Meet the "Robinsons" {I have a big head, and little arms...}

Finally, a real post! I'm taking this opportunity to introduce you to the people with whom I'm currently living {and to prove that I haven't completely lost touch with the English language}.
The summer after my junior year of high school, I was introduced to Mary Ann Allen, who needed a French-English translator for her boss Olivier R, his wife, and four of their children when they came to visit Rhode Island for a long weekend. Both thrilled and frightened by the prospect, I agreed to do it. It is thus that I met the six eldest members of the Swiss family "Robinson".



Olivier and Isabella are the parents. Although the family lives in Switzerland, both Olivier and Isabella are French. It's an interesting culture and accent clash, hanging out with the whole family, because all of the younger kids were born here. Olivier, fortunately for me, speaks English fluently. This was, of course, enormously helpful when I "translated" for them, because there was much to fill in. Isabella, by contrast, spoke and speaks almost no English. It was pretty adorable hearing her try to say "Portsmouth" {read: "Pooort-smoot?"} The two eldest boys make fun of her nonstop, but you have to have a sense of humor to have seven kids, so both parents are incredibly laid-back. Being in the house is sort of like a circus...not in the gross, elephant poop sort of way, but in the way that there's always something going on. It never fails to entertain; the house is so big and there are so many people that they actually use intercoms on the house phones to find each other.




Virgil is the oldest - 22, to be exact. He speaks English, but mostly uses it to joke around, which he does often. He's very funny, very French, and very concerned with his appearance. He specifically asked me not to post this picture on Facebook. Technically, I kept my promise.




Gabriel is my age. He's pretty shy, especially compared to Virgil. We like to say that he "only talks to his computer". He's currently trying to start his own business, where he sells Swiss and French clothing to large companies. Kinda cool.



Here are the three girls. Carole, the oldest, is to the left. She's only sixteen, but she's absolutely brilliant. When they were in the U.S., she and I actually had fantastic conversations, and we still do, despite her being four years younger than I am. We like a lot of the same films {those that we've both seen, anyway}, and she speaks rather quickly, which is a great challenge because I always want to hear what she has to say. Nathalie is next; she's fourteen, and very different from the shy little girl I met three years ago. She's still incredibly sweet, but now she's grown up and is much more talkative; I spend most of my time around the house with her and Carole. Marie, the youngest girl, is eight years old; she doesn't talk much, but she's very polite and actually responds when I talk to her.




Finally, the two younger boys are Nicolas and Philippe. Nicolas is ten; he's actually quite talented at sketching, and he seems nice, but the age difference makes it difficult for us to relate. Philippe is, as you can see, the cutest little French boy you've ever seen. He's six, so he's got a tiny voice and he often carries his blankie {"dou dou"} around. Unfortunately, he doesn't respond when I talk to him, didn't like the chocolate chip cookies I baked for everyone, and hesitated for a long time before saying "I don't know" when his mother asked if he liked me. Ah, well.

So there you have it, folks, my first substantial post from a foreign land. I hope that you enjoyed it, and I promise that more is soon to come!