Dear Friends,
Its blog time again! Where does all my time go, honestly? Fear not, this one is MUCH shorter than last round. I cannot have crazy adventures all the time. I do have a job after all.
The past two weeks have mostly been back to business as usual, which is nice. It is always funny to think of how routine living in a foreign country has become.
In true Monica fashion, I took only four days off from traveling after February vacation. (I do have a tendency to run myself ragged). Gina, Viola, and I spent a weekend in the city of Nantes. Nantes is located in the Western part of France. It was at one time, the largest port city in all of France. It was also ravaged by the French Revolution and occupied by the Nazis.
Modern Stained Glass
More modern stained glass
One of the statues on the tomb of Francois II, Duke of Bretagne located in the cathedral.
We did some wandering in the morning, which included stumbling across a small tranquil garden that would not have been out of place in Japan. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Pierre, which was built over the course of the last millennium (it had some trouble with funds and fires apparently). It was interesting, the later builders tried to preserve the gothic feel. However, I am not sure how I feel about the modern stained glass windows. They are interesting, but I definitely prefer the older varieties.
We visited the Chateau of the Dukes of Brittany (Brittany was a province later absorbed into France properly), which was home to Anne of Bretagne, who was TWICE the Queen of France (she queen and was widowed, and was then forced to marry her husband’s successor). The Chateau itself was small, and though it was interesting to walk the ramparts, it was a little disappointing, that was until we found the museum.
Lovely lady from a ship's prow, also in the Nantes Museum.
The Museum was ENDLESS and chronicled the entire history of Nantes, which is quite interesting. Nantes was once a major player in the slave trade. The museum was chronological, and I found the history to be quite similar to New England, or it struck me as such, just from the development of international trade, to the Revolution, and the industrial revolution (they also had a nice collection of eighteenth century flint locks that made my long for some musket time). It was very cool to see pretty much the entire history of France through the eyes of one town.
The Nantes Elephant
The Elephant in motion. This was rather scary actually, cool, but scary.
Viola and her "steed."
Serpentine Monster with its riders.
The scary light fish (like in Finding Nemo) that Viola helped pilot.
Since we were in the area, we decided to take in the museum, and it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen; all sorts of animatronics and complicated machines. Apparently they are building a large series of rides, which will one day be a theme park. The machines are created by teams consisting of engineers, carpenters, artists, etc. The staff did all sorts of demonstrations, and Viola and I were even chosen to participate. Most of the machines will be part of almost an under-the-sea Merry Go Round. The cool thing about the machines is that they are interactive, and require audience participation, we were told what levers to pull or buttons to push (Viola even had to pedal). It was fascinating. I guess I will have to come back next year for the grand opening.
"Supprime" means cancelled, and "Retard probable" means delay likely. Together they mean: big trouble.
The next day we left Nantes early to visit Saumur on our way back to Bourges. Little did we know, we signed ourselves up for quite an adventure. Unbeknownst to us, during the night, central France was hit with a windstorm, the likes of which has not been seen for 20 years. So our initial train was delayed, but this happens frequently, and thus we had no cause to suspect anything was amiss. However, our train reached as far as Angers (about half-way between Nantes and Saumur) and stopped. Apparently during the night trees had fallen on the train tracks and cut the electricity on the way down. So in Angers, after quite a bit of falderal, we were put on a bus to Saumur. (The SNCF did not really seem to know what to do with the situation and we did end up just standing around for about an hour).
Chateau de Saumur
Can't you just imagine Rapunzel hanging her hair out one of those towers?
We finally arrived in Saumur by bus, only to find that no trains were leaving Saumur either (but we had a layover to see the town so we hoped trains would start running before we needed to head home). Saumur is a sleepy little town on the Loire river which is home to (like so many little towns in the Loire Valley) a chateau. The Chateau was on top of a hill overlooking the town. It was very beautiful, very much like a castle in a fairytale. We knew in advance that it was closed (the tourist season has not really begun yet), but we hiked up the hill to get a closer look anyways. It was very pretty.
We spent the rest of the day wandering Saumur and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. It is starting to seem like we are moving towards spring over here. Occasionally we get a very cold morning, but it seems like most days are dawning sunny and warmer, which is very nice. I even heard a lawn mower and smelled cut grass the other morning.
