“I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (Rogers and Hart, 1939)

One might think that living in France would be very similar to life in the states - western culture, similar rules of law, driving on the right side of the road, etc. In many ways that is true but there are enough things that are different to keep one off balance. For instance, on Sundays, only the supermarkets open and they open for only three hours. If you forgot something on the last trip to the market, you won’t be able to return to the store and buy it after noon on a Sunday. The pharmacies here take turns on which one will be open on Sunday morning. (Note to self: do not get sick after noon on a Sunday.)

The other big example of creating imbalance is the time. The French use a 24-hour clock. I go to the crèche at 14h30, not at 2:30 PM.  The concert will be at 17h00 (5:00 PM).

I am always using mental gymnastics and my limited math skills to figure out what time it is. If I am talking on the phone with a French person whom I plan to meet in the afternoon, I need to work out the time in French so that I don’t show up two hours early (or late!) It is a constant struggle for me. Having 12-hour clocks – including the clock tower and its bell which rings on a 12-hour schedule – and a 12-hour watch don’t make it any easier!

I was looking for a Panda by FIAT! Oh well...

Case in point: I rented a Fiat Panda at Super U yesterday. As per the instructions told to me on the day that I reserved it, I picked it up after 08h45 (8:45 AM) and knew that I had to return the car before 18h15. In my head, I kept repeating dix-huit heures quinze but I told Ellen that the car had to be returned by 8:15 (huit heures quinze).

We drove to Nyons to meet our French friend Catherine and her friends. We all went for a three-hour walk among the orchards along the river, stopped at a café for a beer (une pression) and then left our friends to return to Vaison and return the car. Since I still was saying 8:15 (while thinking 18h15) I dropped Ellen off at the apartment, cleaned the car, filled the tank and returned it one-half hour early or so I thought!

Cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms II

I got to the counter and the clerk immediately asked me why I was late. (There goes the balance again!) The question confused me as I thought I was early. He then repeated the time the car was due “dix-huit heures quinze” at which point I finally realized my mistake. He told me that since I was late, I would have to pay for a weekend. He added that if there had been someone waiting on the car I would have also had to pay the difference between the Panda and the larger car that they would have had to provide to the waiting client.

I started apologizing. In French I was thinking: “espèce d’imbécile!” In English I was thinking: “What a doody-head!” as my friend John so often says. In either language, the generic translation would be “how stupid of me!”

The clerk reiterated that I might as well keep the car until Monday since I was going to have to pay for it. I replied that I didn’t want the car until Monday so I handed him the keys and said the car will stay at the store as I didn’t want to be responsible for any possible damages in addition to the weekend rate – and I would return on Monday to settle the bill.

The clerk looked at the clock (12 hour clock). It was five to eight (dix-neuf heures cinquante-cinq) and the store was closing in five minutes. To his credit and my surprise and relief, he took the paperwork and asked me to show him where I had left the car. He finished the paperwork and charged me for only one day. (There goes the balance again. The French are not known for bending rules/overlooking errors.)  On the way back into the store, I continued to apologize interspersed with thanks. He said that as soon as he saw that my license was from Michigan he figured that I might have erred on the time. More importantly to him, I acknowledged my mistake rather than arguing.

Nice ending to a very nice day albeit off-balance as usual.

The unique steeple in Nyons

A rewarding career

This is not the usual type of entry for me. In fact, it is about me!

I am very proud to write that I have been chosen to receive the 2012 Betty Garlick Lifetime Achievement Award by the Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children. If I were in Michigan, I would be able to receive the award in person at the MiAEYC annual conference this Friday. Readers can see a little about MiAEYC and the award at: http://www.miaeyc.org/documents/conferences/annual_conference/final-program.pdf.

The Betty Garlick Lifetime Achievement Award is quite an honor. I am very pleased and honored to have been nominated and selected.

Since I can’t be there to receive the award in person on March 30, I enlisted the help of one of the child care teachers at the crèche – a talented amateur videographer -- to help me create a video expressing my thanks. Domy did a great job. She included images of me singing and interacting with the kids (in English and in French) as well as the actual thank you portion of the DVD. In a small way, I can say that my award acceptance was an international effort.

I would love to include the video here for all to see, but the privacy rights of children are protected here in France much as they are in the US. So the video use is restricted only to its showing at the award ceremony.

Who could have guessed that a part-time job driving a bus for Head Start was going to lead to a lifetime of wonderful, rewarding years of working on behalf of kids? And with volunteer opportunities in child care centers in Lansing and at the crèche here, I get to continue doing what I so enjoy.

Thank you for this award, MiAEYC!

I can't talk right now. I am too busy having fun!

Arles

A short distance west of Les Baux is the city of Arles. We went there last weekend when Susan and Allen were visiting from Paris. Since their arrival in Paris in January, the weather there had been cold and rainy. They wanted to visit us and take advantage of sunny Provence. The weather here was very accommodating as the sun shone everyday and the temperatures climbed to the mid-20°s.

The connection between Les Baux and Arles is a very old one. Les Baux is strategically located about midway on the old trade route between Arles and Aix-en-Provence (Via Aurelia).

Arles was an important city from the time of the Romans. Even though Arles is located on the Rhone, the Romans built a canal connecting the city to the sea. Constantine liked the city and lived there. Constantine III made Arles his capital. Many of the Roman ruins remain to this day. The arena/amphitheatre is still used for bullfights.

From the medieval age, Arles was a starting point for the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. Hikers and pilgrims still make the 1600 kilometer journey from Arles across the Camargue to the Pyrenees and into Spain.

