Tag: French Sabbatical

Our minds have been on PSCS all day today, knowing that our four seniors will be graduating. The ceremony is scheduled to begin in about an hour, what is 7:30pm in Nantes. For about 45 minutes each, each graduate will be honored by the community. Please take a minute to learn more as the ceremony is unlike anything else I know. Of all the things we’re not participating in this year, this one is the hardest. What I am especially missing is handing each graduate her/his diploma, something that has become a tradition (or least for me) for me to do each year. Truthfully, it’s harder today than I thought it would be.

Melinda and I have created various tributes to the graduates, Aaron, Clare, Kestrel and Tristan. As small as it is, wearing my PSCS T-shirt (see today’s photo) while the ceremony is going on is one. Over the last few days we created a short video for each graduate, videos that will be played during the point each student is appreciated by the community during the ceremony. We honored the graduates by featuring them on the Kind Living blog today, a post that includes links to “mixed tapes,” a collection of songs I created for each and uploaded to a website where anyone interested can listen.

Congratulations to my students and my dear friends, Aaron, Clare, Kestrel and Tristan. We are all missing you today but are with you in spirit!

This may be one of those posts that is of less interest to most of you but serves the initial purpose of this blog, a reminder photo and some text about some of what we do in France to get along. For instance, this lovely photo is of our bank, at least the branch where we most frequently go. If you can’t figure it out, the bank name is CIC (which in French sounds like “say ee say”). I have no idea what the letters represent.

If you’re interested, we handle our French finances by withdrawing money from our American account at an ATM and then depositing the cash into our French account at this branch. We found we get the best exchange rate following this protocol, although the way the US dollar has been faring against the Euro over the last few months we’ve had to tighten our belts.

It’s about a 15 minute walk from our house to the branch or we can take a bus. I prefer the walk, which is what I did today to make a deposit. “Je voudrais faire un dépôt,” I said to the teller.

By the way, it’s a scorcher today, temperatures into the low 80’s! I’m posting early because we’re heading over to the Boudeaus for our first dip in their pool. That’s right, they’ve had a pool built in their backyard. Look for a photo on Sunday (tomorrow I’m dedicating to the graduating seniors at PSCS).

It’s a national holiday in France today, Ascension Day. If you are wondering just what Ascension Day is, it is a Christian holiday commemorating the day Jesus ascended into heaven following his resurrection.

Being a national holiday, schools, banks, stores, etc are mostly closed, and public transportation is running on its holiday schedule. Of course, many bakeries are open (at least for part of the day) as it is important for the French to have ready access to fresh bread.

Melinda and I have spent the day working on a little project for the graduating seniors at PSCS. This involved traveling to different parts of Nantes and taking some pictures and a little video. Back home, we are trying to morph it all into something wonderful and meaningful. Today’s photo comes from one of our stops, the old LU factory (which was opening up as we walked by). We sat down to rest and have a quick drink, and I spotted this sign on the wall. It greatly appealed to me.

If you want a translation, try Google.

I went and did it. Yesterday, I bought a piece of rabbit meat. Today, while the girls were away at school, I prepared and then ate it. Here’s how I fixed it:

I started by braising the piece, a section of the back, fleshy side down, over medium heat in a frying pan in which I had put a small amount of olive oil. I then flipped it, adding the herb seasoning that came with it. I covered it for a minute, then added shiitake mushrooms, walnuts, and some lemon juice, on top of which I added sprinkles of salt and pepper. I covered it again while I sliced two apricots, lowered the heat a touch and let the whole thing simmer. I then added the apricots to heat them while slicing half an avocado and preparing my plate.

Today’s photo is of the finished meal just before I sat down to eat it. Dining alone as I was, I chose to do my eating with the companionship of the TV. I have one episode left of the second season of the classic American program from the 60’s “Mission Impossible” (“Good morning, Mr. Phelps…”). Somehow, the rabbit and the Mission Impossible program, let alone the theme song, seemed like an appropriate match.

Oh, for those of you keeping score at home, I have to agree with the old adage. Rabbit tastes a heck of a lot like chicken…

First, we figured out what that wet stuff falling from the sky yesterday was. It’s called “rain” and apparently has something to do with the air, condensation and several other factors that I neither understand nor want to take valuable blog space to talk about. Apparently, though, rain is a fairly common occurrence in many parts of the world. It’s not so common here, however, as we were back to our blue sky selves today. A bit on the cool side with some wind, but none of that odd wet stuff.

It’s a little later than I normally post. Melinda and I just got back from a rare evening jog, deciding to add a short one to our Tuesday schedule. We walked from our house to a nearby trail, then jogged from it to the Erdre (river) and back. It was a little less than 20 minutes total so a pretty quick little run. A nice thing before dinner. I held out my cell phone camera to snap this picture as we were just starting out.

Earlier I walked with Chloe to her babysitting gig, this taking place after Melinda and I had met Ella at school and the three of us walking home together. Christine’s son Théo came over to watch the exciting tennis match on our TV since they don’t have cable at their house.

All in all, a pretty typical day.

Maybe you folks back in Seattle can help us with this.

