Ok, then on that note we’re off for the week in review.
We had an appointment on Wednesday, December 17th with a company called ImpaQt. They are the company that MCo. Has hired (or may hire) to help us with our language acquisition. (As if it was a matter of purchase.) Our initial meeting was supposed to be for purposes of evaluating our current skills. That shouldn’t take too long.
The first person we met at ImpaQt was Maggie, a very Irish young woman with a strong accent overshadowed only by her strong personality. She was bubbly and effusive and loud and far too chipper for that time of the morning. I liked her on site. She greeted us enthusiastically and offered tea. S took her up on the offer and then we got to work. We were given oral and written tests consisting of paragraphs in French followed by questions in French that we were to answer in English. Each of the 5 paragraphs got progressively more difficult and S and I amused ourselves near the end by making up answers to what we thought the questions were. We were laughing loudly but with Maggie greeting people in the hallway nobody heard us.
When we were done with our tests we were introduced to Chris, a brit, who next to Maggie seemed straight laced and proper to the extreme in his navy blazer and slacks. He shared with us some personal anecdotes of his move to France and his linguistic journey. He then collected our tests which were neither looked at nor discussed; too bad really, they were quite funny. He proceeded, instead, to go over what we felt our basic language needs might be. Basically what do we want or need to learn. He outlined some goals told us that a proposal for education would be submitted to MCo. (with a cost estimate I’m sure) and that assuming approval of the proposal we would start in January. Damn, I thought this was about language lessons not a god damned corporate merger. We’ll be heading home in less than two years, could we move this along already?
…
On Thursday morning, we had to go into the city for medical check-ups so that the ‘préfecture’ can issue S’s work and our residency permits. The exam basically consisted of peeing in a cup, a ludicrous eye exam, chest x-rays and an interview with a physician. S was called in first and then me.
The peeing in a cup part was pretty easy, no great skill involved there. The eye exam was a bit tricky though. See, I don’t actually know my alphabet in French very well. I used to know it and I think it’s similar to Spanish but I don’t remember; in any case I was not quite prepared for this test. I was asked to read the smallest line of the eye chart and I can only assume that the nurse thought I was either blind as a bat or stupid beyond comprehension.
The whole mental process slowed things down considerably. To begin with I first had to see the letter that was pointed to and identify it (not as easy as it sounds because I couldn’t tell what some of the letters were, was that a D or an O, that an I or a J, an M or an N.) then take the English word, translate it to Spanish and then see if I could remember the French. So some of my answers were wrong, some were in English, some were in Spanish and maybe some were in French. So yeah basically I think I got them all wrong. I figured the nurse would ask if I wore eye glasses or if I needed to put my glasses on or something along those lines, but since she didn’t speak English, nor I French, I’m sure she decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and just signed off on the exam.
Well then, on to be weighed, can’t fail that can I? After the kilos were recorded, I undressed and hugged a very cold machine to take the chest x-ray. Not as painful as a mammogram but almost as humiliating, really though another no brainer.
Finally, the interview with the doctor, this could be tricky; he would also assume stupidity when I gaped at him uncomprehendingly after each question asked.
I sat in a hallway reading posters about AIDS prevention; urging the use of ‘préservatifs’ (condoms not preservatives). I waited with my new chest x-ray in hand until finally a doctor invited me into his office. He began speaking to me in rapid French. I laughed a little and requested in my best French, “parlez vous lentement sil’ vous plait”.
“Oh, in English then?” he asked laughing a little too, as he took my x-ray and clipped it up on his light box thingy. He glanced at the x-ray seriously and said, “Hmm, we have a problem here”.
“We do?!” I said, staring at the x-ray to see if I could spot the problem. (Hmm, I thought that was my liver but maybe it’s not.)
“No” he says laughing again. Great, the man is a comedian. He proceeds to ask me all the usual questions. Family history, surgeries, pregnancies, current medication blah, blah, blah, etc.etc.etc. He signs my form and sends me on my way.
On the way out I asked S if his doctor spoke English too. He said no. How the hell did that interview go I had to wonder?
…
On Saturday we went back to Andorra for some duty free Christmas shopping. We specifically went looking for my Christmas gift. I had already completed my Christmas shopping. S was getting me knives for Christmas per my request. (I hate trying to cut up raw chicken with a dull knife. Aside from not working well, it gives me the willies.) And since my birthday is coming up (again?) soon we needed to purchase me a birthday present. (Yes I’ll be 40 this year…just practicing the line I’ll be using for the next 5 or 10 years) This time we wanted to go all the way to the center of the country to Andorra La Vella.
As we drove toward the Pyrenees we could see that the mountains were completely covered with snow. It was going to be cold. As we got closer to the mountains we began to see signs that said ‘Access Andorre équipement obligatoire’ which I took to mean we would need chains on the little Peugeot if we were going to go into the mountains. S, however, insisted obtusely that if the sign meant we needed chains it would say we needed ‘chaines’. So on we drove. The further we got the more signs we saw. On the encouraging side was that all other road traffic was of the same type of vehicle and no one seemed to be turning back. (Just a bunch of optimistic fools) The sun was shining brightly and everything was beginning to stream and steam. We went thru two tunnels under the mountains to avoid the climbing, winding switchbacks that would inevitably be involved in going up and over the mountains. Perhaps without the tunnels we might have needed chains, but it began to appear as if the ‘équipement’ signs were a bit alarmist. Everything was wet and steaming but not at all slippery.
