Segment 10: Holidays around France!
December is the month when we give ourselves more things to do than usual and when we usually have more things to do than for which we had planned. I decided rather than stress myself out with writing a Year-Wrap-Up/Christmas letter before Christmas this year, I would wait until things resettled to do so. Thus! If you did not get my Wrap-Up Letter of 2021 (which I sent as an email attachment), please let me know, and I will be happy to pass it along to you.
Many things have happened in the month since I last wrote: 2 auditions, 3 trips, 2 holidays with families in French… That’s probably enough for one blog post, no?
The final days of class before the holiday break, the French regional train service decided to strike. As we were told by our phonetics teacher, this is as French as it gets: the workers threaten to strike right as everyone is traveling home for the holiday break, the executives refuse the higher wages, the strike happens and disrupts all travel for two of the busiest travel days of the year, and finally the executives acquiesce and give the higher wages. My first opera audition in two years happened to correspond with just this strike. I booked myself some nice train tickets to travel to and from Lyon for a Friday audition, the day before the holiday break began, and soon found myself trading a two-hour train ride for a 5 hour and 30 minutes bus ride to and from Lyon. The audition went really well (not sure when I will hear back though), I had an amazing meal in the gastronomy capital of the world (including 3 days of reflux, thanks to a delicious purée of caramelized onions) and I spent almost as much time on those busses as I spent in Lyon.
I would have stayed longer, but I had already booked an artist retreat in Normandy, to which I was so looking forward, leaving Paris on Saturday. I found out about the couple who run the retreat center through my dear Mennonite connections in Paris. This couple has an amazing retreat ministry that supports artists via retreats away from the hustle and bustle, the shoulds and the expectations of everyday city life. I spent three wonderful nights in this cute little house painting, reading, taking baths, cooking, going for walks, journaling, discerning ideas about the future and about my art… It was such a restorative time and something I highly recommend to anyone feeling remotely overwhelmed by expectations.
I was in Paris for a few days before my next trip. These were the days directly leading up to Christmas day. I woke up on the 22nd and decided to immediately leave the dorm, go get a pain au chocolat and eat it in a park and then go wandering around. I NEVER do this! I always have a nice structured morning with breakfast, journaling, getting dressed, etc. But I absolutely love having freedom in the morning and to go with the flow of my good morning energy! My mind being freshing awake thanks to my retreat, I observed the different kinds of traffic due to the upcoming holiday: stands of seafood outside of every supermarket, lines outside of eat boulangerie (bakery), fromagerie (cheese store) and boucherie/charcuterie (meat stores)... My folks in the USA, you must begin to see the reason for the season in France: it’s food. It’s this brilliant repas (meal) culture that is an opportunity to show deep love and generosity to people through the planning, preparation and execution of a communal meal. Spending several days choosing the recipes, finding the best ingredients, preparing the repas and then serving and enjoying the meal over the course of five courses (aperitif, entrée, plat principal, fromage, dessert) and at least three hours is such an important part of French culture that I find so beautiful.
My observations were just the beginning. After singing in the Christmas Eve service at the American Church in Paris and waking on Christmas day to finally open my packages from Japan and Kansas, I was back on a train, this time headed to the South of France! Starting Christmas evening, my dear Fabienne began a marathon of repas. Christmas day was with friends, the 26th with Fabienne’s parents and brother’s family then a few days with fewer guests before her final wind up on New Year’s Eve. I left on the 30th and missed the final swing, but I was so blessed by all the other wonderful meals of which I did get to take part. Besides eating, there were wonderful walks, trips to the grocery store, getting to see neighboring towns and lots and lots and lots of conversations en français. Now, I had a wonderful time. But five days of people-time and all in French was overwhelming. I totally get how immersion is the fastest and most effective way to learn a language, but I was not emotionally prepared! I had complete permission to switch to English, but I never felt like I really needed to. Would it have been better for me mentally, probably, but alas, I made the choices I made and my brain has now digested all of those many things. I had made a goal earlier in the year to have a better speaking ability by the time of this trip and I would say that I succeeded at that, imperfections and all!
After the family departed and I was the sole remaining guest, we took a lovely day trip to see Avignon, a fortified city where the Pope resided for a brief time in history. We visited the Palais des Papes (the Popes’ Palace) and I was struck by how big and empty it was. I could feel nothing of the faith that propels my life, instead just the coldness of a church that represented power and government. My final day in the South, we went on a beautiful hike outside of Gordes, a city widely considered the most beautiful in France and which lent itself to postcard-esque photo-ops.
Upon returning to Paris, I needed a day to myself, but then I was swept off to celebrate the New Year’s reveillon (Eve) with my friend Caroline and her family. Caroline has been such a dear since I have arrived in France. Even though she does not live in Paris anymore, when I asked if she knew anyone who might want to do language exchange in Paris, she asked her friends and upon discovering that none of them were interested, volunteered herself to keep up text conversations with me in French! She invited me to join her and her family for a spectacle (show) and repas for New Year’s. (How do I know Caroline? We met at Chautauqua in 2018. I had just spent three weeks in Paris and while I was there for the singing program, she was there for the art program. We sporadically shared disgusting dining hall meals together, but had not been in touch since then.) This was another wonderful experience and Caroline very kindly spoke with me in English when it was just the two of us. My head was still spinning from my immersion experience. The spectacle started at 8pm, we arrived at Caroline’s family home at 11pm and finished the repas at 2am (in 2022!). I have never eaten dinner until 2022 before! (I meant to write until 2am, but I think it's funny this other way too!). It was marvelous! And a totally different experience than with my other lovely French family. I can certainly say that I did not start 2022 on an empty stomach. I brought a kouglof (Kugelhupf in German), an Alsatian bundt cake that is typically quite dry, BUT! I got the boulangerie recommendation from American-food-blogger-in-Paris, David Lebowitz, and he has never let me down, to share and we had it for breakfast. I would never have cake for breakfast, but that is another fascinating French-ism: petit-déjeuner (breakfast) is always sweet. Of course we have sweet breakfasts in the US all the time: cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, etc. But all of these foods are pretty breakfast specific. Not cake! Well, I guess coffee cake? And admittedly, I was thrilled when 9-year-old Marie spent the night at my best friend’s house for her birthday and got to eat leftover ice cream cake for breakfast… BUT typically, I am more of a savory breakfast girl. I have learned though that in France, an omelet is absolutely not a breakfast food. By the way, the kouglof was excellent, and not dry (boulangerie Vandermeersch for all concerned parties).
Thus 2022 is off to a good start. I am starting off the year with less expectations for myself. I want to focus more on music and worry less about all the other things in my life. The truth is that I am doing great things. I am singing well, I am learning French, and am working my behind off. I continue to get rejected from things, but you know what? The people who are rejecting me are wrong- they are missing out! Because I have got it going on!
Marie in Paris
