December 11, 2006
Archive
So, Friday after Thanksgiving was spent recovering, and then going to the gym, and then to a party at Julien's place dancing to Breton music, and leaving everyone at midnight at the pub because I was exhausted. Then on Saturday, Michaela and her brother, Tomas, and I took their rented car to Minerve, which is “One of the most Beautiful Villages of France” (an official designation). It's true. It's a tiny little village in the most incredible landscape, high up on a narrow hill above a deep gorge that cut through the whole valley creating natural bridges. It's stunning. Then we drove up to several little villages, had a picnic, and then back down to do a wine tasting in a village, where the charming old man showed us the cave and the big tanks, and thought I was sweet enough to be given an extra bottle with my purchases. I'll have to send him a card! That night, Michaela and Tomas cooked a wonderful dinner for Jana and I.
On Sunday, Michaela, Tomas, Emily, and I took the car and explored two Cathar chateaux, Queribus and Peyrepertuse. Queribus is high above the town of Cucugnan. As we ascended the mountain, the fog began to encircle us, and by the time we reached the Chateau, it was completely surrounded by the thick gray stuff. We climbed up to the castle, and explored it. The views would have been stunning, but all we could see was gray. We imagined that the chateau was the last to fall during the crusades because of its ability to hide in the fog. No one would ever know it was there. It was a fascinating building, with holes in the walls for archers, huge common areas, and a dungeon that went I don't know how many meters deep into the earth. That was exciting! With our entrance tickets, we also got to see a little film in the village. We were the only ones in the small theater, and we really didn't know what to expect. As the red velvet curtain opened, it revealed a scale model of the town sitting on a stage, with the screen behind it. The film, which was projected on the screen, as well as on the side walls, was really many still cartoons linked together with the story of how the priest of the local church got his sinning townsfolk to come to church. Does everyone remember The Wizard of Oz (and I hope that some of you watched it over Thanksgiving!)? You know how the wizard appears to be a large green head? Well, this cinematic experience included one of those. On the side wall, a panel would periodically open unveiling a floating green head that was similarly reminiscent of the talking mirror in Snow White (apparently, this movie was a walk down my childhood memory lane).
After the movie, we drove on to Peyrepertuse, another chateau placed precariously on the top of a very high sharp mountain. We climbed up there (my legs hurt on Monday!), walked around the chateau, which was huge, had a picnic at the very top, and then came down just as it began to rain a bit. Unfortunately, there was no film...BUT we drove through a spectacular gorge. This gorge, Les gorges du Verdouble, was enormous with hugely high and deep white and gray rocks, and a road that was built into the side of the rock that literally just hugged the edges sweeping down into the distant base of the gorge. It was stunning, and Kate if you're reading this, the rocks looked like those ones where we camped in Montana, remember? We drove the long way back through hills and past vineyards turning orange and red. And back home tired but happy.
On Monday, I worked, went to the gym, saw a movie with Jana (Lady Chatterly...what a crock of shit), got hot chocolate at the pub, and then talked to my mom and went to bed. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor's to complete my file for my residency here in France. I love going to the doctor in France. The first thing they tell you to do is get naked. And then they take an x-ray (which they gave me! Talk about a good room decoration!) and leave the room, leaving me standing naked without any idea of what to do next. Finally, I can get dressed again, and then the doctor comes in, asks me what state I'm from and we talk about Oregon and Russel Banks for about 10 minutes. Then I'm sent, x-ray in hand, to another office, where I wait for about 45 minutes to see a doctor who checks my breathing, my height, my vision, and takes my word on things like “do you have all your vaccinations?” and “are you in good health?”. Yes and Yes, I answer, he stamps and signs a paper, shakes my hand, and I leave.
On Wednesday, I went and got my Carte de Sejour (my French identity card), and then had coffee with Pierre and Bob, followed by gift shopping with Jana and Tomas, and then I made chocolate chip cookies. After the cookies were all baked, Jana and I went to the pool, where I inadvertently made some friends by being the only person in the pool who was actually swimming and not just floating around. An old Chinese man literally grabbed my arm and said in heavily accented French that I was a good swimmer and he was impressed by the butterfly. It was flattering in a unsettling sort of way. After the pool, we rushed back to get into costumes for Celia's birthday party. I of course don't have anything here for a costume, so I evaluated what I do have, and decided to go as a tourist. Suitcase, maps, guide books, camera, backpack, and water bottle, I was set. We had many other 'best costume' entries, including a Christmas Tree, a street lady, and a slick Spanish disco man.
Thursday, I went to work all day for the last session of the continuing education, where we talked about cooking and then had a huge potluck.
On Friday, Michaela, Tomas, and I went to Toulouse. It's a lovely city with a lot of young people and the famous pink buildings. We were planning on doing some Christmas shopping, but mostly just walked around and looked at things. We came home, I went to the gym and then to the pool with Jana, and then we had dinner at Julie's. Dinner went very late, all of us acting as interpretors for each other because we didn't have one common language between us. I either had to translate French to English for Tomas, or Michaela had to translate French to German for him, or Jana had to translate German to French for Julie and I. We decided that Esperanto might not be such a bad idea.
Saturday was Michaela's birthday. I went to the market, had coffee with friends, and then went shopping for food and gifts. We came home, made a cake for Michi, ate dinner, and then went to her party. The party was great with lots of friends dropping by, and staying until about 1:30. At 2:00am, Jana and I left because I was supposed to be at another party. We took Tomas with us because he was drunk and obnoxious and Michaela was about to kill him, but then we had him on our hands. We met my friend Susan at the pub, and went to the “party” together. At 2 am, Susan promised that the party would still be going strong, but we walked into a house full of smoke and not much else except six other people, including the host and his friend without their shirts on. It was a really weird scene, and I wanted to leave right away because I felt uncomfortable there, but Jana and Tomas, the good Germans they are, each had a beer in hand, and I knew I was stuck for at least the duration of the bottle. Thankfully, my friend Saffarin was there, and we actually had a really philosophical and interesting conversation. He owns a bar in town, and in the course of our talk, he offered to give me a work contract there so that I can stay in France. I don't think that I want to stay in Carcassonne and work at a bar, but the offer was really nice, and definitely appreciated.
Sunday was spent cleaning the apartment, getting my classes ready for next week, and trying to figure out how Shey missed her flight to Carcassonne and how she's going to get here alternatively. The plan is for her to fly instead to Perpignan and take the train to Carcassonne, but neither her nor I know what time these things will occur, so I've just been waiting around the apartment for her call. The poor thing, I hope she doesn't have any more complications on her way here. Of course, knowing her, she'll probably meet some rich French man on the train who will offer her his summer home in Mali to live in while she's there, and access to his fortune and private collection of Olympic-quality ski and soccer equipment. So, I'm looking forward to her arrival and to the story!
