CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND HOLYDAY CUSTOMS

(Literary and Language Analysis)

Discussion questions > (First read the essays/short stories and then answer the questions in your notebooks – some of these questions will appear in your exam):

1. Scholars claim that David Sedaris’ prose falls into a grey area between fiction and non-fiction (autobiographical prose). Which elements would support the claim that his essays are autobiographical ? Name two. Which elements would support the claim that his essays are fictional? Name at least one.

2. David Sedaris has said that he likes “to paint mental pictures” for people who read or listen to his essays. Can you select two images or mental pictures (one from each essay) that stand out to you?

3. Can you think of a Croatian custom that other people might find strange or unusual? (Think of wedding and pre-wedding rituals and customs.)

4. Do you think Sedaris is being serious in the conclusions of his essays? Does he really believe that the American customs and the American nation are better than others? Support your answers on the basis of evidence from the text which reveal that he is not being serious.

5. Consider this quote by Herodotus: "If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably—after careful considerations of their relative merits —choose that of his own country. Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best; and that being so, it is unlikely that anyone but a madman would mock at such things. There is abundant evidence that this is the universal feeling about the ancient customs of one's country."

Do you agree with Herodotus quote? Explain your position. Could Sedaris be considered a madman under Herodotus’ definition?

6. Name the people or nations whose customs, laws and beliefs Sedaris is mocking in the two essays.

7. Is there a limit of accepting other cultures’ beliefs and customs? Which would be your personal limit of acceptance?

8. If you moved to another county, would you try to follow the customs of its people or stick to your own, or perhaps you would try and incorporate the two? Explain your position.

1 st Essay: Six to Eight Black Men

I’ve never been much for guidebooks, so when trying to get my bearings in some strange American city, I normally start by asking the cabdriver or hotel clerk some silly question regarding the latest census figures. I say “silly” because I don’t really care how many people live in Olympia, Washington, or Columbus, Ohio. They’re nice-enough places, but the numbers mean nothing to me. My second question might have to do with the average annual rainfall, which, again, doesn’t tell me anything about the people who have chosen to call this place home. What really interests me are the local gun laws. Can I carry a concealed weapon and, if so, under what circumstances? What’s the waiting period for a gun? Could I buy a Glock 17 if I were recently divorced or fired from my job? I’ve learned, for example, that the blind can legally hunt in both Texas and Michigan. In Texas they must be accompanied by a sighted companion, but I heard that in Michigan they’re allowed to go alone, which raises the question: How do they find whatever it is they just shot? In addition to that, how do they get it home? Are the Michigan blind allowed to drive as well? I ask about guns not

Pay close attention to the words, collocations and phrases which are in bold type. These are the words, collocation and phrases that you should familiarize yourself with. If the definition is not already provided for you, you should find the definition or the appropriate translation yourself. Beware that the meaning of the words is dependent on the context and that this meaning can often be figurative. E.g. An odd job = doesn’t mean a strange job > it means a temporary job

You will be expected to have full mastery of all the vocabulary used within this handout, not only within the two stories provided for you bellow.

because I want one of my own but because the answers vary so widely from state to state. In a country that’s become increasingly homogeneous, I’m reassured by these last charming touches of regionalism.

Firearms aren’t really an issue in Europe, so when traveling abroad, my first question usually relates to barnyard animals. “What do your roosters say?” is a good icebreaker, as every country has its own unique interpretation. In Germany, where dogs bark “vow vow” and both the frog and the duck say “quack,” the rooster greets the dawn with a hearty “kik-a-riki.” Greek roosters crow “kiri-akee,” and in France they scream “coco-rico,” which sounds like one of those horrible premixed cocktails with a pirate on the label. When told that an American rooster says “cock-a-doodle-doo,” my hosts look at me with disbelief and pity.

“When do you open your Christmas presents?” is another good conversation starter, as I think it explains a lot about national character. People who traditionally open gifts on Christmas Eve seem a bit more pious and family-oriented than those who wait until Christmas morning. They go to Mass, open presents, eat a late meal, return to church the following morning, and devote the rest of the day to eating another big meal. Gifts are generally reserved for children, and the parents tend not to go overboard.

