Night of Awesome: Part 2/3

Here I introduce ramblings of the wonders of this evening. I started off my night a little disappointed that, in my effort to learn French Sign Language, I had been shut down 4 times. Allow me to recap.

Strike 1: Remember when I showed up to the Deaf Restaurant the other day to find it completely closed? Great way to start.

Strike 2: I visited the school for the Deaf (INJS) this afternoon to find out that the volunteer coordinator wouldn't be there until Monday. Since I don't have a phone in this city, nor can I speak French that well anyway, I kind of just show up and hope the people I expect to see are actually working there.

Strike 3 and 4: I read about two Deaf socials in the city at Ze Baar and Le Gavroche, which are on OPPOSITE sides of the city. I showed up at both resto/bars to learn that no one there had any idea what I was talking about and that everyone there could hear how terrible my French is. Zut alors! Where are the Deaf people in this city?

After finding no one who signs at either of these so called Deaf events, I was about ready to head home and just take a night to relax. I had a pep-talk with myself, though. "Brittany, why are you here? You're here to learn LSF so find someone in this city who will teach you something tonight until you meet with Mr. Bimont on Monday. Now GO!" How can you say no to that? So, I hopped on the metro and made my way back to the Deaf Restaurant (the aforementioned Strike 1) to see what I could find. "It better not be closed. It better not be closed. It better not be closed." People on the metro may have thought I was nuts.

ANYWAY, Je ai trouve des gens sourdes! The restaurant was open and almost everyone there was Deaf. There were three groups there. The one outside was a hearing group (they weren't signing and were all speaking in French). Two groups inside the restaurant were Deaf. One was a party of about 15 and the other, a party of 3. The waitress came over and, in sign language, asked if I wanted something to drink. "You can't eat here tonight. We're too full. Do you want something to drink?" To my great surprise, I understood every bit of what she said. I mean, it wasn't that difficult, but I was still happy. She asked if I knew LSF and I told her that I'm an American student here for 2 months to learn LSF. She was so excited! I sat down at a table by myself (I HATE EATING AT RESTAURANTS BY MYSELF) and was just eyes-dropping the other conversations. In front of me, there was a TV with LSF vocabulary, so I was practicing along with the TV. The waitress went to the table of 15 and told them that I was in Paris to learn LSF. One (very handsome) man from the table started talking to me from across the restaurant. He told me that he knew a little ASL and even less English, but he was interested (remind me: this word is also the same in LSF) in knowing why I wanted to learn LSF. I told him about the DCC in Kansas (Sandie, you'll be proud. I gave them the Facebook information) and that I studied Deaf cultural history. He was wearing an Italy soccer jersey and asked if I was Italian. I told him yes and asked how he knew. He said that he was Italian and can always pick other ones out. He invited me to the table and introduced me to the rest of the group. I learned many fascinating things in this conversation that I will sum up here on account of it being 1:30 in the morning:
1) I fingerspell too fast for them. Apparently, very few Deaf people in France fingerspell and there are very few words that don't have signs. They were all fascinated with how quickly I could fingerspell.

2) Handsome man (his name is David) told me about the difference between the US and France with respect to sign names. He has two sign names, one French (descriptive) and one English (arbitrary). He told me that mine was a blend of the two. He told me that sign names in France are truer to their history than in the US. For a captioned/signed lesson on the rules of sign names, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJFWhHtXn84

3) Just as hearing French people know more English than most Americans know French (I am a fantastic example of that), French Deaf people know more ASL than American Deaf people know LSF. Our conversations tonight crossed four languages (I have a headache). We used ASL, LSF, English, and French. I was fascinated with how well they translated between the two cultures "In US Deaf culture...., but in French Deaf culture...."

4) Most of the people I met tonight worked for the city. They told me that Deaf employment policy in Paris serves two purposes: (1) by hiring Deaf employees, city services are now accessible to people who sign. (2) By having services that are fully accessible to Deaf people, they are not left out of employment opportunities. It's like Martha's Vineyard (that's a big stretch of a comparison...)

I exchanged e-mails with the few who lived in the city. David told me to come visit him at the Deaf Library and he will let me borrow books about French Deaf history (tomorrow is going to be like CHRISTMAS). They were excited to meet an American who wanted to learn LSF and gave me so many awesome resources to learn more (for example, there is ANOTHER Deaf restaurant in Paris. Does the US even have one?) Okay, Google tells me there is a restaurant in Seattle, Abbondanza Pizzeria, owned by a Deaf person but staffed entirely by hearing people (some of whom know sign language). In my opinion, that doesn't even come close to what it means to have two completely Deaf restaurants in one city.

I didn't take many pictures because my hands were a bit occupied, but I did snag this gem:


"I sign, therefore I am."

Finally, on my way out, one new friend told me that there was a meeting at the Gay and Lesbian center in Paris on Sundays for HIV positive Deaf people living in Paris, "if you're interested." Oh, it's as if he knows me.

http://cafelunettesrouges.free.fr/

Hokay, so it's 2:00 a.m. and I have to be up early to go to the Deaf library to learn more about French Deaf history. I will write part 1/2 in the morning.

a bientôt, mes amis!