Most of our fellow travelers, on the way up the mountains, were laden with ski gear. It was the beginning of the two week Christmas break for most French folk and the slopes were already covered with skiers and all the lifts were moving. Every likely ski spot has valleys of hotels and lift towers all the way up to the top. Happy people in parkas and carrying ski gear were everywhere and it seemed to lend a festive air to the town of Pas de la Casa.
Once we got through the tunnel on the way to Andorra La Vella, however, the snow slowly began to disappear. Andorra La Vella is a large and busy town filled with all the same duty free type shops we had seen in Pas de la Casa only in greater numbers.
The first shop we saw and went into after parking in a very crowded lot, was a cashmere shop. Going in there reminded me of that scene in ‘Pretty Woman’ where Julia Roberts’s character goes into the shop on Rodeo Drive and the women in there look at her like she’s scum and won’t wait on her. Yeah, it was something like that. There were three older women in this shop and when we walked in, in our jeans and gortex jackets, they looked at us like we must be misplaced. I ignored them walked over to the rack of coats and began trying on what ever caught my eye. Eventually one of the sales ladies came over and asked, in a language that isn’t French or Spanish but maybe a mixture of both, what size I needed. Sizes are different here so I told her, in Spanish, I was looking for something that was medium in America. Once we narrowed down the language we would speak, we began narrowing down the size and the woman seemed to warm to the task. After trying several I settled on a coat. I told the woman we would buy it and she just lit up. ‘Perfecto, la señora se ve muy elegante’! Right, now that we’re buying the coat. S bought me the beautiful long black wool/cashmere coat. Did I mention it was just what I wanted? Did I mention it’s beautiful and that I love it? Well I had so been wanting a nice wool dress coat and my new coat is absolutely delicious.
From there we started the hunt for the knives. I had researched on-line and knew exactly what I wanted. I didn’t honestly think we’d find them there. We wandered into several stores but a vast majority of the shops sell jewelry, ski/sports gear, perfumes and electronics. During our hunt we walked into a building that had many shops and then found that it was more of a mall on the order of Watertower Place in Chicago. Lots of little high priced designer boutiques on several floors built around a central area. No knives but I saw a pair of brown leather boots that were buttery soft and so beautiful I just had to have them until I saw the 400 € price tag; for that price I could be half way to a pair of Jimmy Choo’s.
We did finally find a department store that had the exact knives I wanted. We made our purchases and were pretty much done for the day, mission accomplished. And since we don’t ski, we were pretty much tapped out for things to do, besides that, I was concerned about getting off the mountain before dark to avoid ice on the now wet and steaming roads.
On the way home we decided that our day hadn’t been long enough yet and we needed to see a movie. The theatres play many American movies and usually they are shown in VO (version originel) and VF (version français). We hit the multiplex near our house to see if Lord of the Rings – Return of the King (Le Seigneur des Anneaux – Le Retour du Roi) had opened on the same day here as there and it had. The multiplex near us however was only playing VF. The ticket boy told us that their sister theater at Place Wilson in the city was playing the VO. So we ran home grabbed a quick dinner and headed into the heart of the city.
We parked under the ‘Place du Capitole’ where a huge holiday bazaar of local artisans was in progress. The capital building had spotlights on the bell tower and flags, and was flanked on three sides with holiday lit buildings. The Crowne Plaza, Le Hotel de l’Opera, and department stores all lit for the holidays with the bazaar in the center of the square like a brightly lit jewel. Hundreds of people were wandering around and doing their holiday shopping or sitting in the cafes. We glanced briefly at the booths on the edge of the bazaar and decided we’d have to come back. It was wonderfully busy, noisy and festive. We walked around to the front of the capital where there was a brightly lit garden of heavily flocked Christmas trees.
We finally got to the theatre where we found that the VO Lord of the Rings started at 8:30 and it was a 3 ½ hour long movie. Hopefully the bazaar would be open on Sunday. Though nothing is ever open on Sunday, it was the last Sunday before Christmas so we hoped that an exception would be made.
We bought our tickets and noticed that the VO of Love Actually was also playing. Our Sunday afternoon was taking shape.
There was a cool feature at the ticket counter. There was a large electronic billboard that flashed the movie title, time remaining on current showing, start time of next showing and number of seats still available for the next showing. It was pretty cool. We could see that the theatre we were going to had over 200 seats and that there were only 32 left at 7:00 when we bought our tickets.
We located our theatre and then wandered around the complex a bit. The concession ‘stand’ was self serve, like a buffet, grab what you want and pay on the way out. Popcorn was available but since we didn’t see the big popping machine we wondered how old it was. We didn’t actually see anyone purchasing or carrying any popcorn. Pop was available but in bottles or cans, no fountain pop.