In France and Germany gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve, while in the Netherlands the children open their presents on December 5, in celebration of St. Nicholas Day. It sounded sort of quaint until I spoke to a man named Oscar, who filled me in on a few of the details as we walked from my hotel to the Amsterdam train station. Unlike the jolly, obese American Santa, Saint Nicholas is painfully thin and dresses not unlike the pope. The outfit, I was told, is a carryover from his former career, when he served as the bishop of Turkey. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but could you repeat that?” One doesn’t want to be too much of a cultural chauvinist, but this seemed

completely wrong to me. For starters, Santa didn’t used to do anything. He’s not retired and, more importantly, he has nothing to do with Turkey. It’s too dangerous there, and the people wouldn’t appreciate him.

When asked how he got from Turkey to the North Pole, Oscar told me with complete conviction that Saint Nicholas currently resides in Spain, which again is simply not true. Though he could probably live wherever he wanted, Santa chose the North Pole specifically because it is harsh and isolated. No one can spy on him, and he doesn’t have to worry about people coming to the door. Anyone can come to the door in Spain, and in that outfit he’d most certainly be recognized. On top of that, Santa doesn’t speak Spanish. “Hello. How are you? Can I get you some candy?” Fine. He knows enough to get by, but he’s not fluent and he certainly doesn’t eat tapas. While our Santa flies in on a sled, the Dutch version arrives by boat and then transfers to a white horse. The event is televised, and great crowds gather at the waterfront to greet him. I’m not sure if there’s a set date, but he generally docks in late November and spends a few weeks hanging out and asking people what they want.

“Is it just him alone?” I asked. “Or does he come with some backup?” Oscar’s English was close to perfect, but he seemed taken aback by a term normally reserved for police reinforcement. “Helpers,” I said. “Does he have any elves?” Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but I couldn’t help but feel personally insulted when Oscar denounced the very idea as grotesque and unrealistic. “Elves,” he said. “They are just so silly.” The words silly and unrealistic were redefined when I learned that Saint Nicholas travels with what was consistently described as “six to eight black men.” I asked several Dutch people to narrow it down, but none of them could give me an exact number. It was always “six to eight,” which seems strange, seeing as they’ve

had hundreds of years to get an accurate head count.

The six to eight black men were characterized as personal slaves until the mid-1950s, when the political climate changed and it was decided that instead of being slaves they were just good friends. I think history has proved that something usually comes between slavery and friendship, a period of time marked not by cookies and quiet hours beside the fire but by bloodshed and mutual hostility. They have such violence in the Netherlands, but rather than resolving it amongst themselves, Santa and his former slaves decided to take it out on the public. In the early years if a child was naughty, Saint Nicholas and the six to eight black men would beat him with what Oscar described as “the small branch of a tree.” “A switch?” “Yes,” he said. “That’s it. They’d kick him and beat him with a switch. Then if the youngster was really bad, they’d put him in a sack and take him back to Spain.” “Saint Nicholas would kick you?” “Well, not anymore,” Oscar said. “Now he just pretends to kick you.”

He considered this to be progressive, but in a way I think it’s almost more perverse than the original punishment. “I’m going to hurt you but not really.” How many times have we fallen for that line? The fake slap adds the elements of shock and betrayal to what had previously been plain old-fashioned fear. What kind of a Santa spends his time pretending to kick people before stuffing them into a canvas sack? Then, of course, you’ve got the six to eight former slaves who could potentially go off at any moment. This, I think, is the greatest difference between us and the Dutch. While a certain segment of our population might be perfectly happy with the arrangement, if you told the average white American that six to eight nameless black men would be sneaking into his house in the middle of the night, he would barricade the doors and arm himself with whatever he could get his hands on. “Six to eight, did you say?”

In the years before central heating, Dutch children would leave their shoes by the fireplace, the promise being that unless they planned to beat you, kick you, or stuff you into a sack, Saint Nicholas and the six to eight black men would fill your clogs with presents. Aside from the threats of violence and kidnapping, it’s not much different than hanging your stockings from the mantel. Now that so few people actually have a working fireplace, Dutch children are instructed to leave their shoes beside the radiator, furnace, or space heater. Saint Nicholas and the six to eight black men arrive on horses, which jump from the yard onto the roof. At this point I guess they either jump back down and use the door or stay put and vaporize through the pipes and electrical cords. Oscar wasn’t too clear about the particulars, but really, who can blame him? We have the same problem with our Santa. He’s supposed to use the chimney, but if you don’t have one, he still manages to get in. It’s best not to think about it too hard.

