French Immersion – Acadian Style

If you don’t use it, you lose it. That’s as true about the language of communication, intuition, and love.

In the next few blog posts, I want to share about all three as inspired by my 2-week trip to be the godmother of the 22nd Atlantic Visual Arts Festival (FAVA) in Caraquet, New Brunswick – the heart of Acadian country.

Today, I focus on my French immersion and offer you an Acadian photo gallery and a guided meditation in French, so keep reading.

Is there a language or skill you’d like to learn?

Language, as most things, is a lot easier to learn when fully immersed it in. You absorb it into your being as it becomes the new normal. The more you use it and are surrounded by it, the easier it gets.

I learned to speak Czech within a month when I moved there in 1992. I was in a village where no one spoke English or wanted to.

I sat in my hosts’ kitchens, went shopping & socializing with them and soaked it in.  After 2 weeks, I was told I was speaking it in my sleep. Having a past life connection to the country and love for the experience and culture definitely helped.

When I moved to South Korea, however, I was surrounded by fellow English teachers and students who wanted to practice their English. So after 3 years, I only learned enough to find my way around, order in restaurants and do basic shopping. So much for thinking I had a facility with languages!

I knew from my correspondence with FAVA festival organizers that French was the main language in the area. What I didn’t expect was that only 2 of the thousands of people that came through the festival spoke to me in English.

For 6 days, I spoke 99% French, and it did me so much good on so many levels. It brought me back to my roots, to a part of myself I’d left behind.

French is my mother tongue. We spoke French at home and at school in Ottawa growing up but often English with our friends outside. My first degree at the University of Ottawa was half in French and half in English as I could choose the professor with the better reputation as courses were offered in both languages.

But when I left Ottawa in 1992 to teach English overseas and then in English provinces across Canada, I basically didn’t speak French for 25 years and almost lost it.

It’s only when I moved to Newfoundland & Labrador that the provincial francophone federation and newspaper helped me reclaim my native tongue. I had to get over my fear, shame, and lack of art & intuition-specific vocabulary to answer a journalist’s questions and teach my programs across the province – all great blessings.

Now, I participate in their improvisation comedy club once a week, but that’s the only French I speak apart from calls to my parents which are sometimes in French and sometimes in English.

So a full week immersion did me good.  I even had a moment of re-entry culture shock when I stopped for gas in Moncton on my way out of the region, surprised when all the workers and customers were speaking English.

I didn’t know much about the Acadian culture except for the fact that they’d suffered from deportation and now were everywhere from Louisiana in the U.S. to various parts of the Atlantic provinces. I also knew that they had a different accent than other francophones across the country.

On my way into northern New Brunswick, I couldn’t help but smile, knowing I’d be OK if I inserted English words in my scheduled French TV and radio interviews. When I asked the gas station attendant how to get to a landmark I’d seen driving over the bridge in Bouctouche, she answered “Tu peux parker ton car là …” . With 2 English words out of 6, you get the picture.

I didn’t experience that further north in Caraquet, however and am glad to report I only had to search for my words in French a few times. It all came back being fully immersed in it for a week.

Thanks to the volunteers who showed me around town and took me out to lunch before the start of the festival, I learned more about the resilience of the Acadian people and their rich culture.

If my reception is any indication, Acadian people are definitely generous, open-hearted, and very very welcoming! I was so well received, which made my role of godmother easy to embody – more on that in a future post.

I must have listened to my B3 Acadian music CD I was gifted by one of the band’s musicians about 20 times while driving the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton after the festival. Love it!

Now, I look forward to reading the historic novel I purchased and the souvenir guide to the Acadian historic village I was generously given to learn more about the Acadian history.

In between a TV interview and the grand opening of the festival, I took 2 hours to drive out to the Village Historique Acadien for a power walk around the village.

A free pass, souvenir guide book and t-shirt were waiting for me when I got there. Wow!

I’d mentioned in the morning that I hoped to have time to visit and the festival organizers ensured their godmother was well received.

It felt surreal, however, when a character from the 1700s recognized me (as many did in town because the FAVA program featuring a big photo of me had been sent to all homes).  Time warp!

I could have spent days there! You can actually do that as their historic hotel offers overnight stays in the village. Wouldn’t that be cool?!

With limited time however, I rushed through with my camera – a tool that actually helps me be more present.

I did take the time to sing to the sheep and have a wonderful conversation with the cobbler about intuition. But as I said, I could have spent days here.

Enjoy your mini-tour through my eyes. This is half the photos I shared on Facebook.

And now, as a gift to any who want to immerse themselves in French for an hour, I offer you this guided visioning meditation to help open the gateway to  your creativity.

I recorded it in the studio as part of an artist training program. It’s an adaptation from the 24-minute English one I channeled live at a creativity retreat and offered you back in April .

It’ll help you:

• let go of obstacles to creativity,
• receive the qualities and resources necessary to create,
• connect to your Guides, angels, Higher Self, artistic muses – whatever is aligned with your belief system,
• receive inspiration,
• visualize the essence of a new project,
• and more.

Enjoy!