Day 29 - dimanche

Around the Neighborhood II - click here to see pictures

27 fevrier 2011

It rained on and off again last night. I took my umbrella with me when I walked to the 10:30 messe at Notre Dame. I was hoping that Vesna might be there, but not so. The Italian woman in the front row was kind enough to speak with me again. I could understand about half of what she was saying this time, and I could communicate a little bit, too.

When I got home, I read through the thoughts for the day on the liturgy bulletin. There was a prayer on the back that we read together after communion. The pastor suggested that we say it everyday. I will share my translation of it with you here in both French and English:

Seigneur, quand je suis affamé, donne-moi quelqu’un qui ait besoin de nourriture.

Quand j’ai soif, envoie-moi quelqu’un qui ait besoin d’eau.

Quand j’ai froid, envoie-moi quelau-un à réchauffer.

Quand je suis blessé, donne-moi quelqu’un à consoler.

Quand ma croix devient lourde, doone moi la croix d’un autre à partager.

Quand je suis pauvre, conduis-moi à quelqu’un dans le besoin.

Quand je n’ai pas de temps, donne-moi quelqu’un que je puisse aider un instant.

Quand je suis humilié, donne-moi quelqu’un dont j’aurai à faire l’éloge.

Quand je suis découragé, envoie-moi quelqu’un à encourager.

Quand j’ai besoin do la compréhension des autres, donne-moi quelqu’un qui ait besoin de la mienne.

Quand j’ai besoin qu’on prenne soin de moi, envoi-moi quelqu’un don’t j’aurai à prendre soin.

Quand je ne pense qu’à moi, tourne mes pensées vers autrui.

Lord, when I am hungry, give me someone who needs food.

When I am thirsty, send me someone who needs water.

When I am cold, send me someone to warm up.

When I am hurt, give me someone to comfort.

When my belief becomes heavy, give me the cross of another to carry.

When I am needy, lead me to someone in need.

When I do not have time, give me someone who I can help in a moment.

When I am humbled, give me someone who has need of praise.

When I am discouraged, send me someone to encourage.

When I need others to understand me, give me someone who has need of mine.

When I need somebody to take care of me, send me someone who needs to be taken care of.

When I think only of myself, turn my thoughts toward others.

Do you think this prayer sounds a bit Ignatian?

The sun never really came out today, but it was sometimes brighter and darker throughout the day. I wasn’t really looking to go out again unless I could find something to do at an indoor spot. No such luck. It’s just as well. I needed to study since yesterday’s efforts felt scattered.

Yesterday online, I found a French audio novel for beginners, all in the present tense. I downloaded the script and audio file for each chapter. Today I listened to Chapter 1 twice without the script seeing how much I could determine, then once with the script. The story is not exciting, but the level is just right, so I will work my way through the next 15 chapters bit by bit.

More often I am trying to “think” French by creating sentences that describe what I’m planning to do or where I am. This is getting easier. Before I leave, I hope the process of moving from a “constructed” thought to speaking will come more quickly.

I have another dialogue to memorize for class tomorrow, but since I won’t be in that group, I won’t feel too disappointed if I don’t get it down perfectly. Then I spent time writing about the weekend, because I need to practice speaking in the past tense. Michele looked it over and made corrections as we shared a cup of tea.

Afterwards, because I had been sitting inside most of the day, I went for a neighborhood walk. I found the Russian palace just above us on the hill. It is now a high school. I took quite a few pictures so that you can see it, too.

Enjoy the rest of the day, Dear Reader, and have a good week.

Day 28 – samedi

26 fevrier 2011

Today I planned a quiet day to study. I’m not sure that I accomplished a lot, but it was quite nice to stay home. My only outing was to Monoprix, a large grocery store – on Jean Mèdecin Boulevard.

The sun never really came out, but there were brighter and darker moments. The walk to the store was pleasant. I’ve been listening to Maria Callas – so beautiful – sing French and Italian arias.

Once at the store, I took the escalator up to the second floor. Here one finds clothing, and office and school supplies. I found a coloring book and birthday card for Nate who turns 5 soon. I couldn’t find an envelope big enough to send it in, but I think that might be at the Post Office.

The ground level of Monoprix has a large section of fresh meats, fruits and vegetables, and cheese. It has a bakery, too. I found what I was looking for – no peanut butter – I think I will not look anymore. The fruits and vegetables were pretty expensive, so on the way back I stopped at a corner market to get those items.  His produce was fresh and reasonably priced – half that of Monoprix. I noticed he even had eggs. Since this is just two blocks from school, I will likely stop here again soon.

When I returned to the apartment, Michele was just on her way out to visit her friend Corinne who has a newborn baby boy. This gave me a chance to Skype people just getting out of bed in Iowa. It also gave me a chance to find some French practice sites.

This evening I checked email and sent a letter to some contacts in Paris. That trip must be planned soon. The weeks go by so quickly at school where I am doing well enough to be promoted up a step. I’m looking forward to this, as it will give me more opportunities to practice speaking and learn from others who have been in the learning process a little longer than myself.

