L’approach du Noël

A quick update on my totally bogus journey before I head down to the Alps. Two weeks back was the Saint Nicolas parade through the centre of St. Dié. This character is the patron saint of children and the parade consists of illuminated floats (with children throwing lollies out to the crowd) and marching bands. The Père Fouettard, the dark, méchant anti-Saint Nicolas, who threatens to beat all the naughty kids with his big stick, trailed behind amid jeers and whistles from the crowd. Was a treat to see.

Tuesday night was Xmas party night at Lionel’s place. The meal was nice and light – fois gras, champagne, grapefruit salad, baked fish, chicken, trifle and bouche de noël (traditional French Christmas dessert). Also there was Cécile (from the college), her boyfriend Séb, and friends Cesar, Marie, Jerome, Jacqueline and Valérie. The trifle was my concoction and despite a few hurdles in the ingredient department, it came off OK. If anyone’s looking at an Aeroplane Jelly franchise there’s a big hole in the Lorraine market.

It was Christmas lunch at the school canteen today as well – tables decked out and decorated and the highlight was a massive table full of different desserts. The students were in heaven.

Moreover, winter has well and truly arrived – the mercury has had a bit of trouble getting above zero for most of the past week. Beautiful sunny days though and you can feel the mood lift a bit when the sun pokes its head out!

Grèves, émeutes et du pain d’épice

Strikes, riots and gingerbread. In a street-vendor-roasted chestnutshell, that’s the long and short of it in my part of the world at the moment. Mid-November - ‘strike season’ apparently - was all about worker solidarity and in my case, trudging through the snow at 6.30am to catch a train to Nancy that didn’t arrive. One day of snow (right) – apparently arrived much earlier, too.

The railway unions walked off the job for nine days straight in protest against the government’s plans to bring up their retirement age to that of the rest of the workers in the country. This poor mob of train drivers, inspectors and others benefit from a special pension system aimed at alleviating their supposedly back-breaking work by allowing them to work for 37.5 years before taking their state sponsored retirement, as opposed to 40 years for the rest. When the government tried this one 12 years ago the country was paralyzed and the state backed down. If I had needed to use the trains more than I had I would have been mightily cheesed off. I might have even let loose a putain, (ou deux). I’m with Generalissimo Sarko on this one – its about time things change here. I’m all for unions in the social partnership but to my mind, this culture of throwing up the barricades and chucking a strike as a first rather than last resort is not exactly a deed of good faith. People recognize the need for change here too but the process often seems both too complex, too slow and at times a little too much hard work and nothing much happens. Meanwhile, the country sinks deeper into debt.

Riots. Two youths were killed in an accident with a police car in the outskirts of Paris a few weeks back and that unleashed a bit of argy-bargy in the banlieue (the outer suburbs). It raised the spectre of the Parisian riots two years back and had a lot of people there on their toes. Thankfully not much came of it but the racial perspective did bring to light the recent history of St Die, which has apparently been a town with far-right rumblings. Although that could have been something to do with the German sausages popular ‘round here. I’ve been told that a few students here run around with some likeminded gangs. A sobering thought. Makes me all the more determined to do some classroom activities showing our indigenous population in a positive light.

I’ve begun to use some songs in class too. God bless les Beatles. I’ve already racked up All Together Now and Hello, Goodbye and won’t be eviscerating that eternal creature any time soon. Oasis’ She’s Electric has worked well, as has Van the Man’s Brown Eyed Girl for the level four students working on description. Managed to tie Police on My Back to a comprehension activity about an English crook whose severed finger was found at the scene of his crime. Who said 15 year-olds aren't up for a bit of gore?

Last Friday I met up with James, the American assistant based in a lycée in town. We downed a couple of beers in a great little bar in town called La Cabane. The sheer variety and diversity of beers there was just so cool – even Christine Oglethorpe would have found a beer to suit her tastes. Experiencing the variation between regions when it comes to landscape, architecture and food in France is a constant delight; something far less pronounced in Oz. Saturday we grabbed the train out to Strasbourg, a seriously stunning city on the French side of the Rhine. The main deal here is the German tradition of the marché noël – the Christmas market that fills the centre of town each December. A crap load of stalls pushing trinkets, decorations, food (mainly pain d’épice (gingerbread) and biscuits) and of course vin chaud (right), which is warm, spiced red wine. Everyone was doing it so why not me. I also spotted some hot orange juice for sale. I bravely resisted the urge to go for some snail-butter covered baguette as I thought it wouldn’t mix too well with the Nutella crepe I had just inhaled. We basically spent the whole day there in the drizzle and checked out the little part of town called Petite France as well as what once was Europe’s tallest building – the cathedral. We scaled the 60 metres to the viewing platform at dusk to see the town gradually illuminate. A good day.

