Wednesday, July 30 and Thursday, July 31: Last class days

Today was final exams, marking the official end of the program. We have taken all the calendars, schedules, and maps off the office walls, and I left my key with Dr. Kirk. No more Institut Protestant de Théologie till next year. It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone. Tomorrow we go to Giverny & Val d'Oise, Saturday is a free day, and Sunday we go home. I am really eager to get home and yet I will miss Paris so much.

Last night I had a great dinner with a colleague at a restaurant in the 14th called La Cagouille. If you like seafood, this is your place. I had mussels as a starter (very good) followed by grilled mackerel (strong-tasting; either you will like it or you won't; I liked it) followed by a clafoutis (bread pudding-ish thing that frankly I did not care for). Desserts are obviously a bit of an afterthought so you can save yourself a few € by getting the 2-course set menu rather than the 3-course one. We also had champagne, which I always like. I think Mireille Giuliano is right: Champagne goes with everything!

After a French dinner (starts late, lasts a while) it was a little hard to get up for classes this morning but fortunately I got to leave the office early and come back to Cité U. for a nap. Minou (the cat I know as Jambon) was in the courtyard when I left this afternoon so I got to give him a farewell petting.

In the evening we celebrated the end of the program with snacks and photos at the Eiffel Tower.

My illustrious colleague, Dr. Kirk

Is there a more iconic symbol of a city?

I was guarding the bags and snacks during the group photo.

Prof. Pukis took the photo.

3 of the 5 MGSC students with Dr. Wengier and me

Time for bed. We leave for Giverny at 9 tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 29: Returning to the Musée Carnavalet

Some of my students in World Lit. expressed interest in the Musée Carnavalet, so today we went there as our last field trip for the course. It was my second time there (first visit, last summer, reported here) but the museum is extensive enough that I know I saw some things I had not seen before. The only downside of today's visit was that a good bit of the museum was closed for renovation. I was more disappointed for my students' sake than for my own, but they all enjoyed it regardless and reported that they had learned a lot. Tomorrow I am going to ask each person to share something specific that he or she learned. I also have my own interesting fact in reserve--but I'm saving it for tomorrow!

So the Carnavalet is in the Marais district, which has evolved over the centuries from an aristocratic neighborhood of hôtels particuliers to a Jewish quarter to a gay neighborhood. The first time I visited Paris (ten years ago!), the Marais was thought of as not being very touristy, but nowadays it sees its share of tourist traffic. In fact, the Marais itself represents a phenomenon that the Carnavalet illustrates: the ways in which Paris has changed and continues to change. Because Hausmann so radically reinvented the city starting in the mid-19th-century, it's easy to believe that Paris has always looked the way it looks now. Very little of medieval and Renaissance Paris remains. A lot of what one sees at the Carnavalet is paintings of the city in its earlier incarnations, restored rooms from various hôtels particuliers of the 18th century, and even archaeological findings from the days when the Romans lived here and called it "Lutetia." All in all it is a great education. I don't know whether I want to read a book on Parisian history to understand the Carnavalet better or just keep going to the Carnavalet until I understand the history of Paris better. Maybe both.

In addition to the Carnavalet, which is the museum of the history of Paris, it offers a lot of good shopping and a lot of good falafel. The famous L'As du Falafel restaurant is there; I like to be iconoclastic and hit the falafel stand across from L'As because the line is shorter. After the Carnavalet I enjoyed my falafel and went for a gelato at Amorino next to the Place de Vosges--gotta eat enough this week to give me good culinary memories to last a year, after all.

Meanwhile, I did take some pictures at the Carnavalet. Click through!

Monday, July 28: Bonus photos

Today was a regular teaching-and-meetings day, highlighted by the news that on our departure day we have to be ready to get on the bus at 2:45 a.m. TWO. FORTY. FIVE. Even if I write that French-style (2h45), it's still appalling. So let's just move on, shall we?

Saturday morning I visited the Musée Marmottan Monet but then didn't have a chance to post the pictures because other stuff came up. Both the building and the collections were donated to the Academie des Beaux-Arts on the deaths of their former owners, including, in the case of the Monet collection, Claude Monet's second son, Michel. People go for the Impressionist collections, of course, but there's also a room full of medieval illuminated manuscripts, and I probably spent the most time looking at those! It's a little off the beaten track, just off a garden called Ranelagh (a tribute to/imitation of the famous 18C English pleasure garden) via the metro stop La Muette on the #9 line. I did not know the neighborhood at all and thus was utterly flummoxed when a couple asked me if I knew where a grocery store was! They turned out to be German tourists so it was definitely the blind leading the blind. At least I redeemed myself today when someone asked me for directions in the metro. We were waiting for a southbound #4 train at Montparnasse-Bienvenue and a man wanted to know if that train would take him to Gare de l'Est. Having just done it on Saturday, I could confidently tell him that he'd need a northbound #4 to go to Gare de l'Est. I felt like a total Paris expert.

Anyway! Here, belatedly, are a few photos from around the Marmottan--none from inside the museum because they are not allowed. Click through . . .

Tour de France > Bastille Day

In the competition (which exists only in my mind) between major national events that happen on the Champs-Elysées, the Tour de France has won a decisive victory over the Bastille Day parade. Bastille Day was wonderful; don't get me wrong. But the Tour is less crowded and offers more of a relaxed, afternoon-party atmosphere. It's a lot easier to get there and get back because presidential-level security is not required. It is also a great cure for FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) because after the racers go by, you wait a few minutes, and they go by again. It was really fun! You can listen to the commentary on loudspeakers along the route, there's music playing from vans trying to sell you t-shirts, and everyone just walks around checking everything out until the first few cars show up on the route and it's time to get in place to cheer and take pictures. As a bonus they kicked off the first run up toward the Arc de Triomphe with a tricolo fly-over like they do on Bastille Day. Was not expecting that so it was some nice extra excitement!

So I watched the race some; I walked around some; I ate a crèpe (beurre & sucre); I looked at souvenirs. After it was over, I walked up to visit the Arc de Triomphe and took the rare opportunity to get a couple of photos of it with no people or cars in them. I also worked out how to photograph a bike race with (moderate and occasional) success:
1. Set the camera to take 3 pictures in a row each time you hit the shutter.
2. Frame your shot between the heads of people in front of you.
3. When they start cheering, hit the shutter as many times as you can as if it is the Jeopardy! buzzer.
4. Feel grateful for digital photography freeing you from the worry of "wasting film."

Here come the photos . . . How did I do?

Saturday, July 26: 11 hours in Strasbourg

(written on the train back to Paris this morning)

Yesterday, events required that one of the assistant directors go to Strasbourg, and I was given the honor (or drew the short straw, depending on your point of view). By the time arrangements were arranged, it was evening and I took the TGV at 6:55 to arrive there at 9:17. It was a beautiful ride through the countryside. The TGV trains are fantastic and the barman only teased me a little for not knowing what a café viennois was (coffee with whipped cream, FYI). 

I was not on a sightseeing mission but tried to at least look around as I did what needed doing. It seems like a beautiful and very friendly city. There are medieval-style half-timbered buildings and narrow shopping arcades and of course the famous cathedral (which honestly looked creepy in the dark). Being there on short notice and with no preparation meant that I kept throwing myself on the mercy of hotel clerks, bus drivers, and in one case a pharmacist to help me get around. Everyone was very cheerful and helpful. I am sorry I was not there long enough to enjoy the city but it is definitely on my list for next year. 

