REFLECTIONS VI – At Home Spring, 2007
by Sandra Price
The French Elections – written just before May 6th
And then there were two. Down the hill from our house about three weeks ago the village installed metal panels along the road way, panels that ultimately displayed the posters of each of the twelve candidates for president of France. The French equal time laws are very strict so even the candidates that polled 1% in the pre-election surveys not only had poster space but had time on the news show and a fifteen minute interview with two reporters. Right, left, green, center, farmers, workers, ultra-nationalists all had a say. They are voices we do not hear in the US. On Sunday the 26th, 82 % of the French voted, 82%! And now there are two panels at the bottom of the hill. Friday’s local paper reported that Sarkozy got a higher percentage of votes in the Pays de Gex where we live than nationwide but the centrist Bayrou got more and thus Royal fewer than nationally. I have noted more graffiti that is anti-Sarkozy both here and in Paris where his posters were defaced. It will be interesting to see if the “anyone but Sarkozy” faction actually gets out the vote for Royal. Bayrou is staying neutral. Le Pen, who got 11% of the vote, is calling on his followers to abstain. Royal had a “discussion” with Bayrou on TV and radio last Saturday night but the stations were small and obscure although Larry sent me a link to Le Figaro which has the broadcast.. Royal and Bayrou accused Sarkozy of forcing the major station to cancel a promise to broadcast the show. The second round of voting is the sixth.
One interesting note – to get on the ballot, a candidate has to have 500 signatures of “godfathers” (parrains or sponsors). Who, you ask, are the godfathers? In this case they are elected officials. Since there are more than 30,000 cities and villages in France and even Thoiry has at least 20 elected officials, the task does not seem to be an onerous one.
Later Last night, Wednesday, May 2nd, I watched most of the debate, some of it with my friend Brigitte and her husband Phil who are staying in the studio for two nights and from whom I learned more about what was being said. When I was alone, I was reminded of a reference in a psych book about how a group of people with various brain afflictions responded to one of Reagan’s speeches. Those who could not understand his words thought he was lying. Those who could understand only the words and not the inflections, etc., believed him Since I caught only occasional words, I felt like the people who could not understand Reagan and were left with reading non-verbal cues. Mostly I adored the format. The candidates, seated across from each other, actually talked to each other, engaged each other, interrupted each other, and said what they thought in what was a two and a half hour long marathon. They weren’t scripted products of their handlers. Interestingly, I gather that they had the same debate 25 years ago, a video that has been shown here. As I watched, I heard words about welfare, the 35 hour week, the young people, battered women, some statistics. Sarkozy, a lawyer, often enumerated his points. In the beginning he played with a pen, a bright blue one. He also gesticulated much more than “Madame Royal,” the name he used in a rather condescending way throughout the debate. She showed herself to be presidential, particularly at the beginning, maintaining a erect posture and leaning slightly forward. Later she sat back and crossed her arms as did Sarkozy. I missed the end where she became more intense. I did not hear the words “United States” or “immigration” or “racism” in the time I watched and I gather from the International Herald Tribute today http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/europe/03france.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin) that none of those issues were discussed. Brigitte said that the French were focused on the effect the president would have on their lives. One final note both wore rings on their left-hand ring fingers although there are rumors about the health of Sarkozy’s marriage and his wife has said she will not move into the presidential residence and, of course, Segolene has never married her partner, the father of their four children. The final vote is Sunday. The day before the election is by law a day of reflection and there is no campaigning.
On May 18th – As of the 6th there was one, Sarko as he is known here. It’s been fun to watch the pomp and circumstance as he entered the Elysee Palace and to try to read the tea leaves in the behavior of his wife. How refreshing to have a campaign where the spouses for the most part were not part of the equation. Now for the 100 days during which he’s promised to set France in a new and better direction. Of course there are those who say that the French are too satisfied to really want change. See.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/weekinreview/06smith.html
The Continuing Saga of Learning French
There is a very active drama scene in France. Some local troupes go from village to village putting on the same play, usually a farce, as a fund-raiser for local groups. In our continuing effort to listen to French in context we recently attended a play to raise money for a class trip for the 4th or 5th graders in our local school. Basically “toilet” humor, the setting was in the work space of a company that maintained toilets. There were stock characters like the hard-nosed businesswoman, the ditsy young thing, the stud, the flamboyant gay designer, and the American. She, representing the American company and speaking with a flat American accent, spoke only in English to the other characters. Her words, besides a line to the gay character “Are you from San Francisco?,” were something like “Hi, guys, we’re going to have a great time working together. So let’s all get on the bandwagon…..” I was not amused.
