Natalie's new sisters

In the past month, I’ve been so grateful to see a real sense of closeness developing with the other members of my host family. I was so excited to have been placed with a host family with two young daughters (Alice is 9 and Eva is 12), and bonding with them has been great, not only for more opportunities to practice speaking French, but also because I’ve never experienced life with younger siblings!

A couple nights a week, I give really informal English lessons to Eva, the twelve year old, who studies it at school. We’ve read books together, played Bananagrams (sort of like Scrabble), where she formed words in English while I formed them in French. The other night we watched YouTube videos of French and English songs and then helped each other derive their meaning. Lately, all three of us have been playing card games in the evening as well.

When they watch TV in the afternoon after getting home from school, if I’m there I usually try to join them, even though they often watch Disney Channel shows that have been dubbed in French. For a while, Eva was particularly fond of watching reruns of ER.

Having the chance to babysit them every now and then and just spend more time with my host family has been a big factor in feeling more at ease here in Grenoble, and I look forward to the times we will spend together before the end of my time here!

--Natalie