I Am Canadian, Not An Alien

Or the Odyssey of My Accent and the Electrical Tape

Since arriving in France, I've had a few people remark on my accent. A few have commented that I have a Québecois accent (not the case). Alternately, yesterday city workers sitting next to me in the cafeteria at the hostel I'm currently staying at said that if I hadn't told them I was Canadian, they wouldn't have known (and it didn't seem like they were trying to joke with me or flatter me).

When people ask me what the difference is between French from Québec or Canada and French from France is, I explain it as being the same difference between British English and North American English. That is, the accent is different and some words may vary, but excluding their respective slangs, the language is the same.

At lunch on Tuesday, I was explaining to my colleagues that to date I had not had "grande misère à me faire comprendre ou de comprendre les autres." They chuckled and explained to me that in France they would be more prone to mal as opposed to misère and that misère (literal translation: misery; figurative translation as used here: difficulty or trouble) was more of a Québecois phrase that was not really used in France. If I did happen to make such "Québecoisms," though, one of them assured me, people would find it endearing.

misère (mease-air): literal trans. misery; fig. difficulty, trouble

avoir de la misère: to have difficulty (or trouble)

It is ironic then that today I had a lot of trouble both being understood and, as a result, finding a place to buy electrical tape. Last night I noticed that the power cable for my computer had somehow been damaged and that in spot the silver wires within the cable were ever so slightly exposed. I figured fixing it with electrical tape would eliminate any hazard the damage presented.

To buy electrical tape in Canada, I would just stop at London Drugs or a similar store, or at worst have to go to the hardware store. Thus far in France, I haven't seen any stores like these. Stores in France seem to be single purpose, e.g. the pharmacy only sells medicine and personal care items; the grocer sells only fresh produce or food items. Despite knowing this, I decided to look in a pharmacy anyway. On my way out, the cashier asked if I had found everything all right. No, I explained, because I was looking for electrical tape (ruban gommé pour fil électrique or ruban électrique) and might she know where a hardware store (quincaillerie) was? All I got was blank stares form her and her coworker; it seemed they didn't even understand what I was looking for or saying even when I explained what I wanted to use it for. They didn't know where to find a hardware store either.

I returned to the hostel and decided to google for a hardware store (and the translation for electrical tape in case I was completely wrong). I asked a woman who worked at the hostel if she knew where I could buy ruban électrique and I got the same blank stare even after I explained what I wanted to do with it. She also seemed to not be able to understand a word I was saying. She suggested I try a computer store nearby.

Instead, I decided to try the closest hit Google found for a hardware store. It wasn't a hardware store; it was a lumber store. Returning in the direction of the hostel, I saw a man in a safety vest so I stopped to ask him if he knew of a hardware store near by. He said there wasn't any in the city and that I would have to go to the city. His colleague walked up and suggested I try looking at Centre Deux. He offered to take me, and as he was a city worker with the waterworks, I accepted.

At Centre Deux I discovered Auchan, the type of modern-age big box general store I needed in this situation, and indeed, it was here that I found the elusive electrical tape.

Siskiyou

Siskiyou is the project of Colin Huebert (formerly of Great Lake Swimmers) in collaboration with Erik Arnesen. This past spring, and the year before, Peter played bass on songs that now appear on the self-titled record.

Siskiyou will be touring Europe this autumn with Peter playing bass. This morning he and I were discussing the possibility of me meeting him to see them play in a nearby city. I'm very excited.

If you are in Vancouver, you can catch Siskiyou's inaugural show at the Media Club on October 6th with shows in Ontario and Québec following in late October and Early November (Details here).

Despite my obvious bias, I really like Siskiyou's music. My favourite songs are either Never Ever Ever Ever Again or Everything I Have. Have a listen here, yourself!

(Siskiyou album cover art by Harvey Pratt)

Fin de semaine à Paris

I woke up Saturday morning, my bewilderment at being in France subsided, determined to seize the day and make the most of my good fortune to be in Paris and see the sights.

