Breakfast in America and Dinner on a Boat

Field trip day #2 for my World Lit. class. I think this means half of our field trips are already done! Holy cow. That makes me feel like time is flying, but in fact we do not have a field trip next Tuesday because that's Bastille Day. So it doesn't really mean the program is half over. Whew.

We went to the Musée Carnavalet which is an eternal favorite of mine. It is the museum of the history of Paris and it illustrates the ways in which Paris has changed throughout its history. It's also a beautiful structure--2 hôtels particuliers put together--and worth going just to see the building:

This was my third time at the Carnavalet so I did not take very many pictures inside but I still love the shop signs:

18C cats: vaguely horrifying, at least when made of metal.

My first take was a barbershop but I'm sure these scissors probably represented a tailor.

Also found this great painting of Voltaire dictating to his secretary while getting dressed:

The audioguide said that the painter, Jean Huber, was a friend of Voltaire's and did a whole series of paintings of him in distinctly domestic/non-glamorous circumstances. Voltaire ultimately felt that Huber had imposed on their friendship, which is probably true, but I love the reminder that this great philosopher and writer was also a real person and didn't just look like this all the time:

This summer I've been requiring students to participate in field trip planning and execution, including input on where we eat lunch. Today they picked Breakfast in America, a place I've known about for years but never visited. Although I am a "When in Rome..."person and don't choose to eat American food when overseas, I know how evocative and comforting food can be when one is homesick. And I have to admit that B.I.A. knows its way around a burger and fries. The class was pleased with their American-style lunch; the server was incredibly nice and obliging; and now we have a place to go when Daniel gets really desperate for eggs and bacon in the morning.

(But next time we're going to L'As du Fallafel. Because I'm the teacher and I said so.)

No sooner had we returned from the Marais than it was time to get ready for the dîner croisière a.k.a. Dinner on a Boat. This is the second year we have done a "formal" dinner on the Seine and it is a lot of fun. Everybody got there in good time and looked splendid. Luckily the few drops of rain that started to fall as we were waiting to board did not dampen us or our spirits too much as we boarded the boat. Daniel and I sat with Dr. Guglielmi and his wife and we did so much chatting during the meal that I did not take a single photo. This might mean we have to do another dinner cruise once our friends get here in a couple more weeks, right? Then, unfortunately, the sky opened as we were disembarking and we got pretty wet on the way back to the RER. But by then everyone was in the mood to have fun and took their best "soaking wet in Paris" selfies on the walk while laughing it off and huddling under umbrellas. 

The company we use is Bateaux Parisiens; while I have not tried any others and can't compare, I think the food is pretty good, the service is pleasant, and it's overall an enjoyable atmosphere. It's a relaxed and unique way to see the monuments of Paris. And the students really have an excellent time. After a few days in the routine of classes and field trips it is good to put on a nice dress and be served a nice meal. It's even better if you bring your dance partner and he gets you out on the floor as dessert is being served. I've heard there is video so I'll see if I can add a link to this post later on.

In the words of Samuel Pepys: And so to bed.

An Excellent Sunday

Yesterday (Sunday) was a fantastic day! We had a relaxing morning (a nice change after the hectic week) followed by lunch with my Parisian friend. She is the provider of SIM cards, vocabulary clues, and transatlantic Viber chats complete with extensive photo exchanges of the "Here's my lunch" variety. A recent highlight was her photo of the selection of vinegar at a large grocery store. I responded with a photo of an American breakfast cereal aisle. Maybe it's not normal but I love that sort of thing. Because of our respective schedules, we rarely get to see each other even when I am here, so we jumped at the chance to get together and for Daniel to meet her for the first time. Even though we talk online multiple times a week it was wonderful to see her face in person. We had lunch at Café Rostand, across the street from the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was very nice. I had a salad of shrimp, avocado, tomato, and grapefruit. Perfect after several days of high temperatures. Then we went 2 doors down to Dalloyau, which is an upscale patisserie with a long history and a very good reputation. I ordered something fairly modest--café gourmand with 3 chocolates--and it was all delicious. I just wish I could have had some of everything!

Daniel's choices--a pain aux raisins and something with raspberries (I don't remember its name).

Friend's choice: un fraisier, which tasted like a strawberry shortcake.

Café gourmand aux 3 chocolats (and a bonus macaron, which was very tasty).

I hoped to take a walk in Luxembourg Gardens but it started raining right after we sat down at Dalloyau. We came back to Cité U. and both took a nap. By the time we woke up it was almost time to leave for our second outing of the day, a "Bal de Swing" at Chalet du Lac, a gorgeous Art Deco-style venue on the southeastern edge of Paris. We got there in time to catch most of the beginners' dance lesson offered at the beginning, and thank goodness for that. The style of swing they were dancing was Lindy Hop, which neither of us knew anything about beforehand. So we at least learned 2-3 good steps, which of course is enough to get you through a social dance and make you understand how the dance works. We also figured out that we could dance East Coast Swing to some of the Lindy music, although the style is different. 

