Trekking

Since I have no life in Saint Valéry, I decided I might as well make an effort to find one because I will be living here for the next 7 months. I considered my various options and trekking seemed like the only enjoyable one (because I love to walk). So I joined this group called Saint Valéry Contacts and they meet every tuesday mornings at the town hall. I was the first one to get there after losing my way at least 3 times. As my fellow trekkers began to arrive, I realized I was soon to be the only young person among 45 old people. This was going to be boring for sure! The trek was 14 kms long and surprisingly enough I was the only person lagging behind. The leader of the group is a 70ish kind lady who travelled to India many times and the oldest member of the group is and 85 year old feisty Norman dame and they were all so much better at this than me! Age is just a number my friends! If you want to do something in life, don't let your age stop you! 

During the 14 kms, I made only 3 friends out of the 45 people present. Elderly French people are not very easy to mingle with and many seemed wary of the new Indian girl in the crowd. But hey, I didn't let that get to me and continued with my photography and admiring the beautiful countryside. I managed to spot the nuclear plant in Saint Valéry as well and it gave out a very eerie vibe. I would never want to work in such a cramped environment. The building structure was basically four inverted testtubes and the workers go inside them. We walked through Ingouville (a small village in the region) and through various farms. The road etiquette in France is so interesting. The drivers really respect the pedestrians! So I was really surprised to find that even a tractor moved off the road (into a nearby field), just so that the 46 of us could trek on peacefully. Oh, the 12th of October will be an important day in French history because 3.5 million French people took to the streets to manifest against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension plans. The President wants to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the French people are against that. I mentioned this to my Italian friend Sonietta and sure enough pat came the response, "à la française! hein!". Which basically means, it's expected of the French to react this way when faced with work! :) I personally would have liked to work until 62 and I can see Nicola Sarkozy's point here. The state will run 50 million euros of loss by 2020 if they continue to pay for pensions at such a rate. While trekking we were joined by tons of "Lycéens" (student strikers), who the government was hoping would stay away from the strike! Interesting span of events for me as an outsider to observe. On one hand, I love how the French stand up for their rights and aren't afraid to manifest against any higher authority but on the other hand I find it sad to see how they are willing to cripple their economy for weeks at a time and also not see the long term benefits of such a pension reform. (oh hey! this is just my opinion, I think I'm allowed to have one). So after the trek I was dead beat and just came home and crashed. I enjoyed the fresh air and the lovely country houses in Normandy. I got some interesting tips on what to try out in the region and in the end, I was quite at ease among this bunch of really active elders!

My group of trekkers who were suddenly joined by a large crowd of students striking against the government. Ah! You have to love the French for this!

Lovely bales of hay!

              The kind tractor that moved out of the way!
           Hello beautiful winding road!


Places I will visit soon!

Saint Valéry en Caux (Hautot L'Auvray)

It's been exactly 9 days now that I have been in France. I've settled in nicely. As I mentioned before I don't live in Rouen anymore but in Saint Valéry which is about one and a half hours from Rouen, the capital of Upper Normandy. So over the weekend, i was in Rouen; catching up with older assistant and new ones and for some reason I just felt a bit sad to not live there again because Rouen is so magnificent and there's so much to do and see. Saint Valéry is a beautiful town as well you know, but I saw almost everything there is to see in exactly a day! Plus it's the countryside and I'm not really used to being surrounded by so much grass and little insects on a daily basis. The place is also very peaceful and I guess there are a million people out there who would kill for my spot! I live about 10 mins from the coast. The other language teachers for this academic year have bailed out because the place is in the middle of nowhere so basically I am living all by myself in this massive 3 storey, 4 bedroom house right on the coast. It's a nice feeling to have so much space but on the other hand I can be a real wuss. The thing that scares me the most about the house is at night when the wind picks up and the whole place rattles like a skeleton on a tin roof! ugh! but other than that, I think the place is growing on me. I hate having to walk 20 mins to get my groceries but then again the walk will do me tons of good I suppose. Autumn is here and last year I was so preoccupied with various documents that I just breezed right through the season. This year I promised myself that I will chronicle my romance with Autumn as much as I can. So here's to one more year in France, more specifically in Saint Valéry!

Below are some pictures from Hautot L'Auvray where I spent two days. Every assistant has a contact professor who helps you get into the game at your school. My contact professor this time is really kind and he invited me to spend my first two days in France at his home with his wife and cat. He lives in Hautot L'Auvray which is a beautiful country town and sure enough it rained in Normandy and the countryside came alive. My nike shoes didn't respond too well to the mucky terrain but other than that I had a lovely time exploring this beautiful village. His wife has a very bohemian attitude so I was at home immediately and the house was decorated with the loveliest things one can find in various flea markets and tons of various orchids, one of my favourite flowers! 

Neighbours!

all the muck!

Off to Saint Valéry now..

At the end of my first night in Saint Valéry, the skies gave me such a beautiful welcome!

High on Burano

After leaving Murano, all sad and droopy, I headed to Burano, another island situated towards the north of the Venetian lagoon. You know how visuals can make you instantly happy? That's what Burano does for you! The island can literally make you joyful in an instant! Here's why. Every house on the island is painted in the brightest shade of every colour under the sun! There is really nothing other than this colourful atmosphere to experience on the island but I would say it's is a must see. Burano's houses belong mostly to fishermen who would paint the houses in bright hues in order to spot them while fishing from the lagoon. The island was made famous mainly by their wives would make lace and that tradition has continued even today. The traditional methods of making Burano lace are painstakingly long and hence the products are very expensive. The weather was not really the best in the month of April, it rained a lot and it was all cloudy and windy but regardless, the ambience of Burano remains bright and cheerful!