Anyways, when we returned to the Saumur station, we did manage to catch a train, but not to Bourges. We had to go to Tours. From Tours, we were transferred to another train which was headed to Paris, we didn’t quite get all the way to Paris before we had to change trains AGAIN. This time we were headed to Vierzon (which is about 20km from Bourges), where we finally caught one last train home. It was rather a nightmare. I half expected to be routed through Belgium before the trip was over. So in one day we were on five different trains, and an unscheduled bus. Allegedly, the SNCF will reimburse us for 66% of the ticket value, but with how efficient the French can be, I will probably be back in the states before any vouchers are sent out.
Our UFO's (we think they might have come from a construction site)
Holy Roof, Batman!
And when I got back home, there was more news… During the storm, four huge pieces of metal had assaulted my house and busted a sizeable hole in my roof, which caused a bit of a problem on Monday night when it started raining. The firemen had come to patch it, but had done a terrible job, so I ended up with a bit of flooding in my room. Never a dull moment, folks.
Raclette
Raclette Apparatus
Monday night was a traditional supper night. This time I actually decided to cook something French. I made a raclette (Raah-clette), which really does not require much “making.” Raclette is a very traditional French family meal. You boil a bunch of small potatoes. And then you take the raclette apparatus. Everyone has their own little “frying pan” and you use the apparatus to melt Raclette cheese (it melts like mozzarella and velveta, but tastes more like Swiss) and you pour the melted cheese on to your potatoes and eat it with cold cuts. It’s very good, and very French.
I’ve done a bit of culinary concocting this week, mostly aided and abetted by my local produce supplier. He is starting to get in some very nice looking fruits and veggies (another herald of spring). I love shopping here (when I have the time and money to skip the supermarket). I love going to the fruit and vegetable guy for my fruits and veggies. He is always very knowledgeable and friendly, and picks the best avocadoes, best tomatoes, and the freshest mangoes. I love this old-world specialization. Granted, it takes more time, and can be a little more expensive, but the products I get from the fruit and veggie guy are far and away better than anything you would ever get a Shaw’s. Not to mention, if you ask for expertise at Shaw’s you are more likely to get a high school kid who is earning minimum wage to buy a new iPod than someone who is intimately familiar with the nuances of fresh produce.
Speaking of specialization, I even sought the aid of a cobbler this week. I could not tell you where you could find a real cobbler anywhere in New England (my apologies to my reenactor readers); I know of two in Bourges. Over Christmas my suitcase broke. The retractable handle snapped clear off, which would make it very difficult to move all of my belongings home. I was (after quite liberal use of the “Angry Phone Voice”) able to get a replacement handle from the company, but the damn thing is riveted to the suitcase, and seeing as I left all my Rosie the Riveter gear in the US, I was pretty helpless. So I went to the cobbler, and he fixed it lickety split, and for a great price. Having shoes resoled here seems very common place, as he was very busy and had piles of shoes everywhere. I guess I like the idea of there still being craftsmen here. Everyday on my way to school I pass a woman who repairs leather (bags, jackets, etc.), her big sewing machine can be seen through the window. I know there are still craftsmen in the US, but here they are more manifest, and much more utilized. In the US, it seems to me, if your boots wore out, you would chuck them and buy new ones, here, you just get them resoled. I guess in the US we are more of a: “if it’s broke, don’t bother fixing it, its easier and cheaper to replace it.”
Last Friday, we celebrated Gina’s 21st birthday, which here has little significance. It was funny to think of a European 21st birthday. Imagine, they’ve been drinking since their teens. We had great fun celebrating anyways, but it was nice to have the pressure of a huge drink-fest off. Gina says in England they think of 21 as the bridge into adulthood. I think I like that better than “WOOOOOOOOO!!!! I can go get drunk!” Overall, the French are much more casual about alcohol. One day, a couple of weeks ago, I ate lunch at school, and I partook of the cafeteria (which was ok, slightly better than your average American public school cafeteria). The teachers had a special room off to the side where we could eat, and I just about fell over when they popped open a bottle of wine and started sharing it. Apparently this is perfectly acceptable. Can you imagine what would happen if teachers were drinking wine during lunch in an American Middle School????? (I am 98% certain that the world would in fact, end).