When my work was done (finally), I checked into the Ibis next to the Gare Central and got a short but high-quality night's sleep. The beds at Ibis are peculiar but magically comfortable, the place was quiet as a tomb, and the combination of air conditioning (probably superfluous, come to think of it) and a duvet knocked me out in seconds. 

It was hard to wake up and shower so I could get the train back to Paris but here I am riding in first class--not because I am fancy but because it was cheaper, oddly enough! 

Still hoping to go down to the Étoile this afternoon to see the Tour de France come in. 

Thursday, July 24: Where they make Brussels sprouts

Today I went with Dr. Scalera and her class to Brussels for the day. It only takes 80 minutes in the Thalys high-speed train to get there. I love trains! In the morning we visited the EU parliament building and the "Parliamentarium," which is a museum all about the EU parliament. Trust me: it's a lot cooler than it sounds. Dr. Guglielmi met up with us and escorted us to Chez Leon for a traditional lunch of moules frites (not "fried mussels" but "mussels and fries"), then in the afternoon we went to the chocolate museum (CHOCOLATE MUSEUM), saw the Mannikin Pis (because you have to), and bought souvenirs around the Grand Place. Brussels is gorgeous and I'm just sorry we couldn't stay longer and get to know it better. The day seemed to go by in a flash and now that I sit here thinking back on it I can't believe how many things we did.

On with the photos!

Friday, July 25: Pardon?

I am good at French and can me débrouiller (get by, solve problems, sort myself out) in a lot of situations. However, my listening comprehension fails me at odd moments because, unlike in English, I don't always know what's coming at me and thus cannot respond automatically. This phenomenon is difficult to describe. Think of all the interactions you have with people that require a response, but you've given that response so many times that you barely have to listen to the question before you give the answer. Of course, it's possible to be TOO automatic:
Store clerk: How are you doing today?
Customer: Just looking!

Person who knows it is your birthday: Happy birthday!
You: Thanks, you too!

These are the kinds of interactions I'm talking about, especially the ones that happen in the world of retail where the clerk has to say the same thing 1,000 times per day and thus says it very quickly, not very clearly, and without necessarily looking straight at you. Here are a few that I've collected:

"Sur place ou emporter ?"
This phrase means "For here or to go?" and will be asked of you right after you place an order, anywhere "to go" is an option. Bonus: even in small cafés that mostly do takeout business, you will sometimes get real cups and saucers instead of paperware if you are having your coffee sur place.

"Vous avez le 0,05€ ?"
"Do you have the 5 cents?" This one happened to me this morning. I was buying something that cost 7,05€ with a 10€ note and the lady asked if I had 5 cents so she could give me back 3€. Unfortunately she asked me while looking down into her cash drawer and I had to ask her to repeat herself. People like it when you can faire l'appoint (make exact change), which I am almost always too lazy to do.

"Avez-vous une carte de fidelité ?"
"Do you have a loyalty card?" Just like in the U.S., businesses here have rewards cards, shopper's cards, whatever you want to call them. I am always asked this at Carrefour, so I've gotten used to it. Sometimes (usually not at Carrefour where the cashiers are in a hurry) you will be offered one. I usually say "Non, merci; je n'habite pas ici." (No, thanks; I don't live here.")

I think it's strange that I can answer complicated questions ("What are you doing here in Paris?") more readily than simple ones ("Do you want a small or a large?"). Language acquisition is a curious phenomenon.

Wednesday, July 23: . . .

Don't worry; Wednesday was perfectly fine. But, all things considered, let's just move on, shall we?

Tuesday, July 22: "Que le paix et le salut soient sur Lui"

Today my World Lit. class took its field trip to the Grande Mosquée and the Arènes de Lutèce. The mosque is beautiful with "Hispano-Mauresque" architecture, mosaic tiles, and calligraphy everwhere. We had this very kind tour guide named Yamina who explained what the different rooms in the mosque were used for and at the same time explained a lot of the basics of Islamic beliefs and rituals. For instance, I did not know (or maybe had forgotten) that the 5-pointed star represents the 5 pillars of Islam. I did know that when Muslims say the name of the prophet Muhammad they follow it by saying a little blessing for him, but I did not know how to say it in French. Now I do, for which please see the title of this post. The tour was entirely in French so I was on translator duty. I think I mostly did well! One thing I am learning is that the person being translated also needs to know how to work with a translator. Yamina was very easy to understand but sometimes she'd tell us a LOT of information and I'd have to try to keep it all in my brain and roll it back out in English. In any case, we learned a lot at the mosque and I was happy to have this new experience. We were allowed to take pictures, which I was not sure about going in, so that was exciting as well.

From the mosque we went to the Arènes de Lutèce, which is right around the corner. It's the other ancient Roman ruins site in Paris in addition to the Thermes de Cluny (now part of the Musée du Moyen-Age). It is an amphitheatre that was built around the first century C.E. and was, as such things frequently are, almost demolished to make way for new construction. To be honest, it isn't much to look at but for an American it's exciting just to visit something that survives from so long ago. I wanted the class to be able to say they had been there!

Afterward we returned to the mosque, which has a café adjoining it, and we made a record amount of couscous, lamb, sausage, chicken, and vegetables disappear in a very short while. Memo to my students: now, if someone asks you if you like North African food, you can say yes! And hot mint tea with sugar--that went down very nicely on what felt to Southerners like a slightly chilly day.

This afternoon after we got back I made a run to Gibert Jeune (huge bookstore with a great stationery section as well), grabbed 2 more Pierre Lemaitre books and a used copy of Notre-Dame de Paris (i.e. The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and ran across a question-and-answer book of Paris trivia called Connaissez-Vous Paris? (Do You Know Paris?) so I grabbed that as well. Someone remind me not to buy any more books here. This makes 6!

Photos after the jump!

Monday, July 21: Woodshedding

Mondays are typically the busiest day of the week for the program but also the least exciting to blog about. Here's how my day went yesterday:

8:30-10:30 a.m.: Taught my class (World Lit. I) about the Qur'an, which was new for me and extremely interesting.
10:30-11:30 a.m.: Meeting with Dr. Guglielmi and Dr. Kirk to debrief the Chantilly trip and plan for next year.
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Ate a sandwich while reading/writing email and working on a new documentation form.
12:30-1:00 p.m.: Faculty meeting.
1:00-3:00 p.m.: Worked (or, some of the time, "worked") in the office--graded assignments, answered more email, helped students print train tickets for the coming weekend.
3:00-5:00 p.m.: Finished up two meeting agendas, some program evaluation questions, and a leftover cookie from lunch. Also ran to the post office.
5:00-6:00 p.m.: Weekly program meeting with entire student body, followed by Q&A, locking up the building, and heading out.
6:30 p.m.: Dinner and some conversation with Prof. Pukis about photography.
8:00-10:30 p.m.: Personal email, call Mom & Dad, tidy up, a bit more work email, Facebook, and BED.

Gotta get up for another adventure tomorrow!

Sunday, July 20: Une grande flânerie

This morning I wanted to get out early and go over the route for my Tuesday field trip a second time. The first time I psyched myself out thinking that getting off at a different metro stop would be "better" when in fact it made my destination much harder to find. Lesson learned: Just do it the way everyone else does! The 5th arrondissement is very pleasant and peaceful at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday. On the side streets you could hear people's televisions and radios playing softly out their open windows, the window boxes were blooming, and the weather was very mild. I got to the Grand Mosquée quickly, noted the directions in detail, and walked from there to the Arènes de Lutèce. There I was surprised to see the Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris playing 7-a-side soccer. The game looked quasi-official: they were all wearing matching t-shirts and one team had on fluorescent vests to distinguish them from the other. Maybe there is a Sapeurs-Pompiers league and they were scrimmaging?

