The weather has been overcast, gray and cold. I had been dragging myself through my day, and could only think about the election for the chair (politico speak) and why was I being kept out of the action? I even tried fighting the battle from afar, only to get told I was too far away to know what was going on - hah - not hardly. My side still won.
Anyway, so on Tuesday, I opted to stay home. On Wednesday, though I needed to get out, so I started on an adventure to find a group called Parler Parlor that meets on Tues. eve, Wed. aft. and Sat. morn. The concept is that there will be an equal mix of francophones (french speakers) and anglophones (english speakers) and that the two groups will pair up, and speak only one language at a time for 45 minutes, then switch languages. Pat went once, said it was okay, and I thought I would try it. As I said, I skipped the Tuesday night group, and after nearly giving up twice, I arrived at the Wed. aft group. I had had a cafe creme, and was thinking, "How bad could it be?" Well, it wasn't great, but I hung around a little bit afterward and met this great guy there. He said which way are you headed? And I suggested we get a coffee (I had tea, but I am learning to drink coffee.) Our hour long conversation afterwards is probably the best reason to go back to one of those groups. Maybe I will meet more people like Nick. We exchanged emails and made plans for next Tuesday night.
So, Thursday, still feeling a little optimistic from my great day the day before, I set out to find the American University and what I hoped was a good english-speaking university bookstore. I found it, and it was closed for lunch when I arrived, so despite not being hungry at all, I thought I would stop for lunch. I had an hour to wait for the bookstore to re-open, may as well explore.
Well, I said I stopped for lunch, but even that was kind of an adventure. The first interesting food that I saw was a falafel place, but when I checked my cash, I didn't have much, so thought I better find an ATM. I wandered around, and found lots of great stores to check out, several cool clothing stores, a florist with orchids, a place to buy sheets and towels, and after awhile, a branch of my bank. It was a good day for a walk, brisk, not raining, but gray, and maybe the sun would peek out. Well I thought I would go back for either a coffee or the falafel but couldn't find the falafel place. I kept roaming and came to the big street where I had started. There were three cafes on this street, and I crossed over to the one with outside tables. I hate to sit with the lunchtime smokers so I sit outside. I chose a table for one, and sat down. It was then that I realized how cold it was. I looked up and across the street saw that the sun was shining on another cafe. It looked a lot more inviting. I got up and walked across the street.
As I sat down, a man, a little younger than my dad, sat down at the table right next to me, and as unthinkable as it is in France, and as very American as I am, I said, "Bonjour, and I smiled at him." He immediately smiled back, and we started a conversation that lasted over lunch and "deux cafés." After the initial discussion about speaking french versus english, he said why don't you try your french? He was very patient with my grammar and verbs, corrected me often, and was quite easy to talk to and to understand. He told me he was an aeronautical engineer who works on satellite fuses and has a daughter who lives outside of Paris. We had a great time. Unfortunately, I don't even know his name, but will keep trying to run into him again, though that is highly improbable. He lives in Bordeaux (6 hours south), and was only here for the French Open and garden tool shopping.
That whole name thing is a really perplexing problem for me. In France, people don't introduce themselves, and even if I introduce myself, they just smile and nod - no return of the introduction. Now for me, I assume that you want to maintain your privacy or you would offer your name, so I don't demand their name. So, I now know a lot of people by their face, and I know about their families, their jobs, and their pets, but I don't know their names.
The whole couple of days is really kind of insightful for me. These two experiences have reinforced my belief that great opportunities await us if we are open to them. Wednesday was kind of like finding a needle in a hay stack and Thursday was kind of like having a spirit guide sit down and talk to you for about two hours, and then leave you with a great feeling. I know one thing, I am going to Bordeaux to go exploring.
