Dining Out

So last week was our last week of school, and John and I only have a few more days left in Montpellier before we head off to meet Grandma and Ellie for a few weeks of travel through Burgundy and Champagne. Both of us had gotten to the point in our studies where we were starting to get a little bored with the classes, so I think that we are leaving at just the right time. We're at the point where we're comfortable communicating with french speakers, and in my class at least, we were starting to delve into some more advanced grammar studies which, while useful, were about as interesting as studying English grammar back in high school.

We had dinner with some friends the other night, which was notable for the shockingly obnoxious American couple that was sitting at an adjacent table. I felt extremely sorry for the waiter, who showed an exhorbitant amount of patience with these people who kept intermittently calling him "garcon" in order to get his attention and then yelling loudly about the food or the wine or whatever. I wanted to tell the waiter that he shouldn't get a bad impression about Americans based on this couple's behavior, which would be considered just as obnoxiously rude in an American restaurant, but before I had the chance, the husband swiveled around in his chair in order to engage our table in some conversation about what we had decided to order for dinner. After talking to them for a few minutes I realized that they were actually perfectly nice people, surprisingly well travelled, and very pleasant to talk to. I was trying to figure out why they were acting like such arrogant pricks a mere 5 minutes ago, when the husband asked me:

"So what's a good tip around here? We're totally clueless about this stuff."

Bingo. Clueless. I wonder if a lot of Americans give the rest of us a bad reputation as being arrogant and obnoxious simply because they're clueless. This couple was clearly very nice and obviously didn't intend to be rude, they just had no idea that they were offending the waiter and annoying everyone else around them by calling so much attention to themselves. I mean if something is considered rude in your country, it's probably not a good idea to do it in another country. After I told them how much to leave for the tip, I thought about also mentioning that they also shouldn't yell "garcon" across a restaurant in order to get the waiter, when the husband said:

"So what state do you live in? We're from Michigan but we tell everyone that we're Canadian."

....I guess it won't be Americans who end up with a bad reputation after all.

Sete, Arles, and Marseille

Busy travel weekend! On Saturday, Janet, Ilia, and I explored the small seaside city of Sete which is a 30 minute train ride from Montpellier. The guide book called this city the Venice of Languedoc because of the canals that run through the city (coincidentally, there is another similarity in that there is significant italian heritage among the population). Anyways, the highlights were the old port, great seafood, views from atop the hill, and one of the most interesting and scenic cemeteries I've ever seen.
Sete Pictures Here

On Sunday, we spent the morning and early afternoon in Arles. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see the museums, so we focused on the outdoor ruins like the roman coliseum, bath houses, theater, and mausoleum. However, what stole the show here was the preferred morning (10 am) drink among the elder ladies:


We then caught an afternoon train to Marseille, where we had just enough time to see the old port, ruins of the even older port, city wall, church, and some incredibly sketchy streets before the sun set. Janet took the shuttle to the airport, and Ilia and I took the train back home.
Alres and Marseille Picture Here

A Different Perspective

Not a day goes by in France without hearing news about the United States. In the newspapers and on the tv, John and I are constantly hearing about the latest political, social, and other miscellaneous happenings in our country, which is why I am no longer surprised when someone from France or Sweden or even Lichtenstein (sp?) knows the names and political leanings of many of our politicians, including the current batch of presidential candidates. It's especially embarrassing for me at times, because aside from knowing who Jacques Chirac is, I can't even tell you the name of one of the 13 presidential candidates in France even though their elections are coming up this Sunday. It always feels a bit strange when someone from another country has a knowledgeable political discussion with me about America, especially when I can't speak much to the politics of other countries other than in a general sense. It gets even worse when one is corrected in front of the entire class by an Italian student on a random tidbit of American history, which happened to me just the other day. Regardless, it is quite obvious that the world, whether they love the US or hate it, is interested in what is happening in our country, which is yet one of many differences that I've discovered while living in France.

In so many other ways I am constantly reminded about how truly unique the US is in the world, from the most minor differences like the 30hr workweek vs the 40+ hr workweek to the entirely different ways in which we Americans think and value what's important in life. Much of the time these little cultural differences come as pleasant reminders of the great things about our country, sometimes funny and sometimes very ordinary, they often make me think that we have it pretty great in America. But then on your way to class one the morning you see the horror at Virginia Tech splashed all over the newspapers, and you can't help but think, why does this happen so much in the US? The reaction in France has seemed to be one of great sympathy for our country right now, apart from the horror at the thought that someone could commit such an atrocity. In reading the French newspapers concerning the tragedy I noticed that they kept using the English terms "mass murder" and "school shootings" in lieu of using a similar phrase in French. Is it that they simply don't have the words for such atrocities, or are they so common in the US as to be better known around the world by their English names?

