Madame Barbier is the proprietor of our lovely cabanon. She is probably about 5'7" and the slightest bit matronly appearance. She likes to wear big knit sweaters and scarves, and she wears her glasses a little low on her nose and peers over the top when she talks to people. She has curly short brown hair which she just died a little darker and she has a tiny touch of a lisp when she talks. She is also AMAZING.
She is the one who moved us into our home and taught us how to lock down the shutters when Le Mistral blows into town, and she is the one who finally helped us get our heat turn on last night when we were freezing to death and miserable because Provence decided to turn into Antarctica in the span of a half-day. She likes to come over and knock on our kitchen door to tell us really tiny and unnecessary tidbits of information and usually stays to talk for longer than comfortable until the conversation gets so extended that we all realize there are no polite phrases or small-talk subjects to hit.
Yesterday, we found maggots in our rice, which we bought just a few days ago. She said it was fine to eat, our rice. When we asked her how to get rid of the maggots, she said that you cook them. You boil them to death in the pot with the rice and the maggots float up to the top and you scoop them out and then you eat the rice. No big deal, really, girls. And so that's what we did.
I also would love to note that when the tiny little light on our heating system lit up indicating that there was no heat/gas flowing to our radiators, she shouted "CA C'EST GEANT!" which translates to "THAT'S HUGE!" I loved it. I dunno, just the idea of a 50-something year old woman saying "That's huge!" as in "That's huge, dude" makes me smile.
I love Madame Barbier.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
A Genève
Right after my last class of the week last Thursday afternoon, I rushed to the train station to catch my train to GENEVA where I would be reunited with my best friend from Wellesley! She was working in Kampala, Uganda and traveling all summer, so I only got to see her for a half-day the entire summer, and that was 3 months ago. So, this was a much-needed reunion. The train ride was very very pleasant, and it was refreshing to pass through areas where autumn seemed to have an effect because here in Provence, it still feels like summer. As much as I love the warm weather, I must say that I miss autumn as it's one of my favorite seasons. The changing colors, the chill in the
air, that slightly smoky smell that reminds me of the holiday season...it was all there in Geneva :)
Bisno picked me up from the train station and we took the tram back to her apartment where I eventually got to meet all of her WONDERFUL flatmates and see where she's been living. Over the course of the weekend I got to meet a bunch of lovely young women from Smith and Bryn Mawr and I can tell that I would definitely have been friends with them had I been put in a situation in which I would be with them for a long time. You know, there's just something
about women that go to all women's colleges. They are generally quite awesome if I must say so myself.
We kicked off the weekend on my first full day in Geneva with a little tour of La Vieille Ville (old Geneva) led by Bisno. We walked around this beautiful beautiful area with cobblestone streets and architecture that seemed to blend French and German architecture to create its own wonderfully quaint style full of bright colors and wood accents. Finally, we ended up at Saint-Pierre Cathedral, an interesting cathedral from the outside because it is composed of two starkly different architectural styles that resulted from a change in religious leadership. We went inside and then after admiring the interior we decided to o up to the top of the cathedral tower! From the top, we had the most AMAZING views of all of Geneva and we could see out to the Alps and across Lac Leman (Leman Lake). It was breathtaking:
Bisno also took me to Lac Leman to see the famous "Jet d'eau" that is featured in any postcard EVER with images of Geneva.
We used it as a photo opportunity and in the process met a very kind old British man in a wheelchair.
Then, afterwards we walked around some more, did a little bit of shopping, ate lunch at a lovely pizzeria, and then returned back to the apartment. We got to go to a fun birthday dinner and party for one of Bisno's friends who turned 20 on Saturday. For the first time in FOREVER, Bisno and I got to dress up and dance together.
Then, the next day, I got to see the lovely neighboring town of Carouge (which is accessible VERY easily by tram) and we had a really nice brunch with two of Bisno's other friends from her study abroad program. Then, Bisno and I spent a very long time in a Genevan flea market where she bought a silver ring and I bought a nice bag. We each stopped each other from anything more. It was a good system. Throughout the two full days I had in Geneva, I got to see a beautiful park called Le Bastion where old men play chess with HUGE plastic chess pieces on the ground, I got to see where Bisno takes her classes, and I wrote a song with help from Bisno called "A Genève" and it's all in French.
On Sunday, my last partial day in Geneva, Bisno took me to see the United Nations area which is like a separate town of its own, accessible by, again, Geneva's marvelous tram system. It wasn't particularly aesthetically pleasing but it was amazing just to be in that area surrounding by big shiny buildings where important decisions are made.
Then came the hard part. I said "bye" to Bisno and teared up as I was walking through the customs checkpoint and then proceeded to cry silently for the entire first hour of my train ride back to Aix-en-Provence. When I got in touch with Bisno after finally making it back to my house, it turned out that she had been crying for an hour or two, as well. *sigh* It's strange how we suddenly found ourselves in another country in another continent, meeting up in Geneva because it's where one of us lives. Very strange. It was one of those "wow, I'm growing up" or "wow, this is life" moments. Amazing and quite bittersweet.