Strasbourg santas. They're not real.

In Strasbourg

Three weeks to go until Xmas – itching to get down and spend some time with the family.

Reni, une grosse bise pour ton anniversaire. Je penserai à toi :)

‘Typical French Behavior’ – tolerating the bloody strike.

Best meal – A tartiflette at Séb’s place (partner of Cécile, one of the English teachers). It’s kind of like a gratin (potato bake) with bits of ham and heaps of cream inside, topped with stanky grilled Reblochon cheese). Serves as a main course on its own.

The weather – coolest days -1 to 4, most days 3 to 6. Drizzle, cloud and a bit more drizzle. Bienvenue aux Vosges.

On my iPod:

Nina Simone – Do What You Gotta Do. Bloody fantastic. An interpreter without peer.

The Go-Betweens – Bye Bye Pride. The door is open wide.

James Carr – These Ain’t Raindrops. Fraught and desperate. From someone who knew well what that was like.

Crowded House – Not The Girl You Think You Are. Damp, groggy and very Lennonesque.

Sean Lennon – Dead Meat – Deadly, meaty and very Elliott Smithesque.

Get a leg on BOB!

En vacances

The holidays of Toussaint came around quickly and I was eager to grab the opportunty to do a bit of travelling. The break was for about ten days, with All Saints Day (Toussaint) in the middle of it. First stop was an afternoon in Paris on the way to Avignon. Had a few hours to kill in the capital so I headed out to the Marais, the old Jewish quarter I'd never visited. Spent a bit of time wandering around the Place des Vosges (left), situated in the heart of the district, an almost picture postcard image of Paris, being a square with a lovely small park in the centre. I was told the other day that apparently this is the nancy-boy part of the city. How serendipitous. Checked out the city a bit more, including the Champs Elysée and l'Arc de Triomphe - Saturday arvo, beaucoup du monde. Took the TGV to Avignon that evening; the station was packed, seemed like everyone wanted to get somewhere somehow. Apon arriving in Avignon, I took to the road on foot, head full of steam, confident that I could find my way to the hotel with the aid of my trusty albeit sparse Google map. Íntelligently however I had confused the TGV station with the central station in town so with midnight approaching I spent about an hour traversing the deserted ring-road in the industrial estate. Which is fine I guess but something told me there were nicer parts of town to explore. I took the soft option and headed back to the station for a costly cab trip.

Avignon's main claim to fame is that it was the seat of papal power in the 14th century while Italian princes and warrior popes were squabbling over the Eternal City. The old town is encolsed within ancient walls and the magnificent Palace of the Popes marks its centre. An imposing structure, its a mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Inside it was fascinating, being able to take a squizz at the pope's living quarters, dining hall, church hall, bunk beds and PlayStation. Grabbed some lunch in a pizzeria nearby, which took me a little while longer than I had expected because I had forgotten to wind back my watch (end of daylight saving) and sat myself down before the kitchen was open, an hour earlier than I thought it was. At a table for one, kind of an uncomfortable wait, haha. Its a bit of a strange sensation holidaying on your own. The days become rather long.

After lunch, I headed down to the famous Pont d'Avignon (the bridge) which ends halfway across the Rhone, its other half being swept away by a flood in the 17th century. Kind of freaky peering over the edge where it stops. Given it was Sunday, the buses were few so I missed the opportunity to make it out to the Pont de Gard, a remarkable section of an ancient Roman aqueduct close by, but make it there one day I'm sure.

Monday arvo back on the train in the direction of Annecy to spend a few days with my second cousin Bruno, his partner Barbara and their son Andrea. Comforting to be back with some family and the language flows a bit better in the company of others you are at ease with. They made a great effort to speak English with me and looked after me in every way, as all the family does when us antipodeans set foot over here. Annecy is a very pretty place, capital of the Haute-Savoie département, situated on lac Annecy and at the foot of the Alps.

Not hard to imagine living in a place like this. We went for a bit of a stroll around the old town, by the lake (freshwater, incredible clear and apparently the cleanest in Europe). Wednesday and Thursday we heading up to Passy to visit more of the clan. Friday arvo I took the car and headed into town, this being my first serious go behind the lefthand drive. Thankfully no scratched paint or plasted limbs. My mantra of "keep right...keep right...keep right" worked well. I might even use during for my yoga practice. Despite scoring a goal on the road that day I took the decision to cancel the hire car I'd organized for the weekend drive to Lille (fuel and tolls would have bled me dry, not to mention the small window of time I had foolishly allowed myself to get there) and took the train instead.