It’s always good to hear from you, Dear Reader. Have a good day.

Day 27 - vendredi

Matisse museum day

25 fevrier 2011

The morning class gave me an opportunity to spend the afternoon out and about. The weather was lovely, so it was a good opportunity to go to the Matisse Museum and Greek/Roman ruins! For this, I was very excited. This area has been inhabited for a very long time.

Marina decided to come along. Our first stop was the Catholic bookstore – I found a mass guide and a small prayer book so that now I can participate more fully – both for less than 7 Euros.

Next we went looking for bus number 17.  There it was across the street. But by the time we crossed traffic and the two sets of tram tracks, it had pulled away from the curb. No big deal, we decided to get a soda (Coke for me and Fanta Orange for Marina) and wait for the next bus, which came later than expected.

However, the ride to the museum was only 15 minutes. We arrived at the museum stop at 4:45. The museum stays open until 6:00 so we had a reasonable amount of time to look around. The building sits in the middle of an archeological site surrounded by a park filled with olive trees. There is a Franciscan monastery next to this – the church there is from the 17^th century.

Pictures were not allowed in the museum, so all I have are from the outside surroundings. The Matisse collection gives one a real sense of his development from his school days through his life. A good deal of space is given to his design plans for the Dominican chapel in Vence, France (about 2 hours from Nice by bus, along the coast). Included in the museum is an interesting collection of “souvenirs” that Matisse collected during his travels around the world.  One gains a great appreciation for the artistic process with such a concentrated view of one’s work.

The park was filled with people of all ages and their dogs. In a section of the park, in front of the museum, is a lowered field defined by a rock wall. The field is filled with olive trees. I doubt that the trees are all that old, but it may be that the field has been an olive garden for many, many years.

Next we visited the chapel of the Franciscan monastery. The church was not large, but of fairly good size. The statues all seemed to be carved and painted.  Every inch of the church was painted in dark colors. It had a warm and welcoming feeling. We did not stay long as it was already 6:20 and we had to catch the bus back downtown.

Outside the museum, the ruins include foundations of buildings and a circular theater. There seemed to be an archeological dig in progress – there was a canvas awning over a small portion of this area. All was behind a fence. The theater was slightly more accessible. We were able to climb onto one of the arched openings. It looks like this area is being prepared for future use. The theater is not large, just two levels, it seems. I am amazed that I could touch bricks that were cut and laid over a thousand years ago.  It’s good that the city continues to conserve this area.

We got on the number 22 bus but not in the right direction. This meant that we had to get off the bus while it waited to start the route downtown.  This bus took us to Place Massena. From here we walked to an Indian restaurant. The food was very good and slightly more reasonable than most of what I have encountered here.

The apertif seemed to be a red wine diluted with rose water - a delightful taste and scent. The dinner was very good, too. I’m glad we had a little distance to walk to get home.

So it was a big day here. I expect to sleep well tonight. I hope you do, too, Dear Reader.

Day 26 - jeudi

24 fevrier 2011

I felt a lot of energy for the day as I headed to school. Last evening I found two helpful websites with rules for French grammar and some practice quizzes, too. Even on these sites I am very much a “beginner.” Ce n’est pas probleme. It is an exciting learning experience.

Class was a comfortable challenge today. I am enjoying more writing out our dialogues/sketches. Mariette was very affirming of my written efforts in French to describe yesterday’s visit to the Chagall museum. Every little bit of praise boosts my confidence to speak. The fourth week is nearly over; I have 8 more weeks to go. It is hard to imagine speaking with any of the facility the advanced students have, but  somehow, little by little, it does get easier.

I met a new student today, Fang Xu (Isabelle) from China. She is a singer, too. I hope that we will find each other several times a week. She knows a little English, but speaks French fairly clearly, so that will be our first language of choice.

This evening, thirty of the students got together to celebrate Claudia’s twentieth birthday and to say farewell to four students. We went to La Pizza restaurant on Rue de la France – about a 20-minute walk from school. We had the upstairs room nearly to ourselves for the evening. The pizza there is excellent.  Everyone had a good time.

I’ve just gotten in at 10:50 p.m., so this entry will be brief.

Good night, Dear Reader.

Day 21 - samedi

Sorry, I forgot to post this one on time! 

Carnaval day pictures19 fevrier 2011

Happy birthday, Eileen!

Today was another sunny day, warmer than yesterday, I think.

After breakfast, I did a load of laundry and studied for a while. At 12:15 I headed out to meet Rose at school. We are going down to the parade of flower floats. There were many barricades up along the promenade. The parade route is along the bay. We walked along a parallel street, stopping occasionally to look at shop windows. I did purchase a few post cards. Then we found a chocolatier that had beautiful candied fruits in the window. Rose had tried these before, so I bought a slice of melon (canteloupe) and a clementine orange. Of course a truffle came along for the ride, too.

