Visual Newsletter 1: Visiting Colmar

Here you can watch some footage filmed while visiting Colmar. My great-grandfather will be proud of the first one and for those of you who prefer a bit of colour, watch the second video.

Please Note: Click twice on the play icon to start the video.

"Once Upon A Time In Colmar"



"Colmar In Colour"

Newsletter 2: Salon-de-Provence: Our current hometown

No, no, no! I knew you were going to do it. Yes, all those non-French speaking people please raise your hands. Let me guess, you pronounced the ‘n’ in the word Salon. Well, that’s exactly how I would have done it. I mean, the letter is there. I, just like you, can see it very clearly. But, you made one mistake. You forgot that we are in France now. And maybe you don’t remember that people speak French here. Which means that in the French language, certain letters, in numerous words, are just there to make the word look complete. It doesn’t mean you must actually pronounce the letter.

The letter is like garnish on a plate of food. All of you are familiar with that sprig of parsley adding a touch of green next to the yellow of the lemons when you order fish at a restaurant. Most people will remove the parsley immediately. A few might eat some of it with the fish. While others don’t even notice it.

In the word Salon the ‘n’ is that neglected letter, the garnish of the word. If Salon was spelt without the letter ‘n’ it would just not have looked right. Salo. No, even the spell checker immediately recognizes the word as odd. Anyway, how would one have pronounced it? Say-low? Or maybe, saa-loo. It would have been too confusing. So, I suppose there is a reason why the letter is there - to round off the word, to complete it by giving it an end.

Immediately you want to know how one should pronounce the word. The good news is that it's very simple. Drop the 'n'. No, don’t remove it from the word as I explained above. Just don’t say it. Like this: Sah-loh. Try it again. Very good. Now it's right. You speak French like a true Frenchman, or -woman. I'm relieved that short language lesson is over. Now I can get on with this newsletter.

SALON WEBSITE AND STATISTICS:

Salon-de-Provence is our current hometown. I suppose I'll always refer to Pretoria as my true hometown so I should probably rather call Salon the town in which we now have a home. While we were still living in South Africa, knowing that we would be based in Salon after arriving in France, we wondered what the town was going to be like.

I immediately looked for information on the internet. If any of you are interested to learn a bit more about Salon please visit the following website: http://www.beyond.fr/villages/salon.html. For those of you who are too busy, or not really interested in the site let me give you a brief summary:

- According to the site the town’s population is 34 054. Well, after we arrived it is now 34 058. Which means it’s not a small village but also not too big a town.
- The altitude here is only 90 meters above sea level.
- Nearby towns are Aix-en-Provence (32km), Cavaillon (24km), Marseille (49km) and Avignon (50km). There are numerous other small villages very close to Salon.
- Initially, as far back as the 12th century, Salon was fortified around a hilltop fortress called Chateau de l’Empéri, which is a well-preserved and partly restored castle.
- Salon’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that Michel de Nostredame, popularly known as Nostradamus, lived here for the last 19 years of his life. There is a museum in town in the house where he stayed before his death in 1566. Apparently many of his famous future predictions were written there, just down the road from where we live.

WHAT SALON IS REALLY LIKE:

Not even a week after our arrival in France, while still staying in Aix-en-Provence, we came to Salon for a visit one hot sunny afternoon. Not one of us knew what to expect from the town since we had never visited it before. Was it going to be horrible? To be honest, few towns in France are ugly, but believe me when I tell you that some of the more industrial towns are not very attractive. Was this going to be one of those towns? We hoped that it wouldn’t be, that it would at least be a fairly attractive town in which one could feel comfortable. After all, the word ‘salon’ means lounge, sitting room or living room. Were we going to find room to live here?

We entered town from the South and drove slowly down a wide boulevard lined with massive plane trees. Although many people were strolling on the sidewalks the roads were fairly quiet. People are away on holiday, we thought. Now, we know that Salon never gets too busy. Obviously there are times when peak traffic congests the roads but you learn to take alternative roads or your bicycle when you travel around town during those times.

After we found parking easily (which, I can assure you, is not the case in many French towns) we walked around the town’s centre where pedestrian walkways make it very pleasant and safe to walk. Since Salon as a whole is not too big the centre of town is also quite small. And, although it isn’t as stylish as Aix-en-Provence it is pretty in a typically Provencal way. One still finds smaller shops in the heart of town, including the bakery, bookshops, clothes and jewellery stores, take away food shops as well as several sidewalk cafés with tables lined up next to the narrow street.

On Wednesdays there is a big market on a parking site in town that is still a free parking area on the other days of the week. On Sunday there is another smaller market next to a park in the centre of town. While we explored Salon during our first visit we immediately started liking the town, were relieved that we didn’t end up in Dumpville.