Leaving the soccer game behind, I smelled fresh baked goods and followed my nose to a boulangerie for a chausson aux pommes--croissant-type pastry dough with applesauce filling, my new favorite pastry. At the boulangerie an American lady was ordering about 6 pastries and 4 cups of coffee. I wondered where she was going to take them, and how, and whether I should tell her that if she's going to order quantities by holding up fingers she should learn the French way of doing it: thumb first, then fingers--an American "2" is likely to look like a French "3," not that extra croissants are a bad thing.

I put my pastry in my bag (poor choice; it got crushed and made my wallet a bit greasy) for the metro ride to my next destination, viz. the vicinity of Notre Dame where I was trying to find a souvenir to send my my beloved Daniel. Due to circumstances, I have an unused "Postexport" envelope, which is a prepaid bubble-wrap envelope that you can use to send something under 250g anywhere in the world. I knew what I wanted to send because I saw it before but didn't buy it on the spot, so I sort of had to wrack my memory to work back to the right souvenir shop. On the way I slid through Notre Dame cathedral thinking I would attend Mass, but it was 11:00 and the next Mass was the international mass at 11:30, which already promised to be packed. I did learn, however, that when a Mass is upcoming the cathedral staff opens a separate entrance for those going to Mass rather than just visiting the cathedral. Pro tip: there is nothing other than fear of divine retribution (or the possibility of spoiling it for everyone) to stop you from using the Mass entrance and then visiting the cathedral instead.

From souvenir-buying and not-Mass-attending, I walked past the Hôtel de Ville (where the FNAC Festival was already sound-checking at noon for an 8 p.m. start time) to the Centre Pompidou and cruised that area a bit. I went completely around my elbow and kept ending up at Arts & Métiers when I was trying to go to the Place de Vosges. Finally I got fed up and took the metro to Bastille partially just to have a chance to sit down. It turned out to be a good choice--or happy accident--because I discovered the big street market that takes place at Bastille on Saturdays (and Thursdays, the Internet tells me). I could have walked out of there with fish, produce, jewelry, scarves, olives, a marinère, pork chops, men's socks, a new bra, and a fedora. Oh, and some Marseillaise soap.

But I exercised restraint and arrived in the Place de Vosges at last, where gelato was duly ordered and consumed. All due respect to Berthillon ice cream but I go out of my way for Amorino gelato instead. It was a pretty afternoon but some forbidding clouds were piling up. As I walked through the Marais, which was thronging, it started to rain. I stopped into a couple of stores (Lush has been calling my name) but got worried that the skies would really open up. I returned to the Hôtel de Ville, got back on the metro, and was back to home base around the time our students started getting out and about for the afternoon. Talked to Daniel on Skype, worked on my class for tomorrow, answered some email, ate dinner, and soon enough it will be time for bed. Where do the days go?

Click through for pics--I took a few with my phone.

Saturday, July 19: Chantilly

Fun language fact: in French, whipped cream is called "Chantilly" (pronounced something like "shawn-tee-yee") because it was supposedly invented, or at least popularized, at the dairy on the Chantilly estate. If you are not into castles, gardens, horses, art, books, or military history, you should go to Chantilly just to have whipped cream at the source. However, if you are like me and you enjoy at least 4 out of those 6 other things, you can skip the whipped cream and have plenty of other stuff to look at instead. Chantilly is the château-turned-museum that was passed down from Anne de Montmorency to Henri II de Montmorency to the Grand Condé (Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé), destroyed in the French Revolution, and ultimately rebuilt and donated to the Institut de France by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale. The Duke insisted that the artwork remain as he had hung it and not be rearranged within the château, sold, or loaned to other museums. So, for instance, if you want to see Raphael's "Three Graces," you have to come to Chantilly.

The château also features a library of thousands of printed books, several hundred incunabula, and about 300 medieval manuscripts including Les très riches heures of the Duc du Berry (sadly, only a facsimile of the latter work is displayed in order to preserve the condition of the original). Chantilly also features the Great Stables (the Grand Condé thought he would be reincarnated as a horse, and built accordingly), a hamlet (faux-rustic village as at Versailles) and a Le Nôtre-designed garden. In short, Chantilly checks all my boxes. My only regret is that I didn't get to spend more time there: 4 hours including a relaxed café lunch with one of our students. I took a good walk through the château and got lots of pictures inside and out, but did not make it to the hamlet and our tickets did not cover the Great Stables. However, as I've been telling our students, you have to believe that you will come back and hold some things in reserve for the next trip.

So . . . who wants to see some photos? Click through! Actually, get a sandwich and then click through. There are a LOT of pictures.

Friday, July 18: Cultural experiences are everywhere.

It's been quiet-ish on this blog this week because I have been busy handling some problems that students were having, and for obvious reasons of privacy I can't say much about the specifics. But I have been thinking about it and I feel okay saying that I've accompanied students to the doctor's office two days in a row, so now I know what at least one Parisian doctor's office is like and what at least one Parisian doctor (we'll call him Dr. Garnier because that's his name) is like. When students need to go to the doctor, one of us assistant directors always goes with him/her, mostly for translation purposes. It would likely be possible to find an English-speaking doctor but the program has worked with the same cabinet medical for a few years and they have been great about same-day appointments and generally giving good care, so we do this instead.

However, yesterday we could not get an appointment with the regular doctor till late evening--it is summer and everyone, including doctors, is taking vacations. We wanted to be seen sooner if possible so I did some digging and found a cabinet that takes walk-ins. One of the regular doctors there is at least nominally Anglophone but he was (guess what) on vacation, so we saw Dr. Garnier, the replacement. The office was very bare-bones compared to what we are used to at home: no front desk, no receptionist, no nurses, just a waiting room, a couple of exam rooms, and presumably a couple of other spaces. Everything was perfectly clean and nice but not at all fancy. No TV in the waiting room (thank God, says this blogger), no paintings on the exam room walls.

Since it was all walk-ins, Dr. Garnier would escort the previous patient out and stick his head into the waiting room to ask who was next. When it was our turn we went into the exam room and he took the patient's name and date of birth, then asked about the problem. He asked lots of questions, explained things really well, and probably spent 20-30 minutes with us each time I was there. He did not automatically do the routine things that a nurse or medical assistant does at every single appointment I've ever been to back home like take the patient's weight or blood pressure. I don't know if that's because he was flying solo or if it's always like that. He asked about symptoms and then did only what needed to be done based on what the patient told him.

At the end he printed out a prescription and also gave us a form that we will turn in to our insurance (special coverage that students get as part of the program package, to cover them while abroad) but I think is normally used for something to do with France's national health care system. The office visit was 23€. Twenty-three euro! At the current exchange rate that's $31.11. Not much more than a lot of people's co-pays. I wonder if he still gets paid something by the national system for seeing foreign patients who pay at the time of the visit? Prescriptions were also very inexpensive.

Both students who saw Dr. Garnier said he was very nice, and I agree. He explained the diagnosis and treatment thoroughly and he was conscientious about speaking slowly (and using small words when necessary) so that we could understand him. To be honest I also thought the atmosphere of the office was nice. It was less polished and "professional" than a lot of doctor's offices but it was quiet and not bustling with a million staff members and phones ringing off the wall. Even as walk-ins we waited less than I've often waited for appointments, and there was no fooling around with waiting in the waiting room, then going into an exam room where the nurse takes your blood pressure and then you wait another 15 minutes (especially annoying at the gynecologist, where you wait another 15 minutes while wearing a paper smock).