Whatever the case, it seems to be a problem of the human condition that we have not yet been able to solve. Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and the students at Virginia Tech, and not just John's and mine, but from what I've encountered thus far, the hearts and thoughts of everyone in France as well.

Pictures from travels

We rented a car this past weekend with Jan and Janet visiting. We were able to see several towns in the vicinity here, including Avignon, Sete, Marssaillan, Pont du Gard, Aiges Mortes, St Marie de la mer, St Guilem la desert (which was amazing).
Unfortunately, the weather was not the greatest while we were at the beach, but by Sunday it was all sun!
Here are the pics!

Miscellaneous Adventures

Unfortunately our internet connection at the Intermarche, which has thus far been our most reliable source, suddenly stopped working last week for whatever reason and has just now finally come back on. Regardless, we spent our time with John's mom in Montpellier, eating at some fabulous restaurants with all kinds of interesting French dishes. You know that you're in France when your idea of "eating light" after three days of rich food becomes something like a steak slathered in goat cheese. Janet arrived this weekend as well, and we spent some time exploring Provence (pictures coming soon).

We also had dinner with Jean-Jacque and Josienne at a very very very nice restaurant, where I had one of my top 5 best meals. I don't know what it is about the french, but they sure can make just about anything taste pretty good, even pigs' feet which was my first course. I've also had the pleasure of eating kangaroo, which was fun for the sheer novelty alone, although it didn't really have much taste which I guess means it tasted kind of like chicken.

I've finally gotten to the point in French where I no longer dread speaking to French people, which I used to avoid at times. That might be thanks to my new teacher, who I think must miss the days when she could strike students with a yardstick (or meter stick over here I suppose) when we give the wrong answer. Given the added pressure to say things correctly lest I incur her wrath, I've become much more conscientious when speaking. But it's mostly just nice to finally be able to understand people when they talk to me (especially Jean Jacque, who, it turns out, did not kill two Algerians but was the intended victim--whew!)

Everything has been going pretty well lately, the guy from whom we buy our crepes every day knows us pretty well by now and doesn't need to ask us which kind of crepe we want anymore. We've also gotten accustomed to eating one baguette per day, so we feel more and more assimilated to life in Montpellier. I'm definitely getting excited for Paris, but I get a little sad when I realize that we're only going to be living here for another two weeks. I know I could easily spend several years here, six months is just not enough time!

Anyway we have much more to say after not posting for a week or so, but for now I have to go write a report for class tomorrow. John, as usual, has no homework (I don't know how he always manages to get into classes which don't give homework).

Cote D'Azur

We've just returned from a fun weekend in Cannes where we stayed with Geoff. On Friday, we caught a train after school that put is in Cannes just before 7. That night we had dinner in a small town called Mougins, a short drive inland from Cannes. The food was outstanding, we tried a local specialty of fish soup served with bread, garlic mayonnaise and parmasian cheese. After that we hit up a very fun club back in Cannes located in a marina.
Saturday was spent catching rays at the local pool and down by the ocean - Geoff's place is in a small cliffy enclosure in a town called Theoule, west of Cannes. The included pictures will do the place more justice than any description!
Saturday night we went back into Cannes for another night of dinner and drinks. It was fun seeing the town by night - The famous hotels like the Majestic (parts of the movie Ronin were filmed there!) as well as the Cannes Film Festival building and its famous red carpet staircase. Sunday morning we had to get up early to get back to Monpellier, where my mom was due to arrive early in the afternoon. She made it, and we were able to walk around town and have dinner at a Crepe place before passing out!
Pictures
Geoff and Mr. Hsu, thanks again for a lovely weekend!

Montpellier wins 2-1!

Last Friday night we went to our first european soccer game. The local team in Montpellier plays in the 2nd division, which is one tier below the top flight known as Ligue 1. Most americans would be quick to associate the 2nd division w/ the minor leagues of baseball, but I think a better analogy would be a smaller D1 NCAA basketball conference. In other words, the fans are as enthusiastic about their team as those of any Lique 1 team, although less of them come to the stadium while their team is not in the top tier (the best three teams in the 2nd division go into Ligue 1 the following season, and the bottom three from Ligue 1 drop down).

The staduim, which was probably built with Ligue 1 in mind, had enough vacant seats to remind us of a Monday night A's game in May. There was nonetheless a group of 50 or so die hards seated behind the goalie who raucously sang for the entire game. Big soccer teams (like those in Milan or London) have thousands of these singing fans, so it was quite funny to see such a small group.
It's also worth noting that this Ligue 2 game, with all of 4 thousand spectateurs, had as many scalpers as a 25,000 person NBA game. They were at least three times as pushy as well, accosting people while attempting to undercut 5 euro tickets by a whopping euro. We had to use the ol' "I no speak french" routine to ward them off (sadly, they still didn't give up).