Would not have normally headed up to Lille, but it presented itself as a good location to meet up with Jayse who came over from London for the weekend. Traditionally a thriving, industrial city at the doorstep of Belgium, the Netherlands and Britian, its not one of the country's prime tourist destinations. Nevertheless, there was enough to check out in the town centre: the old stock exchange, the Porte de Paris - a monument erected to mark Louis XIV's capture of the city in the 17th century, and the Citadel - the remains of a fort erected during this period. The areas around the university particularly easy on the eye. Jayse the bright spark suggested we hire some bikes and it proved to be a masterstroke - cheap, enjoyable and a great way to see the city, especially on a Sunday when the place is quiet. We had a good look around the Citadel and surrounding parklands on our bikes and settled for an awesome lunch nearby.

In front of the Opera house, Lille

Jayse doing two things at once. How does he do it.

Lille at sunset.

The story this week has been all about settling back into school and adjusting to the drop in temperature (we had a bit of (insubstantial) snow the other day and we expect some for next week. Today (Sunday) I headed into town to take a look at the Armistice Day service. No march, but rather a simple service at the memorial with the laying of wreaths, a few speechs, etc. This place saw some fighting in the early stages in the war in August 1914 but thereafter remained behind the front line as the German army was pushed back east. Not difficult to gain a sense today that the war took a heavy toll on the area.

'Typical' French behaviour: miserable lowbred barmaid in Lille calling us Americans, followed by a string of other expletives I would have payed to have understood.

Best meal: soupe à l'oignon, steak and creme brulée in Lille. Jethro, here's a pic for you, as requested:

On my iPod:

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Where The Wild Roses Grow (feat. Herr Bargeld). Beats the released version hands-down, rock-in-fist, rose-'tween-teeth.

The Sleepy Jackson - Acid In My Heart. He paints with the same colours as everyone else but his patterns are all his own.

The Arcade Fire - Crown of Love. Deliriously romantic.

Richard Hawley - The Nights Are Cold. In every sense of the word.

The Beatles - I'll Be Back. I'll never get sick of this one.

Au collège

There's no doubt that education takes a front seat in French society. The rentrée (return of students for the new school year in September) is a major event, with the national media covering it from all angles: recurrant debates over equity and access, faciltities, and new programs and in the local press, staff movements and profiles, activities, projects and organizations.

This college has about 500 students and 40 or so teachers (five in the English dept.) and is situated in a lower socio-economic area of town. Several noticeable differences between the systems here and in Australia: no school Wednesday but there are classes Saturday morning; no school assemblies/gatherings; and teachers deal with students only during class time (there are special surveillants (supervisors) who watch over the students in the playground and deal with absences, etc). Goes without saying that there's not a smidgen of religion either: this is a system designed to churn out loyal Republican citizens.

I've started to teach small groups of students (usually 6-8). At this stage, most of them seem to be interested and willing to work; some are noticeably curious (many students have never met a native English speaker, as to be expected); and a few are downright difficult. Some intriguing impressions and reactions so far: bring any kangaroos? You have some good swimmers, hey? 20 hours to get here? Ah, Australia...why would you ever want to come here? Given their English is frankly quite limited and I'm still fumbling my way through textbook French, communicating exactly what I want them to do is not always crystal clear. No doubt I've already told students to open their tea-towels and put up their legs when they want to speak.

The English teachers are all very friendly and welcoming and all seem happy to let me come up with my own ideas for lessons. Let the Australian clichés flow. Just kidding there. On the contrary, I'm keen to teach them my idea of Australia (at least to some degree)...there'll be no "Fill in the gaps" exercise to "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and Bindi, you're dad's not gonna get a run either. Now if only the Go-Betweens and Nick Cave weren't so bloody literate...

Encore une chose: An honourable mention to David Haynes for bringing to my attention that Nancy is the sister city of Llanddewi Brefi in Wales. Midori and Coke a specialty there too.

Above: Main classroom block at the college

The weather: gradually getting cooler, still some warm afternoons. Fog most mornings.

'Textbook' French behaviour: a woman behind the wheel having a go at me for having the audacity to cross a pedestrian crossing in front of her. What good are they for, then?

Best meal: Coq au vin in a little bistro in Metz.

