The ongoing drama between me and Mme Chamayou hasn't really changed. I've been staying in my room as much as I can purposely to gain the moral high ground. I'm in talks with Dr. Costello to change families. For more info on what precipitated the conflict, see my answer to Marion's comment in the previous post.
I've tried to think about this issue from Mme's point of view. The most charitable explanation for her behavior is that her mother and step-sister both died recently, so she and the family are obviously under strain and obviously "need to be a family," now more than ever. But that's also a reason why I should remove myself, and thus make their grief process that much easier. If nothing else, her demanding that I stay in my room nullifies the spirit of being in a host family, where the student is supposed to interact with his or her hosts.
And don't get me wrong, staying here has definitely had its positive points. The Chamayous are generous with food, and their only condition for my going out is that I call if I'll be spending the entire night elsewhere.
But I won't stay where I'm subjected to irrational and unreasonable demands. The only thing that would prevent me from switching families now is if the other family turns out to be worse than the Chamayous.
Which unfortunately, I found out today, is much more of a possibility than I initially thought it would be. In Conversation class, it came out that all our families except Kristen's are conservative and Catholic, an arrangement that M. Bondurand remarked was very much outside the norm as French families go. We've been living in a bubble, and not a good one like we have at Guilford! All but one of us! With conservative Catholic families! I feel like the protagonist in a Orwell novel. Even if this wasn't a conspiracy, couldn't the people in charge of the program have made it into less of a cruel coincidence?
3 comments:
I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this with your host family. I know that is typical behaviour for host families. We had exchange students in highschool and their horror stories were terrible. My girlfriend susan had an exchange student at her house and that was really positive of course.. but those people were lucky. I'm sending you an e-mail.
I find it interesting that all of you have ended up with conservative Catholic families when practicing Catholics are as rare in France as anywhere else. It is good you are being sympathetic to Mme in understand what might be motivating her. Is there any free internet cafe nearby where you could spend your Saturdays doing school work?
Try to keep in touch with Jean-Jacques and Marlene and also Loraline. They might provide a good place to land even if temporarily.
Perhaps it's not just that your hosts are conservative Catholics. You could have a quite kind family with the same credentials.
I'm glad you are lying low. I like Iqra's idea about an internet cafe. Let us know as soon as you know anything further.
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