It's hard to pass a day without someone responding, "Oh, you mean boyfriend?" when I mention my husband. No, I'm married. We're in our 20s. We're not evangelical Christians. We're not ready to settle down. We're still out having adventures, figuring out what our life's purpose is, thinking about the next step.
This weekend, we got a chance to be around another young, American married couple who are bombarded by the same questions. We both give the same answers: It's nice to come home to your best friend after a day of being in a culture you don't understand; it's exciting to have two people looking for their next step & figure out where those two points come together.
It was our first time hanging out with another married couple–a married double-date of sorts. And it was our first time trying to show people around Nancy. We stuck to the Medieval part of town, walking along the Grand Rue lined with quaint shops & cafés. Unfortunately, the Catholics were out in a fervor doing some mission work, so we got asked about 10 different times if we wanted to stop into the cathedral for a presentation and cookies.
I told them I'd see them at mass tomorrow, and we went ahead to Place Stanislas for a coffee and a Diablo–this was actually interesting, because I said, "Diablo menthe" and the waiter said, "Strawberry?" I was confused. My response to confusion is smiling and nodding, so I got strawberry. Equally refreshing... but bizarre.
Even more bizarre is how we came to be friends with Lauren & Michael, two Americans finishing up their year and a half living in Metz, a town close to Nancy. Lauren knows Ashley, blog superstar with success on (never)homemaker, from high school. I asked (never)homemaker to throw me onto their blogroll. Lauren then found me there, checked out the blog & found out that we have a ton in common.
Meet Lauren & Michael of Metzing Around.
Michael is an engineering student at the Georgia Tech campus in Metz, the reason for their travels. He & Joe had fun talking about science & soccer while Lauren & I talked about cooking, Food Inc, Michael Pollan & how to feed a family safely... among other things, but you can tell which part got my blood pumping.
When Lauren found me, she started noticing odd things that we have in common. Like Michael growing up in a small town close to where Joe & I went to school AND in a small town (Russia) near the town where I grew up. Then we were married at the same age, came to France quickly after & are in love with French culture.
Unfortunately, our new friends are moving back to the states in December. In a way, this makes things even more exciting–what other similarities will pop up? Where will we each end up? Will we visit each other? How long will it take us to set up the homesteads we want?
5 comments:
lauren just told me about your meet-up! that's SO COOL! glad you guys had a blast :)
it was crazy! (we also made your east-meets-west soup... also crazy good.) but yeah, thanks for helping us meet.
Great post Megan! We had a wonderful time meeting you two "kindred spirits" so to speak. I'll be posting within the next few days once the craziness and writers block subside. We look forward to where we'll meet up in the future, be it in Metz, Nancy or somewhere in the US.
alright, you've piqued my curiosity: you need to write another post addressing the curiosity of being a married American couple (not evangelical Christians, etc) in France. are you just finding yourself combatting stereotypes, or is there something particular about that list of things?
i miss you.
@lauren: we're looking forward to planning a trip to metz! talk to you early in the week to plan something maybe?
@sarah: yes--tons of stereotypes. they expect you to (1) have a child or (2) be over-the-top christians like that show where teens got married. they can't understanding anything else.
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