An American Girl in Avignon
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Keys, s’il vous plaît ?
April 7, 2009 (jour 15)
Well today was extremely uneventful until this evening, so I will just skip over all that boring stuff and get to the action. After six hours of draining classes in French, it was time for dinner. Conversation went surprisingly well. M. Morveillez got the conversation rolling when he starting humming a tune from West Side Story while passing the potatoes. We talked movies, musicals, books, movies, and ended with church and religion. The area of Provence where I live, although a headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, is inhabited by mostly protestants. I found it fascinating that the Morveillez described churches in Avignon as going back to a more rigid, traditional style of worship, and they don’t like this at all. I laughed aloud when M. Morviellez enacted falling asleep in food while describing the Sunday services at their church. Apparently the priest, whom he is not to fond of, “bores him” and “is too traditional.” Yet, they enjoy going to church on Sunday evenings for a more contemporary service.
I have been out of the country for the past two Easters in a row. Last year I was in China for Easter Sunday, so our group had a private student service in our choir teacher’s hotel room. This year, I am in France and am going to go to a Catholic Church, as a Protestant, with my host family. I have had a few exotic Easters in my lifetime. I am really looking forward to Easter for several reasons. One reason is because I am dying to go to a French church; I miss my church back home. I think it will be interesting to see how a different culture celebrates the holiday. The other reason I am excited is because Marianne is making a feast for us Sunday afternoon: lamb and chocolate cake. It is going to be a good day, and will definitely make up for our pantry diving last weekend. Lol. I am happy that the Morveillez were kind enough to invite Kristina and me to participate in their family celebration.
After dinner, Adam and Kyle came by to pick me up and go to the Red Sky with the rest of the group. Almost everyone was out, since we don’t have classes on Wednesdays (Tuesday nights here are the equivalent to Thursdays at OU). Well, turns our Tuesdays are salsa dance nights at Red Zone (I am noticing a Red theme with the bars and clubs here), so we decided to go to O’Neill’s (the Irish pub), then the Cuban dance club outside the walls with some of our new “friends.” The new “friends” were Kaitlin’s correspondent and his friends, who were really, really friendly. I snagged an invite to a party next week, and a couple numbers and new FB friends. Should be fun. Who says French people don’t like Americans? :)
Well the Cuban place turned out to be a year and a half away…and empty when we got there. The drinks were expensive, and we were the only people dancing there (probably because it was only Tuesday and it was nearing two). We left quickly to walk someone from the group home, only to almost get jumped by a guy in front of Red Zone! He blatantly accused Lance of knocking his drink over. Lance did no such thing…and if he did, why was your drink on the street?? The guy reached for his belt and told Lance he would “Kick his a**” if he didn’t admit to it and apologize. It was so scary!!! Not knowing what to do, Shawna and I just stood there, with our eyes bulged open as we tried to pull him away, while Katie and Sakinah walked (more like ran) away. It was so scary!!!! I thought: “Great, it’s almost two thirty, no one is out, no cops are in sight, I have barely been in Avignon over a week, Lance is going to get killed, and we are going to get mugged then sent into human trafficking…” Positive, huh? Thank God the guy finally backed down. Lance handled the situation very well: remain calm, don’t argue, just apologize, don’t get defensive, and calmly back away. It was impressive. After that, we were all shaken up and very eager to get home, safe in our beds.
When I got to my door, I discovered that the Morviellez never gave me a key to the outside gate leading from the creepy, tunnel-like parking garage to the street. I felt horrible, but I had to call my roomie to be let in. Thank goodness she was still up. Let’s just say that the first thing I did the next day was have them make me a new set of keys. I can’t be standing outside at three am fumbling with my keys. It’s not safe. I wasn’t alone, Shawna and Lance were there, but I need to be able to get into my own house…for obvious reasons.
The downside of living upstairs is that every time you turn on the light to go up or down, the buzzer, which is right by the Morviellez room, goes off. I think I am going to buy a flashlight (for walking to my door at night…it is like rape-central…and walking up and down the stairs really early or late). C’est tout!
