Today’s the day! Or should I say, tonight’s the night? Depending on where you are in the world, my live webinar with The Alliance Française begins at:

1pm PT / 2pm MT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET.

Here in France, it will be 10 p.m., and I’m looking forward to speaking with you—live from my kitchen table. Your presence means a lot to me. If you haven’t yet, please register for this free event here:

👉 https://www.afusa.org/community/event-rsvp/?event_id=147

And now, enjoy another missive from my daughter. Jackie began writing for this blog three months ago, and we are grateful to you, dear reader, for helping to form a writer. Your encouragement and notes in the comments mean so much.

Pris de Bec: Two French Girls Fighting in Manhattan
By Jacqueline Espinasse

On November 1st, the fall season was at its peak, and nature had never looked so rich or vibrant in color. Leaves had grown weak enough to drop from their branches, almost as if they were finally mature enough to leave the nest. Fully colored, they were ready to paint the streets of New York City.

That day, one of my best friends landed from La Ciotat to stay a full week chez moi. We met in front of my doorstep, right when I came home from work.
“JACKIE, JACKIE!!”
It was Marine, she looked like she had a story to tell.
“MARINE! You survived the subway!!” I said.
She insisted on lighting up une clope on my stoop before going in.

She was wearing a long black coat and les ballerines.
“Are those your only shoes for this trip?” I asked.
“Well, yes! New York is like Paris, right?”
I laughed on the inside, and as a good New Yorker trainee, I decided to lend her my most comfortable sneakers for the week.

Hitting my late 20s, hosting for a full week isn’t easy. I still have a job to go to, and now I had just signed myself up for a one-week contract as a tour guide for my first guest. Day and night, my brain kept screaming: “entertain, entertain, entertain.” 

Marine and I were in totally different places, she was taking a break from work, and I was working double time–keeping up with hosting a guest while clocking in at my day job with a roomful of toddlers. I make it sound like it was the worst week of the year, but honestly it wasn’t. Marine is easy-going, and she was all in on living like a New Yorker for a week.

So every morning we played tennis, picked up bagels at the deli, and of course did some New York things like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, going to a basketball game, and getting $25 blowouts at a salon in Chinatown.

But it wasn’t until the last day that we grew weary and got into a fight in the middle of busy Manhattan. We had just finished lunch at a fabulous Peruvian restaurant in the Upper West Side, and my friend Jennifer (from the art gallery) joined us for dessert. Afterwards, we decided to stroll around the city until the sun went down.

Suddenly, I felt some tension in the air. Marine went silent for the last hour, so I started spiraling in my head about all the things I should have done better this week as a hostess. What was she miffed about? Jennifer seemed normal about the situation, so I figured everything was okay.

But half an hour later, at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, j’en ai eu assez. “Okay, Marine, what’s your problem?!”
 “Well… I wish I’d done more on this trip.”
 “You’re in New York for only a week, everyone wishes they did more,” I said, frustrated. 

Jennifer quickly played mediator, and things got better over a beer in a sports bar. Later, Marine shared that she was just tired from her week and not looking forward to going back to work.

And on our way home to the subway, Marine confessed, “You know Jackie, I thought this trip would be like a reset for me. But maybe it just reminded me that life keeps moving. Thank you for the sneakers.”

FRENCH VOCABULARY

la prise de bec = quarrel, spat

chez moi = at my place

une clope = a cigarette (slang)

les ballerines = ballet flats

j’en ai eu assez = I’d had enough / I’d reached my limit

REMERCIEMENTS
Thank you to the following readers for your donation this past week to this journal!

Ina D.

Whether you’ve been reading for years or just stumbled upon this little corner of France, thank you for being here. These stories continue thanks to reader encouragement. If you’d like to help maintain this journal, here are a few simple ways:

🌿 Zelle – to Kristin.espinasse@gmail.com
🌿 PayPal – Click here
🌿 Credit card – Click here

Gift the book A Year in a French Life to a friend. It’s packed with colorful photos and vocabulary.

A Message from Kristi…
Thank you very much for reading Jackie’s stories! Don’t forget to register for today’s Webinar. As I sit there at my kitchen table in France, your presence at the other end of the screen will be un coup de pouce—a great encouragement 🥰

REGISTER HERE. See you in a little while!