While eight flying reindeer are a hard pill to swallow, our Christmas story remains relatively dull. Santa lives with his wife in a remote polar village and spends one night a year traveling around the world. If you’re bad, he

leaves you coal. If you’re good and live in America, he’ll give you just about anything you want. We tell our children to be good and send them off to bed, where they lie awake, anticipating their great bounty. A Dutch parent has a decidedly hairier story to relate, telling his children, “Listen, you might want to pack a few of your things together before going to bed. The former bishop of Turkey will be coming tonight along with six to eight black men. They might put some candy in your shoes, they might stuff you into a sack and take you to Spain, or they might just pretend to kick you. We don’t know for sure, but we want you to be prepared.” This is the reward for living in the Netherlands. As a child you get to hear this story, and as an adult you get to turn around and repeat it.

Oscar finished his story just as we arrived at the station. He was an amiable guy—very good company—but when he offered to wait until my train arrived I wandered off, claiming I had some calls to make. Sitting alone in the vast, vibrant terminal, surrounded by thousands of polite, seemingly interesting Dutch people, I couldn’t help but feel second-rate. Yes, the Netherlands was a small country, but it had six to eight black men and a really good bedtime story. Being a fairly competitive person, I felt jealous, then bitter. I was edging toward hostile when I remembered the blind hunter tramping off alone into the Michigan forest. He may bag a deer, or he may happily shoot a camper in the stomach. He may find his way back to the car, or he may wander around for a week or two before stumbling through your back door. We don’t know for sure, but in pinning that license to his chest, he inspires the sort of narrative that ultimately makes me proud to be an American.

2nd Essay: Me Talk Pretty One Day

“And what does one do on the fourteenth of July? Does one celebrate Bastille Day?” It was my second month of French class, and the teacher was leading us in an exercise designed to promote the use of one, our latest personal pronoun. “Might one sing on Bastille Day?” she asked. “Might one dance in the streets? Somebody give me an answer.”

Printed in our textbooks was a list of major holidays accompanied by a scattered arrangement of photographs depicting French people in the act of celebration. The object of the lesson was to match the holiday with the corresponding picture. It was simple enough but seemed an exercise better suited to the use of the pronoun they. I didn’t know about the rest of the class, but when Bastille Day eventually did come, I planned to stay home and clean my oven.

Normally, when working from the book, it was my habit to tune out my fellow students. Questions were answered on a volunteer basis, and I was able to sit back and relax, confident that the same few students would do most of the talking. Today’s discussion was dominated by an Italian nanny, two chatty Poles, and a pouty, plump Moroccan woman who had grown up speaking French and had enrolled in the class hoping to improve her spelling. She’d covered these lessons back in the third grade and took every opportunity to demonstrate her superiority. A question would be asked, and she’d race to give the answer, behaving as though this were a game show and, if quick enough, she might go home with a tropical vacation or a refrigerator/freezer. A transfer student, by the end of her first day she’d raised her hand so many times that her shoulder had given out. Now she just leaned back and shouted out the answers, her bronzed arms folded across her chest like some great grammar genie. We’d finished discussing Bastille Day, and the teacher had moved on to Easter, which was represented in our textbooks by a black-and-white photograph of a chocolate bell lying upon a bed of palm leaves. “And what does one do on Easter? Would anyone like to tell us?” It was, for me, another of those holidays I’d just as soon avoid.

As a rule, my family had always ignored the Easter celebrated by our non-Orthodox friends and neighbors. While the others feasted on their chocolate figurines, my brother, sisters, and I had endured epic fasts, folding our bony fingers in prayer and begging for an end to the monotony that was the Holy Trinity Church. As Greeks, we had our own Easter, which was usually celebrated anywhere from two to four weeks after what was known in our circle as “the American version.” The reason has to do with the moon or the Orthodox calendar — something mysterious like that — though our mother always suspected it was scheduled at a later date so that the Greeks could buy their marshmallow chicks and plastic grass at drastically reduced sale prices.

Because our mother was raised a Protestant, our Easters were a hybrid of the Greek and the American traditions. We received baskets of candy until we grew older. Those who smoked would awaken to find a carton of cigarettes and an assortment of disposable lighters, while the others would receive an equivalent, each according to his or her vice. In the evening we had the traditional Greek meal followed by a game in which we would toast one another with blood-colored eggs. The symbolism escapes me, but the holder of the table’s one uncracked egg was supposedly rewarded with a year of good luck. I won only once. It was the year my mother died, my apartment got broken into, and I was taken to the emergency room suffering from what the attending physician diagnosed as “housewife’s knee.”

