When Matthew was here we went and visited our friend Laurent who owns the Bar Tabac. As we were the only ones in on this particular Saturday, we asked Laurent when he was typically busiest. He brought us outside and pointed to a poster in the window advertising a karaoke night the following Saturday. We joked that I would come back and sing some Taylor Swift.

Well Saturday came and I intended to thrust myself into this community event. I checked the poster and misread the military time of the event (I know this is simple addition but for some reason I always mess it up). I showed up 2 full hours before the shindig was to start but I didn’t realize at first so I ordered a splash of Rickard (anise flavored liquor) and sipped it alone. I rechecked the poster and went back home to eat some dinner and hopefully sober up enough to be able to go back.

Well hydrated and fortified with a baguette sandwich, I returned at 7 pm to find other people there and the actual event. There was a large group of young people in the back working on setting up a table with food and snacks. The bar seats were filled with local patrons and someone was fiddling with a rather significant sound system and karaoke setup. It kind of felt like the fearful first day in the cafeteria in a new school as I could see no seats available and I wasn’t sure what to do. I decided to just belly up to the bar and I ordered a small glass of vin rouge to busy myself with.

After a while Laurent, introduced me to a woman who he explained was in charge of the music festival Au Fon De La Rue. This is a big deal in St Denis and thousands of people come to hear live music during the first weekend in July. I had told Laurent I wanted to volunteer to help as I thought this might be a way for me to make some more connections in town. The woman was friendly and we stumbled through a conversation with my halting French and her limited English. She kindly introduced me to a few other people including a young woman who was doing an internship in event planning as part of her studies. She was to be the volunteer coordinator and had just spent six months in the U.K. studying so she was nearly fluent and we were able to communicate a bit.

The poor intern got saddled with the dumb American but she was very sweet and explained that there were many ways to volunteer both ahead of and during festival. We made a tentative plan for me to stop by the volunteer office on the following Wednesday and sign up. Eventually more people filtered in, I was introduced and she was allowed to mingle herself.

Everyone I met was very friendly. Several mentioned that they knew me from my frequent walks with Sophie (ma petite chien). Several people bought me drinks and I forced myself to try to communicate in French. I was introduced to another American who had recently moved into one of the chateaus in town and we talked about our mutual experiences getting to know the town. She was of course fluent in French and a permanent resident so she was much more connected and gave me something to aspire to.

It was exhausting trying to be so social and brave. I found my English even became difficult as the night wore on. After a few hours of “conversing” and no singing, I left and wandered home. Before I left I handed the Laurent 20 euro and tried to explain that I wanted to cover some drinks for my new friends who had generously bought me a round. I hope he understood. I think this was a start to forging new relationships. Who knows? At least I gave the village something to talk about.