Phase one of the adventure is over, phase two has officially begun. I may have actually moved to phase three or probably more accurately, there was a phase one and a half. I'll explain in a minute. Let me first explain my exterior and interior setting. My exterior is the Hotel Sube which is located smack in the middle of the old port in St. Tropez. The room is small, simple and comfortable. The double bed and its white cotton spread take up the majority of the room and the single window looks out onto a large palm tree. I'm sitting on the bed, lazily eating breakfast from a tray. The breakfast is typical and does not vary much from place to place - coffee, bread, jam, maybe a croissant or small pastry. The coffee is good and madam brought a small jug of fresh, warm milk which is so good I believe it to be unpasteurized. The iPod and his little Sony speakers are on random all and just moved from Sinead O'Connor's _Nothing Compares 2 U_ to White Stripes' _Cannon_. I didn't even know I had any Sinead O'Connor
My interior setting is a little jumbled. I awoke at 8:30 this morning after a long and much needed sleep. I spent most of the evening dozing with the very small television, perched on an equally small platform about a foot from the ceiling, tuned to dubbed British and American movies - Inspector Frost and some Lou Gosset stick. I was surprised at how much of it I could understand though I was so tired I watched only five or ten minutes at a stretch. My brain is still doing this split duty thing, thinking thoughts in English and immediately translating everything to French. I've even caught it thinking the first bit in French and translating it into English. It is now doing triple duty as it tries to craft readable prose out of its simple English thoughts. It's odd, as my mind works at creating thoughts in two langugages, it has no room or energy for extraneous words or thoughts. I cannot recall even the simplest memories, what actor played what role, the name of my favorite Beck song, or the more descriptive English words. I'm left with good, fine, can, can't, who, what, where, when, and how. It's serviceable, if not elegant. Yesterday, I discovered a little note on the tourist office, indicating that they are a WiFi hot zone, so I'm hoping the stretch of outdoor cafes along the port benefit from this and I can spend lunch time posting this and reading and sending emails. I'm a touch worried about my big bag, which is locked in the trunk of the car in the public parking lot; the hotel has no parking and no doorman, getting my bags from car to room was my task. I just couldn't schlep two months worth of my belongings across the crowded, cobbled streets, despite the wariness I had for leaving anything in the trunk. It is a crowded area though, full of yachts and people who like to look at them and the lot has security. I'm hoping for the best as one does after they've done something potentially stupid. The ultimate wisdom of the decision is in the outcome, which I won't know for a little while yet.
As I'm in St. Tropez the astute of you realize that I've finished my French course. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience; the people in the course and those who run it were, to a person, interesting, interested beings. I received my certificate and evaluation on Friday evening, which came as no surprise. My written and reading skills are reasonably high, I still struggle with listening and speaking. For starting at zero in June, I not terribly concerned and I have a few more weeks to practice. I've conducted a few scenarios completely in French, and though they were simple, I was pleased with myself.
Yesterday, I ate a small, very late lunch or early supper in a cafe just outside my hotel, then walked around a small part of old St. Tropez. It is a beach town with tourists and a disproportionate number of shops open on a Sunday evening. The sun peeked in and out of the clouds and I stopped to buy an off-white cotton and silk sweater to keep warm. Its texture and color reminds me of what you might throw on after a long day on the water, when the wind begins to chill your slightly sunburned skin. The streets are narrow, the shops luxe and there were at least five groups of men playing boules in the small park. I heard a smattering of English and German but mostly French. Today, I must contend with mostly practical matters, find a mobile phone shop to try to deal with my phone / SIM card issue. Despite a brand new SIM, I can't get it to work. I'd also like to find a leather shop to see if I can repair the little nubbin on my leather bag that holds down the flap over the pocket. It came off in a trick I could only attribute to a professional magician. This very large brass fitting escaped through a very, very small hole and I have no idea how to make it get back in there and do its job. I'd hoped to do laundry too but that seems a little ambitious due to the crowds, parking, hotel, luggage situation. I'm also planning on clearing up a little paperwork and studying a bit of French. Along with exploring more of the town, that should take up the day. It's a little cloudy today and I've not yet opened the window to figure out the temperature (il fait frois ou il fait chaud?) but I anticipate the high 50's low 60's it's been.
Ah - and about phase 1.5? I've reached my limit on prose and I anticipate you've reached yours as well. I'll leave it until next time. Suffice it to say that it began with a mission and ended in an airport two countries, three cities, two cars, and one very broken suitcase later.
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