Having been in Paris for more than two months, I think it's time to give you a more detailed account (visual and written) of my host family and where I live. The family Bonnet, as mentioned in passing in one of the first few posts of this blog ("Papaparis," September 2008), lives in the 5th arrondissement, also known as the Latin Quarter.
Christian, the father and professor of philosophy at Paris 1 specializes in German and Austrian philosophy. A slightly eccentric character whose jokes don't necessarily come across the way he intends them to (be it in German, French or English), Christian is always in a good mood. He also considers it a personal triumph when he mentions some French word/concept that I don't know.
Cécile, the mother and researcher of Ancient Greek is currently translating the Alexandrian Bible from Ancient Greek into French. Not an easy job, with 26 volumes of said Bible. Like any mother, she frets and fumes over the three kids, and sometimes myself included. If you hear anything being whistled off-key around the house, you know it's her.
Grégoire, eldest son (28) and music composer, is the most grounded of the three Bonnet siblings. He's a musical genius of sorts — or so I thought when he showed me a 20 minute-long original composition using six different instruments.
Pierre, middle child (25) and journalist, is what I'd call a Parisian hipster — with his thick-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans and popped Lacoste polo shirts. He loves to hate Segolene Royal (like most of the family), as well as Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister; and he lets me know of that each time they're on the news.
Marie, the youngest (18) and aspiring doctor, is your typical baby of the family. She gets what she wants, when she wants. She likes watching MTV shows dubbed in French (which can be absolute torture at times) when she's not studying (which seems to be 24/7).
All said and done, I love my host family, and couldn't be happier. Check out the pictures below (not taken by me, as Cécile insisted that she give me some of their own pictures). You'll also find pictures of their apartment. Notice the shelves and shelves of books. Could it get any better?
The Family Bonnet
4, rue de Bazeilles, 75005 Paris.
(l-r) Marie, Pierre, Grégoire; Christian, Cécile
The dining room and sofa (where I'm currently writing this post).
My room.
Cécile and Christian's room.
5 comments:
Ironically, Cecile a l'air de Sego.
How's that for some franglais? Just about four months 'til I'm heading to your side o' the pond.
I would consider it a personal triumph if I ever mentioned something you didn't know too, Abhinay. But that hasn't happened yet. -0-;;;
And omg, all the books!! what a lovely place to live!! ALL THE BOOKS. That's so awesome!
WOW. Lots of books! I want a room like that!
Also, your host family seems perfect for you!
ps: see i commented :P now you can't shout at me!
abhinay, i hate to say it but someone has to - marie looks way cute. i don't know how you're managing.
keep living the dream, my man.
Currently living with this family... this is creepy but do you have any tips for getting to know them a bit better. It seems so hard to just discuss things at dinner but I don't know better ways to engage them outside of meal time and even when I'm at dinner they sort of just talk amongst themselves and then throw me the odd bone of a question every now and then. I want to prove to them that I can speak French too...for whatever bizarre reason when explaining things to me Cécile breaks into English.
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