a very long post

[15 février 2009]

First things first: Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

I hope you ate chocolate.

Anyway, have I got something special in store for you! That's right, I'm going to recap this last week or so! How exciting! Seriously, a lot has been going on. I feel obliged to give y'all the lowdown. Before I start that, a side note: I have a project this weekend. I'm going to start uploading my pictures from last semester / winter break. Seriously, I just realized that I haven't put any pics online since probably November. I suck at this...

Ok here goes:

VENDREDI (friday) : The day of the suburb conference. I spent the day in Dreux, a small-ish town about 2 hours from Paris by bus. Getting there was quite fun. I had to be at the NPNS office at 6:30 am, because that's when the bus was supposedly going to leave. I should have known better and realized that when the French say "We're leaving at 6:30" they actually mean "We're leaving whenever we damn well feel like it because we're French." We didn't even load onto the bus until around 7:30. But I just chilled and napped on the office couch, so it's all good. Once we got to the conference hall, Jef (aka Jean-François) handed us all our guest badges and led us to the "Association Village", where we breakfasted on croissants and café. The conference was divided into two parts: a big hall where the debates and speeches would take place, and the "Village" where each association had a booth set up kind of like an involvement fair at DePaul. I had the choice of either chilling at the booth and schmoozing or watching the debates. Hoping to see some first class arguments, I chose the debates. Since the whole conference was about "Espoir Banlieues" (the suburban development program I talked about in an earlier post), the debates focused on social issues in the suburbs. It was a pretty cool set up. A panel of experts sat on stage, fielding questions, while a pair of real life TV personalities called on audience members and asked for testimonies, suggestions, questions, etc. It felt kind of like a big talk show. Pretty interesting. After the debates, Fadela Amara came on stage to give a super long speech about the program. It was interesting, but I honestly didn't learn much from it. I had already done quite a bit of research on the program for NPNS, and Fadela's speech wasn't much more than a summary of what they were doing -- lots of generalities, vague promises of "change", hope for the future (Ring a bell, anyone?). Anyway, then we got lunch, waited around for a while, shook hands / schmoozed with Fadela, and got back on the bus. All in all I had a really good time, and it seemed like the NPNS team had forgiven me for my disastrous first days back at the office. Woot!

SAMEDI (saturday) : The day of welcome. IES organized a welcome lunch at the Atelier Guy Martin -- a pretty well-known cooking school / restaurant. The welcome lunch was originally supposed to be on a boat, cruising along the Seine, but one of the students had an internship at the Atelier last semester, and she suggested doing the lunch there as a way to "bond" and "have fun" while "cooking". She's obviously never seen me in the kitchen. I mean, don't get me wrong -- I make damn good macaroni. Just don't ask for anything much more complicated than that... Anyway, we scrubbed up, donned white plastic aprons, grabbed some knives and veggies, and went to work. We ended up making some kind of vegetable risotto (maybe?) stuff with really juicy chicken. To top it all off, we had chocolate soufflé for dessert. Amazing. And you know what? It kind of made me want to start cooking for myself more often. It's kind of nice. Later that night, my friend Kamila invited a bunch of us IES students over to the apartment she shares with her Polish cousin. Apparently, the cousin just recently became a naturalized French citizen. So they decided to celebrate the occasion with a fête. It was a really great time. I met lots of Kamila's Polish cousin's cousins, French friends, and even some of the IES newbies. Great times were had by all.

DIMANCHE (sunday) : The day of rest. Seriously, I didn't do anything. Ok, I watched some Seinfeld, but that's about it. But I needed it. I was tired starting to get the sniffles... more on that later...

LUNDI (monday) : The day of classes starting! The day began with a course on the history of modern art. We're starting with the impressionists and working our way up through the 20th century. It seems like it's going to be a big repeat of a lot of what I studied in my Aesthetics class last semester, but I have a feeling it's going to be more in depth. We actually have quite a few museum visits planned for the course, so it should be pretty cool. Next up: Lectures de la Bande Déssinée, aka Comic Books Class! I've been pretty excited for this one. Comic books in France and Belgium are pretty darn important. Plus the professor (who I also had last semester) is hilarious. It should be a great time. Finally, my first real class in a French university -- Christian theology and inter-religious dialogue. It's going to be tough, but it's a very interesting topic, so I'm not too scared. Anyway I've got Ellen in the class with me, so if anything it will be entertaining.