The Italian nanny was attempting to answer the teacher’s latest question when the Moroccan student interrupted, shouting, “Excuse me, but what’s an Easter?” It would seem that despite having grown up in a Muslim country, she would have heard it mentioned once or twice, but no. “I mean it,” she said. “I have no idea what you people are talking about.” The teacher called upon the rest of us to explain. The Poles led the charge to the best of their ability. “It is,” said one, “a party for the little boy of God who call himself Jesus and … ” Her fellow countryman came to her aid. “He calls himself Jesus and then he be die one day on two … pieces of … wood.” The rest of the class jumped in, offering bits of information that would have given the pope an aneurysm. “He die one day and then he go above of my head to live with your father. The first day he come back here for

to say hello to the peoples. He nice, the Jesus. He make the good things, and on the Easter we be sad because somebody makes him dead today.” Part of the problem had to do with vocabulary. Simple nouns such as cross and resurrection were beyond our grasp, let alone such complicated phrases as “to give of yourself your

only begotten son.” Faced with the challenge of explaining the foundations of Christianity, we did what any self-respecting group of people might do. We talked about food instead. “Easter is a party for to eat of the lamb,” the Italian nanny explained. “One too may eat of the chocolate.” “And who brings the chocolate?” the teacher asked. I knew the word, so I raised my hand, saying, “The rabbit of Easter. He bring of the chocolate.” “A rabbit?” The teacher, assuming I’d used the wrong word, positioned her index fingers on top of her head, wriggling them as though they were ears. “You mean one of these? A rabbit rabbit?” “Well, sure,” I said. “He come in the night when one sleep on a bed. With a hand he have a basket and foods.” The teacher sighed and shook her head. As far as she was concerned, I had just explained everything that was wrong with my country. “No, no,” she said. “Here in France the chocolate is brought by a big bell that flies in from Rome.”

I called for a time-out. “But how does the bell know where you live?” “Well,” she said, “how does a rabbit?” It was a good point, but at least a rabbit has eyes. That’s a start. Rabbits move from place to place, while most bells can only go back and forth — and they can’t even do that on their own power. On top of that, the Easter Bunny has character. He’s someone you’d like to meet and shake hands with. A bell has all the personality of an iron skillet. It’s like saying that come Christmas, a magic dustpan flies in from the North Pole, led by eight flying bricks. Who wants to stay up all night so they can see a bell? And why fly one in from Rome when they’ve got more bells than they know what to do with right here in Paris? That’s the most implausible aspect of the whole story, as there’s no way the bells of France would allow a foreign worker to fly in and take their jobs. That Roman bell would be lucky to get work cleaning up after a French bell’s dog — and even then it would need papers. It just didn’t add up.

Nothing we said was of any help to the Moroccan student. A dead man with long hair supposedly living with her father, a leg of lamb and chocolate served; just confused her even more. She shrugged her massive shoulders and turned her attention back to the comic book she kept hidden under the desk. I wondered then if, without the language barrier, my classmates and I could have done a better job making sense of Christianity. If I could hope to one day carry on a fluent conversation, it was a relatively short leap of faith to believe that a rabbit might visit my home in the middle of the night, leaving behind a handful of chocolate kisses and a carton of menthol cigarettes. So why stop there? If I could believe in myself, why not give other improbabilities the benefit of the doubt ? I told myself that despite her past behavior, my teacher was a kind and loving person who had only my best interests at heart. My heart expanded to include all the wonders and possibilities of the universe. A bell, though — that was just plain silly.

Vocabulary Review

1. Write the appropriate words in the gaps. The target words which you have to provide in this exercise are the bolded or highlighted words from the texts above (including the author’s biography, quotes and notes).

1) I don't like zombie movies, they're j______ _______ ______.

2) You should try and i_______ Tom into your group. He would be of great help.

3) According to the latest c________ f_________, there are 4.28 million people living in Croatia.

4) You plan is so horrible that is has no m___________ whatsoever.

5) It requires a significant l______ of _______ to believe that we can succeed where so many others have failed.

6) The public will, more often than not, forgive your mistakes, but it will not forgive you for trying to w______ _____ _____ one.

7) I realised from a very early age that God gave me a gift, and that gift was to run, and I wanted to use it ____ ____ best ____ ______ _________.

8) He looked at his gas meter. The tank was almost empty. He realized that we would I________ run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.

9) When I was younger, I had a couple of o_______ _______. I worked at a gas station and I was hired to sweep hair at the hairdresser’s.

10) A________ c__________ c__________, the jury passed its verdict of Not-guilty. They went through an a_________ of e__________ which proved Mark’s innocence.

11) The stars are s_________ all over the sky like shimmering tears.

