Une fête anniversaire à Aniane

This weekend, I was invited to go to a family birthday party for Martin, one of Patricia's grandsons. He was turning 5. The day prior, Patricia and I spent the afternoon in the Centre Ville looking for gifts for Martin. He wanted perfume which I thought most peculiar for such a young boy. However, his older brother Victor has cologne and so does his dad and he wants to be just like them. We managed to find a bottle of toilet water with a pleasant smell that didn't cost a small fortune. I found some stickers of geometrical shapes (which apparently he also likes) and we both purchased cards. With that mission accomplished, we headed home. Patricia had to make a birthday cake and I had to stop to buy a bottle of wine as a hostess gift.That evening, Martin was sleeping over because his parents had a function to go to. I thought this would be my chance to speak a little French. No such luck! He didn't understand most of what I said to him and I certainly couldn't understand what he and Patricia were saying. Needless to say, I felt a little deflated.

The next day, we headed to Aniane which is a small village about 35 km northwest of Montpellier. We drove through some beautiful countryside and quaint villages en route, but unfortunately, due to the pressing nature of the birthday party (Martin was in the car and quite excited) there was no time to stop to take photos. Patricia promised me that we will return to explore that part of France in the future. Stay posted. 

Once in Aniane, we walked to Martins's home where his mother Olivia (Patricia's daughter), his father Fabian and brother Victor reside. It is one of those homes that is tall and narrow. Fabian has been very busy renovating the top floor so that there will be bedrooms for all of them. It is still a work in progress but from what I saw, it will be quite lovely. The main floor is an open plan with kitchen, dining area and living room. Upon arrival, I felt pretty awkward. I didn't know where to sit or what to do and I certainly wasn't able to hold a conversation with anyone. Thank goodness, I was able to make the salad. At least I felt a bit useful. The aroma from the roast chicken with garlic, potatoes and onions was heavenly. According  to Olivia, the boucherie (butcher shop) in Aniane is well known in the region and people come from all over to buy their meat and poultry.  If the chicken is any example, I would concur. It was wonderful. After the meal, in typical French fashion, we had some cheese with the wine and an espresso following that.

L to R Victor, Fabian, Olivia and Martin. By the way, Fabian is a painter and he showed me his paintings on his computer. His work is done on canvas with oil and is very contemporary.  He has a studio in Aniane and presently has an exposition of his art in Séte. Olivia is also an artist and makes jewellry, specifically beautiful rings with gold, silver and some stones.

Guess who?

The next thing I knew, Olivia was packing a picnic basket with plates, drinks and the cakes. Patricia had gathered the presents and the cards and we headed to the park "Le Petit Jardin". Kids from the local school plant vegetables and flowers in this park and there are benches scattered throughout. Several friends joined the party including other kids and adults. Eventually, the candles were put on the cake and everyone sang a French version of Happy Birthday ( everyone but me because I didn't know the words).  Martin blew out his candles and everyone had cake - chocolate and pear and an apple cake - both were exceptional. At long last, Martin opened his presents and was delighted with all his gifts.

After the gift opening, the kids went off to play and the adults sat around the table and talked. Once again, I was at a disadvantage because most of them speak quickly. I think some of the discussion was about movies because every once in awhile, I would hear names like Brad Pitt or Henry Fonda. I  did feel pretty isolated and a bit hopeless.  Patricia and I talked when we got home and I told her how I felt. She reassured me that within 2-3 months, I will be able to comprehend more and speak more fluently. I certainly hope so! Despite it all, the weather was superb and it really was a very good party!

Pierre, Patricia's son joined us at the park. He is an accomplished Flamenco guitarist. Not only does he teach guitar, he also plays with a group. We are going to see him on Oct 15 at a local restaurant that is very good. He had just purchased a new guitar and was trying it out. He is extremely talented.

The two birthday cakes - Martin wanted decorations (candies) on grandma's cake.

Martin and friends singing Joyeux Anniversaire à Martin.