On my iPod:
Suede - The Power. Tuneful and a touch megalomanic. Which is always a delightful combo.
Josh Rouse - Jersey Clowns. A well kept secret, he is.
Elliott Smith - New Disaster. Seen how things were hard.
Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos. Confusion and self-deception bottled in song.
Aretha Franklin - Baby, Baby, Baby. I like Aretha. She makes me feel like a natural woman.

Avec Mum et Graeme à Metz et Colmar

Mum and Graeme arrived here Tuesday night and its been great to have them here, even just for a day. Tuesday night we went to dinner in town. Wednesday morning we headed off to Metz, a 1.5 hour drive north by way of Nancy. The city remained part of Germany during the period 1871-1918 and is a gorgeous town with a magnificent cathedral, which boasts one of the highest church ceilings in Europe and many elaborate stained glass windows. Well worth the trip.

Headed back to Colmar for dinner and a snoop around the town. We had escargots (snails) and some local specialties in a simple brasserie in the vielle ville (old town). Bemusingly, had some bemused looks and muffled chatter from the other diners when the snails came out. Not a local specialty perhaps. Some photos:

Left: Cathedral in centre of Metz.

Metz

Metz

In Colmar

Colmar. House colour and style typical of Alsace.

Quelques images

The Tower of Liberty

The cathedral - blown to bits in 1944 and thereafter rebuilt

Centre of town - Rue Thiers

Première impression

Friday afternoon I skipped off down the road to check out the town. About 25000 people live here hence its a vibrant little place with a thriving centre: a few bars, restaurants specialising in Alsacian and Lorraine cuisine, banks, clothes shops, bakeries, etc. The German army destroyed the town on their retreat in 1944 (one of only four in France completely wiped out), so most of the architecture is modern; functional, simple and contemporary rather than elaborate stone and grime. Two cathedrals in town, one faithfully rebuilt after the war according to the neo-Roman style of its original construction. Four bridges traverse the la Meurthe; the first hastily thrown up by the US Army soon after the Wehrmacht went scurrying and the others by the French. Malheuresement, no pictures just yet (the camera took too long doing its hair, got caught in traffic on the Gateway and missed the flight). St. Dié was the place in which the first map of America was made in 1607 and has since (self) christened itself la maraine de l'Amerique (the godmother of America). Not a bad feather in its cap I suppose, and the annual FIG (International Festival of Geography) that follows this theme starts in town tomorrow.

Saturday Patrice said he was making a trip over to Basel in Switzerland as he needed to change some Swiss money and asked me if I wanted to tag along. Passing into Alsace over the Vosges, I saw a definite contrast in landscape from Lorraine. This is a region of vineyards and produces some of the highest quality vin blanc in the country. We made a stop at one of the jewels of Alsace - the town of Colmar. Very attractive place popular with tourists, lined with gorgeous, classic germanic-style Alsacian houses (richly-coloured facades and dark timber beams criss-crossing the exterior walls). Was wonderful to take a peek at some of the older buildings dating back to the middle ages. Beautiful enough even to keep the Germans from unloading the TNT. Onwards to the city of Basel - silver and gold, abruptness and sour faces. A facile Swiss stereotype or the inevitable shadow of a big city? Not sure, but I like my last trip into the Confederation earlier this year, I was glad to revenir en France. Passed back through Colmar for some dinner.

Sunday was match day...Ireland versus Argentina at Parc des Princes in Paris, a 4.5 hour trip by bus. The college generously put on the trip for the group of 15 students. Many of whom come from working class backgrounds and had yet to see such a spectacle. Departed St. Dié at 8.15am, most of les petits déodatiens having donned emerald, faithfully stiched DIY Irish flags and slapped green and orange on their faces. Picked up some more students from a little village between St. Dié and Nancy.


Conversed a bit on the way with the teachers, one of whom is from Marseilles and works with some of the disadvantged students at the college. His southern twang thick and loping, I started the trip understanding 15 percent of the conversation...by the end of the day it had climbed to 17. He was eager to give me some tips on what to see down south...I'm heading down there for sure.

By the time we got into the capital the students were in full swing - the 26 of them sounded more like 126 as they bounded down the streets shouting out the name of their adpoted country to the bemused looks of the paddys spilling out of the cafés. Absolutely wild inside the stadium, a full house with at least three-quarters of the crowd behind les verts. Every promising touch of the blokes in green saw the place erupt. An entertaining match, but the Argentinians were all over the Irish. Got back to St. Dié just before 2am. Kids sang at the top of their hoarsening voices most of the way home.