I began Saturday morning with rather large petit déjeuner français at a café/bar (a few of the gentlemen were drinking beer at ten in the morning) consisting of a café au lait, croissant and orange juice in addition to half a baguette sliced in half and rather heavily buttered with a small pot of jam.

After I finished breakfast, I set out for Sacré Coeur, passing by Le Moulin de la galette on the way.


Sacré Coeur was so beautiful. The experience was only slightly marred by being accosted by one of the many aggressive souvenir vendors there, this one who tried to sell me an embroidery thread bracelet. It’s a bit of a shame how such a wonderful architectural and religious site has become such a tourist trap.

I continued on my walk and eventually found myself passing through the Galleries Lafayettes and Place de l’Opéra before arriving at the jardin des Tuilleries. Passing through the gardens, I was surprised to see the number of flowers in bloom this late in September. Crossing the Seine by foot bridge, I noticed many locks attached to the railings of the bridge with lovers’ initials. As I suspected, the line for the Musée d’Orsay was very long, so I resolved to come back the next morning when it opened.
Despite the occasional light rain shower and grey skies, when the sun shone, autumn in Paris is quite beautiful.


Sunday morning I woke up early to get to the Musée d’Orsay as soon as possible. I got there just after 10:00am and was in after a short wait in line. The museum itself, located inside an old train station, is very pretty.

I began by seeing the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. It was breathtaking to see many of the paintings I studied in art history in person. I found that viewing many of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists’ depictions of the countryside and nature scenes oddly gave me a new appreciation for Emily Carr and the Canadian Group of Seven. I feel that after having studied Impressionism and the ideas of light, optics and modernity behind it, that I understand and appreciate a bit more what Emily Carr and the Group of Seven were doing. I would love to see Emily Carr and the Group of Seven’s works when I come back to Canada.

Bonjour de Paris!

I just got into Paris. The only way I can describe it is surreal. It was one thing to tell people, "I'm going to France," it's another to actually be here. I pinched myself a few times on the way off the plane and into the terminal.

A nine hour time difference probably also adds to the surrealism of it all. When I arrived at my hotel about an hour ago, I was so dizzy from being tired and having heaved my suitcases around (onto the train, off the train, up and down various flights of stairs to make my métro connection, up some more stairs on the way out of the métro station and then down a street with only a vague idea of the direction I should be going), that I felt like I might pass out as I checked in.

The other thing that has added to my sense of time warp is, of course, the flight. I spent eleven-and-a-half hours on a plane for which the whole time I felt like it was Thursday, September 23. I suppose on long-distance flights like that you are simply between days.

Despite being so tired, I'm going to heed the advice of my good friend from London and stay up until at least 8:00pm Paris time. He said if I did this, I would beat jet lag in a day.

As I will be in Paris until Monday, I thought I would share the song Aux Champs Elyées by Joe Dassin. Enjoy!

Where Am I? Postcard Challenge

Postcards and airmail envelopes were my inspiration in creating a theme for my travel blog. I thought it would be neat to use photographs of postcards from the place I was visiting to illustrate corresponding entries. I love collecting paper goods and sending and receiving snail mail. Growing up, I was pen pals with my cousins living in Ontario and Québec. This led me to think about the possibility of sending and receiving snail mail to and from friends back home. An idea was thus born.

Rather than simply writing about my travels, I would like to run a contest of sorts. Here's how it will work:

1. While in France, I plan to travel around France and Europe. Before leaving on each of these trips, I will post a brief entry with between three and five clues about the city I'm travelling too.

2. Based on these clues, it will then be up to you, dear reader, to guess where it is I am going and leave your guess in the comments.

3. Depending on the number of correct respondents, I will place their names in a hat and draw a winner.

4. I will announce the winner on the blog and ask you to e-mail me your address so I can then send you the postcard with a brief personal message.

I am very excited about this and hope you are too! The first Where Am I? Postcard Challenge will be coming up in October.

(Map photograph: My own of a pre-1989 Atlas Général Bordas)