But back to Gina’s birthday: she decided not to be outdone by the Americans and the Germans, and she prepared a British dinner, with finger sandwiches (salmon and cucumber) to start, Sheppard’s pie, cheddar and stilton cheese, and scones, carrot cake, and tiffin for dessert. It was cool. She has been a very good sport about all of our ribbing about the Brits having the worst cuisine on this side of the world. As she described it, the French really look down on English food because it is generally basic, hearty food, and the French pride themselves on the gourmet nature of their dining.
On the subject of that job thing; school is going ok. I wish my kids would see me as more of a resource and make better use of me. They seem rather indifferent about a lot of the activities I try to do. For example, with my older kids, I am currently trying to work on the song “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. It’s a well-known American classic, it tells a story, it is fairly easy to understand, and there is a little bit of poetic license to chew through. But they seem so disinterested. I always loved when teachers brought music into a language class. Or with my younger kids, we are working on emotion vocabulary. I found that “How are you feeling today?” chart with the funny cartoon faces, and we are learning the vocabulary, and I want to try to do a Bingo Game with movie clips featuring the different emotions, but no one is biting. It is really frustrating. But, I guess since a lot of my colleagues don’t take me seriously, how can I expect the students to?
On the subject of frustration (one of the emotion word on my chart)… showing their further ineptitude in the realm of administration, I STILL do not have a Health Insurance card from the French government. They have sent me two successive letters asking for a copy of my birth certificate, my FRENCH birth certificate. They seem very upset when I do not comply with this simple request. “You must simply write to the prefecture where you were born and request a copy.” There is only one, teeny, tiny little problem: I WAS NOT BORN IN FRANCE! This concept seems beyond them. At this point, I fully expect my insurance card to arrive on May 5. Ugh.
In some ways the French are horrible in matters of administration and efficiency, but in some ways they have very effectively streamlined some public services. For example, if you walk into the Post Office, or the Prefecture (Town Hall Offices), or pretty much any other branch of the government that deals with the public directly, you are confronted by a little machine. This machine is usually equipped with a number of buttons with options. It asks, “Why are you here?” And you have to choose. It’s very efficient, so I don’t have to wait behind someone at the post office who is trying to mail 10,000 packages to Zimbabwe when I just want to buy stamps.
Another thing, and it was Anne who made me think of this. The French have gone completely Green in the sphere of grocery shopping. You HAVE to bring your own bags, otherwise you have to either juggle your purchases all the way home, or buy one there. This takes some getting used to, but overall, it works pretty well. I have a couple fabric shopping bags riding around in my over-size European-style purse, and that is great. But the French have gone one step further, they have eliminated the bagger thus reducing their carbon footprint by reducing the number of paychecks they need to print. You have to bag your own stuff, which is no big deal if you are buying just a bunch of bananas and a liter of milk. But if you are buying multiple things, you are expected to bag your groceries, and pay at the same time. If you are not fast enough, the cashier gets mad at you, and if you pay and then bag, he or she starts shoving the next person’s groceries down the line on top of yours crushing your kiwis whilst glaring at you in a most disapproving manner.
I have had a bit of time for quilting between school, adventures, and private lessons. I am almost finished with my first-ever commissioned job. I am not sure if I like the pattern, but it is what the “client” wanted. Between the two of us we came up with a design she liked. I am still not sure how I feel about commissioned quilt projects, but I made an exception here, because I was lacking in things to sew.
Today is apparently Women’s Day in France (it’s an international holiday, but this is the first I have heard of it). Apparently everyone is supposed to be extra-nice to women today. It is also a day to celebrate important woman in history.
I guess that is all for now (you’re getting off easy after the Great American Novel of last round). This weekend I am off to Bordeaux, the land of very fine wine. And the following weekend I HOPE to be going to Amsterdam, but we’ll see. I will keep you posted.
Until next time I remain your oft-complaining ever-traveling Francophile guide,
~Monica :o)
What a nice suprise! I wasn't expecting a post today! The quilt is kind of neat. How are you (or ARE you??) going to quilt it? As an engineer, Nantes looked VERY cool! Impressive machinery!! Too bad it's so difficult to get there (or actually to LEAVE there!!) Thanks again! Keep Blogging! It's awesome!!
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