East of West

Go to this site for all my pictures here to date:

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27 September 2007

Wow, that’s a little stressful. I just finished booking a flight from Amsterdam to London, and then a train from London to Paris, which should finish off my winter break. Whee! I’m excited; it should be a lot of fun.

            On another note, I really like that today I had two classes, but never set foot in a classroom. For my French class, we went to Rue Moufftard (a street in the Latin Quarter) and had a survey that we had to ask the patrons of the market there and the shopkeepers. It was actually pretty fun, if you forget that I hate going up to strangers randomly. But, I guess that random is the only way to meet people here. Then, later, we went on a walking tour around the Marais for my Art and Architecture class. We went to see the Hotel de Sully, Place des Vosges, and Hotel Lamaignon. It was quite interesting to see all of these places, and I like being outside, but the weather is starting to turn for the worse.

In New England, autumn gets crisp and colorful. Paris doesn’t really turn colors, at least not yet, and it just gets cold. My room is always horrifically cold in the morning because it’s an old building and the heating doesn’t really work that well, so it makes getting out of bed that much harder. The other day, I had to put on really thick socks, my winter pajamas, a sweater, wrap myself in a blanket and then put myself under the comforter on my bed before I could get warm enough. Of course, during the night, I was able to shed the blanket and the sweater, but still. It’s just not nice.

            I’m really excited for tomorrow because N. and I are going to get tickets for a concert this weekend, and then we’re going to go to Pere Lachaise (a really famous cemetery here), have dinner, and then we’re going out to this one place everyone keeps telling me about but I haven’t had the chance to go yet.

            Yesterday, I met a Frenchman who had just moved here three weeks ago—the same time I got here! He’s from Aix-en-Provence, which is a small town in the southeast of France. He moved here to find work, but before that had spent a year in Quebec just studying philosophy and seeing a different part of the world. His biggest complaint of Canada was that there were no bakeries, and that he thought the food was terrible. Typically French. Not everyone gets fresh bread every day, and we survive! He also said that he doesn’t really like Paris as well as Aix, because in Aix everyone knows each other and Parisians are less friendly.

            I can identify with this. The men here are too friendly to be friendly, if that makes any sense, and the women just don’t really say anything to me. I feel sort of lonely, because of this. N. is really my only friend here, besides maybe my host brothers and sister, but that’s not really the same. I just don’t really get along with most of the other kids in the program here. I asked one of the directors of the program here how I could meet people and make friends. She said that actual French people have trouble meeting other people in Paris, and that my best bet was to join a gym or take a dance class or a cooking class or something like that. Even so, she admitted that she didn’t have any French friends here until her daughter started going to school and she got to meet the other mothers. Not very encouraging, but I won’t be discouraged. I’m going to find a class of some sort, and talk to strangers, because I think that’s probably the only way to do it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the French word for ”foreigner” sounds a lot like the English word “stranger.”

I’ve tried to make up for not having my brother around by hanging out with H. (my host brother, whose 16th birthday is in about 3 weeks). The other day, we stayed up late together after dinner pointing to objects and quizzing each other on thier names in French or in English. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday, however, I made my first really good mistake in French. I was reading this list of phrases in H.’s English textbook, and for “I’m fed up with you” you say “J’en ai ras-le bol de toi.” So, I marched up to J. (my younger host brother) and said that to him. Trouble was, I pronounced it funny, and ended up saying “J’en ai rase le boule de toi” which means something more like I shaved your ass. J. and H. were in hysterics after that. I almost fell over I was laughing so hard. I’m just glad I said it to J. and not to something like Mr. or Mme. or someone I don’t know.

Also, it’s true that Mme. is a little overbearing, but don’t worry. I’m getting my loving somewhere else: les Artisans. That’s the cafe I go to, where I am right now. I’ve started to recognize all of the people here, and whenever I come in my waiter or the proprieter or whoever comes and shakes my hand and asks me how I am. Today, when I ordered my usual tea and bread with butter, he insisted that I try this new kind of jam that he has, made from mures, which I think is blueberry, but I’m not really sure. I feel a little silly though because I don’t even know his name! There’s also a little lunch place down the street run by the same guy every day, and I have to pass by it on my way the metro. Every time I pass him, he says hello to me and asks me how I am. I’m really liking it.

So, I put all of my pictures up on Shutterfly, and I think if you follow this link you should be able to see them.

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I’ve just added some new photos to Les Journees du Patrimoine, so look at those if you get a chance. Unfortunately, the internet at my cafe didn’t work this morning, so I didn’t get a chance to add any more than that.

