French Lessons Quatrième Acte: J'ai Bouclé la Boucle

Monday June 24, 2019

Vannes was cold and rainy with temps hovering around 60 F when I got on the bus for a six hour ride back to Bordeaux. It was 90 when I arrived and climbing. The tram line was out because of an electrical fire so I had to walk to my apartment on Rue Ste Catherine, dragging all my stuff. The heat had begun. School was about to start again, my cheese paintings and Bob’s bande dessinée were ready to frame and hang for my show at AF Bordeaux and I was ready to once again be visible.

Summer in Bordeaux was a shocker. I wasn’t prepared for the boatloads of tourists, nor for my French classes being so crowded with people spending their summer vacations studying and improving their already advanced French. And I certainly wasn’t prepared for the CANICULE, the heat wave that gripped all of Europe. Living under the roof on the top floor of my building with no AC, no window screens and crazy mosquitos was challenging. At least for 4 hours every morning I was cool enough in the air conditioned splendor of the Alliance. Though truth be told, the discussions we had in class were hot enough to nullify any cool air, usually culminating with a relentless dumping on…WE the…Americans

Our subjects this time: Literature, The Art of Resistance, Artificial Intelligence, War, and The Five Senses. We translated and memorized poetry, read French philosophy, wrote slam, discussed military drones, street art, and the French baguette. I wrote essays about my mother and her iPhone, Star Wars, the pros and cons of school uniforms, the best way to meet someone, the commercial war between China and the US, and the Fountain of Youth. In class, during discussions, the war of words was fierce, everyone was totally capable of expressing themselves in French and no one held back…..even when we studied La Mode things were heated

With 15-18 students: several Spanish teachers, too many Italian adolescents, a Brazilian, a Venezuelan and a Colombian journalist, a Russian girl not wanting to be Russian, a governmental Kazak woman and a smattering of Asians, Canadians and Americans, the profs were alternately amused, confused or annoyed with the proliferation of opinions….politics most certainly included. Our class was hard to control. Our homework was hard to control and the heat was out of control.

Sparks were flying

Bordeaux is busy in the summer. There was a city-wide theme of La Liberté, with art openings performances, music and dance all over almost every day. There were spontaneous fireworks displays over the river and free salsa and tango lessons on the quai. Everything was packed

And there was my exhibit at Alliance Française Bordeaux. I gave a short speech in French at the opening and an interview, also in French, with La Grande Radio Bordeaux ( click to listen). “C’est la Fin des Haricots” Bob’s story, and my cheeses graced the walls of school. People said they liked it….but did they understand it?? My friend Catou came for the vernissage and we celebrated with dinner at Le Petit Commerce, a bordelaise fish restaurant and my bande dessinée’s scene of the crime. Chapter one was done, and chapter two starting to shape up, with the glimmer of Claire Voyante calling me from marshes of the Camargue…

This time around I was determined to do more things. The elevator was working again, the gilet jaunes were on vacation, it was too hot to cook or to be cooked in the apartment and it stayed light until 11 pm. It was safe to go out at night

There were new people, new haunts, and no cooking