Falling...

The time is flying. Flying flying flying. In two weeks I will be half way through this aventure française… wow… I know I’ve been complaining quite a bit but it really doesn’t feel like it’s been three months… I don’t feel like I’ve done anything yet. Actually, today I did do some flying and it was awesome but I’ll get back to that.

I have a week of holidays for Toussaint next week, so I thought I’d do some travelling. My first thought was to go to Prague to visit my lovely lovely Czech friend for a much-needed catch up. She was kind enough to put up with me for a whole five days two years ago and was the most beautiful host and guide to gorgeous Prague in the winter, so I thought she’d maybe put up with me again and show me Prague in autumn but me, being lazy last minute me, left it too late to organise a cheap trip so I think I’ll leave Prague again til maybe December.

I have another plan! Which is actually, not much of a plan at all... I have a week. I (will) have a young person’s discount card to travel on trains around France for a minimum 25% discount. I’m gonna do a mini back-packing tour without the backpack. I’m gonna take a train to Marseille on Monday morning, and from there, see how long I feel like staying, where I feel like going next and… scoot :D I think it’s gonna be a relatively relaxing trip concentrating mainly on the south-east of France but if I can fit in three little towns I’ll be happy. Maybe Nice? Cannes? Grenoble? Monaco? So many possibilities! I will follow my heart :P More likely, I will follow my tummy and the smell of good food and cheeeeeeeeeese :D

So that’s the future.

Back to the past.

The weekend before last saw the release of the must-have Petit Paumé, a guide created by lyonnaise students on the best places to go for food, excursions, specialty boutiques, bars, clubs, etc etc.. It comes out once a year and is a BIG deal. Everyone wants one because it’s FREE and they actually count down its release at Place Bellecour before handing them out to the impatient pushy pushy French crowds. You can take as many as you like, but I don’t understand why anyone would need more than one.. I mean sure, take a few if you’re getting them for friends and family who couldn’t make it, but I saw heaps of people who were going crazy trying to get as many as possible. For example, there was a whole FAMILY, all armed with huge backpacks who were stocking up as if the books were free food! Big sis says they’re probably gonna sell them to unsuspecting tourists later on…

I can see that happening. The guide is really good. If I had to, I’d probably pay for it too. Think, The Age good food guide. But prettier and with more than just restaurants. Actually, another similarity is that restaurants advertise the fact that they are in the Petit Paumé, like they do in Melbourne with the good food guide sign out the front.

Anyway, I learnt something very important in my half hour of waiting in the crowds. Being short doesn’t pay. You kinda disappear into the underarms of all those taller than you and the people handing out the books don’t see you, and the people beside you don’t see you, they just choose to ignore you poking poking poking politely with your elbows, and then suddenly people move apart like the Red sea for those who have gotten their share of Petit Paumés to leave and you resurface and people are actually surprised when you pop out of apparently nowhere and gasp at the air you can finally breathe! Seriously, a lady let out a little surprised gasp when she was making her way out and suddenly noticed that there was something in her way that was below her line of vision. Me. Anyway, I got my two copies. A bit hypocritical after what I just said above, yes, I know, but I was thinking of Ling who was sick that day and couldn’t make it. See? I am a kind and caring and thoughtful person!! Just in case you thought otherwise...

I spent the following week procrastinating about an assessment that was coming up for my lit subject, Masculin/Féminin en Littérature. I had no idea what was expected of me. I seriously have never walked into ANY exam or test or assessment or even a class as clueless-ly as I did on Monday. Actually, I am pretty clueless most of the time, it seems, here at Université Lyon II…

This is possibly the most famous poem by the controversial 16th century lyonnaise poet, Louise Labé, that I have been studying:

Sonnet XVIII

Baise m'encor, rebaise moy et baise :
Donne m'en un de tes plus savoureus,
Donne m'en un de tes plus amoureus :
Je t'en rendray quatre plus chaus que braise.

Las, te pleins tu ? ça que ce mal j'apaise,
En t'en donnant dix autres doucereus.
Ainsi meslans nos baisers tant heureus
Jouissons nous l'un de I'autre à notre aise.

Lors double vie à chacun en suivra.
Chacun en soy et son ami vivra.
Permets m'Amour penser quelque folie :

Tousjours suis mal, vivant discrettement,
Et ne me puis donner contentement,
Si hors de moy ne fay quelque saillie.


Translation:

Kiss me again, rekiss me, and then kiss
me again, with your richest, most succulent
kiss; then adore me with another kiss, meant
to steam out fourfold the very hottest hiss
from my love-hot coals. Do I hear you moaning? This
is my plan to soothe you: ten more kisses, sent
just for your pleasure. Then, both sweetly bent
on love, we'll enter joy through doubleness,
and we'll each have two loving lives to tend:
one in our single self, one in our friend.
I'll tell you something honest now, my love:
it's very bad for me to live apart.
There's no way I can have a happy heart
without some place outside myself to move.

The first time I heard/read this it blew me away. I mean, WOW. Really. It’s just so passionate. 16th century. A woman. So brave. So raw. So rare. But see, that’s where the controversy lies. There is so little known about Louise Labé that her existence is in doubt. There is a theory that claims her work was actually a collaborative project by a group of male poets and literary figures who wanted to create a French Sappho. What IS known is that she was the daughter and wife of rope makers… Labé’s work is not only very sophisticated, it reveals a very well-read author who can reference classical texts at ease, so how did a woman of such a social standing learn to read and write and also have access to such a library? Not ONLY that, but after the very well received publication of her first œuvre, Labé promptly disappeared. From the literary sphere as well as from the mouths of all those literary folk who were talking so much about her at the time. Suspicious?

