I arrived in Paris, Charles de Gaulle airport at 7:00 am. My flight was direct from Minneapolis and I've never flown direct from Minneapolis before--it was great! With the help of a couple Dramamine, I managed to get a few hours of sleep. You know you're in Paris when walking towards customs you see poster after poster for different paintings at the Musee D'Orsay, along with posters of anorexic Dolce and Gabbana models with collagen-injected lips! Anyway, after landing, I quickly got my baggage and cleared customs, bought a shot of espresso to wake myself up and boarded the RER train, Line B. Before the doors closed, there was some sort of confrontation between a young man and security. I don't know what the dispute was about, only that the offending party seemed to be under the influence of something, was obnoxious and that everyone was getting highly annoyed that he was holding up the train's departure. I turned to the woman next to me, feeling my spoken French come back, and asked "Pourquoi ils peuvent pas l'arreter?" ("Why can't they arrest him?") She laughed and said "Ils essaient de faire de la politique correcte" ("They're trying to be politically correct").
I got off at the Antony train station, where Elisabeth was waiting for me. Elisabeth is my second cousin (her grandfather is my grandmother's brother). She and her family moved from Israel to Paris in 2002 (her mom is French) and she has been here every since. I got to know her when I lived in France for the spring of 2004. I will be living with her and her two roommates in the suburb of Fresnes for at least a little while.
We walked from the train station to her apartment, stopping at a lovely outdoor market on the way. Besides many fresh fruits and vegetables, there was a variety of different pates, terrines and sausages. We bought some strawberries, apricots, onions and a "terrine de lapin" (rabbit terrine!). I bought a tarte aux oignions (onion tart) to eat while we were walking. Then we stopped at a bakery to buy a baguette, and at a pharmacy. Unfortunately, Elisabeth has bronchitis so she needed antibiotics.
When you enter her apartment, you immediately descend a small set of stairs and enter the main living space, divided into a living area, eating area and kitchen, with a small balcony outside. Going down another set of stairs, you have "les toilettes", which in France means a room with only a toilet and in this case a hot water heater. You actually have to be careful not to hit your head on the heater when standing up! Then you have the bathroom, which has the sink and bathtub. Her two roommates each have a room on this level. Her bed is in a small loft above the living area, with a screen for privacy. Tonight, she will stay on the couch and I will stay in the loft to try to avoid catching her bronchitis.
Her two roommates are named Flo (Flaurent) and Shadi. So far, I've only met Flo. Apparently both have just been dumped by their girlfriends and are very depressed about it. Flo has one Croatian parent and one German parent but lived in Tunisia until he was grown. Shadi grew up in Tunisia and is ethnically Tunisian. Flo studied international business but now works at a home improvement store...he mumbles and uses a lot of slang so he's harder to understand. He rolls his own cigarettes. I would describe him as "full of angst."
The day was pretty low-key since Elisabeth was not feeling well. Later in the afternoon we walked back to the pharmacy because she couldn't read the pharmacist's instructions. Then we watched a couple of political clips on YouTube. One was a recent Q&A session between Jean Luc Melenchon (came in fourth in number of votes in the French presidential election, belongs to the political party Front de Gauche--on the Left) and students who support Nicolas Sarkozy, believe France is a welfare state, and want to model France after the U.S. Frankly, I was shocked to realized that such young people in France existed. Where I went to school in Rennes, I remember the Communists were especially active! Needless to say, Sarkozy lost the election to Francois Hollande (Socialist Party). The second clip we watched was supposed to be a debate between Melenchon and Marie Le Pen (Front Nationale--extreme right). But it actually wasn't a debate at all. Melenchon would go after Le Pen for trying to cut state subsidies for IVG (Interruption Volontaire de Grossaise=Abortion). Then Le Pen would say (in French) "I refuse to debate with you, because you're nothing but a decoy. You're not a real candidate." Then, they would both end up yelling at each other and talking over each other. Actually, it was amusing because it was very French--the love of debate, discussion, talking in circles and just generally hearing one's own voice. Plus, it was refreshingly direct--no Minnesota Nice! At least they didn't pretend to have anything less than pure disdain for each other.
For dinner, we made salad with lardons (bacon) that we had bought at the market, mustard vinaigrette, baguette and Boursin cheese.
We haven't really spoken any English all day, so I'm having a lot of fun using my French again! I also bought Book One of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" and began it on the plane.
I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow yet. I had a potential offer to sublet from someone who lives within Paris (rather than in the suburbs), near l'Arc de Triomph,e and we had tentatively planned to get together tomorrow night so that I could see the apartment and make a decision. But I haven't heard anything yet so I don't know if that plan is dead in the water. But in any case, I'll be going into Paris tomorrow to explore and hopefully find a place conducive to working on my translation projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment