'Returning to Country'... is an Australian Aboriginal expression meaning going back to your ancestral lands and eco-systems. So, this is what this trip is all about. My daughter has just completed High School, is still very young in my opinion (just turned 17), and we are doing this trip as a reward for her (she did not do schoolies) and a bit like a rite of passage.
I challenge her kindly with having to adapt to a new country's cultures and ways of knowing.
In our case, it will be French ways.
The flight
We flew from Australia aboard a Thai Airways flight, and Josie had a little peak in the business class toilets, and this is what she captured on the other side of the fence, Thai way ...
I will have to get used to being mobile-phone-photographed on every occasion by my teenage daughter and here are a few snap shots from the air trip itself when we were flighting over Indonesia on our way to Europe. Before that, we had a bit of drama with Josie's ears not equalizing properly, but we got over the ordeal with sinus pain tablets, Ibuprofen and Valium on one occasion.
After 8 hours flight from Australia to Thailand, we enjoyed 4 hours transit in Bangkok during what would have been the middle of the night in Australia. In order to beat the jetlag and keep our body fit, we walked and walked in what the worst of what globalisation has to offer - duty free shops after duty free shops - until we could no more... so we treated ourselves with an hour foot and leg massage. By the time we embarked in the plane, Josie felt like a log on my shoulders, and did not suffer at all from any flighting pain, and everyone else in the plane slept. Twelve hours later, around 6:50am local time, we arrived in Paris CDG. It took an epic 5mns to get through customs, but 45 mns to collect our luggages, since it was a large Boeing 747 double decker.
We then took the RER Underground for 9 euros, and 35 mns later, we were at the door of the studio apartment in the 5th district we rented, near Luxembourg. Voilà!
The Studio
The good thing about renting an apartment is that you are free to welcome friends and relatives in the privacy of a home / resting place. We bought Moussaka, salad and Greek wine for the first meal with relatives, wood fired pizza for the second meal with friends, and then we started cooking for ourselves. By then, someone had already brought a nice orchid, we then purchased an essential oils diffuser, some candles to display on top of the fireplace, and seriously fell at home.
After all, we did not come for a short visit or tourism, but in order to live regular life. Josie would be going to school in a few days time, and I would be working in a fortnight for Red Hat Pty Ltd in La Defense.
Rue Descartes Area
As I walked by to the supermarket, I stumbled into what would have been Descartes home, and I found very appropriate what was written on the 'plaque' that I translate for you
"As I am, one foot in one country and another one in another, I find my condition a very happy one, in the sense that I am free" (Descartes, 1648)
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| Descartes Home in Paris 5th |
We then had to find winter clothes and school stationary. For books and stationary, we went to Gilbert Jeune, Boulevard St Michel, as I used to do when I was a student in Paris. On the way, near Odéon, we stopped by the window of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France Chocolatier (Best French Chocolate Worker) and we were astounded he had probably been inspired by a new movie called Amazon showing posters of a similar monkey on every billboard in Paris at the moment, which must have inspired his chocolate sculpture.
*All the photos on this trip will be taken from mobile phone cameras
We found a beautiful stylo-plume (Josie remembered how she liked writing with fountain pens during her last stay in a French School in 2007 and was looking for this purchase). It took us half a day to wrap all of Josie's books. The last day before school started, we decided to head for 'Les Ventes Privées' with my Parisian former high-school friend.
Les Ventes Privées
I was briefed that no Parisian girl ever buys full price.
You go the the brand shop, you try ... then you wait ...
for your invitation to the Ventes Privées which usually take place around November.
By then, you KNOW what you want, so you go there as early as possible - no, it is not a casual affair - and you rush to get WHAT YOU WANT.
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| Queuing 35 mns , 3 Celsius, Mobiles on, Cigarettes |
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Then, you follow each other in a line along clothe racks, with next to nil possibility to go back, and no essayage |
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Burgendy tafta evening dress, Like it? |
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Then, you queue to pay |
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Then, you finally sit down and rejoice with you mentor ! |
Taking the Metro and starting School in Paris
On Thursday 22nd of November, my daughter had her first day at French high school.
We worked out the Metro lines with two changes in Republique and Chatelet. The trip is quite challenging if you are not used to it, especially in winter. For once, it is almost unbearable to pass by so many homeless people taking refuge in the metro heat - I counted 7 people sleeping in Place d'Italie station. Also, during peak hours when everyone rushes to work, you have to learn the art of pretending everything is OK although you are all 'packed like sardines' (French Phrase).
On the bright side, I noticed that everyone was reading Direct Matin A4 format Free newspaper everywhere. The key words are 'FREE' and 'A4 format'! I read that 1000 places were offered to homeless people in Paris City Halls and Gymnasiums. People I talked to said 'it was not enough' and apparently many homeless people do not like being rounded as a category all together in these places, so they often refuse to go.