But the loveliness of this weekend was so worth the inevitable tears and slightly melancholy day after.
air, that slightly smoky smell that reminds me of the holiday season...it was all there in Geneva :)Bisno picked me up from the train station and we took the tram back to her apartment where I eventually got to meet all of her WONDERFUL flatmates and see where she's been living. Over the course of the weekend I got to meet a bunch of lovely young women from Smith and Bryn Mawr and I can tell that I would definitely have been friends with them had I been put in a situation in which I would be with them for a long time. You know, there's just something
about women that go to all women's colleges. They are generally quite awesome if I must say so myself.We kicked off the weekend on my first full day in Geneva with a little tour of La Vieille Ville (old Geneva) led by Bisno. We walked around this beautiful beautiful area with cobblestone streets and architecture that seemed to blend French and German architecture to create its own wonderfully quaint style full of bright colors and wood accents. Finally, we ended up at Saint-Pierre Cathedral, an interesting cathedral from the outside because it is composed of two starkly different architectural styles that resulted from a change in religious leadership. We went inside and then after admiring the interior we decided to o up to the top of the cathedral tower! From the top, we had the most AMAZING views of all of Geneva and we could see out to the Alps and across Lac Leman (Leman Lake). It was breathtaking:
Bisno also took me to Lac Leman to see the famous "Jet d'eau" that is featured in any postcard EVER with images of Geneva.
We used it as a photo opportunity and in the process met a very kind old British man in a wheelchair.
Then, afterwards we walked around some more, did a little bit of shopping, ate lunch at a lovely pizzeria, and then returned back to the apartment. We got to go to a fun birthday dinner and party for one of Bisno's friends who turned 20 on Saturday. For the first time in FOREVER, Bisno and I got to dress up and dance together.Then, the next day, I got to see the lovely neighboring town of Carouge (which is accessible VERY easily by tram) and we had a really nice brunch with two of Bisno's other friends from her study abroad program. Then, Bisno and I spent a very long time in a Genevan flea market where she bought a silver ring and I bought a nice bag. We each stopped each other from anything more. It was a good system. Throughout the two full days I had in Geneva, I got to see a beautiful park called Le Bastion where old men play chess with HUGE plastic chess pieces on the ground, I got to see where Bisno takes her classes, and I wrote a song with help from Bisno called "A Genève" and it's all in French.
On Sunday, my last partial day in Geneva, Bisno took me to see the United Nations area which is like a separate town of its own, accessible by, again, Geneva's marvelous tram system. It wasn't particularly aesthetically pleasing but it was amazing just to be in that area surrounding by big shiny buildings where important decisions are made.
Then came the hard part. I said "bye" to Bisno and teared up as I was walking through the customs checkpoint and then proceeded to cry silently for the entire first hour of my train ride back to Aix-en-Provence. When I got in touch with Bisno after finally making it back to my house, it turned out that she had been crying for an hour or two, as well. *sigh* It's strange how we suddenly found ourselves in another country in another continent, meeting up in Geneva because it's where one of us lives. Very strange. It was one of those "wow, I'm growing up" or "wow, this is life" moments. Amazing and quite bittersweet.
But the loveliness of this weekend was so worth the inevitable tears and slightly melancholy day after.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Un tout petit leçon de provençal
Today, finally deciding to take a break from my studying (I have to memorize like 25 sculptures, the names of the artists that made them, and their dates of production each week), I went to a little Provençal class with our French student director, Caroline Gallego, who is, by the way, the sweetest person EVER. She gave us a brief history of Provençal, a dialect of the French language that was spoken all over Southern France up until the early 20th century when classic French became the mandatory language for teaching in all schools...and then sadly, the dialect died away and there is virtually no one who speaks it anymore.
But Caroline studied it in high school and can speak it, so she taught us some vocabulary and also brought us some yummy traditional Provençal treats. Here is some of what I learned:
To say that you have to go to the bathroom, you would say "Vai chanja l'aigo dis oulivo", which translates directly to "I am going to change the water for the olive trees". Yeah.
The word "mesclun" like for the salad mix comes from the Provençal word for "mélange" which is French for "mix".
"Le Mistral", the very very very strong and freezing-cold wind that whips through Southern France every once in a while during Autumn and Winter, is named after Frederic Mistral, a very famous Provençal writer who is famous for his plays and poems and was also a fierce advocate for the preservation of the Provençal language and culture in his time.
And to close this blog, a very beautiful Provençal proverb:
But Caroline studied it in high school and can speak it, so she taught us some vocabulary and also brought us some yummy traditional Provençal treats. Here is some of what I learned:
To say that you have to go to the bathroom, you would say "Vai chanja l'aigo dis oulivo", which translates directly to "I am going to change the water for the olive trees". Yeah.
The word "mesclun" like for the salad mix comes from the Provençal word for "mélange" which is French for "mix".
