I'm still in Orientation week here in France as I realized yesterday in my exploration in search of a library that they were all generally closed this week for various reasons.
Saturday, I went to la rivière and swam in chilly water that reminded me of the creeks in Tennessee. The landscape (see Facebook) was similar to what you might imagine the South of France looking like (perhaps from a film), only better.
Sunday was a day for relaxation and World Cup watching and I relaxed and thought about my research plans for Monday. Fortunately, that night, I (innocently) provoked a conversation on various hot topics relating to French immigration policy and tried to learn or at least reaffirm what I had read about the various positions with respect to the integration of immigrants in France. The discussion touched on what I see as the crux of the problem: a disconnect between the strongly pronounced moral code of French society and their actions resulting from the enforcement of their immigration (and integration) policy.
Monday, I explored. But first, I assisted in the making of pancakes (see Facebook) and they were DELICIOUS (see Facebook). Next time I'll try to make those kitchen sink oatmeal cookies if I can find the right ingredients at the marché. S'mores are also on the horizon... Mmm. America. Returning to Monday, I decided to venture to the library(ies) where I could go to do research. UM I was closed for a week, so I trekked to UM III Paul Valéry in the cute trolley thing in the city and ended up at UM II. I stumbled around until I found UM III and then *really* stumbled around (it was quite hot) until I found the library at Paul Valéry. It was also closed. Determined not to waste my entire afternoon, I decided to find my old école maternelle - École St. Odile. I decided to just find it, like holistic detective Dirk Gently of Douglas Adams' two wonderful non-Hitchhiker's Guide related books. That did not work. So, I proceeded back to Paul Valéry's little roundabout and asked at a magazine store. She informed me with *great* detail and poetic phrasing. "Go left out here, then go straight until you reach a light. Then continue straight! Then continue straight until you reach an small olive tree in the center of a roundabout. There, you go straight again and it's on your left." I did indeed go straight, and I did indeed find l'école. The neighborhood did not ring any particular bells and the school seemed far more urban than I had remembered, with very little trees to corroborate my memory of the bullies shoving pine needles down my throat until I threw up. Nonetheless, I took a photo of myself in front of the school for comparison to an older photo (see Facebook).
Monday night, I went to The Australian, a bar close to Rue de Canepetières, and drank some pretty poor 1 euro beer for a Monday night special. I would have protested more had it been more than 1 euro, but it was not. If I learned anything Monday night it would be that you should do yourself a favor and avoid Carlsberg beer. After returning from Australia, I watched a movie, Delicatessen, on Orange's version on On-Demand. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you watch it *right* before you go to bed. It was one of the more unsettling films I've seen, but it's absurdism reminded me of Ionesco and that made me fairly happy. If I were to write an equation to describe it, it would be something like: Sweeney Todd + David Lynch + Ionesco + World War II.
At any rate, it's now Tuesday, and I have a bit more to do during what has been forced upon me as Orientation week (thanks to library closures and the limitations of my French speaking).
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