Monsieur Casanova

Thats the name of the French teacher. And I like the way he teaches.

Monday
Was a pretty normal day. With classes, a trip back home, shopping at the supermarket.

Tuesday
Pretty normal too, except for the fact that it was the choose-your-courses day, and get-a-bank-account day. It took me an hour to make a bank account at BNP Paribas, but finally got it made. The branch is housed in a beautiful building, overlooking Cours Mirabeau, a stone paved road lined by well maintained plane trees. I'd love to work in such a place.


Wednesday, Thursday and Friday They were pretty normal too ... French classes and then back home, maybe after checking some mail at the college computer centre. A talk with some of the master's course students tells me that the coming week is going to be a bit hectic.

And I have just realised that I don't like the college cafeteria, and not because the food is not nice or because its expensive, but because the queue can sometimes take half an hour to clear. Only one person is served at a time, then the same person takes the cash. Well, it reminds me of the VJTI cafeteria :)

Oh yes and it rained early Friday morning.

I have been quite busy during the weekend, and will blog after I get some respite from classes. Have some interesting stuff to write about :)

And right now I'm listening to a nice song called Pebbles and Marbles by Phish :)

A Beautiful Sunday

Early mornings here are nice and chilly, and I decided to go to church on sunday morning. I thought I'd make it in time for the 9 o'clock mass, but there was this big crowd outside the church.

So I thought it was over. I decided to go in anyways. Silence. Just a few people sitting there, with the candles burning at the altar and the mandatory stained glass window in front. Then they started singing the hymns. Couldn't make out the words (it was French), but it made me decide that I'd go to church every Sunday. Why? They were singing in such a heavenly voice, it would put all the pop singers to shame. It was like I was on a different planet altogether. I'll probably try and get in a recording next time. But for now these pictures i took after the mass was over should do.


The church, Eglise Saint-Jean-de-Malte is a 13th century construction, with additions done in the 17th century and recently restored. It has an organ, which is also used for concerts.

When I came out, the crowd was still there. I realised that the crowd had collected there for entry into the Musée Granet. This is a museum that is currently housing the exhibition of Cezanne paintings. The most famous son of Aix is being honoured in the year of his death centenary. Ironically only eight paintings of his are in Aix. This exhibition lasts till the 17th of September.

Further down the road I saw a long queue. Their aim: the ticket window selling entry to the Musee Granet. It must have been around 400m long, and I am not kidding.


In the middle of the road there is this weird fountain which has soapy water, couldn't figure out why, though I did dip my hands in it.


I came across the railway station (Gare). Cute little clock on top.


There is this pedestrian signal outside which is manually operated. If you want to cross the road and you want the traffic to stop just press the button.


The red light goes up for the traffic just to allow you to cross.

Further exploration caused me to get lost. Then I realised that I had a map in my pocket and found my way back home. Then, in the evening, I thought I'd visit the Parc Jourdan to write this blog, and Bhavya decided to read a book. I wrote 5 lines and she read one page. There she is pretending to read.

This is a collage of some of the Parc activities.


That it for Sunday then.

Another trip in the City

Well, on Friday morning, I set out to figure how to get us a bank account. The place to start is La Rotonde. It is bang in the centre of the town with this enormous circular fountain (Fontaine de la Rotonde) in the middle. Its a stunning piece of sculpture.


Right opposite that is l'Office de Tourisme (the Tourist Office). That's where you get a bus pass. For 20€ you get unlimited travel for a month in Aix.


Thought I get a bank account made. But the French like their lunch and so they take a long lunch break, which means that most offices generally close from 1230 ish to 1330 ish. Well it seems to be common in this part of the continent and it got passed on to the Goans when the Portuguese came there :)

Though the bank officials hardly knew English, they tried quite hard to explain things to me. One guy was actually blushing because he couldn't find the right English words to say. Finally figured what their requirements are and what they could offer me.

Then as usual, I took off on a random walk that brought me to another of the big supermarkets. Lost my way after that and took a bus to the city-centre. Then back to home.

Next day was the orientation session at IAE where there were quite a few speeches in French by the Dean and some others. Got to meet a lot of people, many of whom I'll be attending classes with. An interesting mix of students.


The people here take their holidays really seriously. Within an hour of the session ending, they were all packed and ready to go, and the campus was shut down.

More about an eventful Sunday ... tomorrow.

Bienvenue!

Wow!!!
That was my natural reaction when I stepped out at the Frankfurt Airport. Too spellbound to take photos. Finally managed to take one of 4 tired ladies who had no clue as to what was happening to them.



Fraport is huge and huge is an understatement.


Its easy to get lost. Well I didn't and I ended up on the correct flight; destination: Marseille.

One of those small planes which let you see the ground below. I had sufficiently recovered my senses to take a few Google Earth type snaps.



Then I stepped out on French soil for the first time, and it felt very nice. After a short cab drive into a nice little town called Aix-en-Provence, we settled down into small dorm rooms. I like mine. Just what is needed for a little solitude. My window overlooks on some wooded hills and a solitary bare mountain which I now know to be Mont Sainte Victoire which Cezanne painted too. Even looks like the same place. Kidding.



Then I found that almost all shops here close by 20:00. Kinda depressing, but now I like that too. You would then find a lot of people on the sidewalk cafes, brasseries and restaurants. Seems like eating out is a very common thing here, something that we couldn't afford (for all the PPP stuff we boast of, we are still poor or maybe a bit stingy)


The roads are just beautiful. That is one adjective I'm going to abuse :) Paved with stones or just nicely tarred. Instinctively I wait for the cars to pass by before I cross, instead I am waved on by the driver. I'd probably be run over in road-rash Gurgaon-Delhi.


Cheap stuff? You must be kidding. Well there is bread, butter, milk and cheese. Then there is juice and wine :)

The people. They are nice and the girls are beautiful. And they are helpful, and even try to speak some English. You would be quite well off if you knew French. Thank goodness the Institute is offering us French classes.

This little verse should sum up things quite well.

Well I'm hungry
So what do I eat?
Pate d' Foie gras
And some meat?

No, I'd go down under
in just a week
Believe a poor man
For the truth I speak

So for now
Its bread and butter
The staple food
For breakfast, lunch and dinner

But the good food and wine
Shall not be wasted
The gourmet delights of France
I shall not leave untasted

This ends post number one.

Green is the colour

testing ... testing ... done

Bling!!!

This place is so amazingly green. Well, I don't miss home...