"Le Mistral", the very very very strong and freezing-cold wind that whips through Southern France every once in a while during Autumn and Winter, is named after Frederic Mistral, a very famous Provençal writer who is famous for his plays and poems and was also a fierce advocate for the preservation of the Provençal language and culture in his time.
And to close this blog, a very beautiful Provençal proverb:
Es pas bèu ço qu'es bèu, es bèu ço qu'agrado.
Which means (sorry for the incredibly bad translation):
It's not beauty that is beautiful, it is everything that pleases us and makes us happy that is beautiful.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Random
Sorry for the incredibly long hiatus!
A few explanations: our internet was broken for a few days, I've been busy, and also, I haven't had anything particularly interesting to write about. I still don't have a ton to write about, but I guess I'll keep you folks at home updated on what has happened in the past couple weeks or however long it has been since I last wrote.
A few impo
rtant updates:
1. I bought a train ticket to Geneva for the last weekend of October! And so, I will be seeing one of my best friends from Wellesley, Bisno, very soon!
2. I don't like French men, but I've made some French friends.
3. Carmel likes to buy crazy crazy crazy food at the marché so this week we've had prickly pear, cassava fries, and Jersulaem artichoke.
4. I'm handling for my frisbee team (??????)
5. I might be going to a beach tournament in the beginning of November!
6. I miss Wellesley.
7. I miss my friends and family.
8. Saint-Tropez is super boring. Here's a picture of it. I don't know what those American celebrities are thinking, buying vacation homes here. Why not go somewhere more interesting?
So, for the first time since I've been in France (2 months now, CRAZY) I have friends outside of the Wellesley-in-Aix program! I went to this thing called La Cave which is a weekly dinner in the basement of a Catholic church for international students and French people who like to learn about other cultures and countries. It only costs 3,50-euros and you get an appetizer, water, a main dish, and dessert, and great conversation. Our table happened to be AWESOME. Claire and I sat at opposite ends of the table and we met Simon and Nathalie, two people from Poitiers in the Masters program at La Fac, and a Swedish girl named Johanna who doesn't speak a word of French but speaks English pretty well, and a French guy named Axel who is starting up a karoke club or something. Everyone was super nice, and then the next night, Nathalie and I met up to go to Cafe Polyglotte together (a bar/cafe event for people who want to practice speaking in different languages), and our entire table from La Cave was there! So we all sat together, and it just felt nice feeling like we had a group.
It turns out that Nathalie is like in love with everything American, the accent, the clothes, the movies, the music, the men (her boyfriend is a grad student at the University of Arizona, we talk about missing our boyfriends, whose time zone is 9 hours behind, us all the time), the food, EVERYTHING.
Sooo I'm going to go back to my Art History reading about abstract expressionism, kitsch, and modernist painting...I swear the next update will come sooner!
A few explanations: our internet was broken for a few days, I've been busy, and also, I haven't had anything particularly interesting to write about. I still don't have a ton to write about, but I guess I'll keep you folks at home updated on what has happened in the past couple weeks or however long it has been since I last wrote.
A few impo
rtant updates:1. I bought a train ticket to Geneva for the last weekend of October! And so, I will be seeing one of my best friends from Wellesley, Bisno, very soon!
2. I don't like French men, but I've made some French friends.
3. Carmel likes to buy crazy crazy crazy food at the marché so this week we've had prickly pear, cassava fries, and Jersulaem artichoke.
4. I'm handling for my frisbee team (??????)
5. I might be going to a beach tournament in the beginning of November!
6. I miss Wellesley.
7. I miss my friends and family.
8. Saint-Tropez is super boring. Here's a picture of it. I don't know what those American celebrities are thinking, buying vacation homes here. Why not go somewhere more interesting?
So, for the first time since I've been in France (2 months now, CRAZY) I have friends outside of the Wellesley-in-Aix program! I went to this thing called La Cave which is a weekly dinner in the basement of a Catholic church for international students and French people who like to learn about other cultures and countries. It only costs 3,50-euros and you get an appetizer, water, a main dish, and dessert, and great conversation. Our table happened to be AWESOME. Claire and I sat at opposite ends of the table and we met Simon and Nathalie, two people from Poitiers in the Masters program at La Fac, and a Swedish girl named Johanna who doesn't speak a word of French but speaks English pretty well, and a French guy named Axel who is starting up a karoke club or something. Everyone was super nice, and then the next night, Nathalie and I met up to go to Cafe Polyglotte together (a bar/cafe event for people who want to practice speaking in different languages), and our entire table from La Cave was there! So we all sat together, and it just felt nice feeling like we had a group.
It turns out that Nathalie is like in love with everything American, the accent, the clothes, the movies, the music, the men (her boyfriend is a grad student at the University of Arizona, we talk about missing our boyfriends, whose time zone is 9 hours behind, us all the time), the food, EVERYTHING.
Sooo I'm going to go back to my Art History reading about abstract expressionism, kitsch, and modernist painting...I swear the next update will come sooner!
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