Basketball Vocabulaire

So I just came back from playing basketball for the first time in about 6 months...perhaps my longest time ever away from court?...and I thought I'd begin today's blog entry with a series of basketball vocabulary words in French:

a basketball = un ballon de basket

basketball court = un terrain de basket

the rim = l'anneau

the backboard = le panneau

the basket = le panier

to guard a player = marquer un jouer

to dribble = dribbler

While playing in a pick-up game with some French guys, I also learned a difference in French versus American basketball: in the U.S., when a player shoots an air ball, that same player is not allowed to touch the ball first if he has taken more than 1 1/2 steps--it's considered a travel. The ball has to hit the rim first. In France, as long as the ball passes the plane of the net, it's fair game for anybody. I know this because the French dude I was guarding launched an air ball, caught it, then made another shot. I immediately called a travel on him, but he would hear none of it. Since we're playing in France, we abide by the French rules. Fair enough. In general, I liked playing since I would say on average the French are shorter than Americans, so I was for once one of the taller people playing...

Saw another interesting movie last night: The Lives of Others (La Vie des Autres), a film about the East German Secret Police's surveillance methods during the 1890s. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and I can see why: it was a really powerful and riveting story! We saw the movie in the V.O. (version originale), meaning in the original German with French subtitles. I'm definitely getting better with my French; though I didn't get every single word of dialogue I had no problem following the basic plot.

More Nantes photos from last week: along what used to be the edge of the Loire River (it's been relocated since apparently) there are a series of beautifully restored apartments which are really cool. The foundations have all sunken far down into the soft soil and therefore the buildings themselves are often crookedly aligned with the ground. Check out the windows, which I hope you can see are off-kilter with one another.