Život v Cizine (was La Vie Expatriée)

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The "Littleness" of French food and drink

French food and drink is almost always expressed in terms of "littleness". There's the petit goûter (little snack) to accompany your afternoon cafe or tea, the petit apéro (little apéritif) to precede dinner, the petit déssert and petit cafe follow dinner (no translation needed here surely!) And even in the markets, one orders a petit poulet rôti (little roasted chicken). Without noticing, I've fallen into the same pattern, asking for a petit pavé de saumon (little filet of salmon) or a petit morceau de bleu de causses (a little piece of bleu de causses, my favorite blue cheese).

So it was very odd in the bakery this morning when a gentleman ordered a gros morceau de quiche paysan (a big piece of quiche paysan). The clerk repeated his request, in an amused voice, and soon the entire line was buzzing, "A big piece?" "Yes, a big piece." "He ordered what?" "A big piece."

(For what it's worth, I think the piece he ended up with was the standard size.)

Labels: food, France

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Monday, March 12, 2007

The Garden

When I registered for classes at ICP, my advisor pointed out to me how nice it was to have a "garden" in which to have lunch and relax between classes:

Garden? A graveled courtyard with some forlorn patches of grass and a few trees, some picnic tables and benches, and planter box of geraniums?

I keep thinking of Goethe's "Mathematicians are a kind of Frenchman; if you talk to them, they translate what is said into their own language, and then it is immediately something quite different". Something quite different indeed.

Labels: ICP, Paris

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Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sunday in the Park

After an earlier post in which I commented on the lack of open green space in the immediate vicinity, I received the suggestion that I check out the Parc Buttes-Chaumont (thanks, Kimberly!).

It's not on a direct métro route from here, and I mostly avoid trips that entail two or more transfers, as this one does. But then I looked at the map of the bus system, and saw that the number 60 bus goes from three blocks away right to the Parc. So I packed myself a little picnic lunch and went to check it out.

It is indeed a lovely park. And it was such a lovely day that it was full of families (and their dogs) and newly married couples getting their pictures taken. I wandered around and about for an hour before sitting down to enjoy my lunch (which I refused to share with an importunate dog); followed by another hour or so of wandering.

The number 60 bus actually goes all the way to Père Lachaise cemetary, so I continued my trip out that way.

Rather than post individual pictures for the day's dual excursion here, I'm putting up a little slideshow (a new window will open).

Labels: Buttes-Chaumont, Paris, Pere Lachaise

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Friday, March 09, 2007

Français des affaires

Well, I'm two weeks into my classes. I'd forgotten how much work being a student is! I'm just glad that I don't have to be concerned about grades.

The business French (Français des Affaires) course is particularly serious. The professor, Mme Sainlos, is very geared toward making sure that we can pass the DFA1 exam offered in at the end of the term. The DFA (Diplôme de Français des Affaires) is offered by the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris to certify French fluency. The written exam has two main components: writing letters and writing résumés (which in the case of business French means summaries), and so our Tuesday meetings are mostly given over to résumés, while on Thursdays we work on letters. The oral exam similarly has two main components: providing an oral summary in French of an article written in our native language and mounting an argument for (or against) an idea presented in an article written in French. And so part of our course work will also include such presentations. Next Thursday (yes, already), it'll be my turn to argue. I have an article entitled "Le tourism s'invente de nouveaux guides" ("Tourism invents new guides"). I'm charged with outlining the advantages and limits of this new approach and advancing my own opinion.

We also have work in small groups: in groups of two or three, we're researching different French companies and will be presenting our findings to the class. I'm working with one other student on Air France; our rough outline includes the history of Air France, their alliance with other airlines, objectives, activities, and balance sheet.

And while all of this is going on, we're learning French business vocabulary, which is particularly tricky, since some fairly simple words have very specific meanings when they're used in a business context. And of course those very specific meanings are not addressed in our little pocket dictionaries.

Unlike the general French course, most of the 12 of us are non-Americans with French spouses. Only three of us are Americans.

Labels: classes, DFA, ICP, Paris

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