Blowing out the candles! Cinq bougies n'est-ce pas?

Opening L'eau de toilette. Olivia liked it too!

A wonderful picture of Martin and Victor.

Before I close, here are a couple of things I have noticed:

- When you meet someone for the first time here, sometimes you shake hands and sometimes you kiss on the cheek 3 times. I'm never quite sure.

- Kids are kids regardless of where they live. They fight, they play, they hug, they get dirty and they love sticks!

- The park benches in Aniane are much more practical than ours. The table itself is a little wider and there are benches on all sides. 

I'll post again soon.

Odds and Sods

Believe it or not, my second week of school is over. I think I can speak a little better than I did two weeks ago, but I still have a long way to go. My comprehension has improved, but I spend a lot of time translating words to English in my head so it takes more time to process. Formulating complete sentences is also difficult and my accent leaves much to be desired. That said, my prof told me I was doing well considering this is only my second week.

I asked her for recommendations of books that I could buy to practice at home. There is a huge librairie (the French word for bookstore as opposed to bibliothéque which is the French word for library) near the Place de la Comédie. Somehow, I was able to find the Grammaire Progressive du Français débutant and intermédiaire editions. These books are loaded with grammar lessons and exercises. Needless to say, I had to buy the guides with all the answers to be sure that I am doing the exercises correctly. My hope is that my classes at school, conversations with Patricia and others in French, the additional homework and reading children's literature will assist my language learning. As time passes, I may try to go on more school excursions, take in a film and explore other options to acquire French. On a side note, I did take in a school excursion this week - a wine tasting event - Le Vin: Initiation a la Dégustation. Although I understood little of what the prof said, I do know a little bit about wine. Out of the four we tried, I really enjoyed the Pic Saint Loup rouge called Benezech. We have had a few bottles  of other wines from this region and they have been pretty decent.

Today, a group of us went out for a nice lunch to celebrate Gemma's last day at school. She goes back to Spain tomorrow. I will miss her company. Martina (on Gemma's right) is here next week and our new friend Enio (on Gemma's left) from Chicago will be here for a month. What is so interesting about these people is that they can all speak at least 3 to 5 languages and easily move from one language to another. Between the 3 of them, they speak Italian, Portugese, Spanish, English, Catalan and French. I am in awe most of the time. Here they are at an outdoor cafe - note the empty wine glasses.

I learned something this week that I found rather interesting. In class, we were talking about the different rules and expectations of people in France and Montpellier specifically. Then the prof opened up the discussion for people to talk about rules in their respective countries. Max, from Sweden, said that people there are expected to pick up after their dog i.e. "poop and scoop".  In French the phrase is " ramasser les crottes de chiens." This is not a rule in Montpellier. According to our prof, it is a superstition in France that if you step in dog's excretement with your left foot, you will have bonheur or good luck. I was telling Gemma this over lunch and a gentleman beside us who speaks English overheard the conversation and said that this is not true. He said it was just an excuse because the people in Montpellier think that their taxes pay for the street cleaners to clean up after the dogs. Indeed there is a lot of dog excretement around and the cleaners are out early every morning washing the streets.

I will end this blog with a couple of miscellaneous pictures of things/people mentioned in previous blogs.

This is one of the colourful trams - Ligne 3 which I take to and from school.

My host family - Patricia (front), her son Pierre to her left, her father Joseph and her cousin Carole

Until next time....

Celleneuve

If I understood Patricia correctly, Celleneuve was a village in its own right with a church, town hall, shops etc. It was originally settled in about 799 and its church, L'Eglise Saint-Croix de Celleneuve dates back to the 12th century. Unfortunately, the church was closed and has limited hours for public viewing. Over the next 6 months, I am sure I'll find time to go in, have a look and take some pictures. Celleneuve is situated to the west of Montpellier and with urbanization, is now part of Montpellier proper. 

