To begin at the beginning, Vivi and I arrived at the airport in Nice yesterday around 9 a.m. We'd taken an overnight flight from JFK, and, overall, the flight went perfectly. There was a bit of a delay at the airport, but we were lucky enough to be seated next to a lovely young man who kept Vivi entertained during our hour on the runway. (He works for the U.S. State Department as a translator, and was coming to France for a three-day vacation. He told me he'd been in San Antonio, NYC, Paris, Tokyo, and Seattle in the last week. This, apparently, is his routine. He said he is never anywhere long enough to adjust to a time zone. Yikes!) Vivi took awhile to fall asleep, given all of the distractions on board, but finally dozed off around 9:30 EST and slept until we arrived in Nice. I, on the other hand, didn't sleep at all, but, given that I'm the mother of two young children, neither of whom could be called a "good sleeper," I didn't feel as exhausted as I thought I might. I caught a quick nap in the car on the way "home" from the airport, and then slept a full night last night and now feel pretty acclimated to the time difference.
Ross, our program director and the head of the journalism board of study at Purchase, met us with Nathan and Finn. We took the scenic route back to Hyeres, stopping to drive the main street along the coast in Nice, and taking in some 2,000 year-old ruins in a tiny village between Nice and Hyeres. The village was once a Roman town, and the ruins we visited were an ancient theater, an aqueduct, and an amphitheater. The woman selling tickets to the ruins was lovely, but spoke only French. I have to say, I thought my French was fair before arriving here; now I see that I am barely conversational! I can generally understand what people are telling me, but I can't often respond coherently. I've already used the phrase "Je ne comprends pas" (I don't understand) several times!
We made a stop on the way to the apartment at a grocery store in Hyeres, and that too was a new experience! The big grocery store in town is inside the mall. You pay one Euro to "release" your grocery cart (you get the Euro back when you return the cart to the stall). Once inside the grocery store, I had trouble locating exactly what we were looking for. There were three full aisles of just cheese--local cheese, imported cheese, soft cheese, hard cheese. There was a counter of large blocks and wheels of cheese, behind which a woman was stationed to help you taste and then purchase portions of the cheeses you liked. There were also two aisles of preserved meats, and a wide row of milks -- half of the cartons fresh and refrigerated, the other half non-refrigerated milks in plastic containers that looked most like detergent bottles. Food is expensive with the exchange rate, though comparatively not that differently priced than in NYC. Our credit cards don't work here, so we're paying all in cash, and that is a bit nerve-wracking, as we have to calculate exactly how much what we're buying will cost and how much we have in our pockets. We also made a bit of a novice mistake when checking out in that we didn't bring our own grocery bags, nor did we realize that you have to buy your bags from your cashier if you don't have any. We ended up with a cart full of loose groceries! (We wondered why the cashier was chuckling at us as we left. She was likely thinking, "Silly Americans!")
We've taken a couple of walks around our neighborhood since arriving in Hyeres. Hyeres is unique in that it is part Medieval village, part newer construction (and by "newer" I mean built within the last 500 years). We're staying in the Medieval section of town, which is built up on a hill above the newer section. The streets are all stone cobbles, the homes narrow stone buildings, squished one beside the next. The roofs are all bright orange tiles, and there are blue and yellow and pink shutters and iron grille work on the windows. There are vines of jasmine and ivy, honeysuckle and some other beautiful pink and orange blossoms climbing the stone walls and trellises. There are orange trees and lemon trees and giant aloe plants in the courtyard gardens, and the streets are all like narrow alleyways. In the evening, people open their windows and children come out onto the streets to play ball while their parents sit on the stoops smoking and having their after-dinner glasses of wine. There's an ancient church -- Eglise de Saint Paul -- just up the hill from us, and another -- Eglise de Saint Louis -- down the hill. On the hour they both sound their bells. Finn and I went inside l'Eglise de Saint Louis last night, just after mass had ended, and the place was cool and dark and smelled distinctly of the clove incense burned during the service.
So far, it's all extremely charming. We've yet to taste the local food fully (Vivi, especially, is being a bit of a pill about the food here, refusing to eat anything but brioche, which is a kind of buttery bread, and the most American cheese we could find). As it is Sunday (Dimanche) today, most of the shops and cafes are closed, and tomorrow is a national holiday here, so they won't be open until Tuesday. I'm looking forward to getting my first grande creme (cream and coffee) though, and to sitting at one of the many outdoor seating areas at the local cafes. I plan to walk a lot, eat as much French pastry as possible, and simply enjoy the very different (slow) pace of life here. I can already see how much more relaxed time is here. I admit that the very long lunch we had yesterday at a restaurant outside Nice was a bit too slow for my American habits, but I'm going to force myself to readjust my expectations of time while we're in France, with the hope that I'll learn what the French call "the art of doing nothing."
More updates soon!
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