12) Many cultural practices ______ into a g_______ ________ where opinions differ as to what is ethical and what is unethical and unacceptable.

13) We all have our own s_______ of b_________ which vary, not only from culture to culture, but from person to person.

14) W______ _______ _____ __ ________, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship.

15) As ______ ___ I’m _________, Twitter has wiped out Facebook. I'm done with Facebook.

16) I wish I could fly. Or speak ______ Chinese. Both I think are equally impossible.

17) Sometimes the best way to deal with unpleasant things is to d_______ them in ways that allow people to laugh at them.

18) When they come to the US, the English make a choice: New York or L.A. L.A. s______ me _______; I just feel comfortable here.

19) Adding some sunflowers to the table was a c__________ t_____________.

20) The art of war is s_______ e________. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.

21) We will f______ ____ this turkey for weeks.

22) Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how i__________, must be the truth.

23) Everyone, each, someone, and anyone are also p________ _________, as well as I, you, he, she, it, etc.

24) They bullied him at school which made him incredibly frustrated because he believed that he couldn’t fight them off. So, each day, he would come home and t_____ it _____ ____ his little brother, whose only ‘crime’ was being smaller than his brother.

25) Happiness is like a butterfly: if you chase it, it will forever remain b_______ ____ _____, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

26) The traditional Dutch footwear are c_______.

27) Hope is being able to see that there is light d______ all of the darkness.

28) It's important to make a statement, but don't kill yourself over it. You have to make an effort, but _____ ___ o_____.

29) I was working at a grocery store at the time when I wrote my first novel which L_______ my c________. I’m now a successful writer with a house in Bahamas.

30) Surround yourself with good people, people who are going to be honest with you and h______ ______ best _______ at h_________.

31) I was nervous on my first day at college, but I was r________ to see some friendly faces.

2) Rewrite the sentences using the appropriate phrases or words from the essays/short stories. You will have to make certain adjustments (e.g. tenses, word order).

E.g. You should know when to stop paying attention; if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other people’s mistakes. > Answer: to tune out

1. Clean fighting solves everything. It ends all bad blood that people might have amongst themselves.

2. Don’t tell me- you won’t cheat on me ever again, ha? How many times have I believed that sentence? One too many times, my darling…one too many.

3. How much rain does it fall during one year? Answer: What is the__________

4. It is unavoidable that someone will try to offer a better price for that motorcycle.

5. The criminal was wearing a hidden weapon when the police caught him.

6. It's obviously a lot harder to try and be a good guy than it is to be a bad guy. It seems as though the world is a fundamentally evil place. So in order to be a good person, you have to fight temptation and bad habits .

7. My parents are deeply religious Hindus.

8. She fell into quicksand. A couple of her friends came to assist her.

9. It’s unfortunate how women are often expected to be more friendly and pleasing or generally more submissive than men.

10. Nothing can better ease the social tension and start a conversation than a great joke. >(hint> You need only one word from the essay to replace the whole phrase.)

11. Aladdin found a mythical being who resided in a lamp.

12. You won't believe it, but for the first two years of our marriage I lived off my wife. Like every man with self-esteem, I hated it.

13. I like your project; do you think I could join it?

14. I woke up and found three mice eating out of a breadbox. [Rewrite the sentence in present perfect using and modifying the phrase used in the above essay].

15. You don’t have to wash this rag after you’re finished wiping the floor with it. These are throwaway rags.

16. When I first came to L.A. the city seemed huge and full of life, but now, ten years later, it seems boring and small like my own backyard.

17. Abraham Lincoln publicly criticized slavery.

18. Some Muslim don’t eat anything till the Sun sets during the month of Ramadan.

19. It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to suffer through pain with patience.

20. I’d rather stay home and grow vegetables, but a person has to make a living in this world.

21. The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a cheerful ‘YES’ to your adventure.

22. As a man, I've represented the values I hold dear. And the values I hold dear are remainders from the lives of my parents.

23. He told me – being totally sure of what he was saying – that the Aliens were the ones who left the marks in the cornfield.

24. My life has taken some turns and changes that I didn't expect, and it has brought me different things. I thought material things would bring me happiness, which they didn't. But through this, I have learned which things are important and which aren't.

25. Policewoman: “I thought I told you not to move, punk!”

26. When George W. Bush worked as the President of the US, he once said that children should learn how to read just in order to pass literacy tests.

27. When Mary told me she was pregnant, I was surprised and in shock for a moment.

28. The teacher was trying to count the number of students in the class.

29. When someone hurts you time and time again, accept the fact that they don't care about you. It’s a difficult thing to accept, but it's necessary.