22 September 2007

            So yesterday was interesting. N. and I went to Gare du Nord to try to buy train tickets to go to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks, but the prices had gone up considerably from the day before when we checked them online. Also, the times that we wanted had already vanished. It’s pretty amazing how quickly the train prices change and how quickly different times get filled up. We ended up buying tickets to Amsterdam for our vacances de Toussaints (the vacation around All Saints’ Day), but between the time when N. got her ticket and I got mine, her train had already filled up and I had to get on a different one. It was kind of crazy. I also looked at the price of train tickets from Amsterdam to London, and it was around 200 euros one way! But, I looked at plane tickets, and those were as little as 50 euros one way. I don’t entirely understand the transportation here. For example, the metro runs all the time and is very efficient, but stops running after 1 am. If you’re out after that, you either have to walk home or take a cab (which, by the way, you cannot hail, you can only call for them). The metros do start up again at 5:30 am or something like that, so if you’re out after 1 you might as well stay out until after 5.

            Anyway, last night N. and I went to a movie, which is a very different experience than in the US. For one thing, each theater only shows about 3 movies at a time, or something like that. For another, the tickets are only 4 euros (maybe 6 American). Also, I counted, and there were only 45 seats in the movie theater, and the screen was pretty tiny. In the US, the advertisements come first, then the previews, then the movies. In France, it’s the previews, the advertisements, and the movie, perhaps because during the advertisements someone comes around with a box of snacks trying to sell them to people, like at a baseball game. However, the people bringing food into the theater were few and far between, definitely not like in the US. How do the movie theaters make money if they don’t play a ton of movies at once and sell a bunch of tickets and sell overpriced food? My host father says that people love going to the movies in France, because they think it’s kind of intellectual, so they go all the time. Maybe people go the movies more often here because it’s cheaper, so the movie theaters do make money in the end. I don’t know.

            After that, we found this great little creperie in the 6^th arrondissement (near where our school is) that’s a really Brittany/Normandy style creperie. There, crepes are more like meals than snacks, and they also serve this special fermented cider that you have to drink out of bowls. This particular place had such terrific ambiance, and the crepes were a little bit crispy, like they’re supposed to be, and it was fun to get to drink out of a bowl. I really liked it there.

            After that, we went wandering around with our friend C. It was a little crowded everywhere we tried to go, though, because there was a world cup rugby game between France and Ireland, so all of these Irish people were out and drunk in the streets and the French had French flags painted on their cheeks and were out in the street waving French flags and singing the Marseillaise. We had quite a bit of fun sitting at a café and people watching. They really get into national pride in sports in Europe. I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen anything like it in the US, except maybe in a city cheering a state or city based team. It just doesn’t extend to the whole country in America.

21 September 2007

            So, I’ve finally come to this café often enough that when I come in the door, my waiter (you know, the one that always serves me) comes up to me and shakes my hand and asks me how I’m doing. Today he asked me if I cut my hair. I was here yesterday as well and this couple at the table next to me started talking to me and asking me if I was German or English, and then asking me how I like France, etc. In some ways, I think I feel more comfortable here than anywhere else in the city, except maybe at school.

            Speaking of school, I’ve begun learning about the French Revolution again. You’d think I would have a handle on it by now, since I took AP European History and then Guided Studies. Oh well. It makes the reading go faster. Also, for one of my French classes, I’m reading La Grammaire est un Chanson Douce” (Grammar is a Lullaby). In my French theater class, we’re reading Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais. I have to read 80 pages in French in a week. Ah! How am I going to do all of that? Not only does it take me a lot longer if it’s French, but after reading it once I have to go back at read it again, while looking up the words that I didn’t understand the first time. It took me about half an hour to get through 10 pages. Intense. In my Art and Architecture course, we took a walking tour instead of going to class. We went around the Ile-de-la-Cite, and saw the Conciergerie, Notre Dame, La Palais du Justice, La Place Dauphine, and the Pont Neuf. I like walking around and seeing things a lot better than being lectured about them. The directors of the program here have this whole ideology about making Paris our classroom, and I’m glad they’re putting it into practice. My French teacher is actually taking us to Rue Moufftard next week (just a streets full of specialty stores, like wine and cheese and such) and we have a bunch of questions that we have to go ask the shopkeepers and their customers. Should be fun!

            Speaking of making Paris our classroom, N. and I got a great example of this on Wednesday. After classes, we went to a café near school (in St.-Germain-des-Pres) and had coffee and just chatted. After a bit, this older man (and one of the only people in France I’ve seen with a gut) sat down next to us and started chatting us up. We eventually learned that his name was Michel, he was 46 years old, and that he was an airplane mechanic. It was about 5:15 at this point, so he decided that we need to have apertifs (alcoholic drinks usually reserved for happy hour or earlier in the evening). He bought us both something call “Get,” which was bright green and tasted like Listerine. It was scarcely bearable. Personally, having one of those was enough for me (actually, one sip was enough), but he ordered another round after we told him we didn’t want any more. So, I’ve learned that French men are often quite forward with foreign women (and this isn’t my only example) and that they are usually difficult to get rid of.

            I think that I’ve mentioned that there are two Swiss students staying with us this week. One of them is 16 and the other 15 and they will be here for two weeks. They are both very nice girls, as far as I can tell. Last night, they tried going out to a dance club, but couldn’t get in because they were too young. Then, this morning, Mme. told me that they told her that they want to talk me out tonight. That’s actually pretty clever of them. If they can get me and my friends to hang around them, they stand a better likelihood of getting into some of these places. I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going to indulge them.

