July 27, 2012

J'HABITE EN VAUJOURS (I live in Vaujours)

"Go now knowing where. Bring-- not knowing what. The path is long, the way unknown."
     -- Russian fairy tale

I shall go backwards in my week, but never in my life. It is the weekend.  The days are flying by and the week past was productive.  I was able to finalize my plans for my trip to Northern Ireland in September; I will blog more about that later.  I familiarized myself with things here in the apartment and did a little housekeeping and laundry.  I hope to orient myself so that I can do these things very quickly and all at the same time.

The flat is nice and it is quiet; it is on the third floor, which in France is the second floor (deuxieme etage) as the first floor is the rez-de-chaussee. (I cannot make the accent marks unless I use the MAC computer here; the keyboards in France are different so when you want to type an a or a w you don't get that and you can find the letters with accent marks when you try).  I will try to work on all of that later.

Yesterday (vendredi) I went into the city on the train, to have a stroll and a look around.  I picked the hottest day, of course; everyone was fanning themselves on the way in. Women here do not wear shorts, only young girls. On this hot day most women had on jeans or capris and shirts with sleeves or some with long sleeves.  I knew this and wore my capris.   The station I now am familiar with is St. Michel-Notre Dame; I wanted take a walk or take the metro to the museum and walk back to the station.  I could not find the yellow line to transfer for two stops, so I asked a woman standing waiting if she knew how to find that line. Rather than answering, she said that she would come with me, so she did! We learned that the stop for the D'Orsay is closed, so I decided it would be  a nice walk along the river there and she came along with me to the exit for Rue St. Michel.  I was so surprised by her taking time to do this and apologized for taking her time.  She told me that she wants visitors to her country to enjoy it and she is happy to help. Her son is going to California in one day; she showed me where she lives on my map of the city.  I have been so astounded by the desire to help me of everyone I meet. We said goodbye, and she seemed a bit sad that she couldn't come with me.

I was going to spend this afternoon "wandering" or as a friend calls it "being parapatetic."  I am very enchanted by the fountain in the square right before the river, I think it is the Fountain de St. Michel; I did not have the camera as I just wanted to stroll. About halfway to the d'Orsay, it started to sprinkle.  I did not have an umbrella with me and there I turned around, thinking if I walked toward the station, I could "wander" near there without an umbrella.

A few blocks before, I came upon a wonderful restaurant, Pizza Marzano, where about fifteen different pizzas were offered. I could not pass by. I asked for an outside table, and thought it would be charming just watching the people go by. Until the pizza arrived, it was raining more, so my waiter (most charming) seated me just inside facing out.  I told him I wished I could have stayed outside and he said, "almost outside" which was true.  I could watch the people with their umbrellas (how did they happen to have one with them?)  I learned from a man in the tour shop that an umbrella is "le parapluie."  I made him laugh when I said, "Not a parachute?"   One of my new words I learned on the street.

This pizza was truly the best pizza I have ever eaten; it was chicken with vegetables; the crust was thin, not like at Pizza Hut, you could never eat it with your fingers. Of course I ordered a glass of their house chardonnay to go with. My wonderful waiter also asked if I wanted water (de l'eau) and brought me a bottle at no charge.  I was very thirsty so both the water and the wine went down well. I think in France you have to say that you would like water as they don't bring it automatically (and I haven't seen ice anywhere at all).
I wanted to know if the tip was included and asked my waiter (I think it may have been included in the price, I need to find out); he told me that you can say, "Pour boire,?" which goes back to olden times about drinking.

Across the street I saw a store that looked wonderful, with books and office supplies, so here I found a few things I had been looking for. Then back to the train station, where I only had to wait a few minutes before my train left for Vert Galant (this is something about Henry IV,  and the fact that he was a Romeo).  I had expected the train to be crowded as it was going into the weekend, but it was not. When we reached my station, I walked home (25 minutes) as it was no longer raining, even though it was very humid.  As I arrived at my door, the neighbors downstairs, Marian and Cyril, were out on their patio having Happy Hour and kindly invited me to join them, so I got to meet her parents and sister.  They have an adorable child, Raphael, 10 mo. old, who is always smiling (at least when I see him) and a fat tabby cat named Nepal.  After drinking my Cervaza with Tequila, I dragged myself up the two flights of stairs and spent the rest of the evening trying to read more in the very strange book I am currently pursuing when I am here in the evenings, "This Book Will Save Your Life," an interesting piece of fiction that does not require thought. I did not get far into in and could hardly keep my eyes open, so I called it a day.