3. These images represent vocabulary items mentioned in the handout. Find out

which.

Reading Comprehension Questions

[Some questions are answered for you, but you still have to be able to answer the questions yourselves when they come up in the exam. Obviously.]

Six to Eight Black Men

1. Why does David ask the US locals about the number of people who live in their cities or about the weather, if he's not really interested in their answers?

2. Why is he interested in gun laws, particular to each US state?

3. What topic does he use as an icebreaker in Europe? Why doesn't he enquire about the European gun laws? What is he really interested in and why?

4. What does the information on the date of opening Christmas presents reveal about a specific nation?

5. When are Christmas gifts exchanged in Germany and France? When are they exchanged in Netherlands?

6. Did David just came to Amsterdam or was he just about to leave when he had this conversation about the Dutch Saint Nicolaus

7. Where is Saint Nicolaus originally from? Where does he live now? What does he look like? What is he dressed like? [According to the Dutch legend]

8. Why wouldn't Santa want to live in Turkey or Spain?

9. Why does Santa prefer the North Pole?

10. How does the Dutch Saint Nicolaus travel?

11. Who are Saint Nicolaus’ companions and where do they come from?

12. How were Saint Nicolaus’ companions characterized before 1950s? Why did this change?

13. What does usually come between slavery and friendship?

14. Besides beating you with a switch if you've been naughty, what else does Saint Nicholas do?

15. How would an average American react if you were to tell him that 6 to 8 men were to come to his house? Does that mean that Dutch people are more open-minded and less racist? Elaborate.

16. Why does Sedaris think that pretending to hit somebody is worse than actually hitting someone?

17. How do Saint Nicholas and his six to eight men enter the house to deliver presents?

18. Why does Sedaris think that the story about Santa is more boring than the story about the Dutch Saint Nicholas?

19. Why didn’t Sedaris accept Oscar’s offer to wait with him for Sedaris’ train to arrive, even though the thought Oscar was amiable?

20. What information about America did Sedaris recall which made him feel less jealous and second-rate for being an American?

Me Talk Pretty One Day

1. What was the purpose of the exercise about various holidays in the French textbook? What was the object of the lesson?

2. Why did Sedaris think that the exercise was better suited to promote the use of the pronoun ‘they’? > Because the holidays mentioned/depicted in the textbook were mostly French holidays with which he couldn’t relate.

3. What did he plan to do on Bastille Day and why? > He planned to clean the oven because he doesn’t celebrate Bastille Day.

4. What did he usually do when they did exercises from the textbook? > He tuned out his fellow students and sat back and relaxed because questions were answered on a volunteer basis.

5. Who dominated the discussion about the French holidays?

6. Why did the Moroccan woman enrol in the French class if French was her native language?

7. How did the Moroccan woman behave in the French class?

8. What was shown in the picture which was supposed to represent Easter? > It was a black-and-white photograph of a chocolate bell lying upon a bed of palm leaves.

9. Why doesn’t Sedaris like Easter?

10. Why do Greeks celebrate Easter on a later date? What did Seadris’ mother believe was the reason for scheduling the Greek Ester at a later date?

11. What kind of presents did the Sedaris family get for Easter?

12. What did Sedaris family do in the Easter evenings?

13. What is the supposed reward for the holder of the uncracked Easter egg? Does Sedaris believe in this superstition and why? > The reward for the holder of the uncracked Ester egg is one year of good luck. Sedaris doesn’t believe in this superstition because in the year when he ended up

with the uncracked egg, his mother died, his apartment got broken into and he ended up in an emergency room.

14. How come the Moroccan woman never heard about Easter?

15. Why wasn’t the class able to explain Easter to the Moroccan woman? > They weren’t able to explain Easter because they weren’t very fluent in French.

16. Why did they switch the topic of conversation to food traditionally eaten at Easter? > They switched the topic of conversation to food because they couldn’t explain the foundations of Christianity with their limited vocabulary. They thought that talking about the food traditionally eaten at Eater would be easier.

17. Who or what brings the Easter chocolate in France?

18. Why did Sedaris think that the story about the Easter bunny was more believable than the French story about the big bell that flies in from Rome?

19. Did the Moroccan woman understand the concept of Easter after the discussion was over? Did she even care anymore? > No, the discussion confused her even more, so she turned her attention to the comic book.

20 .With what did Sedaris compare the faith in the Easter bunny? > He compared it with his faith that he would be able to carry on a fluent conversation in French one day.