The Night Café

Van Gogh's Painting of the hospital

At the end of the 19^th century, Van Gogh lived in Arles where he completed over 300 paintings and drawings. Among the most famous are Starry Night Over the Rhone and The Night Café. It was in Arles that he cut off part of his ear and subsequently spent time at the hospital in Arles – a site for more of his work.

Arles Hospital

Years ago we stayed in Arles and during that trip found the marker showing the place where Van Gogh had painted his famous Starry Nights, one of Ellen’s favorites of his work. We went back there in the evening and Ellen had tears in her eyes as she took a series of picture of the scene using her cell phone. I think that was the phone that made an unfortunate, unplanned trip through the wash cycle the following summer. It’s fortunate we have our memories since we no longer have the pictures.

I had forgotten that Saturday is market day in Arles. We arrived in time to see the end of the market day and then made our way to the Hotel Voltaire for a very nice (and inexpensive) lunch. Then off to do some more touring of the old town. While walking, I noticed some old doors and was intrigued by the keyholes.

 

BTW - as they write in text messages, Arles is home for the “Gipsy Kings”; one of my favorite singing groups.

Gipsy Kings

Les Baux

The daughter of close friends visited us last weekend. We got to be tour guides again and showed her around our village and then we went to “Les Baux.”

Located on a plateau in the Alpilles just south of St. Remy de Provence, Les Baux was an important strategic location during the medieval days as well as during the Renaissance.

As tourists, we can appreciate the beautiful landscape of olive trees and grape vines starting right below the cliffs of the plateau and stretching into the distance. It reminds me of a landscape that Van Gogh might have painted (he spent a year in nearby St. Remy de Provence).

 It is hard to imagine how difficult life must have been in medieval times. If marauders, the Black Death, the Inquisition, the Crusades weren’t enough to keep one occupied, one could create living space by carving rooms and homes out of the stone at les Baux.

Daily life must have been pretty boring albeit difficult if residents had enough time to carve shelves, windows and doorways out of the rock walls…

Ellen

Emilie

 

Almond Trees

PS: I thought that I had found an almond tree worthy of including in my pronouncement of spring. Then, yesterday, I was visiting a friend’s blog and saw a great picture of almond trees. Please take a minute and visit Kristin Espinasse’s “French Word A Day” site. She has beautiful photos of almond trees in bloom. Go to: www.french-word-a-day.com and look for the post of March 7 (Comment faire). Kristin always writes interesting vignettes to go with the words to which she introduces us.

SPRING!

The almond trees are flowering.

An almond tree at les Baux

Still no rain….

Dry

The temperature today reached 19° C. That is about 66° F in the states. The “vague de froid” (cold wave) has ended and everyone is talking about spring. The French don’t have Punxsutawney Phil to predict the end of winter on Groundhog Day. The French prefer to make crêpes on that day. They call it “Chandeleur.” Good fortune comes to those who can toss a crêpe into the air and catch it in the same pan (using the hand with which one doesn't write). Even though the focus is different; the French have similar proverbs and predictions for the day. I found these online at about.com.

À la Chandeleur, l'hiver cesse ou reprend vigueur
On Candlemas, winter ends or strengthens

À la Chandeleur, le jour croît de deux heures
On Candlemas, the day grows by two hours

Chandeleur couverte, quarante jours de perte
Candlemas covered (in snow), forty days lost

Rosée à la Chandeleur, hiver à sa dernière heure
Dew on Candlemas, winter at its final hour

The cold and the crêpes aside, the dry weather has become a much more popular topic. Since our arrival in France in mid-December, it has rained only three times including a dusting of snow. The Ouveze River that flows through town now looks like a creek. Mt. Ventoux, usually snow-covered until April, is mostly bald with only small patches of snow on the north side. The leaves on the olive trees are curled up and looking a whole lot more silver than green.

I have not heard anyone speaking of a drought but this year is so different from our past three winters here. An n of three is not the basis for long-term predictions but winter rain gets absorbed into the clay and is what the grape vines and fruit trees live on during the long, dry summers here.

I am not complaining. The skies have been a deep blue with few clouds. The air is clear and regularly re-cleaned by the Mistral winds. I would like to imagine that the sky and air are as they were when the Impressionists started painting Provence scapes in the amazing colors that they used.

Chateau La Coste

There are so many places to visit in Provence. There are, of course, all of the major attractions listed in the tour guides but there are other sites/locations to discover and enjoy.

During our time in the states, Ellen collects news features from which we can learn more about France. My eldest sister also sends items from the New York Times that she thinks might  interest us.

When Bruce and Judy were visiting from Paris, Ellen pulled out her folder of newspaper clippings and we decided to go to a little village just north of Aix-en-Provence to visit a winery/architectural showcase. The winery is called “Chateau La Coste” and is now owned by Belfast-born Patrick McKillen. In addition to producing some fine wines (big reds, amazing rosés) and olive oil, the owner invited works from internationally-renowned architects including Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and sculptures from Richard Serra and Louise Bourgeois… According to Lanie Goodman in her article in the New York Times Magazine, Sept. 22, 2011, still to come are more structures by Gehry, Oscar Niemeyer, Norman Foster and Renzo Piano. Not mentioned in the article is a mobile by Alexander Calder placed in a reflecting pond just outside of the café on the grounds. There is also a small sculpture that resembles Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” (the Bean) in Chicago. The bean sprout/flying saucer called “The Drop” was created by Tom Shannon.

"The Drop" by Tom Shannon

Ellen in front of the mobile by Calder

Every aspect of the architecture seems to have been designed for good “feng shui.” The winery, the architecture and the sculptures create a peaceful, welcoming setting.

"The Spider" by Louise Bourgeois

Gehry's Music Pavillion as seen from behind "The Drop"

"Infinity" by Sugimpoto (on the left)

-If readers have other suggestions for day trips, PLEASE add them to “Comments.”