So, to sum up: A+++, would go to the doctor again except I hope we don't have to. Everybody wash your hands regularly, eat healthy, and get some sleep!

Wednesday, July 16 and Thursday, July 17: Day at the office

I pass over these two days in relative silence as I was mostly
(a) teaching.
(b) tending to issues I can't discuss in detail for confidentiality reasons.
(c) preparing next week's field trip, which I will post about when it happens.

I also made a multiple-choice quiz today; can you tell?

It is hot in Paris today, folks. I got sunburned scouting my field trip and I've drunk a ton of water today.

Relative to (b) I can tell you that I am getting better and less terrified about speaking French on the phone due to repeated, forced exposure and practice. Today I had to take down phone numbers someone was giving me, which is like a pop quiz. French phone numbers look like this:

01 44 37 16 93

You don't say the individual digits like Americans do; instead, you read them like this: zero one, forty-four, thirty-seven, sixteen, ninety-three. Except ninety-three in French is quatre-vingt-treize, "four twenties and thirteen."  An additional problem is that I don't know the number to my "official" phone. It is taped to the back of the phone on a piece of paper (because I am quatre-vingt years old, apparently) but that's no good when I'm making a call on that phone and someone asks for the number. Luckily, in 2014, it seems to be the case that not knowing your own phone number is relatively normal.

Tomorrow may be more of the same as today and yesterday. I'll try to rustle up some good photos or amusing anecdotes to share. Maybe "Jambon" (the cat at our classroom building! He is still around since last year! I was so happy to see him.) will be around tomorrow. Every blog needs kitty pics, right?

Tuesday, July 15: Musée du Quai Branly and Paris Opera Ballet (now with 100% fewer strikes!)

Tuesday was a huge day. In the morning I took my class to the Musée du Quai Branly, "the museum where cultures dialogue." It's a large museum focused on non-European art and artifacts and some innovative temporary exhibitions. One of the current ones is on tattoos and tattoo artists and that was incredibly cool to see. I did not get to spend enough time at the Quai Branly and would like to go back if time permits. I think the students liked it as well--if nothing else it's a nice break from marble statues and Impressionism. They came up with smart things to say about the stuff that they saw and the values that multiple cultures seem to have in common. It turns out that everybody is interested in birth, death, marriage, and social standing. Not a surprise but I'm glad they noticed!

In the evening I went with Dr. Kirk's Music Appreciation class to see Roland Petit's ballet Notre Dame de Paris at the Opéra Bastille. I hadn't been to the Bastille before, only the Garnier. If the Garnier is the old world, the Bastille is the new. It reminded me of the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. And then the dancing started and I could barely sit still, it was so good. Modern-ballet choreography performed with all the precision and technical expertise the Paris Opera Ballet has to offer. Amandine Albisson danced Esmerelda and of course she was wonderful, strong and light and beautiful (she looks a little like Eva Green to me). It seems like a difficult character to play as she is almost always reacting rather than acting, but her dancing was beautiful and so were her interactions with the other characters. There was a touching moment when Quasimodo (Karl Paquette) is holding her, asleep, across his arms and swings her like a pendulum--recalling the bells of Notre Dame, surely--ever so gently down to the floor. I actually had tears in my eyes! As a bonus, Yves St. Laurent, my current obsession, designed the costumes. I can't say that this ballet entirely made up for missing Robbins/Ratmansky . . . but it came close.

After the jump, pics from the Quai Branly. No pics from the ballet because they are not allowed. You'll have to come and see for yourself.

Monday, July 14: Bastille Day!

Today is France's national holiday, commemorating the storming of the Bastille in 1789. It is celebrated with a military parade on the Champs-Elysées, which I attended this morning, and with fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, which I am avoiding like the plague this evening.

The parade is not an American parade with floats and bands; it is a formal military parade with tanks and horses. All the same, it is exciting and draws enormous crowd. I took a lot of pictures--in fact, I think I went mostly for the photo opportunities. Click through and see if I did a good job! Don't forget that you can click the pictures to enlarge them.

Sunday, July 13: Un dimanche à Paris

The idea that there isn't much going on in Paris on Sundays is only partially true. A lot of stores are closed but a lot of museums are open, the metro runs, and some big businesses or popular locations open their doors (although I think they pay some kind of tax penalty for this privilege). For instance, I was surprised to discover that the Orange (mobile phone) store on the Champs-Elysées is open on Sunday afternoon. But they are clearly making money via people who need some kind of service at that time. I happened to be there right at the opening time (1:00 p.m.) and there were at least a dozen people waiting, with more coming in once the doors opened. I like the idea that not everything has to be open 24/7--it makes you plan your life better and act more patient. There may be some truth to the idea that the French embrace their downtime a little too enthusiastically, but I can attest firsthand to Americans' culpability in not taking downtime seriously enough. We get less vacation time than most other developed nations and then when we get it, we don't take it! At minimum it makes for an interesting clash of cultures when the 24/7 Americans meet the 35-hour-work-week French.

Since I was in the neighborhood (sort of) I took the recommendation of an esteemed friend and went to the Musée Jacquemart-André this afternoon. This museum seems much less well known than the others I've been to--on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the day before Bastille Day, there was no line and it was not bustling with tourists. It is a 19th-century mansion built by a wealthy banker's son, Edouard André, to house and display his and his wife's (Nélie Jacquemart--she was a painter herself) art collection. When he died, the house and its collections were left to the Institut de France and it opened as a museum in 1913. It is a beautiful space: elaborate but not overwhelming. And as an 18th-century specialist, I was in heaven. A lot of the art dates to the 18th century and the styling of the house itself--as it is presented now--recalls that era. The special exhibition on display was focused on the fêtes galantes paintings of Watteau, Fragonard, and other artists who participated in that style: a sort of dressed-up version of the pastoral in which elegant people in beautiful clothes have a lovely (and sometimes slightly risqué) time in a fantastical woodland setting. The more paintings I'm exposed to, the more I enjoy looking at paintings because I often encounter familiar themes or people I recognize  Two of the paintings by Nicolas Lancret that I saw today incorporated La Camargo, a celebrity at the time Lancret was painting. Most of the fête galante paintings don't depict actual people but the idea of an idyllic party in the country, possibly featuring some shenanigans, certainly reflects things I'm familiar with from eighteenth-century culture. And like many places I've been recently, it's worth going just to see the building. The tour includes 3-4 rooms from the Andrés' private apartments. I always love seeing how people lived "back then," though I still can't quite imagine living in such an elaborate space every day--and with corsets on, at that.

At the end of my tour through the museum I decided to have a coffee in the café and read my roman polar for a while (have learned the difference between a polar, which is more like a noir thriller, and a policier, which is just a regular detective novel). It was only a little more expensive than at a regular café and I got to enjoy being seated next to a gentleman of a certain age and his young Swedish girlfriend, speaking English to each other because that was the language they had in common, and him holding her hand the entire time. To his credit he seemed unable to believe his luck, as well he should have been. Across from me were 2 women, one of whom was wearing several thousand dollars' worth of accessories (Gucci loafers, Birkin bag, and a watch I couldn't identify because I'm not fancy enough) and who wouldn't stop being rude to the server. She was like a caricature brought to life; I didn't think those types existed. Between the coffee (which was very good), the book, and the other patrons I got my money's worth out of that museum café.