We tried to find Marietta, but we were unsuccessful. We stopped at a coffee shop very near the parade route watching the families with children pass by in their costumes: Snow White, Buzz Light Year, Princess Leia and Darth Vader were all coming to the parade.

After a fine cup of java – café crème with 3 lumps of sugar – we walked along the barriers and occasionally got glimpses of the floats. Be assured, this was not the Rose Parade, but it was a very impressive abundance of tropical blooms and mimosa. There was a strong Brazilian presence in the music and the costumes – with large plumed headdresses.

I got back to the apartment about 4:30. Michele was out visiting friends, so I got onto the Internet for just a short time. I found Eileen, and Dean and Maria all hanging out near their computers, so we had brief chats.

Then I was off to meet Rosa again to go to 6:00 Mass at Notre-Dame. After Mass we looked for a light supper. We ate at a little pizza place – I had a ham panini with french fries and a salad, and a German beer – the world on a plate.

Afterwards we headed back towards the church, but we were really turned around. Gratefully the concert of the King’s School Choir and Chamber Orchestra from Worcester, England had not yet begun. The bus had not arrived by 8:30 when the concert was to start. A small group of supporters had gathered at the church, and the pastor let us all in.  The musicians finally arrived about 8:50. The concert began at 9:15. They did a beautiful job – intonation was phenomenal for a group that had been traveling all day.

Afterwards I spoke with the director. They had been traveling for 28 hours by bus from Worcester. The students had not had time to change into their concert attire or even to eat. They sang all of Mozart’s Missa Brevis among other shorter things. It was quite delightful. They did look a bit tired, but they also seemed to enjoy themselves.

I know I feel and look a bit tired now too, getting in after 10:30. So it is time to turn out the light. Have a good evening, Dear Reader.

Day 25 - mercredi

Click here: works of Chagall; pictures of Nice

23 fevrier 2011

Class was in the morning and early afternoon today, so there was time to visit the Marc Chagall museum, just a short walk away and up, up, up a hill. Elisabeth and I made our way there, arriving about 3:30. We bought our tickets and went into the galleries. Each of us was able to get the audio information in our own language – English and German.

The building was designed to hold Chagall’s large works depicting biblical scenes. I have a few photos to share with you, but they capture only a meager essence of works. Size and texture and the vibrant colors are diminished by my photos. Chagall worked not only with paint, pencil and glass, but sculpture and tapestry, too.

On the way home, Elisabeth went searching for the chickpea flour to make socca. After three stops at small shops, she found it!

Once home, after tea with Michele, I attempted to write about my experience at the museum in French. Michele was willing to correct my mistakes, which was very nice of her.

Thought for the day: when I look back at all the dialogues, sketches and practice sentences that I have written, will I believe that I was able to do this, or will I smile at my apprentice-attempts? Only time will tell.

Have a good night, Dear Reader.

Day 24 - mardi

22 fevrier 2011

The weather was better today than expected. It did not rain, and the sun warmed us a bit. Classes were in the afternoon, so I worked at home until 10:30, made my lunch, and headed to school to meet Marina. She did not come, which was fine, but then she was not in either class this afternoon, either. I hope she is not sick.While I was waiting, I had a lovely chat with Elma from Switzerland.

She has strong morals from her Muslim faith and, yet, leans left politically. She has not been able to attend the mosque in Nice because it is just for men here. This upsets her, but she is only here for two weeks. We talked a lot about the choices of a young woman to be sexually active or not. She said it beautifully: (the essence of her words; not exact) “A woman, who says ‘no’ before marriage, is like gold and more treasured than one who gives a little to everyone. If everyone can have some, it is not valued.” A very fine framework for a young person to hang onto, I think.

Mariette is a superb teacher. She had us talking about the various little tasks that one can do around the house. She encouraged us to think of other ways to say things. She makes me feel successful despite my mistakes. Today I understood nearly everything she was sharing.

Tissa, from Japan, is new in both our Standard and Intensive classes. She speaks a little English, so both of us struggling in French is better. This will be very good for my practice in French.

In the standard course, later, I found that I comfortably understood the explanation of les adjectifs. My success on the worksheet, however, proves that I need to study more.

As I was leaving school today, I met Margrite. She appears to be my age. She does not speak any English, but does fairly well with her beginning French. She will be another person to connect with regularly in order to practice my French – it’s still the listening/comprehension that I struggle with.

Walking home today, the traffic was jammed at every intersection. I’ve never seen this before. Michele found out that there was a parade for Carnaval down at the promenade today, so that snarls traffic everywhere. The other observation I made on the way home is that it is no longer completely dark when I get home at 6:15. Yeah! (Or as the French write it – ouie!- pronounced oo-ee-ae, very quickly.)

As Michele and I were having tea, a game show very much like Family Feud came on TV – it is called Les familles d’Or, I think. This game is just my speed because the question comes across the screen, I have time to consider what it means, the contestants give their answers, and if they are correct, that answer shows up on the board. This is a great way to learn new vocabulary.

So it was a good day overall. I hope yours was, too, Dear Reader.