Personally, I don’t care whether she existed or not. Her sonnets are GORGEOUS. And politically/historically speaking, what it signifies for me is that people at the time, men AND women, were thinking about the social status of women. Were talking about it. Were debating education. Were interested in a woman’s perspective. Not for the first time, no, but at a hard time to do so. And that in itself is quite interesting.

Now if only I could have written that in French on Monday afternoon….

A few days ago I saw a train carrying a cargo of cars. It was so long it stretched right across the Rhône and kept going and going and going… too bad I didn’t have my camera :(

I think my red turtle from Catdog is my public transport lucky charm. Every time I forget to wear it, I miss the bus by seconds and end up having to wait…

Last Sunday I had lunch at a classmate’s apartment. It was a party of eight. There was Suzanne, our host and my classmate, she’s Swiss and here with her youngest daughter who is a little younger than me; Kotoé, my Japanese classmate and fellow Allix resident; Laura, lyonnaise student; A few of Suzanne’s daughter’s friends whose names I have either forgotten or can’t spell, and a former singing student of Suzanne’s. The food was EXQUISITE! Sooooo yummy. We ate from 1pm til 5pm and talked and talked and talked about the different education systems of our respective countries and it was REALLY interesting. I would write about it here but this entry is long enough as it is and I still have other things to talk about! I’ll only mention that apparently, according to my lyonnaise source, the universities in Lyon have very different political agendas. When I said last time that Lyon II and Lyon III are close associated, I only meant that they shared a few buildings and I know that you can do courses at partnering universities. BUT, Laura says that Lyon II is a Left wing uni and Lyon III a right wing uni. For example, she said that last year during the protests against the changing of the curriculum, Lyon II was closed for the whole duration while Lyon III remained opened. I wonder if students choose their universities based on this..?

The best thing about Sunday was that Suzanne was just so incredible warm and friendly. She said that she was thinking about her own daughter and how she would hate it if her daughter was overseas studying (which she is) and felt lonely. She said that she hoped that people would be nice and invite her to lunches like she herself had done for us. Do unto others..

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I had to hand in a form at uni last week and I waited over an hour and I was the tenth person in line. Emmanuel, the person responsible for receiving international students, was also responsible for processing the forms and do you know how lovely this man is? When I first arrived at the university, shy and flustered and tired and scared and nervous, I thought, what a calm and patient and lovely man. And now, now I think what a BEAUTIFUL human being he is. You can imagine my irritation at having had to wait so long just to hand in a form, but when I got to the front of the line and Emmanuel processed my form in less than a minute, all the anger and irritation left me. His brow was wet with sweat and he looked so tired but he still smiled and asked how my day was and behind me I knew there was at least fifty if not more students waiting in line. And I knew he would be just as friendly and kind and patient to all of them. I had to wait an hour but after that I was done. He had still at least another four five six hours of work ahead of him, and maybe more after that and he wasn’t annoyed, how could I be?

I left that office wanting to be just like that. I want to love my work. And I want to be always kind. I want to always remember that being angry is never an excuse to take it out on others. Patience bloody patience.

I think that has been the most beautiful thing that has happened so far in these last three months. Meeting someone kind. Meeting someone really, truly beautiful. And it has been even more strongly enhanced by the fact that I have also met some really ugly/horrible people.

Last week during rock climbing I had a lot of problems understanding the prof and made a lot of mistakes. The prof is a small man with a big rough voice and manner. My first impression was typical sports coach. I thought, maybe even a little racist because he talked a lot about foreign students not understanding.. I got yelled at a lot last week because of my stupid mistakes. But then, when I finally achieved what the exercise was about, the prof was yelling out with so much enthusiasm and encouragement that I had done good that I started to really like him. Not only because he was complimenting me. I understood that for him, all he wants is that as any students as possible participate in rock climbing and enjoy it and also learn to do it well. It is an exercise in trust and in safety. There is a lot of responsibility on both parts. You have to look after your partner. You have to trust in them to look after you. You have to communicate. You cannot NOT understand each other. You cannot NOT understand the safety procedures. Sometimes it’s not just a game. And that’s why he is always so alert and firm about misunderstandings.

Today I climbed the most walls I have ever climbed in one session and I also learnt to let go. We did a little exercise where after certain point, at about seven metres above the ground, you have to let go and fall, trusting that your partner and the prof and the safety rope will hold and keep you safe. It was INCREDIBLE! To start the day like that.. is just… indescribable. It was so scary and so thrilling and… man, just… incredible. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did scream. Only a little. Because when you’re falling it just feels like forever and ever and at first it feels good, so weightless and really like you’re flying, but then the fear sets in and you think something must’ve gone wrong and you’re gonna hit the ground soon but suddenly you don’t, you spring up instead and it’s just… it’s just so cool :D I highly recommend rock climbing for improving self-esteem and overcoming fear of obstacles.

I’m gonna be sore tomorrow….

I think that’s all for today. I’m gonna go have some lunch now.. get ready for another class where I don’t understand anything and then head home to do the never ending pile of history reading I keep neglecting…

Miss you. Hope you’re well.

xx