Where Am I? Postcard Challenge #1

Toussaint holidays have arrived so on Wednesday I'll be leaving to take a little trip. Here are the clues to the first postcard challenge:

1. This officially trilingual country is renown for its fine chocolates and beer.

2. It is also the home country of a famous fictional reporter.

3. A treaty this country had brought Britain into the Great War.

Where am I going? If you think you know, leave your answer in the comments below. Bonus points to you if you can name both the reporter and the treaty (but don't worry, it will not put you at an advantage for a postcard). I will be back on November 3rd so you have until 12:01am France time on November 4, 2010 to guess and leave your answer. I'll announce the winner on November 4th! Good luck!

The Snailr Project

Just as I was devising my postcard challenge, Anna of Little Red Boat announced her own postcard plan, the Snailr Project.


Anna planned a train journey around the United States during which she would send postcards to interested readers. You can read more about the premise of the Snailr Project here.

As it was such an interesting idea, and I love receiving snail, I signed up. Anna's journey was to end two days before I was to leave Vancouver for France so there was even a chance I might even receive the postcard before I left. As luck would have it though, the postcard arrived the day after I left.

As part of the project, Anna asked that recipients scan a photo of the postcard back to her. As my postcard was in Vancouver and I was in France, I had my mom send it to me. So not only did the postcard travel from Somewhere, U.S.A. to Vancouver, Canada, but it also travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to me just outside of Lyon, France, a journey totalling more than 11,300 km.


My Snailr Project Postcard's Trajectory
I received postcard #88, which reads:

One handy tip, should you ever find yourself in downtown Memphis, waiting for a train in search of something a bit unique: We find ourselves in Earnestine + Hazel's sundries store, which is only a few steps form the station

Minuses of Earnestine + Hazel's: Its horrendous selection of bottled lager (and nothing else) and if you don't like dive bars, or are vegetarian, also you wouldn't like it much. Because: of E+H Plusses, as well as only beer; they only serve one food: teh soul burger (grilled on a plate wased in pickle juice) they have a barman who is lovely and when you talk to him, will give you money from the till to put some tunes on the (soul-only) jukebox, and let you look around upstairs--which used to be a speakeasy/brothel. Lovely.

Thank you, Anna, for including me in your Snailr Project!

Stay tuned, I'll post the clues to the first postcard challenge early next week.

Typographic Maps

I love maps. So how cool are these typographic map posters from the cartographers at Axis Maps? "[F]rom a distance it can appear as an accurate reference map, and as you get closer you notice the thousands of words it comprises."

Currently map posters of Boston and Chicago are available, but they plan to make ones for San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C. I hope they expand their to-do list to include Canadian cities like Vancouver!

(Photos by Axis Maps)

Settling In

I haven't posted much about my flat in St-É yet because because until today, it hasn't really been presentable. I am renting a furnished three bedroom apartment with two roommates. My landlord's elderly mother lived here until shortly before I moved in.

When I first arrived in my flat October 1, the apartment was very dusty and many personal effects remained. My first priority was to clean the kitchen. I spent a few hours several days in a row cleaning. To undertake a marathon clean by myself, however, was an overwhelming prospect.

My roommate (or colocataire, coloc for short) Andrenne moved in October 7. We agreed to have a cleaning day that Sunday and finished cleaning the kitchen. Andrenne also spent 3 hours the following week mopping the kitchen, hall, and her bedroom.

This morning I woke up and felt the immediate urge to unpack my suitcases and put my clothes in my wardrobe (and get rid of the remaining things belonging to my landlord's mother). This act alone made me feel much more like my room was my room.

After having breakfast (pastries and café au lait from Paul's bakery) Andrenne and I spent the next six-and-a-half hours cleaning, sorting, and reorganising our flat. For more photos and her side of the story, you can check out my Andrenne's blog here.

Now, after all our hard work, it finally feels like we're living in our own place, and not in someone else's home.

("After photo" of our living room by my roommate, Andrenne)

Chicken Soup

I'm just warding off the last of a nasty cold I've been fighting for a week now. I made a really tasty large pot of chicken, curry, onion, garlic, carrot, cauliflower soup from scratch that I ate all last week.

Next time I feel like I'm starting to get sick I think I'll make this soup that is full of ingredients that are good for you when you have a cold. It looks so yummy in the photograph!

If you want to try the soup I made here's what I put in it:

- chicken stock
- rice
- 2 potatoes, diced
- 1 carrot (after having peeled the carrot, I peeled the rest of it into the soup)
- 3 onions, chopped (they're good for you when you have a cold)
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (also very good for fighting colds)
- half a head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- ground black pepper, to taste
- curry powder, to taste

1. Sautée the onions until they have softened.
2. Add stock, water and rest of ingredients. I added the pepper and curry powder to taste afterward in my own bowl.
3. Bring to a boil, then let simmer until rice is cooked.

Enjoy!

Travel Plans

Yesterday I bought plane tickets for my first two trips. Stay tuned for the clues for the first postcard challenge, which I'll post the week after next.

It's interesting, when it comes to countries like Italy, England, or Spain I know where I would want to go and what I would want to see. When it comes to Germany, my mind just draws a blank.

Where would you want to travel to?

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

Democracy in France

That the French have no qualms taking to the streets in protest is legendary (or a stereotype). Before arriving, I was curious whether I would get to witness a French protest.

Since September 7, 2010 there have been four grèves générales (general strikes) in France against the Sarkozy government's proposed retirement reforms. The most recent of these strikes was yesterday, October 12.