Got a little lost coming out of the museum and walked too far through the 8th arrondissement in search of a metro. I don't know what it is about the 8th--maybe just lack of exposure--but I usually get turned around when I go there. Finally I found Gare St. Lazare and made my way back in time for dinner and laundry. Tomorrow is Bastille Day; I'm thinking of going out for the parade but it will all depend on the weather. A little blue sky is peeking through right now, but what will tomorrow bring?

Saturday, July 12: I accidentally went to the Musée Cluny

For today I only had about half a plan at most. There were a couple of stores I wanted to go to (and/or go back to from yesterday) and then I thought I might go to the Treasury at Notre Dame or sit in a café and read or go to a park if the weather would ever clear up . . . or just flâner. My first stop was Muji near St. Sulpice, which I'd heard had a good selection of papeterie. I have decided to go back to using a paper calendar instead of my phone calendar so I thought I'd look there for a nice-looking agenda. No luck, but I did get to see St. Sulpice itself and that was new for me. It struck me as imposing and gloomy, both inside and out, but it was interesting to visit. This is the fountain in the Place St-Sulpice facing the church:

Of course since I wasn't thinking of going anywhere photo-worthy I did not take the Good Camera; today's photos are all iPhone pics!

From Muji I went to Gibert Jeune which is a huge bookstore in the Latin Quarter. I found a really nice agenda there at a decent price and bought a roman policier called Alex by Pierre Lemaitre. I'm not big on crime novels in English but I figured it would be at about my reading level in French. It came recommended by one of the employees and the author is a Prix Goncourt winner, so hopefully it'll be good. I'm already almost to the end of Pierre Bergé's letters to Yves St. Laurent, which are very sad and full of love. Dr. Kirk is reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame but I wanted something popular rather than canonical.

En route to Gibert Jeune I came out of the metro right at the St. Michel fountain. I stayed in the Latin Quarter on my second trip to Paris in 2006 and I remember being amazed that the fountain is just THERE in the middle of the street:

After lunch (sandwich, drink, dessert, coffee: 8,20€ at Brioche Dorée, which we have in the Atlanta airport for crying out loud. I've got to raise my standards) I was just wandering around figuring out my next move and I landed in the garden of the Musée Cluny a.k.a. the Musée du Moyen-Age (Museum of the Middle Ages). The Cluny is a 15th-century hôtel particulier (sort of a . . . city mansion?) built next to/on top of a Roman thermal bath. It houses an important collection of medieval artifacts: pieces in ivory, enamel, stained glass, sculptures, armor, household items like combs and pitchers, and tapestries, most significantly the Lady and the Unicorn set. This last was not on display last summer but it is back now:

All the tapestries are fascinating to look at. The longer you look, the more details you see.

The Cluny (Wikipedia says it is officially called the Musée du Moyen-Age now but I like to say "Cluny") also has some illuminated manuscripts on display. One minor disappointment was that in several places, works had been removed for "reorganization") and it seemed like most of the things that were missing were manuscripts! Nevertheless, I did see a few neat things:

It's a letter B, see?

Italic hand . . . I think. Need my History of Print notes.

A calendar from a Book of Hours. The placard explained that 

"The page presented corresponds to the current month."

I did not take a lot of pictures because the connection between the objects and the space seems especially important in this case. That is, you have to see it for yourself. Half of the experience is being in this hôtel particulier that is sort of big and small at the same time, with painted wood beams on all the ceilings and depressions worn into the steps of all the staircases. A couple of the rooms are in parts of the former baths, so you can see the medieval walls and the even older Roman walls. Those rooms are full of pieces from cathedrals: you have no idea how big the kings' heads are around the front doors to Notre Dame until you see one up close! One of the last rooms on the tour is the chapel--the building was originally constructed for the abbots of the Order of Cluny--it's no bigger than a classroom but with an elaborate "stone lace" ceiling and painted altarpiece like in a chapel of a large cathedral. I think I will go back and try to take more photos although I don't know how successful they'll be. In any case I'm very glad I went. The joke is that Europeans think 100 miles is a long way, and Americans think 100 years is a long time. It is awe-inspiring to me to stand in a building that is 600+ years old (much older, in places) and see objects that also date back multiple centuries. There were objects on display from the 6th century. You can't see those things and continue to believe that the medieval period was "the dark ages."

When I left the museum I discovered that the sun had finally come out after about 8-9 days of clouds. Here are a couple of pictures from a small park behind the museum:

The plants and trees in the little park--Paris has lots of these small parks called "Squares" (they are never square) always named after a person, e.g. "Square Laura Thomason."

This is the back of the Cluny. You can see how elaborate it is--like a scaled-down castle. 

Really a neat place to visit.

Finished out the day with a visit to Carrefour (grocery store) where I almost bought more than I could carry. But now I have plenty of nice food for tomorrow and Monday. And a detective novel to read!

Friday, July 11: "So actually you are not French?"

Stayed up late to have time to talk to my beloved Daniel on Skype so I did not get an early start today at all! My first step was to scout my field trip for Tuesday. We are going to the Musée du Quai Branly, an easy RER journey (actually 2 RERs) that will put us right next to the Eiffel Tower. I am excited to see this museum and I think it will be a nice change for the students, who have probably seen many paintings and sculptures by DWEMs (Dead White European Males) by now.

From the Quai Branly I made my way to the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves St. Laurent to see its "Femmes Berbères du Maroc" exhibition. After seeing the documentary L'Amour Fou a while back I've been a little fascinated by Bergé & YSL's relationship and I wanted to see their museum. My only regret is that I did not book a guided visit and thus did not get to see YSL's private studio and some other behind-the-scenes stuff at the Fondation. But the exhibition was fascinating--textiles, jewelry, and some household goods like baskets and cosmetic pots made by or belonging to Berber women, mostly from the first half of the 20th century when Morocco was a French protectorate. There were also large video screens showing high-resolution images of complete traditional outfits from the different tribes. To be honest I'm glad I did not have to try to wear an elaborate headdress and heavy jewelry while, e.g., milking a goat. But it suggests a certain kind of strength that these women must have had. The variety of styles was also a good reminder that the different tribes were distinct cultures and not to be "Orientalized" with a broad brush.

Leaving the Fondation I noticed a cameraman and reporter on the street corner obviously doing the "interview random passers-by" trick. I passed close to them never expecting to be acknowledged (in my mind I have a giant flashing "I'm American; ignore me" sign over my head), but sure enough the reporter said "Excuse me, Madame, would you like to answer a question for Télé Monde?" Dear Readers, I must admit that I've been on TV a couple of brief times and actually liked it, so I answered "I can't possibly say no!" while praying she wouldn't ask me something obscure about French politics. The question was both obscure and political, but not in the ways I expected. "Have you noticed that François Hollande has new glasses?" she asked. I was reeling a bit at this unanticipated topic and fumbled through answering that I had not seen him, not even on television. "Ah," the reporter said, comprehension dawning, "So actually you are not French?" While I was disappointed not to get to appear on TV, I was gratified to be meeting my goal of passing as French until I open my mouth. (Must be the new pants.)

