Tro Breizh

I set out on this adventure thinking I could update every day. Two weeks in, I'm already slacking. Anyhow, let's catch up. The last I posted, I followed some Deaf people into a store. Since then, things have been un petit slow. Slow in a good way though. Now that I have access to a library with books and books and books on European Deaf history, a lot of my time is spent translating these books, learning vocabulary, and seeking out the Deaf communities in the city. For being the city where American Deaf culture gets it's history (or so I thought), there is very little community. I'm finding that Olathe is more organized in that sense, but perhaps this is my naiveté.


Deaf Library (Bibliotheque Chaptal)


Wednesday, I marched my way across la Seine to Cafe Signes, the other Deaf restaurant in town. I treated myself (note: my mother treated me - thank you for helping finance this study!) to a real meal that wasn't rice. I have this thing where I really really really really really hate eating in restaurants by myself (The same goes for going to movies by myself). Anyway, I sat at the bar and just watched. The menu was supplemented by a sign language menu, allowing diners to order in LSF. What I noticed, though, that of the people working there (6 out front: 2 hearing/4 deaf and the 4 in the kitchen: 3 deaf/1hearing), the hearing people were taking orders and interacting with the guests. The Deaf people were bringing food to the table, completing drink orders at the bar, or cleaning up after guests leave. The kitchen staff rarely came out to the front - I watched them interact with each other through a window at the bar. At the other restaurant (the one I visited last week), everyone was Deaf (I think) and all interaction was in LSF. Diners were mostly Deaf and conversation was entirely in sign language. At the restaurant I visited this week, there were no Deaf diners and all interaction with guests was spoken. Wait a second?


Evidently, the only picture I took while at this restaurant.. I'll get better at documenting my adventures!


I spent some time there after things slowed down talking with the two bartenders (who were both Deaf). One of the hearing waitstaff came over to join our conversation. I can successfully and confidently express the following in LSF: I'm a hearing American. I'm in Paris for 2 months to learn LSF and French Deaf culture. I live in the 3rd arrondissement. I have met a few Deaf people in the city and no, I do not know Britney Spears.

I can say a few other things; my vocabulary is increasing every day. While I won't match my ASL vocabulary in the 2 months and sparse interaction I have, I will establish a solid foundation for learning more when I get back to the US.


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Yesterday, I visited the Eiffel Tower. Ah, yes. It was a beautiful day and it was great to cozy up under a tree to read about Deaf history in French. If nothing else, my French reading skills certainly have improved! I made sure to find our family name on the Eiffel Tower and to learn a little bit of history of why it's there. We thought it was to do with Jean Baptiste Morin, the man for whom my Papa is named. It turns out the Morin on the Eiffel Tower is Arthur Morin, a French physicist. Unfortunately, I have not yet carried on the tradition of strawberry ice cream under the Eiffel Tower on account of finances. It will happen, though. Here are some of the better shots of my visit there. You can find the rest of them in my July 8 album on Facebook.







Et finalement, pour ma famille:


For the sake of breaking this up a little bit, I'll finish the rest in another post.

a bientôt!


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ps - I thought I would use these two months to kick my diet coke habit. Oh, fail. Big fail. 1.5 liters of funny tasting soda fail.