Segment 21- À la fin
Wow. 8 full months in Paris are over, but did they ever change my life. It was not always an easy road- the gray winter months really took their toll, but because of that, I was able to open myself up to a lot of new people and ideas by the end. I am so very thankful. I am so very moved by the experiences I had, the things I got to see and the people I got to meet. Many new lifelong relationships were formed, or at least relationships with people whose paths left marks on my path that have and will change its course for the better.
I am writing from Kansas, so in truth my blog title is inaccurate for this final post- do forgive me this. Many things become clearer and richer from an outside perspective. And since today is an unusual rainy day in Kansas, I feel a strong connection to Paris, to the many rainy days and to the final, wonderful thunderstorm that swept through in my last two weeks and lit up the sky as I watched the lightning through my dorm room window.
My last weekend in Paris, I performed a concert at the American Church in Paris with my friend Juliette at the piano. It was such a gift to work with Juliette and to have the opportunity to learn and perform some new, hard french repertoire (Fauré’s La bonne chanson) and present it alongside a piece more tried and true for both of us (Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben). We made some beautiful music, story-told, and we got to see the space the piece (the Fauré) has to develop and grow- but that is the beauty of being a live performer! I felt so blessed by all of my friends who came: from the American dorm where I lived, from the American Church where I sang in the choir, from last semester’s French class and even all the way from Northwest Ohio! Indeed, I was blessed with the perfect timing of the trip of two friends who I knew from all the way back in high school. I felt very loved and supported by our little audience and the whole thing was a great success. Feel free to send me a message if you would like to see the concert, or parts of it!
My final week in Paris I got to take a cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, something I had wanted to do ever since I first applied for a grant to study in Paris in 2018. I got the grant, but not the extra funding for the cooking class, but thanks to the generosity of a kind friend, I was able to live out this dream on the last Wednesday of my year in Paris (when I would have otherwise been taking my French final…). It was a lovely experience! I signed up to take a sauces course, hoping to glean some practical skills that I could use upon my return to the US. I immediately met two Canadian women who had come to Paris just to take cooking courses that week and they took me under their wings and helped me to get settled into a good spot near the front and when I got flummoxed while trying to make several sauces at the same time. We made a crab coulis (and actually cooked down the crabs!), a garlic aioli (which has a potato base in France), a tomato concassée, a Bechamel that we turned into a Mornay and poured over pasta, a mushroom sauce that we gracefully dumped over a sous-vide prepared chicken breast, and then we watched the chef make a chicken jus that tasted like the craziest gravy (although I am pretty sure the chef thought this was the best use for chicken wings, and as an American, I am sure i can think of another use that is perhaps slightly more appealing ;-). The chef was very sweet and looked like Mr. Bean, and the translator was incredible! The words he chose were so specific. I was amazed by this, but it was also the first time that I have really seen a translator work their magic in two languages I understand. I think the chef really like me (probably because I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time, but also because I am a very active listener and I think he appreciated the support) and we had a little conversation after the class about what I was doing in France (en français, bien sûr). I ended up going home with a bag full of not only the sauces I had concocted, but also many from my Canadian neighbors, in addition to all the Cordon Bleu swag that was included with the course: an apron, a tea towel, a recipe book, pencil, and bien sûr, a cooking hat!
Thankfully, in my last week, I had some gatherings and picnics to attend, so I brought my sauces with inappropriate accompaniments to share with my friends (crab coulis is supposed to be served on a white fish- not dipped by baguette!) and thus I got to share the tale of my cooking adventure with many appreciative tasters.
It was a delight to reconnect with so many friends from the course of my time in Paris in this final week: from the dorm, from my French classes, my Mennonite friends, music friends, etc. The final time spent in a place is often so rich with the love and reflection of how these relationships have molded a significant period of your life.
I also got to enjoy some incredible food in my last few weeks! I have included pictures and I won’t go into detail about all of it, but the food was always matched with just as meaningful conversations and interactions and I am pleased to report that my friends know me well enough to encourage splitting three cakes between two people, or encouraging me to go for desserts or wine pairings that were more expensive, but worth it.
It was a delightful surprise in my final week to have some significant experiences with dorm friends, many of them unexpected. I had made friends over the course of the year at the dorm, several, particularly with immediate neighbors, that became quite close, and others that I enjoyed primarily from the fourth floor kitchen. Knowing that my time in Paris was almost over, and having heard from a handful of friends that there was a remarkable and affordable tasting menu at a Korean-French fusion place in Oberkampf, I wanted to make a trip to this place happen before my departure. I immediately thought of a couple friends to ask but ended up with a reservation for four with a surprising and delightfully random group from the fourth floor kitchen. We put on our fancy clothes and set off for an evening full of oohs, ahhs, laughter and confounds. Each course was so creative and full of surprises! We shared the wine pairing menu and were amazed with each course the way the flavors interacted. It was a fabulous experience and one that I would recommend to anyone- both the restaurant and the company. We vowed to do the same next year in NYC (and the following year in Lima, Peru- pourquoi pas??).
My last night in Paris, a group of us made our way from the kitchen to the basement practice rooms around 10:30 pm and sang through hymns, classical songs, pop songs and most of Les Misérables, finally ending with Piaf’s La vie en rose and that seemed apt. What a year it had been in Paris. There were parts that were “en rose,” that were too good to be true and yet progressed along happily in their little boxes despite the inevitable good-bye that gently pulled them apart and shipped them off to opposite coasts. I loved deeply in Paris, as one should, as one expects one should. Cakes and music garnished this love. Beautiful art and special visits decorated it. I grew more and differently than I ever could have anticipated, and certainly more and differently than I had planned. And I am so grateful. So thank you Sam, Nora, Nathaniel, Cathy, Juliette, Fabienne, Brie, Shuwei, Amelia, Kirby, Caroline, Lila, Shaked, Joanna, Sus, Dad- and so many more people who shaped my year in Paris in some way, large or small. Thank you for loving me or letting me love you, or both. For listening or sharing, or both.
And now for the next adventure.
For the last time (for now),
Marie in Paris