French Counting
One difficulty for me is hearing French numbers. If someone calls on the phone and does not leave a message, I have to listen to the number on the messagerie at least five times to understand the number. What makes the numbering system particularly difficult is the practice of counting by twenty after sixty. So fifty is cingante and 60 is soixante but 70 is soixante-dix or 60 + 10. Eighty is quatre-vingt or 4x20. 90 is quatre-vingt-dix or 4x20+10. 99 is quatre-vingt dix-neuf. See the problem? Then Larry realized that there are vestiges of the system in English as is “four score and seven years ago.” Incidentally, the Swiss count by ten – soixante, septante, huitante, nonante. Much simpler and easier to hear.
A Fact of Transfrontalier Life When asked what I did in the US, I learned in my Swiss French class to say “J’ai ete professeur au college” or “I was a high school teacher.” I recently found out that Swiss and French names for secondary schools are different. I think in France that I should say that I was a teacher in a “lycee.” A “college” is a junior high. I think.
A Revealing French/American Difference The Times recently had a story about grape vine pruning contests in California. As I recall, the pruner had four minutes to prune as many vines as possible. The article pointed out that while the Americans value speed, the French, of course, have a much different focus in their contests, with a written exam, an oral exam and a slow-moving practical exam in the fields. The article went on to note: “Stéphane Poggi, the director of marketing for Felco, a Swiss company that specializes in pruning equipment, said he attended championships in California in 2005 and was impressed by the pace of play. ‘In terms of quality, however, it’s another question,’ Mr. Poggi said. ‘French pruners are very good in quality, but they are not fast. I suppose it is a question of whether you are looking for quality or quantity.’ ”
On that note, a recent item in Science News noted that Americans work harder than others, a fact that Americans here have noted. But the article suggested that if we stopped working so much we could help delay global warming by needing less heat and air-conditioning in our factories and offices.
Library in English Geneva does have an English Library which uses space in an Anglican church near the lake on the train station side of Geneva. The collection is skewed to popular books but it’s a pleasant place and a number of people in my group volunteer to do things like help at the twice annual book sales. At the urging of a Crew member who moved back to the States, I’ve joined the Story Hour group. Each Wednesday, someone reads stories for an hour to children who know or are learning English. Lately we’ve had about 10 children between 2 and 6. Some come with a parent or grandparent and some come with a nanny. I’ve teamed up with an English man who has moved to Geneva from Vancouver, B.C. because his wife works for Electronic Arts, Jeff’s company. He comes with his daughter and we share the hour. I like to have a theme and have the kids do something so we draw or use stamps and stamp pads after about 35 minutes. Our next theme is “monsters.” It’s great fun.
Lunch in Beaujolais R.W. Apple was a correspondent for the NY Times who died last fall. The last story he submitted was about ten restaurants he would be willing to get on a plane to go for a meal there. Limiting himself to one restaurant per country, he selected the Auberge du Ceps in Fleurie for France, a town in Beaujolais about an hour and a half from here, not too far to drive for lunch. The Borcherdings joined us; and, despite dueling GPS systems (theirs was set to country roads, ours to speed) we found the place and settled in for a lovely meal. Larry had eel in a white wine sauce. When the owner stopped by our table, he asked her about it. She said that she had used a red wine sauce until this winter. After she had had to keep the restaurant open two months longer than usual because of the Apple article, she’d had time to think and decided that the red wine overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the eel so she changed the sauce. She talked a bit about her history. She’d bought the bistro maybe twenty years ago and, doing classical French cuisine, she’d worked her way up to two stars in the Michelin rating system. Then eight or so years ago she decided she just wanted to cook using the foods and wines of her region and went back to using the dishes she’d used when she first bought the restaurant and changed the menu, too. She also said she recognized Apple when shown a picture of him but had not realized he was a writer when he ate at her restaurant several times.