After the exhibit and my brief encounter with the French media I went in search of lunch (is it possible that culture makes me hungry?) and had another quiche-drink-pastry formule, this time at Pomme de Pain. Maybe I should think twice about having dessert with lunch but who can pass up viennoiserie and patisserie when they are offered? Hopefully I walked it off--I did walk a lot today because I had one destination at St. Placide and one at St. Sulpice and got them mixed up. So I got off the metro at St. Sulpice and got to walk a few blocks to where I meant to be, at H&M across from St. Placide. (Or it may have been the other way around. *cough*) I know at least one reader of this blog who is cringing right now at my affinity for cheap clothes, but I love H&M. It never does me wrong and I always find good things there. Today I got 2 t-shirts, a sleeveless top, a genuinely really nice skirt, and a package of socks (my socks have been an unexpected casualty--one lost, one got a hole and we're barely 2 weeks in) for just under 30€. Yes, it may all fall to pieces in 6 months but right now I am just not bothered.

With the shopping done I had to put on my Assistant Director hat and go back to work. In the process, I had a cultural experience that I'm grateful for, and we got some good material for our next program meeting.

In the middle of writing this entry I stopped to talk to Daniel on Skype; now I've finished it and it is definitely bedtime. Stay tuned!

Thursday, July 10: Musée d'Orsay

Yesterday I accompanied Dr. Wengier and Dr. Mauldin and their classes to the Musée d'Orsay. The d'Orsay is a former train station that was converted in the 80s into a gorgeous museum; it holds a huge Impressionist collection as well as some gorgeous Art Nouveau decorative arts, beautiful sculptures, and some photography. It is just a great atmosphere for viewing works of art: very light and airy, and laid out such that even when it is crowded it does not seem cramped.  I will say that I find it a tiny bit hard to navigate but the mild confusion is worth it to see, e.g., Degas's La petite danseuse de 14 ans. I'm even coming around, slowly but surely, on the Impressionists. Don't throw things at me--I know that everyone loves the Impressionists; loving them is practically mandatory. I tend to think about Impressionism or see a reproduction and wonder what all the fuss is about. Then I get in front of one of the actual paintings and I understand it. I even got a new best-loved painting out of this visit, Gustave Caillebotte's Vue de toits (Effet de neige). The white snow on the roofs is somehow really exciting to see. I actually got a little chill when I looked at it!

The only disappointing thing about the d'Orsay is that it does not allow photography except from a couple of vantage points. So I took a few photos but not as many as I might have liked:

Looking down the main hall from the entry

View back toward the entry from a balcony

This giant clock looks out over the Seine and toward the whole Right Bank.

"Hey, I can see my house from up here!"

Looking across the Seine at the Louvre; also playing with the "Grainy Film" setting on my camera.

And looking back across the Seine at the d'Orsay.

I would have stayed longer at the d'Orsay but I was famished, so I walked a bit till I found a boulangerie called Erik something and ordered a formule (value meal). Formules are your friends if you want a piece of quiche, a drink, and a pastry for 7,50€. The place was hopping but I managed to get a seat and enjoyed the hot quiche--the weather was quite chilly and I wore a sweater and scarf with my trench coat most of the day. Is this July?

In the afternoon I visited Italie 2 (it's a mall, I'm afraid) and managed to buy some clothes. I'm slowly beginning to grasp the current style for wearing pants here in France. Absolutely no one wears boot-cuts and even the "straight leg" style pants are narrower than what I'm used to. Young people (or older people of particularly rigorous proportions), of course, wear skinnies or leggings and sheer tunic tops are popular. Lots of dress pants are ankle-length, which I simply cannot handle. After considerable trial and error and advice from dressing room attendants I bought a pair of black jean-type pants (more twill than denim) that I like. Plus a few inexpensive tops. Wearing the jeans now and I feel more chic already.

Back at home base it was time for our Thursday night cheese-and-charcuterie buffet. My colleagues and I walked down to the boulangerie to pick everything up, then brought it all back to the dorms for the students to demolish. My only regret is that the salami went really fast and I didn't get any. Next week I will snag a piece out of one of the boxes on the way back from the pickup.

Wednesday, July 9: Equilibrium restored

We had a rough night last night and a rough day today doing follow-up, debriefing, etc. from the night's events. I can't go into detail so I'll just say that (1) everyone is fine and (2) I work with a great team who are tireless in sacrificing their own needs to make sure that students are safe, taken care of, and getting their needs met. By this afternoon, things were settled down and I was free to do laundry and eat dinner while watching Toute une histoire (daytime talk show in the Dr. Phil vein) on my computer. (I will watch anything in the interest of listening comprehension.)

It is pouring rain again and it is 15C/59F outside. Terrible weather for photography but I did snap an interesting view of the decoration on my building:

It is "Southeast Asia House" and you can see it is decorated accordingly.

I'm eagerly awaiting improved weather so I can get out and take more photos. The forecast for Bastille Day is good and I do know where to stand to get a good view of the flyover. But for now I'm going to crawl into bed. It's good sleeping weather for sure. Tomorrow I go with 2 professors on their field trip to the Musée d'Orsay. I was a little "museumed out" when I went last year so I'll be happy to see it again while fresh. First museum visit this year!

Tuesday, July 8: Le Rouge et le Noir et le Pizza

Today was my World Lit. I class's first field trip. We went to the Bibliothèque Nationale-Richelieu to see Greek vases from the collection of the duc de Luynes and the other objects in the permanent collection on display as the "Museum of Medals, Coins, and Antiques"--about four rooms full of cameos, medals, coins, vases, figurines, and other good stuff. The Richelieu site is worth visiting just to see the building, as it is rather grand. We were disappointed that we could not go into the Salle Ovale but you have to have a reader's card (which costs money) and they do not allow photos. Nor would they have looked kindly on a dozen Americans trooping through, gawking, and chatting. We've been working with the students on their "Paris voices." It's true, I'm afraid, that Americans are loud--especially young American women with higher-pitched voices that carry farther. I have all of a sudden discovered a lower register of my voice to use; it's very handy!

We ended up being very early to the BNF; I was worried about being late and the reservation confirmation sounded very strict about the need to show up 15 minutes early. In the event, we were about 25 minutes early and the exhibit did not open till 1:00 p.m., which was our assigned time. On the up side, however, we did not have to pay. Ancient artifacts: good. Free access to same: even better! I asked the students to find a Greek vase that depicted something they recognized from mythology, a question to answer via research, and another object that they thought was interesting. I found a few bits of recognizable mythology, a question that I got answered on the spot, and LOTS of interesting things, all of which you can see after the jump.

Monday, July 7: Conversations (Translated for Your Convenience)

Scene: Franprix grocery store, where I have gone in search (unsuccessfully) of pens and Scotch tape.

Around the corner from me, I hear a crash, followed by "Merde!"
A large but friendly-looking man comes around and addresses a nearby employee: "I dropped a jar of jam."
Employee (not listening at first): "Pardon?"
Man, starting over: "Okay, I did two things. I broke a jar of jam, and I said a bad word."


Scene: Pizzeria where I am placing an order for tomorrow night's dinner. The clerk is young and friendly and knows Dr. Guglielmi, thus he is not put off by the arrival of an American lady wanting 25 pizzas delivered. He also speaks English.

Clerk: "English or French?"
Me: "Umm . . . French, because I have to practice."
Clerk: "You are absolutely correct."
Me, realizing I'm being teased: "Thaaaaanks."
Clerk: *doubles over laughing*


Just another day at the office!

Sunday, July 6: Rainy Sunday

It was rainy and blustery until perhaps an hour ago but I can’t complain too much. The weather was a good incentive to stay in my room and get some administrative work done. My students’ discussion posts needed grading, my email was building up, 2 meetings required agendas, and most importantly I needed to get a handle on my “official” phone. Dr. Guglielmi bought me an inexpensive phone (this one) to use during the program and it had me flummoxed. At length I got it sorted out although I still can’t text on the dang thing.

