Don Alonso's Travel Blog

Been a while since my last post, and it's pretty late so I won't indulge in long writings either...

Where were we? Ah, yes... France is long gone from the World Cup (and Italy, and England...) and Spain is still at it, at least still tomorrow evening when they play against Portugal. Obviously, tomorrow I'm putting my fancy Spain T-Shirt on and will go to the Trocadéro again to watch the match on the big screen. This time I'll try not to forget the camera's battery so I can take a few pics of the atmosphere.

We've also managed to visit the area of Saint Denis (north of Paris) and keep walking around various spots around the city Centre (La Defense, Montparnasse, Opera, Les Tuilleires, La Sorbonne, Les Invalides, Belleville, etc) and I've taken a few pics and small videos here and there, which I'll endeavour to display here at some point.

We're now saying goodbye to our place in Villeneuve Saint-Georges for a little appartment in the city centre, close to Republique. It's very well located (although on a fifth floor with no lift; but who cares?? It'll keep us fit) and we'll save a lot of time and money by not having to travel back and forth from the banlieu everyday. We'll also be able to enjoy the city much better, by being able to stay late at night, for example, without having to worry about missing the last train back home, etc. So it all looks jolly good...

On a different note, we suffered some of the after effects of pepper spray used by the police to contain the crowds at the Gay Pride Parade this weekend. Us, and another hundred + of people inside the tube station in Bastille, without knowing what was all the coughing about until we got out the station and saw the hordes of policemen with sprays in hand, amongst other vile stuff. Classy crowd control touch, the fuckers... If we just happened to walk by and got affected by it, I cannot imagine how awful must be to be hit by a full load of that thingy in the face. Fucking 'ell...

On a more positive note, we went to watch the La Defense Jazz Festival yesterday evening, with Caetano Veloso headlining and playing for free for the crowds. Pretty cool stuff.

And yes, I've just started today my first day of French lessons at the academy where Carol is also going. A bit nerveracking at first, but in the end I think I managed fairly well. I think these days it's all coming back from when I studied the stuff in seconday school, so... pretty god!

Till next time... (hopefully with some pics in it)

Friday! The World Cup is here at last, and tonight, France is playing their first game against Uruguay!!!

Carol told me that there would be some big screens across the city for all the fans to watch the football matches, so we couldn’t miss our first opportunity to blend in with the masses of fans of Les Bleus, and decided to go watch the match at the screen located at the Hôtel de Ville.

First, we met in Les Halles and went for a walk to make time before the match. So the idea was to hit the shops for our French Nibbling Kit © (aka some drinks, some nice bread and a bit of paté / fromage / etc..) and sit down around the gorgeous Centre Pompidou, which was quite lively and full of people.

(Carol, bread in hand, for a picnic at the Centre Pompidou)

Then, we went to the Hôtel de Ville, but to our disappointment there was no big screen at all. So I remembered that in the Place du Trocadéro, near the Eiffel Tower, there was going to be another big screen (double checked that one online earlier), and we decided to give that one a go.

After a short commute by metro, we arrived there and indeed there was a big screen and a huge crowd already gathered for the match. After a while, we found a nice little patch of grass where to sit down and started to enjoy the remaining of the match.

(Big screen at Trocadéro)

As you probably know by now, the match finished with a 0-0 draw, and wasn’t very entertaining, but nevertheless the Bleus supporters tried hard to make up for the boring game and seemed to enjoy the atmosphere, which I have to say I rather enjoyed myself as well.

(Allez Les Bleus!!)

(French supporters doing their thing)

The Eiffel Tower at the back and the huge setting that they have mounted for the screenings helped making it a very entertaining night, and I’m sure much more of these football fuelled nights will follow in the next days.

(At night, the lights came in)

The World Cup has started. Allez Les Bleus!!! Allez Les Bleeeeeus!!!

Today, Carol suggested me to accompany her after work to an event in which she was interested to attend. It was a presentation and Q&A session entitled “Haiti: other possible ways – The local development and social actors give their perspectives” [translated from the French original] and it was organised by the Collectif Haïtienne de France and the CEDETIM (Centre d’études et d’initiatives de solidarité internationale)

The theme of the presentation was around some of the huge problems that Haitian people and institutions are facing at the moment, particularly in relation to the current situation after the he earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince a few months ago. The two main guests were Michèle Pierre-Louis, founder of FOKAL (Fondation Connaissance et Liberté) and former Haitian Prime Minister, and Lorraine Mangonès, current executive director of FOKAL.

The topics covered where (I copy and paste here)
- La situation post séisme
- Les impasses politique/administrative des dernières années
- La problématique de l’aménagement du territoire
- La culture et la créativité comme moteurs de développement
- Le pari du développement local
- Le projet de sauvetage des maisons traditionnelles Gingerbread
- Le projet de réhabilitation du quartier de Martissant autour d’un parc botanique en création
- D’autres exemples possibles de développement local dans le pays

I had to admit that it was a difficult setting for me. I already knew a bit about the current situation in Haiti mainly through what Carol feeds me from her work every now and then, but overall it was clear that I was feeling a bit out of place amongst many NGO folks and other institutions alike, as well as at least one big fish (Carol hinted me) from the UN in relation to Haiti and a bunch of what looked to me like the Men in Black version from the Haitian Diplomatic Services in France. Well, it was an interesting mixture of people, to say the least.