I don't fully understand the proposed reform. From what I garner, however, is that it would raise the minimum age of retirement from 60 to 62, therefore obliging French citizens to work and contribute (côtiser) to their pensions a minimum of 42 years. Opposition to this reform seems rampant and so people have resorted to striking.

Although the teacher for my morning classes had already alerted me the day before that she was not holding class because she was going to strike, I went to school anyway so that I would be paid. On my way out I heard a syndicat of workers marching down the street past my building.

When I got to school, there were about a hundred students assembled out front and students had also blockaded the entrances. They were only letting teachers and prep school students in. I had expected them to hurl insults at me for crossing their blockade such as I have heard happens when people cross picket lines, but they were very respectful. They had hung a banner on the gates that read: Lycéens en colère / Non à la réforme! (Secondary school students angry / No to the reform!) I asked the students why they were opposed to the reform to which they answered it was because there is a very high level of youth unemployment in France and they were frustrated that the government was extending the length of employment for older people.

I checked in with the secretary. She said that because the students had blockaded the school only prep school classes were taking place, but that afternoon classes were supposed to resume as normal after the manifestation (called a mani for short) was done.

I found the manifestation intriguing me because I'd never seen anything like it in Canada. Canadians strike, but typically during contract renegotiations. I think that if the government of Canada were to tamper with the Canadian Pension Plan, I think that Canadians (at the very least baby-boomers) would take to the streets too.

As there were no classes taking place, I decided to observe the mani. Here are a few photos:

People gathered at the train station near my house before setting off and marching to the préfecture and mairie.

My school's banner.

I was amused to see a flag for the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste.

I also found the arnarchists' banner amusing.

Day-Trip to Lyon

Last Saturday evening my landlord, J-F, called to ask if I would like to go to Lyon the next day. I happily accepted as I had been wondering when I would visit the city and why not have a local show you around? Besides, I had nothing planned for Sunday other than cleaning and settling into my flat, which would have been a drag as the forecast was 26°C.

The Saône.
Both the Rhône and Saône (pronunciation: silent a, rhymes with Rhône) run parallel through Lyon and therefore there are many bridges connecting the city.

First we set out to see Notre-Dame basilica situated atop the hill Fourvière. In 1870, in the heat of the Franco-Prussian war, the lyonnais prayed to the Virgin Mary to spare them from the German invasion. Their prayers were heard and granted so the church was built after the war,and dedicated to Mary.

The highlight of the day for me was the Gallo-Roman ruins we passed on the way to the church. I knew there were Gallo-Roman ruins in Avignon, but I didn’t expect to see ruins in Lyon. This is probably because my major reference point for the history of Gaulle is the Astérix and Obélix comics series. I certainly studied the period in grade 8 Social Studies with M. Bustos, but that was too long ago and, as I recall, my group had done a project on the Visigoths.

During the Gallo-Roman era, Lyon was called Lugdunum and was the capital of Gaulle. The ruins we visited were two amphitheatres. The coolest part is that in the summer they still stage plays and performances in there! Can you imagine how amazing that must be?

Another notable Lyon sight is the cathédrale St-Jean’s astronomical clock. The earliest known historical reference to this clock is 1383. I was surprised to see the signs of the zodiac on the clock in the church, but I suppose outside of astrology they are but constellations. When the clock chimes on the hour, the mechanical figurines that adorn it move. We tried to see it, but missed it each of the three times it was scheduled to chime that afternoon.

That afternoon, J-F was much too generous and treated me to an extensive traditional French meal. We had foie gras poêlé as our appetizers, and though I ate it, I didn’t much care for this controversial dish. As my main course I had salmon. Next there was a cheese course, and for desert we had champagne and apricot pie.

Après le repas, j’étais prête à rentrer. After the meal, I was ready to go home. J-F, however, insisted that he show me the parc de la tête d’or. Unfortunately, when we got there the park was closed for safety reasons because it was so windy there was danger of branches being blown down.

Altogether it was a long but lovely Sunday. Lyon is a quick 50-minute train ride from St-É, so I anticipate going many times while I’m here.

Map Quilts

How cool would it be to have a quilt with a map of your town embroidered on it? Brooklyn-based Haptic Lab makes "quilted maps of cities and neighborhoods," which you can have personalised with locations of your choice.

I would love to get a quilt of Vancouver in either the celery/aqua or cyan/lime colour combinations.

(photo by Haptic Lab via Cup of Jo)

Carte Postale de St-Étienne

(An air raid siren just went off. Given that World War II ended sixty-five years ago and that when I looked out the window none of the passers-by were running for cover or otherwise noticeably alarmed, I’m going to assume it is what fire trucks sound like in France.)

The post card above is a photograph of my street circa 1900. This post card is going to my grandmother in Québec City as today is her birthday. Bonne fête grand-maman!

To bring everyone up to speed, I left Paris for St-É last Monday. Thus I was already in St-É when I embarked on the electrical tape odyssey. I have been settling in nicely since moving into my flat October 1. In the interim, I stayed in a residence-hotel the first night and a hostel the next three. I began working at the lycée on Monday.

The weather has been very changeable. It was overcast when I arrived and it has been cloudy with some rain showers most of the days since I’ve arrived in France. The temperature has varied from about 10°C to 26°C last Sunday--we are experiencing an Indian Summer!

I haven’t been very diligent in taking photos of the town, but I promise they are coming soon!

A few facts about St-É:

• The city is named after Saint Stephen (Étienne in French) and the residents are called stéphanois

• The city was renamed Armeville during the French Revolution as one of the city’s industries was arms manufacturing