            Something else I’ve learned about the French is that they cannot abide untidiness (that might just be my family though). If I have my school books on the table, Mme. makes me close my curtains so that the people across the street can’t look into our windows and see that things are untidy. Honestly! They aren’t really that interested in that. Mme. also had a breakdown this morning and got really upset because the Swiss girls aren’t keeping their room as tidy as she would like—which would be difficult because they are living out of suitcases, and have no drawers to put their things in. It’s a little ridiculous if you ask me.

First of all, I have two new posts, so be sure to look at those.

Secondly, I only have a set amount of GB that I can store on the blog at one time, so I’m going to gradually cycle through the pictures that I have up. In a couple of days I’m going to delete the pictures from Vaux le Vicomte so that I can make room for pictures on Les Journees du Patrimoine, and other pictures. So, make sure that you get a good look at them so that I can cycle the pictures though. Enjoy!

18 September 2007

            Yesterday was my first day of classes. I unfortunately have 4 and a half hours of class straight through, all the way from 1:30 to 6 pm. I’m not sure that I like having to stay in class until 6, but at least I got to use my morning productively. I went to my café, and got an orange juice and a croissant. Strangely enough, the orange juice came with sugar, as though I was supposed to put sugar in my orange juice. Weird. I didn’t try it.

            After that, N. and I went to the Musee du Moyen Age (the Museum of the Medieval Ages). It was very interesting because it was partly housed in the still standing remains of a Gallo-Roman bath-house, and partly in a medieval building. My favorite part was the tapestries La Dame et la Licorne (the Lady and the Unicorn). The tapestries were enormous, but so beautifully detailed that you could see the individual hairs in the unicorn’s tail. There were also a lot of everyday objects, like shoelaces and jewelry, that were fun to look at, and also some absolutely amazing woodwork.

            Afterwards we got pizza for lunch. A very French thing to do is get an egg on your pizza, like an egg over easy. N. decided to try one of these interesting concoctions, but when she got her pizza, the egg was still mostly raw. She wasn’t sure if the egg was supposed to be raw or not, and it’s offensive in France to send your food back without trying it, so she started eating it. After she was about a third of the way through the pizza, the cook, who could see our table from his kitchen/fire pit, noticed that she was swirling her egg around on her pizza. Obviously, it meant that the egg was not cooked, so he apologized and took it back so it could cook it more. N. later said that the raw egg on pizza wasn’t that bad, but I’m not sure that I believe her.

            Anyway, I had three classes yesterday. The first was a French Culture class, in French. The second was a course on the European Union, in English, and the third was a course in French Theatre, in French. I found it rather amusing that in my classes I have one American teacher teaching in French, one French teacher teaching in English, and two French teachers teaching in French, and one American teacher teaching in English. Quite a mix.  Anyway, I’m going to read 4 plays in French for my theater class, and I get to go see all of those plays, so that’s pretty interesting. In my other French class, I have a semester (I believe) to get through a 150 page novel in French. So, it should be interesting to see how I do. The EU class was funny just because the teacher (who is French teaching in English) seemed to think that American students don’t know anything about European history. She put a projection of an unlabeled map of Europe up on the board and challenged us to name the countries that we knew. We did quite well with Western Europe, but Eastern and Central Europe were a bit harder. So, I think we proved that we aren’t completely ignorant on that score. The only class I have yet to take is my Art and Architecture course, and that is starting in about half an hour, so I should be able to update everyone on that soon.

            My host family has also agreed to host two high school students from Switzerland for two weeks (ages 15 and 16) so it should be interesting to see what it’s like with 8 people in the apartment, since we can only fit 6 people at the kitchen table at one time. Fortunately, I get to keep my room all to myself, and the Swiss girls are sleeping on little beds in the living room. The apartment has quite an array of languages now—French, German, and English. Mostly we speak in Franglais.

16 September 2007

            Here’s a good anecdote. Today I’ve mostly just been relaxing, and I went into the kids’ room to explore their book collections. To my great joy, I found the book La Belle et le Clochard (the Lady and the Tramp in French, based off of the Disney movie). I started reading it, and it followed the plot line of the movie quite well until after that famous scene at the Italian restaurant where they’re eating at different ends of the same piece of spaghetti. Anyway, after that, the book went on to say that “Tramp drank too much Italian wine, and so did Lady” (rough translation). Hilarious! The French do love their wine!

After I finished reading La Belle et le Clochard, Mr. took me and He. (my host sister) and J. (my host brother and He.’s twin) to le Musee du Barreau (the lawyer museum). It was fairly interesting, but we were with a tour and the tour guide gave entirely too much information. The tour could have been much shorter and thereby much more interesting. I liked being able to see some of the documents from Louis XVI’s trial and Marie Antionette’s trial, and also from the Dreyfus Affair. That was fairly interesting. After that, I went to the American Cathedral in Paris for a 6 pm service, which was quite nice.