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.
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.
I’m greeting you now, until next time.
All the best,
André
No comments:
Post a Comment