alsatiated

just got back from a lovely long weekend (though in this case a 3-day weekend is the norm) in strasbourg. we decided months ago to spend a weekend in the alsace and were rewarded with a good deal on train tickets and a lovely, albeit cold, weekend of christmas festivities.

on this trip we found out that strasbourg in december is full of two things: german food and christmas markets. we experienced both in massive quantities. as a collective foursome, we ate the following: pretzels (both plain and with cheese), spatzle (with cheese and ham), vin chaud, kougelhopf (sort of brioche-ish cake), tarte flambée (basically a pizza with crème fraîche in lieu of sauce), boules de neige (like peeps but huge and covered in chocolate), potato galettes (like latkes but super greasy), 'strasbourg' sausage with cheese, alsatian white wine, pizza/baguette, hot orange juice (sounds weird, doesn't it?), churros, crêpes, belgian beer, chocolate covered fruits, and hot chocolate. actually, listed altogether like that it sounds disgusting.

between eating we somehow managed to see the city. the old town is called 'petite france' - the city is so german they actually have to label one part of it france. the canals, half-timbered houses and cobblestone streets make it thoroughly adorable. we walked through the old part of town, exploring christmas markets on the way. this means we stopped and shopped roughly every 50 meters. the markets put lyon's to shame; a wonderful mix of food and crafts from france, germany and beyond. particular specialties that kept cropping up: little ceramic half-timbered houses, christmas ornaments (from cheesy moose-reindeer in santa hats to intricate carved wood), and all types of gingerbread and other dense cakes.

we also took a brief sojourn into the small town of colmar, only 30 minutes by train. it's been called "little venice" or, more plausibly, "venice of the alsace". we weren't particularly impressed by its canals (i'd put the final count at two, and that's being generous) but rather by its overall cuteness. this compounded with the fact that we were in the midst of a giant christmas market on a saturday in december resulted in ridiculous crowds. still, we enjoyed the city and after dark we saw the city's famed fiber-optic lighting system (because we hadn't gotten enough of lights the previous weekend, evidently).

overall a good weekend. a nice introduction to the alsace region, which i'd like to explore further - either in spring or when i've invested in some warmer socks.

fête des lumières

well! this was a big weekend for lyon. the first weekend of december marks the annual fête des lumières, a fairly recent tradition. but, as this is france, it was not just any weekend celebration but four days of festivities. though considering that 4 million visitors are crammed into the city in that time, it's really not all that long at all.

we began our explorations on friday night, starting at parc de la tête d'or which is usually beautiful in and of itself. it turned out to be rather disappointing. this (see left) was the best shot i could come up with. some of the trees were lit, there were some scattered lights in the distance, and there appeared to be some boats very dimly (and slowly) coming into focus. we lost patience and gave up. later others confirmed that there wasn't much to see here.

we pressed on. eventually we made it to the opera where we were surprised to find that it had only its usual red lights. but when we crossed over into the adjacent place des terreaux, we were not to be disappointed. certainly a centerpiece of the festivities, two of the long buildings making up the square - the hotel de ville (below) and the musee des beaux arts (right) - were the backdrop for a light show. the lighting was intricate and aligned precisely with the contours of each building which made it pretty spectacular. the show, which ran on a continuous 5-minute loop, centered around the 'little giant' who plays with his toys after his parents have gone to a party. complete with music and sound effects. it was amusing overall except for the point at which the child/giant puts out a fire by peeing on it. the french seemed amused; i think this is what contributes to their lackadaisical stance on public urination. that aside, the spectacle was lovely.

from there we crossed over the saone into vieux lyon where we expected to find some fantastic displays. we saw a decent light show (peppered with ads to ride the train) on the tiny gare st. paul and some 'bats' flying around in the windows of a nearby reformation church. what held most of our attention was the masses of people (read: tourists) and dozens and dozens of stands selling crepes, gauffres, tartiflette, hot dogs and of course delicious vin chaud (if you haven't had it, it's mulled wine spiced with cinnamon, citrus, and sugar). eventually we made it to the main church, st. jean, which was absolutely stunning. not only did the variegated lights hit every angle and niche of the façade, they even projected sculptures that (i imagine) would have once been carved into it.

now, onto night two. we began on rue de la république, the main pedestrian street running from bellecour to places des terreaux. it had a number of smaller displays, beginning with the shallow fountains (left) and spring-y lights in the trees. at one smaller square there was a display of 'flying fish' circling a fountain and being projected onto the nearby buildings. near the rhone, inside the hotel dieu (old hospital) there was a covering of colored lights accompanied by organ grinder music that the pictures didn't quite do justice. continuing on, we arrived at hotel de ville to discover that there was a light display inside it as well (at right). walking through it seems as though you're inside, under a ceiling of twinkling lights. only when the lights fade out do you realize you're actually in an outdoor courtyard. it sounds silly but it really was like a blanket of stars.

