Ca Va

A former colleague of mine used to complain about the greeting system that many of our other colleagues would use when approaching one another. She felt the casual, "how's it going" or "what's up" were always insincere. When she would stop what she was doing and respond to the question, her inquirer would be on his/her way without even the slightest pause to hear what she had to say, leaving her feeling quite foolish and annoyed. Why ask the question, she would complain, if you really don't care what my response is going to be. She would rather we all give a nod or a smile and continue on our way. (or just drop your head and act as if you don't even see each other...it's not rude, she'd much rather prefer it!) She had to train herself to respond to people's casual inquisitions with a null response and continue on with her own business.

I appreciated what she had to say but also had to tease her about her high level of sensitivity over the issue. It's just the way things go on campus, and in life. You give the nod, the "what's up", and you're off. No one is interested in what you have to say, we're all just being polite and acknowledging your existence at that moment in our lives. No harm, no foul. My friend felt otherwise and after a while, I guess I came to appreciate her observation and trained myself, in her honor, to greet others with a quick good morning/afternoon. I eventually dropped all questions directed to colleagues when I knew I didn't care what they were going to say in return. I'm all for trying new things and I gotta say, it really helped eliminate any unwanted conversations that might have arose had I asked how one was doing.

Here in Paris I have gone back to my old ways and I love it. The proper greeting here among my peeps, (Ceasar, cleaning crew, the guy I pay my rent to, you know, all my good buddies!) at the Cite is a quick, "Ca va?" or if you want to get fancy, "Ca va bien?". What I love about it is the response, "Oui" or "Oui ca va". You answer a ca va with a ca va and can even follow up with a question, "Ca va?". Not only do I love the simplicity, I love that it is my way of really fitting in here in Paris. It may be the only solid french I know and I'm running with it. So when I see Ceasar, the man who runs the DDLM, (our little village of the Cite), I always throw out a ca va and I'm suddenly feeling Parisian and fluent. Our conversations, (and they can sometimes be two to three times a day), go fabulously like this:

Me: Ca va bien? (here I'm feeling fancy)

Ceasar: Oui, ca va. Ca va?

Me: Oui.

It doesn't get old, never gets awkward, and I believe both parties feel satisfied. (This is my fabulously blissful interpretation...not sure how Ceasar really feels about it but in my world, he also loves our daily encounters!) Seriously, we can have this 11-second conversation at least twice in one day. Isn't it nice that Ceasar is always doing so well? Oui, ca va, (I'm good, things are good, it's going well...)

Even my old colleague has to love it. You get out a proper greeting and listen for the response because it's so quick and easy. Now granted, I may one day get nailed and Ceasar will respond with a "non..." and go on to tell me the woos of his life. But then I simply follow up with a good ol' french shrug, my sweet smile, and a "Je ne comprends pas".