An afternoon at a Frenchman...

Well..how many times in your life, do you get to spend an nice calm holiday afternoon at a Frenchman's house, and spend it the way they spend it ? I had that opportunity a few days back..
Actually, my professor here had invited me for a lunch at his home on a quiet holiday afternoon, and the experience was so amazing, that I couldn't help but express what I felt at that time..
I went to his house at about 12.30 in the afternoon..It was a holiday that day, so I was curious to know how do they spend it.. I went there, and the family (the prof, his wife and two children) were already in a great mood with the weather turning clean bright and sunny, anticipating a quiet easy lunch outside, in the backyard... They had a cosy little home with a small backyard, a lawn ,some bushes,green atmosphere everywhere, with a small inflatable pool (where children can play in shallow water).

Frenchmen (and in general Europeans) have a peculiar admirable trait that they NEVER EVER mix enjoyment and work... So on that day, there was no visible effort in my professor's behavior to do anything related to work that day... We chatted and chatted.. The lunch came..that too in large number of courses..His wife too, was an very amicable lady who had cooked excellent lunch for us... First came the juices and the starters (different types of carrots, berries with Mayonnaise sauce), then the main course - an excellently cooked rabbit-meat dish , pasta, ratatouille (not the film, the eatable !) and different types of breads... There was not even a slight effort of hurrying... eating it slowly over our chats (in which we hopped from one subject to the other in a while- from French and Indian education scene to French and Indian culture to music to geography to Himalayas to trekking to backpacking to Films and so on.. :D)...Then came the desert (an excellent black-berry pudding which I just couldn't resist !)... Then came an interesting part... French Cheese ! I did not know there were so may types of cheese ! We ate around 10 or so with or without bread and each one had a different taste...
At the end came strong French coffee, which normally they drink without milk or sugar, unlike most of the Indians.. - was great overall..We sat there having or "lunch" till almost 4 PM...
Then went for a long walk in a nearby park with the prof..here, the concept of a "park" was different that what we normally assume by a "park" in a town.. it was almost a forest with large area, a medium-sized lake inside which had everything from ducks, gooses, herons and other birds ,a long 6-7 km track around the park for jogging/biking, huge lawns, many trails through the trees, some open ground and what not !

Even after coming from there, everyone sat in the backyard again, with my prof's son playing in the inflatable pool, me and the prof chatting again ,his wife and other kid resting on armchairs and enjoying the sun... That was their idea of a holiday ! who wouldn't love it ! And the same people work till late on a working day... " But, not today m'boy ! "
In all, I just loved the afternoon I spent with them... Hope to spend it sometime again :D ...

Trouble... :(

Well, my first week at France, could be summed up as "Frustration". Right from arriving at Paris airport, I got an indirect (but clear) message from everyone around: "It's gonna be a hard time here, If you don't know French at all".
Wherever you go, people start talking as fast as French trains, and after a minute of babble, with such strange sounds coming from unknown parts of their mouths (which I am sure I would not be able to produce myself in eons), they realize that I haven't understood a thing ! Then would follow some strange hand-mouth gestures, some acting from both sides, until both gave up...
Well, before coming here, I had learnt by heart, two French sentences - "parlez-vous Anglais?" , and "Je ne parle pas français." .The first, meaning " Do you speak English ?" , was useless, as I always got the answer - "Non !" ( :(:( ). The second (meaning- I can not speak French) just had the effect of doing away with the little circus of gestures and acting that we used to have, before giving up...So this time, it would directly reach a "give-up" state. The only thing I can do smoothly here,is my project work (Thank god for it !), as my advisor understands English well (had to !!).
After about 10 days here, I have started learning some small sentences and words, and hope to learn what I call "Emergency French" soon...But till that time, it's still "Circus Time"...

At last !

Well, it took me more than a year to return to blogging. The reasons were not that serious... "General Lack of Enthusiasm" would sum it up aptly. But coming again to a European land in a year, with beautiful weather (it's too hot back home right now !), new environment, people, language, customs, I somehow got the enthusiasm back. Hope it continues... This blog is mainly about my experiences here in France (and hopefully in other European countries as well.. :P), as I feel we truly discover something new each time we visit a completely new "setup" (the word I want to use for the collection of all the different things that I see around), and there is a lot to write about. So let's see how much am I able to convey...