then again for a year in England (even though she didn't speak a word of English before she left).
Needless to say, our conversations are pretty much the biggest and bestest linguistic moments that have ever occurred. Mostly we speak in French - it's easiest for both of us to speak in a language that is neither of our native lanuages. But quite often she switches into English, and we both throw in Russian words here and there when there's just no better way to say it. And somehow, my mind gets it. We switch back and forth, back and forth, and no matter what, we both understand. Yesterday, we were talking, and she said a sentence or two in Russian, and it wasn't until after she said it that I really realized she had just spoken Russian - I just kept understanding! It's a little linguist's dream come true, and the only thing better is that she's very nice, and we seem to be getting along really well.
posted by Becky @ 1:19 PM
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