Monday was my first day and after observing in a few classes, I had my first small group of 6 students in a separate classroom on Tuesday. A tad nervewracking and fumbling but looking forward to sinking my teeth in a bit more (the work, not the kids). More about the school on my next post. Tripped out to Nancy today (Wednesday) for a training seminar with about 40 other anglophone assistants (Poms, Yanks, Canadians, me the poor lonesome Aussie) - got some good tips on teaching materials, spent about 3 hours learning about the miles of red tape I'm preparing to cut through to get my Social Securty, insurance, visa, etc. and met some of the others, including a Canadian and American based in St. Die.

The weather: 8-10 most days. Warm afternoons last few days.

Ca c'est combien!!!!????- 5 euro ($8.50) for a load of washing at the local laundromat.

'Textbook' French behaviour: Woman cutting a poor bloke off in traffic and thereafter abusing the hell out of him.

Best meal: Ratatouille at school canteen.

Best remark on Australia: Don't you have lots of rabbits going round eating everything?

On my iPod:
Johnny Thunders - Chinese Rocks. Bruising. Full marks for honesty, too.
Travis - The Humpty Dumpty Love Song. Forget the daft title and get in touch with your inner wimp.
The Smiths - Asleep. Atypical. No self-deprecation here.
Midlake - Head Home. Name a better album from 2006 and a small cash prize awaits!
Marvin Gaye - Sad Tommorows. Nowhere to run.

Arrivé

Where to start? Arrived here, in St Die-Des-Vosges, Tuesday afternoon France time after about 48 hours on the move. As expected, the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Paris was long and tortourous but I seem to have pulled up pretty well. Having touched down in KL at about 6.30 Tuesday morning, I had the rest of the day to kill before the flight out at midnight. Grabbed the KLIA express - a convenient 25 minute shuttle train service to the city. A city armed with two humungous steel and concrete towers...KL must be the New York of Asia I thought to myself - an intriguing, pulsating metropolis. Not quite. Actually about as alluring as a hatful of a*seholes. Thanks for the tip, Ted! First I tried to mount my assault by marching up the one of the spaghetti-like freeways linking Sentral Stasion (that's Malay, friends, the poor man's language of love) and the city. Soon discovered that cities with perpetual 90% humdity are not designed for backpackers. I shamefully chucked a u-ey (why isn't that in the online dictionary?) and took the soft yet logical option of the train.

Got off at KL station. Aesthetically, the city reminded me of Brunei and in a two hour period of spotted 23 locals having a well-deserved mid-morning snooze (on the sidewalk, in parked cars, etc.) which reminded me yet again of Brunei. Same for the perplexing feeling that by smiling at whoever I had to deal with, I was actually causing them some discomfort. Which reminded me of Brunei. Not quite sure what area I trudged through but it was mostly rundown, smelly streets with monolithic concrete office blocks sitting next to small restaurants, some medium sized buildings whose architecture seemed to take some inspiration from the colonial period. Walked past the beautifully restored court house, which dates back to the 19th century.


Back to the airport. Had a great Nasi Goreng and frankly must rate that as the highlight of the stopover. The airport really is something else - very large, plenty of shops and eateries, easy to get around. One of the best I've seen. Was glad to grab a room at the transit hotel for 6 hours for a much-needed shower and nap. I'd recommend doing so to anyone on a long-haul flight with time to spare. Flew out at midnight.

Into Paris at 6.15. Quite a few Aussies on the flight - here to see some rugby perhaps. The city was just starting to wake up as I grabbed the RER to Gare du Nord and then walked over to Gare de l'Est, Paris' link to its Eastern towns and beyond. A pretty, well-preserved station in an area whose surrounding streets are named after these regions, Rue d'Alsace, Rue de Strasbourg, etc. Trip on the ultra-fast TGV was comfortable and swift. Picturesque countryside - mostly wide-reaching plains and fields broken up by farmhouses, pockets of forest and quaint (apologies, I'm sans thesaurus) villages. Changed trains at Nancy for the regional service out to St. Die.

Haven't had a decent look at the town yet, but its located in a lovely little region near the Vosges mountain range. Very lush with wooded areas, streams, hilly surrounds. Will be able to provide a better description and some photos at a later date. I was welcomed at the station by Patrice, who is the Adjoint-Principal at the school. They've gone to a lot of trouble to put together some living quarters for me at the school, fitting out a few rooms in the admin block with a kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom. The three most senior school staff members (including Patrice) live on campus as well. Off to see the Ireland-Argentina match in Paris on Sunday with a group of 25 students and three teachers. Should be interesting!