With my phone in working order I set out to scout the route for Tuesday’s field trip. We are going to see a collection of Greek vases at the Musée des Medailles, Monnaie, et Antiques, which is at the “Richelieu” site of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The Richelieu site is the original BNF site, if my memory serves; they have since outgrown it (not hard as the BNF is France’s national book depository, like our Library of Congress) and moved into the “François Mitterand” site that we got to tour last year. I am excited about this field trip as I think there will be lots of good stuff to see beyond the Greek vase collection. It is easy to get to from here and it’s across from a passage with some appealing antique book stores. I know where I’ll be going once I dismiss the students from the field trip.

Tomorrow we have our weekly faculty meeting and the first of our weekly program meetings, so once I got back from my recon mission I met up with Dr. Kirk to go over the agendas. We met in the café/restaurant down the street called Paris Orléans (Vicki, Samantha, and I had lunch there last year) where I had a “Parisienne” salad that turned out to be mixed greens with whole slices of ham and Swiss cheese laid on top, plus tomato slices, hard-boiled egg, and cornichons off to the side. All served on a flat plate that was very difficult to navigate. Note to Paris Orleans: Salad is served in a bowl for a reason. Despite my baffling lunch it was a very nice meeting and we got everything squared away for tomorrow.

On my return I did the work that the meeting had generated and then talked to my beloved Daniel on Skype. We went through the mail that had come for me since I’ve been gone, so I can say I’ve done admin tasks on both sides of the Atlantic today. Finally I had done all the finagling that I could, and cabin fever was setting in, so I took a walk back down by Porte d’Orléans. Passed a boulangerie/patisserie on the return trip where I bought a small baguette and some Tunisian sweets called something like “mokhoub.” [Update: It's "mokrouth"! Here is a recipe.] This place is 2/3 traditional French items, 1/3 Middle Eastern goodies so I went for something unfamiliar. Next time I will get one of the small lemon tarts that have “CITRON” written on them in chocolate drizzle. In case you are offered one and want to know what it is? I ate several mokhoub with my dinner while watching episodes of Un Gars, Une Fille, and the sun finally came out so I took some pictures of the view out my window. The construction site is not very appealing, I will admit, but it’s better than facing onto the street because construction stops at night and traffic does not.

Saturday, July 5: Up and down (mostly up) in Montmartre

Today was our long-awaited (in the sense that we signed up for them in May) walking tours in Paris with professional tour guides. The students had 3 choices: le Marais, Montmartre, or Montparnasse ("I forgot which one I signed up for. . . I think it starts with an M?"). Originally I was supposed to go to Montparnasse, which I'd chosen because I've never visited there. But no faculty were signed up for Montmartre so I went along with that group instead. Our guide Orane was one of the guides on the visit to the Louvre last year. She recognized me even though we'd only seen each other once or twice before. I made a concerted effort to speak French--something I'm working on more diligently this year--and maintained what I'm pretty sure was a pleasant and intelligent level of small talk during the metro ride from Porte d'Orléans to Blanche. For future reference, when you get out at Blanche you will be directly in front of the Moulin Rouge, and that's pretty cool. In fact it's one of my overall favorite things about Paris: the prospect of coming up out of a metro station and finding yourself right next to something beautiful (Aubers station--turn around and you see the Opéra Garnier), famous (Blanche--Moulin Rouge), or important (St. Michel-Notre Dame--right across the street from Notre Dame cathedral).

Orane gave us a great, well-planned tour of Montmartre. The weather was not ideal--it drizzled intermittently--but the heavy rain held off till the tour was over and I was ensconced inside a crêperie. Because Montmartre is one huge hill, touring it is always a strenuous walk. However, there are lots of good places to stop and take a look around: in addition to the Moulin Rouge we saw the Montmartre vineyard, the Lapin Agile (originally the "Lapin à Gilles" because someone named Gilles painted the rabbit on the building--I love a good French pun), the Moulin à la Galette (one of only 2 remaining windmills in Montmartre, of which there used to be 30), and the café from Amelie. I used to turn my nose up at guided tours but I always end up learning something and seeing things I wouldn't have sought out on my own. So no more guided tour snobbery for me; I've been converted.

Montmartre pictures and the rest of my day after the jump.

Friday, July 4: En Grève

While America celebrated its birthday, France went quietly about its business (France's turn comes next Monday), though not without a frisson of excitement for the France-Germany World Cup match scheduled for Friday night. I taught my class and then worked in the office until about 3 p.m. when Dr. Guglielmi and I and our student assistant Caitlyn took a field trip to Tati for paper goods. Tati is a discount store full of clothes and housewares; we go there to get plates, cups, and napkins for our weekly pizza night and charcuterie buffet night. It is impressively cheap--we got 700 plates, cups, and napkins (enough for the whole program's worth of pizza and charcuterie nights) for 60€. There are several Tati locations but the one we went to is in Italie 2, a mall (centre commerciale) at Place d'Italie in the 13th. It was easier and faster than I thought to get there, buy mass quantities of paper goods, and haul it all back on the metro. We still have to get drinks Monday and that will be a larger undertaking.

Friday night I was supposed to go to a performance of Robbins/Ratmansky by the Paris Opera Ballet at the Opéra Garnier. Prof. Chen got me an inexpensive ticket some time ago. Then it transpired that I needed to give up my ticket so that one of her students could attend (the ballet was a field trip for her class). But then yesterday, another student wanted to sell her ticket, so Prof. Chen bought it and I was back on the roster. I had reconciled myself to not going but when the opportunity re-arose I was very excited! Once the Tati haul was stowed away I had just enough time to freshen up and eat a bowl of cereal while talking to Mr. B. on Skype, then we were off to the ballet. Extra props to Prof. Chen for figuring out a route to the Opéra Garnier that none of the rest of us had thought of: RER B from Cité U to Châtelet-Les Halles (Satan's own favorite train station), cross the platform and take RER A to Auber, whose exit is directly in front of the opera house. So much easier than doing it on the metro!

So we got there in good time and were greeted by the opera's immaculate ushers who handed us these flyers:

I'd been hearing about the grève des intermittents de spectacle on the radio without giving it too much thought, but now it was right in our faces. The performance was canceled because of the strike. It's been a big summer for strikes: air traffic controllers, the RATP (Paris transit authority), and the SNCF (French national railroads) have all been on strike in the last few weeks and we've been lucky that none of it has affected our travel. As such things go I'd rather miss a ballet than be unable to come to France at all because there's no air traffic controller to help guide the plane. But it was still a big disappointment. We were at least able to get our money back--had to wait in a fairly long queue but they did it on the spot and in cash. If I understood correctly what I was overhearing while waiting, it was a one-day national strike agreed upon among multiple unions. Hopefully the action will not affect any other performances that members of our group are supposed to attend. The strike already caused the cancellation of the Avignon film festival, which is a pretty big deal!

In lieu of the ballet we went to dinner at Le Vaudeville, which is always a treat. To be honest, I don't think the students knew what they were in for when they agreed to a "traditional French dinner." The food was comprehensible to everyone but the pace of service takes getting used to. We were already tired and maybe not in exactly the right frame of mind to enjoy it. Nevertheless, it was lovely as ever. I had duck foie gras as my starter followed by steamed cod with mashed potatoes and then a lemon crème with red fruit for dessert. I was disappointed that the beef tartare wasn't on the set menu last night. I'd have ordered it just to see the students' faces as I ate it. But the fish was good. Every time I come to France I resolve to eat more fish. 

