1, 2 and 3 avril 2011
It has been several days since I last posted on the blog. I hope you have not been worrying about me. This past Wednesday evening, the Internet and the cable TV reception “collided.” They come in on the same line at Michele’s house. So for now, it won’t be working until the “cable guy” can come on Monday or Tuesday. Michele found an Internet spot for me just around the corner. It costs 1 euro per 30 minutes, and the keyboards are French – more about that in a moment. At school I have free access so my plan is to communicate from there each day. This will not work for Skype as the hours while I’m at school are not convenient for people in the States. This is frustrating for me, but even more so for Michele as it is an additional cost for her.
Hopefully nothing else will “collapse” before I depart. Michele thought maybe the connection gave up because I spent so much time (one to two hours in the evening) online. It’s a logical theory, but I do hope it is for another reason and that the resulting fix will be better for Michele overall. Oh, the washing machine sounded really bad this morning when I did a load. My fear is that this will break down, too, and it will be because I’ve been doing two loads of laundry a week. Here’s hoping for the best.
Yesterday, I purchased a “spring” gift for Michele – a potted gerbera daisy. It is a bright peach color. It added a lot to the table and now the garden. I hope that it will grow for Michele through the summer at least. She was very happy to get it.
Friday evening we had a dinner at Casa Nissa, an establishment that features niçoise cuisine, to send off two of my good friends from school: Radovan and Rosa. I am sorry to see them go. The party was still hopping when I left at 11:15.
Saturday afternoon I went to see the Museum of Asiatic Arts and Parc Phoenix with Wei Wei. These attractions are located side by side, across from the airport. It was great seeing everything with Wei Wei who is from China. We even found her home city on the map – it’s just southwest of Shanghai, on the southeast coast of the country. The park was beautiful, too. It included a large pond with ducks, geese, pelicans, swans, and of course some fish. There was a tank with otters and caged areas for kangaroos and macaw parrots. The planted beds and large fountain area were glorious on this sunny day. The botanical gardens had observation areas for iguanas, alligators, tortoises and flamingos. Many families were out enjoying the day with us.
On the way back, we thought we could catch a bus going north on the other side of the street. But because the airport is right there, there were no stops in the direction we were going. We walked quite a ways to find one. It was still worth the ride, because the airport is quite a ways beyond the center of Nice where we live and go to school. I got home about 7:00 p.m.
Today, Sunday, I went to Mass at Notre Dame. The pastor there gives a really fine homily. Now if I can say that and not understand every word, then he must be really good, no? The choir led the music, as it was Laetare Sunday.
After Mass, I had two messages on my phone. It took me a long while to figure out how to hear them – the instructions from the phone company are in French you see. I’ve discovered that “texting” a response saves me cent(ime)s, so I responded in this manner. The result: after the concert later today, I will see Vesna.
I went home for lunch, then off to Fatima’s apartment to help her with her college entrance essay. When I got to the front door of the apartment building, I realized that I did not know her apartment number: how would I let her know that I had arrived? She was not waiting at the door for me. I tried calling, since I had her number, but there was no answer. Then I doubted whether or not I had the correct number.
The only other way I might be able to reach her is via Facebook, so I walked to the Internet spot and paid my euro for 30 minutes. That time goes really fast when one must hunt and peck for the letters and numbers. The French keyboard has some significant changes. The biggest is that the “@” sign is a third symbol on one of the number keys. I could not figure out how to type it. After about six minutes of trying, I returned to the cashier. He did not speak English, but as soon as I started my French inquiry, he knew right away what my problem was and came straight to my assistance. After that, the time flew by. My first correspondence was with Fatima’s Facebook page, then a message to friends and family about my being out of the Internet zone temporarily. Just as I was reading Fatima’s reply, my time ran out.
Rather than adding more minutes, I walked back to Fatima’s apartment. I was not there more than two minutes when she came to the door. We worked for about 45 minutes then I was off to a concert at Notre Dame. The group was called “Polyphonius” and they had a fabulous blend: they fashioned themselves after the King Singers, I believe. Their repertoire was mostly sacred, but from renaissance to contemporary, including a good portion in English. It made me long for some real singing again.
After the concert I visited Vesna, but she happened to be busy moving furniture with a friend’s help. We decided that I would return later, which I did about 7:00. She had offered to me her computer so that I could talk to people at home, but by the time she and I set up the Skype account, I realized that I did not know how to change from one user to another. Oh well. After a little meal of soup, it was getting quite late for her, and me, so I left for home about 10:10.
Now the day is done, once again. Only three more weeks of school and then off I must go. I’m looking forward to that. Hav
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