Salon’s size is one of the most attractive aspects of it. Although it’s big enough to provide all necessary shops and services it is still small enough to give it the feeling of a bigger rural town. One can walk or cycle nearly everywhere. From where we live it takes only about 15 minutes to walk to the centre of town.

Another reason why we enjoy living here is the town’s location. It’s relatively close to many other interesting towns and villages. Access to and from Salon is also very easy. We live in the North of town and it takes us about a minute, if not less, to drive out of town into the countryside. We are discovering many small roads that are a welcome alternative to the national roads or the busy toll roads.

We live in a quiet neighbourhood where we don’t have too many neighbours with dogs. I can assure you that I don’t miss the annoying dogs of the neighbours we had in South Africa. There is no through traffic on our street and it is safe for the children to cycle around the block.

Even though Salon is predominantly a worker’s and middle class town you find all and any type of people here. In general the people are pleasant and seem to live life with a ‘live and let live’ attitude.

Although we have only lived here for two months we have already adopted Salon as our new home. It is a pleasant town to live in and the better we get to know it the more I believe we will like it. What is also funny is that the house we are staying in has got a really big living room for a French house. So, it seems like we’ll have enough room to live in after all.

With that I greet you,
All the best,
André

Newsletter 1: An Introduction To The Newsletters

Here it is at last - the update all of you have been waiting for so eagerly. Yes, I know some of you have spent sleepless nights, waiting in anticipation and excitement for news from a country far away, where people speak a funny language, eat loads of cheese and drink even more wine - that strange and wonderful place called France.

I apologize for only writing this letter now. In my defense I can say that things don’t only happen slowly in Africa. Yes, I haven’t forgotten that there is a reality called ‘African Time’ in South Africa. But let me assure you that even in so-called first world countries things don’t necessarily happen as quickly as one would want it to happen. Even in France there is something that I have started calling ‘European Time’. And let me assure you, it isn’t much faster than African time.

Before we left South Africa I still used to get frustrated when I had to wait at a till in Checkers or Pick and Pay to buy a few items. After arriving here it didn’t take me long to realize that some of the old black till ladies in SA are more competent than numerous young white till women here in France. And, I know this you’ll definitely not believe, in general the black women are even friendlier.

The idea with the intended newsletters is to keep those of you that are interested in life in France informed about everyday things here as witnessed through the eyes of an outsider – a South African on the inside of another culture. Yes, I can, and definitely will, show you pictures of beautiful places we have visited and others we’ll hopefully visit in future. But I also want to destroy some of the misconceptions so many of us have about Europe.

I live here now. As we all know, it is completely different when you live somewhere as opposed to only visiting the same place. On holiday one is enveloped in an aura of excitement and wonder. You look at a country through the eyes of your inner child. Suddenly all everyday things become wonderful. People, buildings and places are painted with a layer of magic. It happens to all of us. We are charmed by villages and sights that are different from that which we see on a daily basis. Travel casts a spell over our emotions that can reach the core of our being. But, that spell can distort the reality of everyday life. In these Newsletters I hope to show you the magic of France, but I’ll also show you that there are so many aspects of life here that are very similar to life in South Africa.

In the next newsletter and those thereafter I will deal in more detail with specific aspects of our life since we left South Africa and arrived here in France. This first newsletter, however, will be a brief overview of what we have been doing since arriving. Read it as a short update, written especially to those of you with whom we haven’t really been in contact since the 25th of July.

GREETING FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Finally it was the long awaited evening of the 25th of July 2006. All four of us were excited and anxious, not knowing what the flight or our ‘new’ life in France would involve. We knew it was going to be a radical change by moving to France. Exactly how big we could only anticipate.

We arrived early at the airport and booked ourselves and our luggage in without any delay. After that we headed to the Spur for a farewell meal. When next we would taste a Spur burger was (and still is) a question I don’t have an answer for. After the meal we said our farewells, went through Passport Control and rushed to the bus that waited to take us to the plane.

When we entered the plane we immediately noticed that it wasn’t too full. We had paid for four seats next to each other. Instead, the air hostess offered us two rows of four seats, right behind each other. Luxurious flying for a change. For once I might even sleep during a flight, I thought.

Iberia flight IB6050 from Johannesburg to Madrid left on time at 21h25. Barely an hour later we were served our second dinner for the evening. After the food trays were removed by the hostesses the passengers grew quiet as the lights were turned off. Surprisingly Lauren and Luca didn’t struggle too much to fall asleep. Even with all that space I couldn’t sleep. Apart from falling off the seats once during the night Luca slept well. In front of us Lauren was also snoring away gently. She also fell off the narrow seats, but it didn’t even wake her up.

About 7h30 on Wednesday the 26th of July we landed in Madrid. Outside a European heatwave raged. Inside we appreciated the protection of the air-conditioned airport. We prepared ourselves for the two hour wait and our connecting flight to Marseille.