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful and I decided to wander about this village to get to know it a little better. Several hours later, I returned with a number of pictures. Celleneuve, in my opinion, is not particularly pretty. I have been to other French villages that are so lovely. This one seems to be a mix of new and old, but there isn't the charm I have seen elsewhere. People might say the same about Avonmore, our neighbourhood in Edmonton. At any rate, the streets are very narrow which is fairly tyical of old European villages. Cars struggle to manouever around tight corners. There is little to no parking directly near one's home, but there is a large lot in the square where homeowners can park their cars for free and then walk back to their respective homes.

rue Marcelin Albert

I  live in the old granary at 1 rue Marcelin Albert. I have included a picture of the exterior of "my home away from home". We live on the upper level and a podiatrist occupies the main floor space.

We often hang our laundry out to dry on the Juliet balcony.

In my travels, I came across a group of men playing Pétanque.  Pétanque is a French game of boules similar to Bocci except that the balls are made of metal. It seems that only men play this sport, yet I have fond memories of playing with a group the last night we were in Mezin about 5 years ago. I think my brother, Trev, will remember it too. We had a lot of laughs!

I managed to find this a fitness centre nearby, but it is quite expensive. Patricia tells me that I might be able to get a reduced rate because I'm a student. In the meantime, I am walking more than I have in years, albeit with the help of a cane at times.

Below is Patricia's favourite Boulangerie-Patisserie right around the corner from her place. She buys our fresh baguette there daily.

The fresh produce store is located beside the bakery and all our fresh produce is purchased there. Most of the produce is locally grown and very good.

Last but not least, are a couple of random photos of the local park and one of the restaurants nearby.

C'est tout. Talk you you soon.

My 2nd week in school and Montpellier

This week, my new professeur is Eléa. I quite like her because she speaks a little more slowly and I understand the gist of most of her instructions and explanations. She, like Pauline, is very patient with us. New students joined our class, or perhaps we joined them, but there are now 10 of us instead of 5 or 6. Three of the new students are Swiss, one is Mexican and the other is English. It really is very interesting to meet people from all over the world. We are bombarded with new vocabulary daily and there are always lessons in grammar. I sometimes wish that I had taken an English refresher course in grammar because I think it would help me grasp some of the French grammar concepts more easily. Too late now!

Patricia has many children's books in French because of her grandchildren. I figured it might be a good idea to try and read some simple stories to help with my French. Even though I had the dictionary at hand, there were still expressions and phrases I didn't comprehend and that was on the first page! I'll work on it again tonight and ask Patricia for help when I get stuck. Needless to say, I have so much to learn, but then again, that's why I'm here.

School ends about 12:30. My classmates and I often go out for lunch and then explore some part of Montpellier. Today was no exception. A new student from Germany named Petra joined us. It was a hot and sunny day, so I suggested we walk to the Place Royale du Peyrou. This is an area that Patricia said was a "must see". En route, you pass a beautiful building called the Palais du Justice. As the name suggests, it is a courthouse that was built in 1853. 

Palais du Justice

Shortly thereafter, you pass through L'Arc de Triomphe, only a smaller version than the one in Paris.

On the other side of L'Arc de Triomphe is a long esplanade with a statue of Louis XIV.

As you continue to the end, there is the Château d'Eau, a water tower that held the city's water reserves. You can go up the stairs and see Montpellier from all directions.

From this view, north of Montpellier, you can see the hill or mountain, which is Pic Saint-Loup, a region in France that makes excellent wine. 

Our next stop was a brief visit to La Faculté du Médecine built at the end of the 12th century. It has an excellent reputation world -wide.

The Cathédrale Saint Pierre is directly behind the Faculté de Médecine.

Two circular columns support the portico at the Cathédrale.

We tried to visit the Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden just a few steps away from the Faculté, but it is closed on Mondays. I have included a couple of pictures taken from the walkway above, but we will have to return when it is open. It looks very peaceful.

Tomorrow, I will tell you a little about the village of Celleneuve where I am living. À demain.

