A thought on the culture...
and what a cultural week its been! Spent the weekend seeing museums all around paris, tuesday conducted the orchestra, wed saw a ballet, thursday saw a french play... ahh!
But there are several things I just want to capture, remember, and convey about this lovely and warm city of aix. There are so many little things I notice throughout the day and I'm afraid I'll forget them or never share them with anyone else. Sorry if this is a bit lengthy.
- Les Parents (parents)- After having spent some time in 3rd world countries, I can't help but walk around and notice differences between cultures, particularly in the relationships between kids & parents. I have been pleasantly surprised here to see a great number of fathers watching and taking care of their kids- walking them to school, playing with them in the park, pushing the stroller. In other countries outside the US I'm so accustomed to only seeing the mothers with the kids, often the father no where to be found. It makes me smile to see it differently here.
- Les Arbres (trees)- With fall upon us, I'm noticing a change in the trees- not just color, but things falling from them. There are these weird sort of hazel-nut looking nuts or hard fruits that fall from the trees. As I walk down the the street to my apartment I hear the very loud THUD of these hard objects as they let go of their roots in the branches and come crashing down, only to hit and smash on the cars parked on the street. If a big breeze blows and I'm walking under these trees I sometimes have to cover my head to protect myself!
- Les Fenêtres (windows)- Everything is so old here in Aix, in France in general. The schools here are not recent constructions with optimal design to transport the ever-increasing student population like they are in the US, but instead they are 100 or 200 year old big sand-colored brick buildings with tall windows one can open out to feel the breeze. I love walking past the conservatories especially because people are practicing on different floors and all have the windows open so their music climbs out the window and mixes together with the other music from the other windows to form a melange of delicate and colorful sounds.
- Le Pain (bread)- I swear I have never known a culture to eat bread and cheese the way the French do! A common sight to see is a business man walking home from work with only briefcase and a baguette in hand- the bare necessities for life here- an income and bread! Also- I have learned that the word for a conductor's baton is Baguette, which essentially means 'stick'- I still imagine myself leading an orchestra with a long loaf of bread someday. :D
- L'espace silencieux (quiet space) - One thing we Americans absolutely take for granted is the amount of space we have- in our houses with yards, in our big personal cars, in our giant and diverse grocery markets, at our personal booths in restaurants, walking in the wide sidewalks. Everything is so much more compact here- A free-standing house is only for the most wealthy, and I really haven't seen any personal yards the way we have them in the US. Most people are stacked up in quaint apartments. The cars are so very small- I try to imagine someone bringing a hummer or SUV through here and it makes me laugh. The mini cooper cars that seem too small to take on the highway in the US look HUGE here compared to the majority of other cars. In restaurants, you have maybe a foot of space between you and the next table. And yet, one does not pick up on the conversations of the next table- it is an art, to talk in subtle and soft tones so only the person across or next to you can hear. We loud americans have had a tough time finding this sonority in our voices. There has only been once or twice when I wanted to just push every one out of my way when walking down the sidewalk- every pedestrian, and bicycles, and dogs, and cars trying to scoot through a 12ft wide space between big buildings!
I suppose thats enough of that for now. I'll spend the rest of the time entertaining you with photos from our trip to Paris this past weekend which was great! It was a little chilly there- I was happy to come back to the nice warm south of France after the weekend!
Upon arriving- we took a train from Marseille to Paris overnight and got in early saturday morning, just in time to see a beautiful sunrise over the Sein river!
I think we all look pretty fresh here! My friends- Lindsay, Chelsea, Elyse! It was a little chilly when we arrived, but we were all in great spirits and ready to find our hostel!
One of the first places we went (after having breakfast of course) was to Shakespeare Bookstore- an awesome jam-packed book store where great authors like Hemingway and Fitzgerald once wrote and hung out. Was a ton of fun to explore!
Here we are having crepes at 2am- just a quick stop! hehe
Later that day we went to Tour Montparnasse to see an awesome view of all of paris- only, without the massive lines and crowds that you find at the Eiffel Tower! Here I am jumping around like a loony person- haha!
Can you see the little person sitting down on the left? That's me in front of the Paris Opera (my future office.. if all things go according to plan, haha!)
The shadows are us.. in front of some big landmark... haha. Weird photo, but there's the eiffel tower! We were out all night (till 4am) because it was Nuit Blanche- one night a year Paris opens up all of its museums for FREE all night! From 7pm to 7am any one and everyone goes to see the sights from a very different light! It was amazing to see Notre Dame and other museums by night with awesome lighting effects they set up!
Here we are having crepes at 2am- just a quick stop! hehe
The next day, in the metro. We were lucky because one of the girls, Elyse, had lived in paris for a month this summer so she knew her way alll around the city. We were lucky to have a great guide!
Here we are, dressed for fall in Jardin Luxembourg. We just sat here for a while on sunday telling old stories and laughing and enjoying the city.
SO... back in Aix! Just a couple quick photos I wanted to share from the week here:
I went to meet my organ teacher on wed. at a cathedral to have a intro lesson on what I heard was an awesome organ. I arrived and indeed was amazed at the organ there! But there was no teacher to be found!! I hate that things get lost in translation, but what can I do? Here's the organ I'll hopefully get to play on soon-
Awww! Cute doggie! Love the photos as always, but your list of unusual things was a great way to start the blog entry. So glad you had a wonderful time in Paris, and you seemed very much at home. It's a huge city, eh?
ReplyDeleteHey maybe next time you're in Marseilles you can just take one snapshot of the stage where some people are assembling just so we can get an impression of what your're seeing. I hope your classes and the Marseilles work goes well. I know when you are out of sight a lot it means you are very busy so don't fret that you can't write much or blog. Love you honey!
hey dad- I took some photos of the place where we rehearse a few blogs ago. Its not a concert hall- we practice in a cathedral in marseille. The acoustics are really pretty cool! Look back a few entries to my first account of going to the rehearsal and you can see 2 little photos.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to take more photos next time though.
Ok I see the photos and it is helpful for me to visualize.
ReplyDeleteHey honey, I am going to mail you my video camera. You can hold on to it until you return to USA ok? Also a mini-tripod you can set on a table. I think it will not only be fun to make some videos of you conducting or assisting, but it will provide some good visual feedback for your self-critique. I'll mail it tomorrow ASAP. Love you honey!