We decided to find our seats with 45 minutes to go and it was a good thing. The show was completely sold out and the theatre was already ¾ full. I was curious to see if there were really that many English speaking people coming to see the movie in English (Though it would be subtitled in French). I hate watching subtitled movies because you spend so much time reading that you miss seeing a lot of it, I think. (No I don’t read that slow, it’s just distracting.) But I heard no English in the theatre. A manager came in and made people move to the middle of the rows so leftover seats could easily be found by late comers. Everyone that was asked to move grumbled of course, but moved.
When they first began showing commercials along with the previews in American theatres I was pissed. It’s bad enough we have to watch the darned things on TV, but we pay to see the movie not the ads. Well, it’s nothing compared to the number of ads we saw at this movie. I’m not kidding, 15 solid minutes of advertising, it didn’t seem like 15 minutes, it WAS 15 minutes, and there were two adds that ran twice during that time. Good god!
Finally the movie started and we became completely absorbed. I love going to really long movies that move along so well you don’t notice the passage of time. The movie was terrific and all the pre-release hype seems to, for once have been on target. Everyone applauded at the end.
We walked back to our car in the cold midnight air, among other movie goers and late diners. The streets seemed to still be full of people. It was a great evening. I made S go down and get the car by himself. Underground parking garages make me nervous. While I waited for him near the garage exit, I was asked twice by passing gentlemen if I needed a ride. I guess it was a little late for a woman to be standing around alone.
…
Sunday morning dawned, rainy and cold. We decided we’d go ahead and drive into town to see if by some chance the bazaar might be open and also to see if we could catch an early showing of ‘Love Actually’. We left the house at noon and the sun seemed to be making a valiant effort to break through the clouds. As we drove toward the center of town we noticed that almost everything was open. Grocery stores, boutiques and department stores, even the butcher shops seemed to be open. As we approached the Capitol the traffic slowed to a crawl, everyone was out for some last minute shopping. The atmosphere was wonderful. I love the busyness of it. I used to love downtown Chicago at this time of year for the same reason. Everyone just seems to be in a good mood and the air is full of excitement.
All signs pointing to the Capitol said that the parking lot was full so S said he’d drop me off and go a few blocks out to the Esquirol to park and meet me at the bazaar. As we were driving toward the entrance of the capital garage though, we saw a steady stream of cars going on down so S decided to give it a shot. He let me out and went to park. He ended up having to park down so far he was near the 5th circle of hell, but at least he didn’t have to drive somewhere else. He said he’d never had to park that far down and had no idea the structure went that far down. I hoped the garage really did go that far down and that we weren’t in some Twilight Zone episode.
The bazaar had everything. Hand made paper products, glassware, toys, ceramics, wood crafts, hand knitted winter wear, holiday decorations, silk scarves, food, food, food and more food. There were at least three Canadian stands featuring maple syrup, Canadian beer and sweaters. The smells of the place were sometimes wonderful, sometimes overpowering, and in a few spots not too good; the worst was a stall that was selling cheese that actually made my stomach turnover and threaten worse. S thought it smelled like three day old wet dog. Several of the food stands had these huge stock pots bubbling away with spiced wine. You know we had to try that. It was hot and not too bad, the one we tried was a little heavy on the anise and I hate the taste of black licorice, but overall it was ok. A few swallows and I was warm all the way to my toes.
We went to the theatre and bought tickets to a 4 O’clock show. We then wandered around Place Wilson. It’s a circle (as opposed to a square) with a central fountain. The road goes all the way around the fountain and there are about 6 spoke like streets leading out of it. Lots of specialty shops and cafes line the circle. We decided to eat at a little Italian place that had outdoor seating. We sat next to one of those giant outdoor heaters and were quite toasty. We had pizza and wine and dessert and coffee and we were feeling pretty happy.
We’d seen the movie before but it’s one of those that can be seen more than once. This time we were in one of the smaller theatres. The thing about subtitled movies is that they apparently lose much in translation. S and I would be the only ones laughing during parts of the movie. That in itself was rather humorous.
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We’ve made reservations to be in Barcelona for a few days after Christmas. We decided to go ahead and spend our first French Christmas at home. We found turkeys at one of the hyper markets and bought the biggest one they had, it weighs in at a whopping 7 pounds. During our hunt for turkey I went right to the back of the market where the butcher shop is. I figured that that was where I would find the whole birds as opposed to the parts you find in the refrigerated cases. I began reading labels on everything resembling a winged animal. There were chickens, geese, duck, quail, Cornish hens and turkey. The shocker was that most of the birds were still sporting there fully feathered heads and feet! I found it difficult to ask for something that appeared to be watching me.
We were also able to finally find some sweet potatoes. So that and a green salad will be our meal. Well, I still have a present or two to wrap, hope you are all not expecting your Christmas cards to arrive in a timely fashion because they won’t. Sorry, you know me…
Merry Christmas to all and I’ll post a Barcelona update next week after we get back.
P.S. J will be here in less than 2 weeks!!! I can’t wait.
P.P.S. The photo is what I scanned from the Cinema program. Enjoy.