Well today was extremely uneventful until this evening, so I will just skip over all that boring stuff and get to the action. After six hours of draining classes in French, it was time for dinner. Conversation went surprisingly well. M. Morveillez got the conversation rolling when he starting humming a tune from West Side Story while passing the potatoes. We talked movies, musicals, books, movies, and ended with church and religion. The area of Provence where I live, although a headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, is inhabited by mostly protestants. I found it fascinating that the Morveillez described churches in Avignon as going back to a more rigid, traditional style of worship, and they don’t like this at all. I laughed aloud when M. Morviellez enacted falling asleep in food while describing the Sunday services at their church. Apparently the priest, whom he is not to fond of, “bores him” and “is too traditional.” Yet, they enjoy going to church on Sunday evenings for a more contemporary service.
I have been out of the country for the past two Easters in a row. Last year I was in China for Easter Sunday, so our group had a private student service in our choir teacher’s hotel room. This year, I am in France and am going to go to a Catholic Church, as a Protestant, with my host family. I have had a few exotic Easters in my lifetime. I am really looking forward to Easter for several reasons. One reason is because I am dying to go to a French church; I miss my church back home. I think it will be interesting to see how a different culture celebrates the holiday. The other reason I am excited is because Marianne is making a feast for us Sunday afternoon: lamb and chocolate cake. It is going to be a good day, and will definitely make up for our pantry diving last weekend. Lol. I am happy that the Morveillez were kind enough to invite Kristina and me to participate in their family celebration.
After dinner, Adam and Kyle came by to pick me up and go to the Red Sky with the rest of the group. Almost everyone was out, since we don’t have classes on Wednesdays (Tuesday nights here are the equivalent to Thursdays at OU). Well, turns our Tuesdays are salsa dance nights at Red Zone (I am noticing a Red theme with the bars and clubs here), so we decided to go to O’Neill’s (the Irish pub), then the Cuban dance club outside the walls with some of our new “friends.” The new “friends” were Kaitlin’s correspondent and his friends, who were really, really friendly. I snagged an invite to a party next week, and a couple numbers and new FB friends. Should be fun. Who says French people don’t like Americans? :)
Well the Cuban place turned out to be a year and a half away…and empty when we got there. The drinks were expensive, and we were the only people dancing there (probably because it was only Tuesday and it was nearing two). We left quickly to walk someone from the group home, only to almost get jumped by a guy in front of Red Zone! He blatantly accused Lance of knocking his drink over. Lance did no such thing…and if he did, why was your drink on the street?? The guy reached for his belt and told Lance he would “Kick his a**” if he didn’t admit to it and apologize. It was so scary!!! Not knowing what to do, Shawna and I just stood there, with our eyes bulged open as we tried to pull him away, while Katie and Sakinah walked (more like ran) away. It was so scary!!!! I thought: “Great, it’s almost two thirty, no one is out, no cops are in sight, I have barely been in Avignon over a week, Lance is going to get killed, and we are going to get mugged then sent into human trafficking…” Positive, huh? Thank God the guy finally backed down. Lance handled the situation very well: remain calm, don’t argue, just apologize, don’t get defensive, and calmly back away. It was impressive. After that, we were all shaken up and very eager to get home, safe in our beds.
When I got to my door, I discovered that the Morviellez never gave me a key to the outside gate leading from the creepy, tunnel-like parking garage to the street. I felt horrible, but I had to call my roomie to be let in. Thank goodness she was still up. Let’s just say that the first thing I did the next day was have them make me a new set of keys. I can’t be standing outside at three am fumbling with my keys. It’s not safe. I wasn’t alone, Shawna and Lance were there, but I need to be able to get into my own house…for obvious reasons.
The downside of living upstairs is that every time you turn on the light to go up or down, the buzzer, which is right by the Morviellez room, goes off. I think I am going to buy a flashlight (for walking to my door at night…it is like rape-central…and walking up and down the stairs really early or late). C’est tout!
posted by Catherine at 1:41 AM
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