The flight to Marseille was delayed by nearly an hour. We were already standing next to the plane when we were told that it wasn’t yet ready to take off. Waiting outside the terminal building in the Spanish heat was a sudden and not completely pleasant way of being welcomed to the intensity of the European summer. When we eventually boarded the plane it wasn’t much cooler inside. Once it took off we rejoiced for the cool air that filled the cabin.

We landed in Marseille around midday. Annie’s parents, Maurice and Marie, and her brother, also called Maurice, were already waiting for us. Her mother was overjoyed to see Annie returning to France. She was also very happy to see her grandchildren. What she thought of the arrival of her son-in-law that still can’t speak much French I couldn’t determine. No, only joking, both my parents-in-law were very happy to see us. After greeting them we started driving to La Ciotat where we would stay at their place for the first week or so after our arrival.

During lunch I realized that we were back in the ‘Kingdom of Food’, where simple dishes become delicious. (Actually France is, and has been, since the French Revolution in 1789, a Republic. But ‘Republic of Food’ just doesn’t sound as pleasant as ‘Kingdom of Food’. So please forgive me this inaccuracy.) Meals are usually accompanied with a cold Rosé or a chilled Cotes Du Rhone red wine. And no meal would be complete without a cheese platter to round it off, just in case one hasn’t eaten far too much already.

In France Summer is the time when meals are enjoyed unhurriedly at a table, in order to really appreciate the different tastes of the various dishes. Here one doesn’t gulp down the food just to relieve one’s hunger. Food is far too important to be wasted like that. Often a dish will be discussed and analyzed while it is being eaten. It will be lifted to the level of a religious experience.

After lunch all four of us excused ourselves and went for a very much needed afternoon nap. After sleeping, around 5:30 that afternoon, we went to the beach. ‘Isn’t that a bit late to go to the beach?’ you ask. No, on the contrary. It’s the best time of the day to go. It is still around 35 degrees Celsius and the water is approximately 30. So actually it is already getting cooler than earlier during the day. The beach also gets a bit quieter as many people start leaving to go and prepare for dinner. While washing the fatigue of travel away in the bath-like water of the Mediterranean Sea I finally felt glad to be in Europe.

THE TOWN WHERE WE LIVE: France is divided into Regions which are subdivided into Departments. In our case we are in the Region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and the Department we live in is called Bouches-Du-Rhône. ‘Bouche’ means mouth and since we are very close to the mouth of the Rhône river it makes sense to call this area ‘The Mouth of the Rhône’.

The map above might not be the best in the west, but it will at least give you a good idea of the area in which we live. Number 1 is Marseille, as you can see. Number 2 is La Ciotat, where my parents-in-law live. Number 3 shows you where Aix-en-Provence is. We stayed there in my sister-in-law’s flat while we were looking for a car and a house. And number four is Salon-de-Provence, the town in which we live and the place that we currently call home. Salon is a pleasant town to live in. According to different websites there are anything between 35 000 to 38 000 inhabitants. So, it’s not too big, but neither too small. We live in the north of Salon in a quiet neighbourhood. Yes, in South Africa it was Pretoria North and here it is Salon North. I suppose once you’re from the North you can’t live anywhere else.

LA CIOTAT: Here are a few photo’s of La Ciotat where we stayed from the 26th of July until the 1st of August. We stayed at my parents-in-law where we were fed like royalty, went to the beach twice a day and just relaxed before the BIG search for a car and a house was to start.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE: On the first of August we left La Ciotat for Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix (pronounced like the letter ‘x’) as the locals call it. According to the France Lonely Planet Guidebook ‘Aix was founded as a military camp in 123 BC on the site of thermal springs, which are still flowing to this day’. So Aix has been around for quite a while. Around 137 000 people live in Aix. Compared to Salon (where we live) it feels big. Although it is considered as a big town in French standards it feels like a city after one gets used to the slower pace and less traffic of Salon. It is only about 40 kilometers from Salon and we will visit it quite often since not only does Bernadette, my sister-in-law, live there, but it is also a joy to walk down its wide boulevards and mingle with locals as well as French and numerous foreign tourists.

We stayed for three and a half weeks in Aix while we started looking for a car to buy and a house to rent. The flat was only a one bedroom place and coming from South Africa where we are spoilt with space it was quite an adjustment to suddenly live in a small place. But since Bernadette was away on holiday we had the place to ourselves. Luckily it is also right next to a big park and we took the dogs, I mean kids, for walks on a daily basis.

In Aix I realized that Europe is in quite a few ways much more complicated than South Africa. The biggest complication that we encountered was renting a house. We expected it to be very simple but it ended up being unnecessarily complicated and worrisome. I’ll describe in more detail the process of renting a house in France in one of the next newsletters.

Finally we found a house in Salon. Although some of the other places we went to look at were also nice we are very happy with the place we found. I’ll also show you our house in one of the next letters. We moved in on the 26th of August.

I’m greeting you now, until next time.
All the best,
André