The floor was already crowded for the lesson, and by the time the evening really got under way, people were dancing on the "extra" dance floor off to the side as well as packing the main floor to dance to a live orchestra, which is always fun. It was an amazing night! So much energy and fun to watch as well as dance. Daniel even entered the Jack & Jill competition and had a great time. I was not quite brave enough. We also found out that Chalet du Lac hosts other weekly dance events so we will definitely go back. It's a fantastic venue that I wish I could pack up and bring back to Macon.

Here is Daniel lining up for the Jack & Jill under the HUGE disco ball.

We never ate dinner last night and it was almost midnight before we got back but it was worth it. What a great day. 

2015's first field trip: Musée du Moyen-Age

The program calendar turned out a little weird this year with our first classes happening on a Friday (yesterday) and the first round of morning class field trips today (Saturday). I was very happy with the weird calendar because it meant I could take my class to the Musée du Moyen-Age--that is its official name, Museum of the Middle Ages, but most people still call it the Cluny. It's a natural fit for my class (World Literature I) but it's closed on Tuesdays, which is my usual field trip day, so I've never been able to take a class there before.

The Cluny consists of 2 buildings that have been renovated and put together through the addition of some modern hallways and staircases. One building is the remains of an ancient Roman bath dating to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., the Thermae. The other is the Hôtel des Abbés de Cluny, a 15th-century hôtel particulier (city mansion) that originally belonged to a monastic order and the abbot thereof. It houses a collection of medieval artifacts of which the best known is probably the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They are breathtaking!

We arrived at the museum in plenty of time to sign up for a guided tour in English at 11 a.m. and, in fact, to take pictures in the courtyard before the tour started. I saw a group of women--tourists from Beijing, as it turned out--photographing each other and decided to ask if they wanted a picture together. They very excitedly said yes so I took their picture and then they all wanted to take pictures with me! One of my students said that Chinese people are very grateful and excited when Westerners are nice to them. I don't know if that's true as a cultural value but it certainly was in this case and these ladies were very sweet.

After the photo op it was time for the tour to start. Our tour guide was a very knowledgeable woman named Florence who not only taught us all a lot about medieval European culture but also answered the students' questions in impressive depth. The guided tour was worth the extra 4€ we paid for it, I think. Sometimes I scorn guided tours but then they almost always turn out to be good. Let's click through for some photos, shall we?

Paris HQ 2015

Daniel and I arrived at CDG (I have learned that the French call it "Roissy") on Sunday morning, June 28, after a turbulent flight from Atlanta and some fun speaking German in the Frankfurt airport (Taschentücher = Kleenex). This year we were the advance team who came over early to set up the office and classrooms and make the last-minute arrangements before the students' arrival on July 1. We hit the ground running but we also hit the ground sweating, arriving in time for France's most severe heat wave in a dozen years. And I had to hit the ground speaking French, as we'd decided to be 100% Francophone once we arrived in Paris. For 3 days I spoke French almost exclusively; by the time the group arrived yesterday I actually felt a little strange speaking English. Not to say that my French is perfect but it's easier when you're surrounded by it. Immersion: it works!

This year is my third on the European Council Paris program and I am amazed by how my reactions to Paris have evolved. Last year I was surprised at how much I remembered from year one. This year, it feels a little like I never left. And people remember me, which is always a surprise. Mme. Gabrielle, who is the concierge at IPT (our classroom building), knew who I was, and even the front desk staff at Maison des Étudiants d'Asie du Sud-Est (where I stayed last year) remembered me. Probably because I went all Loud American in their lobby last year while checking students in. This year I am back in Maison des Provinces de France where I stayed in 2013. Daniel and I have a "Studio" room which has a double bed, a huge desk for the his-and-hers laptops, a kitchenette, and a decent-sized wardrobe. It is an improvement over the hotel room we used for our first 3 nights, which was as small as only a Parisian hotel room can be. On the other hand, the room was impeccably clean and the staff were very nice. In fact, we have dealt with so many friendly people on this trip so far. Perhaps the Parisians' reputation for coldness owes something to Americans being intimidated.

We spent Monday and most of Tuesday preparing for the students' arrival--interspersed with a few breaks on café terraces--and trying to beat jet lag while simultaneously learning to sleep through Paris street noise (I'm getting pretty good at it). On Wednesday, arrival day, we took the RER out to Roissy to meet the first group of students that landed at 10:45 a.m. Everyone stayed until the last group came in around 1:20; then, we loaded the buses and most of the students slept through the ride into Paris.

