I'm sitting in a lovely little cafe in Aix-en-Provence coiffing a beer and working on my very own computer. The folks who run the course were kind enough to offer an outing today (Saturday) and brought a number of us to Aix; the others are on a hike around the Gorge du Verdon. Since I was jonesing for a connection and a little city life, I chose Aix.
Things are going well, I continue to struggle with the language though I'm improving. I can understand the gist of most conversations but I sure don't speak so well. I'm in this twilight place where I'm thinking simultaneously in French and in English and you can imagine that my thoughts have slowed down considerably as I translate in my mind. Everyone is very nice to me and patient as I take my time forming sentences.
Mornings are in the classroom, which I love. It's the right speed and the right material and it gives me hope. Afternoons, we go on outings: Tuesday we hiked to Les Moustiers, Wednesday we visited the L'Occitane, Thursday we hiked to Riez to visit a beekeeper, Friday we visited a man who cultivates truffles. Each outing was conducted, as is everyday, entirely in French. It's amazing how much one can understand without understanding each word. Everyone who has been good enough to show us their work has been amazingly kind and truly interested in imparting what information they can. The gentleman with the truffle farm was especially sweet. He first took us through a PowerPoint presentation that explained the history of truffle cultivation, the horticultural aspects of it and the ups and downs of the business. As he says, it's not an occupation, it's a passion. No one would be crazy enough to do it for the money. After we viewed the presentation, we went out with his dog to hunt truffles, which the dog found immediately (small ones, as it's quite off-season) then we visited the fields of small oak tress that are home to the malady that creates truffles. With all that he does to cultivate them, the actually process is a mystery - it's magic, he tells us. After the tour, we repaired to a picnic table where he served us (on platters, with proper drinking glasses) Muscat and bits of toast with butter and truffles. It was a moment. I forgot my USB cable or I would upload the photos - those will come later.
It's interesting, I wondered who I would be as I lived without the weapon of language and it turns out I'm just me. I certainly can't verbalize much of what I want to but I know that the people I'm with have a very accurate sense of who I am. It makes me wonder what it is that gives people a sense of person, as it's clearly not just language.
Here in Aix, I spent this afternoon with a lovely woman from our course who is originally from Scotland and England but has spent most of her life in Canada. She now lives in the South of France, on the Cote d'Azur. We spoke English, spending a large amount of time with me and only speaking French would drive one crazy. I'm so glad we did as I was able to hear her life's story. At least as much of it as one can fit into a couple of hours. I was facinated she spoke of her begninings in theatre at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (now the Royal Shakespeare Company) where she worked alongside Gielgud, Olivier, Redgrave, Leigh, Ashcroft and all the other luminaries of English theater. She emigrated to Canada in the late '50's where she worked in theater in Toronto, Stratford, and Ottawa. She worked for the Canada Council for the Arts producing theater for the Centenial, she worked for the CBC finding new writers to produce, she directed and produced and generally spent her life in the arts in the '60s, 70's, 80's and onward. I know that I was exposed to only the broadest strokes of her life but I want desperately to hear more. I'm hoping we can sneak off somewhere next week to speak English again. I urged her to write it down and my mission before I leave is to convince her of the importance.
Tomorrow I do laundry and study; I have to make a ten minute presentation on Monday which will take me a good bit of work to prepare. Next week I'll continue my struggles and will come out the other end and begin my travels.
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