We awoke this morning quite concerned. The sky above was a different color than the blue to which we’ve become accustomed. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it was kind of a non-color with shades of grey. Some spots were lighter than others.

Then, more frightening, as Melinda and I were walking Ella to the tram, these odd droplets starting falling from the sky. There weren’t too many but still, when they landed on us, they left little spots of wetness, kind of like when we’re lounging next to the pool while kids are playing in it and we get splashed. But we understand where those drops of water are coming from. These droplets this morning, it’s like they were coming out of nowhere.

Most frightening, as Melinda and I were walking home from Ella’s school, stopping as we do each Monday at the Hippodrome in order to jog, these “splashes from the sky” started to increase in scope. Concerned, we hurried home to do some Internet research, huddling together by the computer. As the morning progressed and we looked outside, the ground was completely wet. Today’s photo is of the wetness on our mailbox. So strange.

So far, our theory is that this is part of the Royal de Luxe show. We think the city is honoring the sadness that has fallen over the region with the show’s conclusion by having tears fall from the sky. It’s like the giants are crying.

That’s right, I’m not done. The spectacle is so significant that it deserves a fourth straight day of coverage.

Today we attended the activities with Frédérique and Laurent, getting picked up by them and traveling by car to where things started. We arrived at the perfect time to see the giant be awakened from his sleep. It is quite an event to watch his handlers bring him to life. They attach numerous cables, all the while rappelling from the upper reaches of his body down to the ground. They also attach the vehicle that helps propel him. Then they have him stand and start walking, coordinating his every movement with such precision to make it look natural. His head, his arms, his legs, hie eyes, every worker timing her/his move. It’s choreography at its finest.

Having seen the giant come to life, and watching the girl and dog do some tricks, too, we hustled into the center of town to try to capture a good spot to see the activities there. Both giants had to be lifted over the cable lines of the tram, something that was dubbed as a double mission impossible. We were less than 20 yards from it, and again got to see the most amazing coordinated efforts. Today’s photo comes from that spot as they prepped them for the lift skyward.

And with today’s events the Royal de Luxe show in Nantes has come to a close. I can’t imagine what I will report on tomorrow…

If this topic is boring any of you, tough. The spectacle of what is happening in Nantes this weekend is just too great for me to ignore. Add in that Melinda is in her absolute element and it’s a next to impossible for me to chronicle anything else. Forget that I’m posting late because we just returned from a fabulous BBQ dinner at neighbor John’s house (they have been SO kind to us). Forget that Chloe is babysitting and sent me several text messages asking that a dessert be delivered to her. Forget that I’m getting up early tomorrow to run with Laurent. Melinda and I spent 4 hours in town today watching various aspects of today’s Royal de Luxe show!

We arrived on a packed tram to see the girl (the small giant) get showered and changed. Her dog was anxious to get going but had to wait. Then the two walked to the waterfront to meet her uncle (the original giant) who was arriving by barge. We watched him come ashore and be transported into town, where he emerged from his cargo container. Ultimately, the dog, the girl and the giant arrived at the big cathedral in town. The dog arrived first, in time to uncover a garbage can and find something yummy in it. Then the girl arrived, much to the delight of the crowd. A few minutes later the famous giant arrived, walking down the street to arrive at the cathedral. He took a good long look, acknowledged the crowd, then sat down for an afternoon siesta. His handlers were appreciated with huge rounds of applause.

It’s really an astounding show, and on so many, many levels. There are literally thousands of spectators lining the streets to watch. Imagine a huge city-wide party with closed streets and interrupted routines, all to appreciate art and culture. So cool.

Welcome to France.

Who knew that a girl playing with her dog could draw such a crowd… And not just that, but the city closed streets to traffic, tram lines were interrupted, and people left work early. Students were present with their classes and people climbed up on structures to get a better view. Melinda and I were fortunate to be there ourselves. And how about the fact that I had my cell phone video going to capture the exciting goings-ons! Take a look:

There is no way I can fully summarize how tremendously cool this is in my short blog. Melinda is about out of her mind with interest and excitement. Get this…

The city of Nantes collaborates with this company called Royal de Luxe, best described as the maker of these HUGE marionettes, among other things. Based in Nantes, they travel all over the world to put on shows. The excitement in town right now is that they’re returning to Nantes with three days of performances beginning tomorrow, and have already kicked things off with a few surprises, thanks to the cooperative city.

One surprise has to do with making it look like a giant wall fell from the sky and crashed-landed in the center of town (see today’s photo – that’s Bernard in the white hat and Melinda in orange). The secrecy involved in planning this is stunning and the workmanship spectacular. The “installation” took place overnight, better ensuring the biggest surprise.

The other has to do with a huge dog marionette being frozen in a block of ice and being placed outside the ancient cathedral in town to melt. I presume that the melting is timed for a performance tomorrow, likely involving the dog walking or meeting up with the Little Giant.

Anyway, if this interests you at all, go take a look at these links:
Flickr Photos – Royal de Luxe
The Berlin Reunion
Facebook – Royal de Luxe
A Blog Post From 2005
2011 Schedule in Nantes