I almost did not get on the bus myself--a student lost an important item on her ATL-FRA flight and I went to the Lufthansa desk to pursue its retrieval. I was unsuccessful but I learned something: when you think someone might tell you "No," but he also hasn't really committed to saying "No" ("Eh ben, vous savez, c'est difficile parce que . . . Fin, peut-être si c'était . . . Mais ça c'est différent . . . Alors"), the trick is just to keep standing there till he decides to help you. ("Je peux téléphoner à quelqu'un.") I got the definitive "Ce n'est pas possible" just in time to get on the bus, and today we managed to replace the lost item.

Today was also a pretty good day for passing as French, as I had to take a student to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, and we were asked twice for our Social Security cards. The doctor said I spoke French very well (which I always like to hear). Then I wanted to tell the pharmacist that her English was very good but I was afraid it would be patronizing. I guess I think everyone but Americans knows a second language (most likely English).

The week has gone by in a flash so far. We had orientation today (presentations followed by a quiz game with prizes and then a scavenger hunt), tomorrow is the first day of classes, and Saturday is our first field trip day. Once we get into the routine I hope to post more regularly. Meanwhile here is a photo of me with some of the students from MGA. Arrival day was also our first official day as Middle Georgia State University so I wanted a photo to commemorate:

Ten Things I Miss/Look Forward To About Paris (Mostly Food & Drinks)

1. Un café 
2. L'Écir (in my head this is "our" café as it's down the street from the classroom building)
3. Carte Noire 
4. Badoit Rouge (intensément pétillant, and isn't "pétillant" a nicer word than "fizzy"?)
5. Falafel in the Marais
6. Volvic au Jus d'Agrumes (and pretty much anything else aux agrumes including Volvic Citron)
7. Amorino gelato 
8. Boeuf tartare 
9. The RATP
10. Les soldes

T minus 10!

Daniel and I lift off in 10 days for this year's Paris trip. He is bringing his French skills and willingness to pick up sandwiches and joining me as program assistant. Both of us are very excited and I know the 88 students (!!!) going with us are too. It's not quite time to start packing, but almost! Stay tuned for updates again this year.

(screen shot from "Dreamdays" coutdown app; h/t to Paris 2015 student Kristen Flippo)

Vive le Québec libre!

The Francophile is branching out. I returned this afternoon from spending Labor Day weekend in Wentworth-Nord, Québec at my beloved Daniel's son's lake house. Québec, of course, was originally part of New France and remains a bastion of francophonie. Some people think that English is invading the province and French is losing ground, and there are a range of opinions about whether Québec would be Québec without the French language as its cultural backbone. I'm a fière québecoise (if only by marriage) and an optimist: I do think French is extremely important to the province's identity and I don't think it will die out. Everyone has something to say about the value of French and it's exciting to be in a place where people think critically about their language. Not to say that they are snobs--rather the opposite--but no one ever seems to say "Whatever!" about French the way we sometimes do on fine points of English usage. Saturday night we had a 30-minute conversation about the word la relève and whether an English equivalent exists (at length we decided on "successors"). That is this nerd's idea of fun! When I go to Québec I am very glad to be a French speaker not only to be able to communicate but also because, even more so than in France, it's a way of connecting with people. And of course that's especially important when the people in question are your in-laws!

So Daniel and I flew from Atlanta to Montréal on Friday morning, then picked up our rental car and drove to Dany and Nadine's chalet ("Chalet" sounds fancy but it is just a regular-but-great lake house) by way of St. Sauveur, a gorgeous little tourist town next to a ski area. I was a tiny bit disappointed not to spend any time in Montréal this time around but St. Sauveur and Wentworth-Nord are so pretty that I got over it quickly. Dany and Nadine have two girls, Marguerite (6) and Céleste (2 1/2). They live in Montréal but come to the chalet most weekends. We spent the weekend doing ordinary chalet things: sitting around the fire pit and talking, watching DVDs, taking pictures, entertaining the kids, swimming, NOT getting up early or hurrying to get lots of stuff done. It was a lot of fun, very relaxing, and also a great challenge for me: having to speak French the entire time. There were occasional moments of confusion: Marguerite said "Quoi?" almost every time I spoke to her and I don't think it's because she wasn't paying attention. And I still have not figured out the real word for the landing/storage area above the basement steps. It sounds like concombre ("cucumber"), so that's how I have remembered it, but I'm pretty sure it's not technically correct to say that the broom hangs on a hook in the cucumber. It's very good practice to speak French in a domestic (rather than professional or academic) situation--even if you find yourself getting corrections from a 6-year-old.

Photos after the jump! Click through . . .