When I headed back home, I saw 3 Red Bérêts Special Force Soldiers with camouflage clothing and machine guns walking side by side very sternly. I immediately thought I'd better look at my Le Monde App, maybe there is a war and no one told me... I also reflected that these soldiers looked like kids to me (22 perhaps .... with machine guns!!!). My alongside concern was what seemed like an haemorrhage of mentally disturbed people I had borne witness in the metro over the last few days: I mostly feared that someone would snap a machine gun and go crazy.
Later on, I saw 2 other soldiers at Montparnassse Train station, and did not worry so much anymore, it had already become 'normal' to me. Normal is a tricky one.
I could not help thinking about my readings from R. Kaplan about The Coming of Anarchy - I had despised his visions, but now, I felt I was in this urban anarchy he was describing.
After that, I needed calm, so I visited the Panthéon next door where there are people paid to tell visitors to shut up.
The Panthéon next door
The basilica was built in 507AD by King Clovis following his conversion to Christianity, and in 512AD, St Genevieve, the St Patroness of Parisians was buried there as well. Louis XV refurbished the Pantheon in 1755 with the help of the famous architect Soufflot. Eventually, it was given away to secular use in 1885 with the funeral of Victor Hugo. When you enter, you find yourself in a majestic church and you will be able to see Foucault's pendulum displayed in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of earth, bringing science to the wider public, before it was banned by Napoleon III returning the monument to religious use. Some stairs will take you underground where all the sepulchres rest. You will be reminded to keep silent.
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Panthéon - It says ' To the Great Men to whom the Patry owes so much'' - not many women there indeed...even if in French the word Men as understood here is inclusive of women by default. |
I took a picture of Voltaire and Rousseau's tombs
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| Voltaire |
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| Rousseau |
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| St Exupéry The basilica above the catacombs |
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Monument by Bartholome (1907) to honour JJ Rousseau - Group central: Philosophy between Nature and Truth. To the left, Musique, To the right, Glory. |
Just Opposite, the Panthéon, you can glimpse La Sorbonne University. This was all walking distance from the studio apartment.
First Day of School
When Josie came back from school, she was relieved she survived her first day. She said she learnt about 'rheumatisms' (it was all worth it coming 20000 km for that :) and about 'social sciences' - a subject she never encountered during her studies in Australia that she found very interesting. The French teacher looked at his mobile phone app to translate the word 'metonymy' and wrote the definition in English on the blackboard for her! The English teacher enrolled her as her assistant to go between tables and respond to students who needed help.
It was a long day indeed - optional subjects like Music or Arts are from 5:00-7:00pm and there is homework on the week ends. Any student caught with using their mobile phone in class will see it confiscated and parents will be summoned to come and collect them at school in person.
She texted me at lunch time to say 'her head was hurting from overload information in French' and that she had enjoyed her 'purée - jambon' at the canteen for lunch. Fortunately for her, tomorrow will be the week end.
In the meanwhile, I went to the local pool. My in-promptu Laure Manaudou tiny-packed swimsuit bought in a distributor at the municipal pool for 20 euros for a spontaneous Aqua-gym class at 12.00pm with my compulsory head cap.
I attended an aqua-gym class, I never attended one before, it was quite fun!
Week end in family
After school finished on Friday, we went to my dad's place. It was rather chaotic with the metro being slowed down, then completely stopped in Jaures Station for cause of 'Serious Passenger Accident in Bobigny' - better not imagine. A mother asked us if she could borrow our mobile phone as she had to pick up children. We then called my dad to pick us up with his car at the metro station near his place. Five minutes after, three couples (neighbours) came for apperitif until 9:30pm. The following day, we went to the market. A lady friend of my father, with a delightfully wicked smile sang to Josie in English
'All you can do, I can do better than you' and then, 'bring back, bring back my bonnie to me, to me' :)
We bought great cheese from a German man. He gave us Beaujolais Nouveau to drink 'while we waited' to be served!!!! thanks to a young couple enthusiastic enough to venture in a Raclette (cheese fondue) ... and he was explaining in minute details about which cheese to use and how to make it well. We then bought some champignons and made a great Coq au vin according to Josie's French Teacher recipe, EXCEPT that my dad poured a bottle of St Emilion in the pot! ... it was delicious.
On Sunday, we went at my aunt's place. When she collected us at the train station, she said ... 'hum we may have some visitors policemen in the afternoon'. Puzzled, I asked her if she had made policemen friends. 'No, she said, we have been burgled last night and they come to collect finger prints' ... they conveniently arrived after we had our coffee.
Everything is normal!
