The time in DC was filled every day. If we weren't in sessions, we were talking with other people on Team France (our affectionate name for those going to or coming from France) - after all, we all had visa problems and we all had the same concerns and questions. We had meals where we talked intensely with other members of Team France (and I would often whisper to Erin about how incredible this all was!) and then we spent most nights together as well. Team France really became quite close and had a lot of fun. We learned some important history of our region: 1) Bretagne is the best region (c'est clair!) 2) no toll roads in Bretagne due to their resistance to joining France over 1,000 years ago!
And then there was karaoke. No, we weren't back home in Hawaii, we were in a group of 20+ Fulbrighters etc. (I'm covered in the "etc.") going to a restaurant called "Cafe Japon" and eating sushi and talking about the upcoming year. We ate a wonderful meal where we all had many laughs learning about romances in Paris and singing my new favorite song: "America.....America......America......the states!" The single guy who was running around taking care of us offered to open the back karaoke area for our exclusive use! So who were we to say no?! It was quite the sight to see Team France sharing and grabbing for the microphone to belt out YMCA (it was the first time many of us saw this video - wow!), 99 Red Balloons, and Prince. We even had someone in the group, Seb, sing in perfect pronunciation (according to the Japanese worker) his favorite Japanese song!
So after a few drinks we laughed our way back to the hotel and into a deep slumber which caused Erin and I to oversleep. So we woke up late and rushed to get ready and eat breakfast before we split up and I did a Segway tour of DC while she did more sessions. For those of you keeping track at home, it is now Thursday and I have not yet mentioned our visa because up until now, we were told to just wait and see (which I'm sure you can imagine was easy to do!).
So around 10am Erin calls and says no visa appointment today (what she didn't mention was that we had an appointment for the 29th of August!). So I'm having fun on my Segway tour and around noon I get a call saying to be back by 2pm for our visa appointment - yay! I'm not sure who, but I'm sure someone pulled some strings for us - whoever you are, un grand merci! When the tour ends at 1pm I rush back to the hotel and get a shower and dressed and we hail a cab to get us to the French Embassy. Once there we realize we're 30 minutes early but oh well. So we head in to the embassy (my first time at any embassy). Once there they call our name and a very nice young lady helps us. She takes our papers and hands most of them back to us and tells us corrections to make (sometimes more than once). She walks us through everything slowly and nicely. We then get our picture taken - without a smile! - and finger printed. She informs us that we probably won't be able to leave on time (in exactly 1 week) since our passports need to be mailed back to Hawaii. We say we know and she talks to her boss and she came back and said the same thing - but said she'd try (for those who can't stand the suspense - the passports/visa came just in time!). So we leave the embassy - both commenting on how nice and helpful that lady was.
Thursday night is the goodbye dinner where each group puts on a little cultural show for everyone. It was amazing! There was dancing and singing and more of both! I think everyone was dreading it because it seemed so awkward, but it turned out to be just a lot of fun and filled with laughter. And along the way we learned about other places people call "home". Earlier in the week, when we were talking about values that each culture had, we had decided that Americans were individuals. So. true to form, none of us talked to each other and we did our own thing. The group going to France did work together (I helped because Erin was feeling sick the day we planned our performance) and came up with our own version of "Going to Carolina in My Mind". We sang the chorus and just replaced Carolina with our own home states and things from our state. We sang about Pittsburgh, Carolina, Park City, San Francisco, New Jersey, Chicago, and Honolulu (Honolulu had fresh leis and big waves). So as everyone was leaving the dinner, our group gathered by the piano and Guy (an amazing Pianist!!) played and we sang. It was a great way to end the evening.....but it wasn't over.
Team France had too much fun singing karaoke the night before and we were all so impressed with Guy's ability to play, that we decided to combine the two and have Guy be our own person karaoke machine! So Team France (along with a number of other people) got drinks and sang very loudly our favorite songs. It was quite a sight to see all these people from various countries who spoke different languages gathering and singing and laughing together. That night was one of our first true Fulbright experiences.
Friday was the last day and so it was sad. We had become so close to these new people and it now we had to say goodbye. We talked about when what we were doing until we left and when we'd arrive in France - but we mostly just talked and laughed until we, one-by-one, said goodbye.
I had my first "stupid moment" on Friday. I had invited Caroline and Yann along with Stephanie and her husband Jean-Paul to my brother's place, to join our families for a bon voyage party. I had spent a lot of time with Caroline and Yann and some time with Stephanie but I didn't actually meet Jean-Paul. So I was talking with a random Frenchman and was telling him how these four were going to join us at Jeff's house. I had a funny feeling though that maybe I was talking to Jean-Paul, so I asked and sure enough, I had been spending the last 10 minutes telling this very nice man about how I was inviting these other four french people over to my brother's house not realizing that he was one of the invited ones! Oh la la! We had a good laugh and said that it wasn't going to be the only mistake of the year! :)
Later that day Erin, Sophie, and I went to the Holocaust museum (first time for Sophie and myself) and were blown away. It was one of those awful things that your instinct is to turn away but your mind tells you not to because its something important that you need to see. A quote from the museum from Dwight D. Eisenhower sums up this up: "I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to 'propaganda'."
After the museum we went back to the hotel, packed up my sister's car which she left for us (it was originally mine!) and headed to Jeff's house. We had a wonderful dinner and then went to bed. The next morning we woke up and went to the pool with my nephew and came back to Jeff's house and already guests had come! Both my family and Erin's family made the trip down to DC. The house was packed and we got to see our families which was a very very nice treat. We soon got a call from our new French friends and so I made a quick trip to the metro to pick them up and bring them over. So packed into my brother and sister in law's quiet house were our new French friends, my family, and Erin's family. We had such an amazing time! We ate sausages and hot dogs and lots of desserts. We played "le foot" (soccer) and learned a little rugby. And with rugby came our first lesson in crossing cultures! My nephew, Chris, and I were being shown a rugby move which involved him and me standing side-by-side and putting an arm on the other's shoulder, then bending over while a third guy reaches between each of our legs from behind to grab our shirts and link us all together to help us push the other team. Well this caught Chris and I off guard since we weren't expecting a hand to be reaching up between our legs! After a good laugh by everyone (including our spectators!) we tried again, this time expecting the hand, and successfully pushed the other team (just Jean-Paul) back!
Our families, in addition to making a long drive to see us and throwing an amazing party and inviting our new friends over, also gave us a little gift from each of them from their own areas. So we now had a wonderful variety of things to bring over to France and give to the many many nice people who will help us out this coming year (and who will hopefully excuse me starting off as a mute and then excuse my many mistakes which I'm sure will give everyone a good laugh!). In addition, they also gave little gifts to our new friends to help the get started this year. It was another amazing Fulbright moment to see just the kindness of people. I took our new friends back to the metro and they kept saying how nice everyone was and how cute my nieces and nephews were (I knew all of that, of course!). We exchanged goodbyes and there may have been a tear or two. But we also made plans to see them again around Christmas and the summer. So goodbye, but not forever.
The next day we spent in DC touring around the mall and trying to avoid the rain. It was a long day which didn't end until around 10pm when we had dinner and then we still needed to pack! But it was another great day and a lot of fun. Monday morning came too early and Jeff woke us up and we were on the road by 4:30am! And a "few" short hours later we were back home in Hawaii.
On Sunday morning Jeff commented on how he was sad to see our new friends leave since he probably will never see them again. Sophie, Erin, and I have said the same thing and I'm sure everyone who was in DC feels the same way. It just goes to show how quickly you can form bonds and that your language skills don't have to be perfect. You just need to be nice, try to communicate, and remember to laugh!
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