À la plage et à La Grande Motte - une bonne journée (At the beach and the seaside port of La Grande Motte - a good day)

This has been a terrific weekend! It began Friday with a trip to Sete, yesterday a visit to the market and today an afternoon at the beach with my host, Patricia. We went by car to the beach Le GrandTravers on the Mediterranean. It was about a 20 - 30 minute ride by car. If I understood her correctly, the beach goes on for miles, but the names change. Younger people tend to go to Palavas, a beach further east, where there are more bars, restaurants and shops. Le Grand Travers is a beautiful beach, but fewer amenities. The water was too cold for me, but there were a few brave souls along with many dogs in the water. Here are a few pictures:

La Plage Le Grand Travers

The sand dunes at the beach - they remind me a bit of the dunes at Grand Beach outside of Winnipeg

I spent quite a while watching this lab run in and out of the water to fetch his ball - lots of fun

A rear view of some of les belles femmes

Our next stop was the beautiful seaside port La Grande Motte. Obviously, this is a place where people who have resources live. Yachts and sailboats line the marinas and the cost of purchasing or renting a place here is very expensive. The gardens are beautiful and the streets are spotless. I guess what struck me most was the unusual, but beautiful architecture throughout the village. Apparently, they hired one architect who came up with the designs for all the buildings. Even though they are all different and very beautiful, there is a continuity or a flow to the place. Once again, here are a few pictures to how you what I mean.

We had worked up quite an appetite by mid afternoon, so stopped for le déjeuner at a lovely outdoor restaurant.  Lunch included a glass of wine and we spent a good hour or so enjoying our excellent food and wine, while conversing in French (albeit badly on my part). The decision to live with a host family was sound. You are forced to talk in and listen to French most of the time. I even think I am speaking a little better than I did when I arrived a week ago.

After lunch, we walked around the port a little more. While doing so, we managed to find a shop that sold good quality cotton clothes made in France and I bought a new summer dress on sale. To end this wonderful day, we came across another little outdoor cafe to have coffee. The French often have coffee or tea and a snack like a piece of cake or a cookie between 4-6 p.m. In Canada, we have happy hour at that time, which I described to Patricia. Although it is after 8 p.m. now, I'm still not hungry. I can see why Europeans don't eat until late evening. I am back to school tomorrow, but I will definitely return to this beautiful place before I leave France. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the beautiful trees along the roadway.

Au marché Les Arceaux

What a pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning! Patricia told me about this market and I thought I would check it out. It was as interesting as she had suggested. There were many different vendors selling a wide variety of produce, meat, wine, honey, clothes etc. I often go to the farmer's market when I am home in Edmonton, but the markets here offer a few different choices. For example, most of the fish available at home is frozen. Here the fish is fresh and there are different kinds. I didn't see any cuttlefish, but I did see squid. There was also a wide assortment of meat including duck maigre and terrines of pâtés. There was a stall that had a box of pruneaux d'Agen. These are the same prunes that we so enjoyed in that part of France when we were there about 5 years ago. Prunes and walnuts were specialities in that region and often served as appetizers. I bought a few and brought them home. It turns out that Patricia likes them too. I know you will be surprised, but I also bought some wine and have tucked it into the cupboard in my bedroom. You never know when you might need it. As I got to the end of the market, I heard some music and saw a group of people milling around. There was a rather large band playing all kinds of instruments. The music was most enjoyable, so I listened for awhile and took some photos. For your viewing pleasure...

The Market at les Arceaux

Le vendeur du pain (beautiful artisian bread)

Le vendeur de fromage ( I bought a little blue cheese for lunch - delicious!)

Les fruits

Les confitures, les miels etc. ( jams, honey , olive oil etc.)

Les pruneaux d'Agen

Les olives 

Les Anchois (anchovies) and les tampenades

de la viande (meat, poultry, duck, sausages)

Les musiciens (The musicians)

Aussi les musiciens (Another photo of the rest of the band)