(A packed venue)

Carol already knew the two guests personally, from one of her trips to Haiti in which she and her colleagues interviewed them while working on one of their research projects, so thankfully she gave me plenty of useful information about their background and their current role in helping with the current situation in Haiti.

(Lorraine Mangonès talking)

I have to confess that the discussions where fairly difficult for me to understand, and I barely could guess what they where talking about. Thankfully, the PowerPoint presentation on screen was very helpful for me (at least to read something I could understand) and Carol, pretty knowledgeable that she is on Haiti already (and with all the specific vocabulary, background and geography references well mastered by now) was feeding me with extra bits of information little by little, which helped me to get a much better idea of what the whole thing was all about.

(PowerPoint was helpful...)

Once the presentation was done and the Q&A was drawing to a close, we decided to leave and head back home. Pity we missed the after-drinks and nibbles, hehehe...

All in all, it was an experience a bit too far fetched to my liking, but at least I’m glad that Carol enjoyed the event some more and got something more out of it than I did. And I left with the feeling that at least I got out of there knowing a little bit more about the pretty bad situation that Haitian people live under right now, what some of the most influential people out there are thinking and proposing about how to get the country back on track, and to get some more details on some of the issues that Carol and her colleagues have to deal with at work on a daily basis. Which, at least for me, it was already quite something…

Yep, it had to happen at some point.

Naturally shy as I am, and with a laughably bad command of the French language, I was dreading this moment: our first social event, in which I would have to try to talk to someone else in French (aside from Sabrina and her friend, whom we met on the Saturday we arrived) while outside my comfort zone of a controlled or known environment like our home.

Well, I meet Carol and a couple of other works colleagues of her at a nice bar in Botzaris, relatively close to where they all work, and thankfully, as soon as I managed to sit down and join the group, I started to relax and try to make the most of the ongoing conversation.

I have to confess that it didn’t go as bad as I expected for me. In fact, it went rather well, given the circumstances. I thought I would miss pretty much all the conversation and that I just couldn’t chip in much (don’t you forget my French is still pretty basic, my listening skills are just as crap as my speaking, and my extremely limited range of vocabulary doesn’t help much either)

But during the time we stayed there, it all went surprisingly well. Even with all the background noise around us (music, other groups of people talking, etc) which I always find very distracting when I’m trying my very best to fully concentrate on what is being said in front of me (a process that typically would involve firstly just be able to hear properly, then mind-processing it, translate it and finally try to make sense of my own translation, all in the blink of an eye; no easy task, I can tell you that!) I think I managed fairly well to go along the conversation, and I ended up understanding much more of it than what I expected.

The girls were all lovely and the conversation was (thankfully for me) light-hearted and uncomplicated. And it looks like they may want to go for some Spanish-French speaking interchanges, as they’re also learning Spanish and would like to practice speaking in Spanish with us as well, which I think is a great opportunity for us to socially interact a bit more, keep meeting nice and interesting people, and hopefully learn and practice some more French along the way.

So, all in all I’m pretty happy with the experience despite my initial nerves. And although I’m very frustrated with my language limitations, I feel a bit more confident right now than the day before about my chances of communicating my way around here. And from here, it can only get better, I hope...

Blimey! By the end, I even dared to try saying a few sentences myself during the chat. Who said ‘fear’?? From now on, I’ll adopt Obama’s motto: Yes, I can!

…although I still need to study A LOT!!!

And despite whatever Carol might say to deny it, I could confirm once more than her French language skills are much better than mine. Carol, you rock!!

Tuesday. Again, I met Carol after work, but this time we decided to walk around the area of Montmartre, which is one of the most famous landmarks of Paris. Again, the weather was very nice and warm, which helped us making the most of a colourful and vibrant area.

We met in Pigalle, and from there we walked up towards La Basilique du Sacré Coeur. We decided we rather walk all the way than taking the funicular train, so we quickly reached Abbesses, which was quite lively, full of people and very cool-looking places where to get yourself lost for a romantic drink or two, and we then took la Rue Lepic all the way up.

Once we were able to dodge all the tourist traps along the way, we made it to the summit and suddenly there we were, enjoying some of the greatest views of the city.

We sat down there on the packed stairs for a bit, enjoyed the views while munching a snack among the crowds, took a few pictures, walked inside the church (I hadn’t done that the other only time I had been there) to look at it, and off we went outta there, as quickly as we came.

(Le Sacre Coeur)

(Why always those tacky trains?)

We then tried to walk around the streets at the back of the church, in the hope that we would find a somehow quieter, less crowded but equally charming side of Montmartre, and although we ultimately succeeded, we couldn’t help coming across other wandering lost souls around.

(Lost in Montmartre)

Interestingly, we got to see the Stade de France Saint-Denis on the long distance, from one of the streets nearby. Nice sight. From there, we went all the way down to the Boulevard de Clichy and back to Pigalle to catch the metro.

Again, a very nice evening walk to enjoy a great part of the city.

By the way, would you eat these? So cute I think I never would! (seen near Pigalle)

(flower bread)

(cute animals bread)

(cute animals bread)