Since we knew some wines from the region mentioned in Michelin, we set out after lunch to find the wineries. No luck. Finally Rita remembered that the chef had mentioned that the wine we had for lunch came from up the hill. So up the hill we went. At the top we found Domaine de la Madrone and La Madrone - a chapel topped with a statue of Mary that overlooked the vast wine growing region. A lovely end to a delicious day.
Varmints Ellen’s car was fouined again. And again she had to send to the States for the Toyota replacement parts. But she has met a neighbor, an Australian, who has wrapped all his hoses in steel mesh and avoided fouine attacks for nine months. And another neighbor, who speaks French, has called the authorities to come and place a live trap near Ellen’s car. Fouines are a protected species and cannot be killed. The neighbor is out of town so Ellen is to monitor the trap and releasing any neighborhood cats that get caught.
(Update – Ellen’s borrowed car has also been fouined and the Brandenburgs who live at the top of Thoiry just were attacked. The trap never arrived.)
A few weeks ago while gardening I noticed a small snake, on its back and all curled up. After spraying it with water to see if it would move which it didn’t, I asked my neighbor to bring down a shovel to check out the snake. I was locked out of my house at the time so could not get my own shovel. Fabian kindly came and ultimately figured out that the snake was indeed dead, that someone or something had broken its back, and that it was a ten inch viper or poisonous snake. It was taken to the poubelle or trash. My current theory is that it is the gift of one of our black cats. But I’m a little more careful in the garden now that I know what a viper looks like.. .
Noted in the local paper
The winter Thoiry saw a dinner hosted by hunters for the farmers on whose land they hunt. I gather such dinners were common in many communities but Thoiry is one of the few remaining ones. Last year the hunters banged only 21 sangliers (boars) compared to 43 the year before. I don’t know why.
In this region local desire to maintain the community conflicts often with official desire to consolidate. A nearby town fought hard to keep its post office but did not succeed. I also read that 43 % of schools here have fewer than five classes of children. There seems to be a magic number of children that lets a school stay open and school registration is serious business.
There has been a spate of robberies in this area labeled “home jackings.” As the paper says “person or persons” gain entrance to a house while the inhabitants are sleeping, sometimes by drilling a hole to open a window. The “jackers” take whatever valuables like cameras, computers, mobile phones that they can find and steal the car keys which they use to make a get-away. The news has made for some anxious nights. There is a theory that the bands hit an area until everyone is careful and wait a few months until people are careless again to return. The CERN Bulletin noted recently that the French police had captured a robber which has let me relax a bit.
The Bulletin also noted that it had caught a thief at CERN who had been plaguing the muon division of Larry’s experiment. Despairing of CERN ever installing cameras, a graduate student went to the local supermarket/appliance store and bought a camera he attached to his computer. That night the thief came in through the window, looked around, spotted the camera that he then broke, and presumably stole some items. He did not realize the pictures were in the computer. Once alerted, CERN took action and the man, an employee of a contractor, was arrested and items were found in his apartment. He’s already in jail for six months. Since it is difficult to fire someone here, we are not sure he won’t be back.
Noted in Passing Food is important here and the stores stock very good ready-made pie and crusts, and soft noodles for lasagna
From time to time I have been asked my birth date when making dinner reservations. I don’t know why.
Baby clothes I’ve looked at say that they should not be put in the dryer. My French teacher said she ignored the instructions.
The French have a version of Snopes.com called Hoaxbuster.com – “premiere resource francophone sur les canulars du Web.” Canulars, I just learned, are hoaxes and now the word for the day.
When people enter a gym class or a doctor’s waiting room, they always say “bon jour” and “madame” and/or “monsieur.” I’ve noticed that the French tend to have a rising inflection on the “jour” part.
I discovered a website for English idioms that I printed out and asked a friend to take to our tandem (native English and French speakers speaking in one then another language for a half hour each over lunch) for the French. One participant, Anne-Gaelle, then asked my friend what “Pardon my French” meant. I’d never made the connection or thought about how I would explain that, in French. Glad I wasn’t in that position.
Correction/Addition to Reflections V
When I wrote mairie, I meant maire as in “da Maire” in Chicago.
My father-in-law pointed out that according to his genealogical research, we were actually visiting family graves at the Abbey Fontevraud. Eleanor and Henry II were Larry’s grandparents 24 times removed.