Progress?

Well the last few days have been busy as I try to learn how things are done in Chambery. For example, did you know that most of the stores are closed on Mondays, and some of the cafes don't serve food on Mondays? We found that out after sitting down and ordering our water. With our water came the bill. . . upon further inquiry--No sandwiches on Monday. We felt a bit sheepish, to say the least.

So far we have tried to eat, buy some essentials at the local Carrefour (walmart type store), look into cell phone options, set up a bank account, rent bicycles, and register for our long term stay card...all with very limited French. The interesting thing about Chambery is that even when people know some English, they are very reluctant to speak it because they feel inadequate. So, they let us struggle through with our less than adequate French, and occasionally at the end break out English that is much better than my French! Great for language learning, frustrating for productivity. :-) If you ever get the opportunity to sign up for a bank account using only a language in which you only know how to say yes, no, its okay, and thank you, and understand not much more, try it! Its quite the experience :-) We have found that if three of us go together, our comprehension increases exponentially (that's not saying much, but it does help!)