Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The French Episode

Just when I thought Internet doesn't exist in Southern France, Perpignan proves me wrong! Good small ol' Perpignan, not like disappointing major city Lyon and tourist sucker town Avignon. Oh the irony

So in 2 days I will end my stay in France (Southern France, to be precise) and head for more sunshine in Spain. I've been in Lyon and Avignon and just today, arrived in Perpignan.

And I haven't blogged and journaled anything along the way at all. Believe me, my eyes were peeled for Internet cafes, but all naught. So France, in a nutshell..

Ranting
This is a well-known fact. The French are arrogant pomps and there are no two ways about it. Unlike the Swiss or Germans I've met so far, who try their best to converse in English with visitors like me, the French will do nothing of the sort. It is French or nothing for most of them, even the shopkeepers and vendors who in my opinion, are the ones who should be trying to speak to earn a living from us tourists not adept in French. I mean, come on! This is MY 5 Euro note you are trying to earn, so quit the Oui Oui Oui crap with me. After five entire minutes of trying to converse in sign language and head-shaking, they finally let on that they know SOME english. Oohlala, sparkling wine is still champagne all the same, you aristocratic tarts.

The Gentler side
Aside from the native pomps I've just cleared the above case with, there is a very different side in most French towns. This was something I saw when we went to Marseille last week. It was a day of sign language and pretended incomprehendo, UNTIL we stepped into the Middle-Eastern part of the town. It was a riot of people and sweaty bodies brushing past one another in haste, rotting fruit smashed into the crevices of the stone walkways, yells and whoops in the air.. But believe me, THAT was the one part of France I really liked and appreciated. The people there are mostly immigrants, not native French.

There was so much camaraderie and bustle amongst everyone. And though we were like aliens trying to walk through the street, they helped make us feel so at home.

I was trying to buy a small loaf of wheat bread from a boulangerie run by a morrocan family, and I had no small change, just a 20 Euro note. Guess what the owner did? he gave me a smile and a wink and told me in broken english that it was on the house, and wished me a good weekend too. I was shell-shocked. He didn't have to do that for me. And if you're thinking it was some perverted haha gesture, let's just say I know the difference. And he was acting fatherly, being kind. I was really touched.

Weiming encountered something like that too. He bought paella rice to eat with his grilled chicken from this shop that was bursting with greasy fumes and cracked windows. They had no spoon to offer him, so the lady sent one of her relarives to run to another shop about 100m down the street to get him one. He returned with a simple plastic spoon, which Meng used to enjoy the best French meal he has had to date. Made even more so with the kindness and warmth behind it. Subsequent similar cases in Avignon saw him having to return to the hotel room to eat just because the town store owner wouldn't offer him utensils.

Oui/Non
Our stay in France was well-timed, because there is so much going on here in the political arena. The president, Jaques Chirac offered his people the chance to vote for the acceptance of the EU constitution, instead of deciding for them in a parliamentary vote. But they have turned their backs on him, with 55 percent voting against the constitution.

So now France and Chirac's government are in real sticky situations. France, being one of the EU's founding and most important members, has made the compulsory full member acceptance unattainable, viewed as a menace by its fellow EU countries. Chirac has to follow the wishes of his people, and at the same time account to the EU for this failure to get acceptance for the new constitution. If I were him, I'd be very very worried indeed. His people seem determined to remove him and the ineffective movements he has spearheaded or become associated with. I think most of the Non voters voted this way in defiance of the existing French government, not the EU constitution per se. Bet most of the people don't even know what is going on within the 200 pages of the consitution.

There are so many Oui-Non posters all around, and CNN is covering this story around the clock. It is all very exciting to be here while all this is going on. You don't see this much freedom being given back home, and it's not everyday something big like this happens.

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So this ends my French episode, au revoir for now!


Laid bare at 11:30 pm
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