By the time we finished, paid up, and came back on the metro it was after midnight. A short sleep and onward to the next adventure!

Thursday, July 3: at Notre Dame and Dinner on a Boat

We are continuing to go full speed every day and with my added work as a site director it's hard to find time to post. But I am going to try to at least write a post for each day if only so that I can remember what happened when!

So I have to jump back to Thursday when I went with Dr. Chiang and her class to Notre Dame. Of course it is THE tourist site (second to the Eiffel Tower, probably) and we arrived around 10:30 a.m. so it was somewhat crowded. But the line to get in moved very fast and of course it is gorgeous inside and out. The students had an assignment but I just went along as an observer, which is a nice role to have. It was an easy metro ride and Dr. Chiang kept it very organized. She had the excellent idea to make groups of 4 students in which one was responsible for keeping an eye on the other 3. It worked perfectly and kept anyone from getting lost, which happens very easily in large, crowded places. I took a few pictures and was happy to have the opportunity to do so since my camera had died last year when we went to Notre Dame.

Once Dr. Chiang's field trip was over it was time to return to Cité U. and get ready for our semi-formal dinner on the Seine, which I cannot stop referring to as "Dinner on a Boat." The students were all excited to do something dressy and fancy, and indeed they turned themselves out very nicely indeed. The girls were very smart, carrying their high heels in their bags and walking over in their flip-flops. It was a bit of a journey to get there. The croisière departed from near the Eiffel Tower and the metro line 6 that we would normally have used to get there was partially closed. So we had to change trains about 3 times and then walk all the way down the Champ de Mars from the École Militaire stop. Let's just say we were hungry for dinner by the time we got there. It was a fun experience, especially for the students who had not seen Paris before. "That's the Louvre! That's Notre Dame! That's the Musée d'Orsay!" If there was a downside it was simply that it's hard to eat dinner and take pictures at the same time, but I did get a few.

Photos from Notre Dame and Dinner on a Boat after the jump.

First day of classes. Horses. Groceries. Mobile phones.

When we last left our heroine she was trying not to fall asleep on a bus. You will be pleased to learn that the effort was successful. I made it to 10 p.m. last night for a total of 34 hours without (almost without) sleep. This accomplishment was only made possible by the massive level of activity that yesterday demanded. Being a site director is very rewarding but very busy. We're always working on current situations and keeping an eye out for future opportunities or problems. I am pretty proud of myself, not just for high-powered sleep deprivation but also for taking the lead on checking students into our building and other acts of Francophone interaction. This year we are split between 2 maisons. I am in Maison des Étudiants de l'Asie du Sud-Est. The house is very pretty on the outside and nice inside as well. I have a huge desk, more shelves than I can use, and a big beautiful tree outside my window. We got checked in last night in record time, took the students on a VERY short tour of their immediate surroundings, went to dinner, ran over to the Institut Protestant de Théologie (our classroom building) to show some new faculty members where it is, and by the time I made it back from that trip it was time to call Mom & Dad and then go to bed!

This morning started early: I walked a group of students over to IPT at 7:40 before teaching my class at 8:30. It was a beautiful clear, chilly morning that turned into a very warm afternoon, really a perfect day for running around town. Worked in the program office after class, had a nice outdoor faculty meeting in the back courtyard, and then managed to beg off for a few hours to get some much-needed groceries and stuff for my room. After a little bit of excess walking I got to Carrefour, where I managed to remember to buy lotion and sunscreen and thus save myself about 20€ over buying them in a pharmacie. (I do love pharmacies, though. They are oddly clinical and posh at the same time.) On the way back I stopped in at Bazar de Porte d'Orleans, a totally necessary but very weird store of a kind seen frequently in Paris. It's like a dollar store crossed with a garage sale, where you can buy one spoon, an incense burner, a 3€ bath towel, and a cell phone cover in a store about the size of my dorm room here. While the cashier was ringing me up I noticed a piece of Arabic calligraphy on the wall behind her and we had a little conversation about Ramadan and whether fasting is difficult. She says "If you have the will power to do it, you really don't think about it after a while." That is some serious strength of mind, especially since the days are so long here. She said she can only eat between about 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. I couldn't do it, especially not here where we walk so much.

Finally I had to return to IPT to meet students who wanted to go to the Orange store to get phones/SIM cards. It turned out to be a large group and a small store. After taking the first few students inside and using my best translation skills it became clear that another approach was needed. We encouraged independent research followed by a return to the store in a smaller group. God bless the gentleman that waited on us. Customer service gets a bad rap in France but everyone I've dealt with the past two days has been a gem. The front desk staff in our maison has already seen too much of me and been very kind. The lady at the post office gave me directions and was only a little skeptical when I asked if I could use a card without a chip in the ATM machine. (La Banque Postale is a subsidiary of the French postal service--could be something for the USPS to consider as a solution to their liquidity problem!)

Funny things from today:

• On Boulevard Jourdan near Cité U. I saw four large vans (like tour buses but without windows) whose livery indicated that they carried horses. One specified that it contained the horses belonging to Qatar's national equestrian team. I was glad I saw them because it reminded me that I'd seen an equestrian event advertised. Some Googling got me to Paris Eiffel Jumping, which is this weekend and which unfortunately is sold out. Quel bummer! 
• I was asked for directions twice today. Why does this continue to happen?

In short, everything is happening and nothing is happening. It's a million small things a day. To be honest, when I agreed to be site director I was not sure I was ready for it, but having that challenge to rise to is good for me. Pushing myself to wade in and take care of things is good for my confidence. And having been here before makes a huge difference. I'm surprised at how much I remember from last year without even having to try. 

We are all excited for tomorrow evening when we have a dinner cruise on the Seine. Can't wait to get my camera out! Photos incoming!

Paris, we are in you.

It's been  an epic, hectic day of travel that is, as of this writing, still ongoing. I left Macon at 11 a.m. EDT yesterday (June 30), flew overnight from Atlanta to Frankfurt, had a short layover in Frankfurt, then on to Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport--which is not in Paris at all, as everyone knows. There are 85 students in the group this year plus 10 faculty members, so we were split among a total of 3 flights for the trip over here. Some of us had to wait at Frankfurt for a later connection to Paris; some got to come to Paris right away but then had to wait for the rest. A lucky few flew directly from ATL to CDG.  We finally got everyone and all the bags collected in to 2 buses and now we are en route to Cité Universitaire. Barely moving, but en route. Ah, la circulation Parisienne.

It's been a long day but everything has gone well. The Lufthansa flights were very good (again) and my colleague Dr. Mauldin said the Delta flight was excellent. No one lost any bags or missed their connection. I have already gotten to speak French to a few unsuspecting citizens of the republic and even got a café waiter in the airport to laugh at my joke about wanting my coffee to be "jet lag size." It must be said that I have terrible décalage horaire. One day, perhaps, I will master the art of sleeping on planes. As it is I'm sure I slept less than an hour and have thus been awake for the better part of 28 hours. The end is in sight. Check in at Cité, small walking tour of the immediate area, cafeteria dinner, and then I will set a record for most blissfully comfortable sleep in a dorm bed.

Plus, les Bleus won their soccer match last night. And I got to watch Banksy: Exit Through The Gift Shop on the plane. And I have already had a stroke-inducingly strong cup of French coffee. Now if I can just avoid falling asleep on this bus ride. No sleep till the 14th arrondissement! (As the Beastie Boys never said.)