we continued on the presqu'île where we discovered a church (that i never knew existed) with a small show of its own. from there we reached the quai, where we could see both st. jean and fourviere on the hill lit up. this may have been my favorite view. i thought both churches were beautifully lit and to see them both and the river? come on. as we crossed the bridge we were accompanied by (in addition to many, many people) a small group playing native american music. we're still not sure of the significance/origin of this but it seems to be a constant at the festival. after crossing the river we marveled once again at st. jean and decided to walk up the stairs for a better view. from there we could see the church façade as well as bellecour's ferris wheel in the background. (we never did discover anything else going on in bellecour - strange for the largest square in the city). we decided to go for it and climb up to fourvière. the view of the city was nice but the view of the church from below was even better. they lit it beautifully, alternating between blue, pink/orange, and blue/green. also atop the hill were giant letters spelling out 'merci marie'. the origin of the festival, incidentally, is to thank the virgin mary for saving the city from the plague. she can also be seen atop the church (the gold statue to the left).

sunday was a day of rest. this is necessary in france as there is normally little open. we did, however, 'profiter' from the open-air markets. food, books, and crafts in the morning and christmas markets in the evening. as we tried to make our way up to croix rousse we were shocked to find that the number of tourists seemed to have multiplied. after bypassing three metro stops because of the lines, we were forced to squish our way past the overcrowded place des terreaux in order to make our way up the hill. we arrived at the rather small croix rousse christmas market which left us underwhelmed. though they did have a yurt, donkeys and sheep, and no shortage of chocolate. we decided to make our way down to perrache instead where we found a real marché de noël (above). the selection was bigger, with crafts ranging from africa to russia to south america and food from france and beyond (okay, mostly germany).

finally, monday night. traditionally this is the biggest night as the actual celebration is supposed to be on the 8th of december. according to the (free) local newspaper this is the night for the 'lyonnais'. this did not stop tourists from bombarding the train/metro stations, however. the people of the city are all supposed to light candles and put them in their windows in homage to the virgin mary. i bought my little candle and put it in the window like a good lyonnaise. nevermind that no one can see it way up on the 10th floor (i checked from the street).

the crowded streets and the cold made staying in very tempting but i decided to venture out for the last night of the fete. we began heading towards rue de la république, where we were led to believe there would be some kind of candle-lit display. there was, but it wasn't worth the walk back and forth across the bridge. this ended up being a mistake as there was something much better going on just across the river. by the time we made it to the lumière institute (fitting, i know) the firework/acrobatic show was just ending. it was probably the one disappointment in an overall exciting weekend. on the bike ride home, though, i did discover one more light display at one of the universities and saw candles in windows and balconies around the city.

overall i thought festival was wonderful and such a boon for the city (if a tad annoying at times). as for seeing all the light displays, i barely scratched the surface (there were over 50) but still i felt i fêted properly.

as i sit here in the candlelight with my tea and the window cracked open (don't worry, dad, i'm wearing a scarf) listening to the sounds of the city, it seems like a perfect end to a lovely little festival.

i live here.

plus de pensées

after spending a now substantial amount of time in the french schools (well, three of them) i've been able to note some more observations and idiosyncracies. maybe this just comes from spending quite a bit of time in american schools, but i find it rather fascinating.

the schools themselves are what i would consider small. each of my three schools has one class in each level (the equivalent of 1st-5th grade) and no more than 25 or 28 students per class. the other teachers seemed a little shocked when i told them we might have five or six classes in one grade. the schools are physically small as well. the library (if there is a library) often doubles as the teachers' lounge. the 'playground' is little more than a small blacktop that may or may not have two soccer goals/basketball hoops. there are no separate rooms for music or art.

as it turns out, this is because the general classroom teachers are responsible for teaching every part of the curriculum, including music, art plastique, and even p.e. (evidently all teachers have to be able to pass a swimming test.). oh, and incidentally, the only things french students seem to do for p.e. are things that american students likely never would: biking, swimming, and judo.

with all this extra work you would think french teachers would be even more burnt out than american teachers. not so. lunch, which i remember as being a blur of 15 minutes to make copies and scarf down a sandwich, is a relaxed affair. (obviously this has something to do with the two hours break they have.) teachers discuss complaints about students, problems with parents but overall don't seem too troubled by the demands of their job.

this is quite a contrast from the teachers' behavior in the classroom. routine disciplinary actions consist of shouting and shaming. teachers have no qualms about expressing their annoyance and calling students names ('baby' is quite common). this doesn't seem to be effective, as the loudest teachers tend to have the most boisterous classes. even the directeur (principal) often has trouble controlling his/her class. i was intrigued by the fact that the principals actually teach a class in addition to handling the burden of administrative details. it's a bit like the head of a department at a university. i'm not sure how effective it is, but it certainly makes for a different teacher-principal dynamic in the teachers' lounge.

well, that's all for now. perhaps this energy would have been better spent working on my grad school applications...