I spent some time earlier in the week getting used to my surroundings, organizing all of files and my "stuff" I brought with me, and finalizing my plans for the Northern Ireland visit in September.  I walked to the supermarket (marche) near the train station which is mid-size; a woman customer was adamant that she must find for me the price of strawberries, which had no price.  Successful in this, I then searched the store for tofu, as I use it a lot in stir fry, etc.  I didn't see it and asked a clerk about it; she looked very puzzled until I said "soy protein" whereupon she led me to the soy sauce; that was a good guess.  I then tried to draw a picture of a box of tofu complete with cut slices and the word, tofu.  She looked happy at that point and looked at me to say, "Oh, it's for your dog."    So no tofu there.

I then proceeded to the bus stop which I thought was mine (#619).  The bus was running but no one was there. The driver showed up and I asked him if he went to Vaujours and he said that he did, so I boarded with my rather heavy bag of food and off we went towards Vaujours.  After awhile I went to him (as the bus swayed through the streets) and told him I needed to go to General deGaulle Blvd. (near the center of town). He looked at me and said he didn't go there and I would need to take a taxi.  I kept repeating the stop near my new home and he looked as if I had gotten on the bus from another planet.  Finally, a man sitting near the front jumped up and said to him, "Yes, you go there" and the driver looked at him the same way, at which point I could see we were nearing the street I had mentioned to him.  So I got off a few blocks sooner than what I really wanted and toted the groceries home in my arms.  I will not ever get on a bus again unless I know exactly where it is going, and have now learned that the bus that stops right in front of my street is the #642.     I think I could spend my time more productively. I am thankful that bus is not still speeding away with me careening back and forth.

July 28, 2012
I MEET THE NEIGHBORS

I decided to go for my walk in the park before dinner; it was a nice day after Friday's humidity.  As I went out, the next door neighbors, very next door, who have been on Holiday ever since I arrived, were in the doorway, so I met them and they invited me in for a glass of wine, and we got to know each other in a conversation consisting of part French and part English (I call this new language Franglais).  The couple's names are Jean Philippe and Karine; their daughter, Marie Claire if almost ten, and their friend Christope was there also.

As I was preparing to leave, they invited me to go to dinner with them and off we went to a Chinese restaurant in the very next town. We ordered the buffet, and it was fabulous; I have never been to such a wonderful place in a long time. We also had a little cocktail made of fruit juice, it was quite good. I haven't eaten ice cream in about a year, but I couldn't resist all of the flavors.  We were there for three hours, as we continued out Frenglais conversation. Jean Philippe is a policeman and I gather has a lot of responsibility. Karine stays home with her children (the other child is a son who is 16; he was not at home that evening). I told them I will have them for dinner some evening, which is quite scary to me since I haven't even turned the oven on yet (or tried).  But I can navigate the burners perfectly (I think). Food seems to cook faster here than at home.  Arriving home, I read for awhile and ended up going to sleep at 2 a.m.  In any case, it was a very nice evening.

July 30, 2012

CHILLING OUT

Today I did some laundry and housekeeping duties--the weather is perfect, about 70 degrees, a mixture of clouds and sun, just what I would have ordered during our heat wave in Colorado recently.  On Sunday (yesterday) I walked in the park for about two hours and met some new animal friends--horses, goats, deer and more ducks.  I learned that all ducks are not canard as I had thought, only certain ducks.  In the evening it was nice to talk to my family.  The library is closed this week for Holiday and I suspect one day I will wake up and the whole town will have gone to sleep (was it Brigadoon where this occurred?)  I will try more posts soon.