MARDI (tuesday) : The day of "Back in high school for a day!" This was a fun one. I woke up extra early, blew my nose for probably 10 minutes straight, got dressed, and headed to the Gare de l'Est train station to meet Mar and Jamila from NPNS. Tuesday is usually my full day in the office, but Mar called me the night before to see if I wanted to go with her to talk to a bunch of high school students instead. I obliged. So we took the train out to Chelles, another small-ish town outside Paris. We set up shop in a class room, then welcomed our first group of students. We gave them a 2-hour presentation of what NPNS is, what kind of work we do, why we do it, and what they can do to help stop violence against women and promote respect at their school. It went pretty well, and I actually enjoyed it. I was starting to feel a bit ill, though, and found myself blowing my nose about every 5 seconds. Not so great. Anyway. After the first presentation, we got to eat lunch in the cafeteria, amongst all the students. We had the option of eating in a special room with the teachers, but we declined. Gotta be with the people, you know. After lunch, we gave another presentation to another group of kids. Then we eventually made our way back to the station to hop a train back into Paris. By this time, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, but you wouldn't have known it if you looked at me. I was feeling pretty under the weather. Mar noticed, so she told me that if I was still feeling crappy wednesday afternoon, I could stay home instead of coming into the office. Once I was back home, I did some reading for class, then went right to bed.

MERCREDI (wednesday) : The day of brewing maladies. Not much to say here. I went to class despite my continued ailments, pockets stuffed with kleenex. And oh did I use those tissues. Faucet-nose is not one of my favorite feelings. After my Bande Déssinée class ended at 2, I was still feeling gross so I decided to take up Mar's offer of staying home for the afternoon. She sent me an email, though, asking if I could still do some work on a new project. She needs me to write up fact sheets about some of the tenets of NPNS. Since I wrote a huge paper last semester on Laïcité (secularism) in France, she asked me to start there. So I told her I'd work on it that night, then send it to her thursday morning. I spent the rest of the evening watching Seinfeld, working on the fact sheet, and sleeeeeeeping. There's nothing better when you're not feeling so hot. I still refused to take medication, though. I just drank some tea and let my body work everything out.

JEUDI (thursday) : The day of redemption. By the time I woke up on thursday, I felt muuuch better. I was still a bit congested, but I could actually focus on work. So I finished the Laïcité worksheet, sent it off to Mar, and grabbed some lunch. Ellen sent me a text telling me that I'd gotten a package at IES, and I needed to meet with the staff anyway, so I took the métro to the center. The package turned out to be the amazing Valentine's present from my mom (thanks again!). Next I just needed to talk to Marie in the IES library about fixing up my schedule. Apparently, the Institut Catholique decided to cancel my course on Judaism, so I needed to pick a new one to replace it. Unfortunately, Marie was nowhere to be found. So I just chilled in the computer lab for a while before heading back home. After dinner with the family, Ellen and I decided to hang out at the Louvre. We met there a little after 9:30, so the museum was closed, but we just wandered around the outside and admired the building itself. It was nice to just hang out and discuss whether or not the pyramid belonged there.

VENDREDI (friday... again) : The day of... not much. Now that I sit here trying to remember what I did on friday, I'm drawing a blank. I'm sure I did something during the day, but it's really not coming to me. It must not have been very exciting, I guess. Anyway, I ate dinner with the family, as usual, then afterward we all sat together in the dining room and watched Persepolis on the family computer. It's a movie based on the Bande Déssinée of the same name, written by Marjane Satrapi. It basically tells the story of her life -- growing up in Tehran, Iran, during the revolution; going to high school in Vienna, Austria; moving back to Tehran before finally settling in France. It was really cool, and I've been wanting to see it for a while now, so I was pretty happy. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be studying the BD in my class later this semester. I guess a head start doesn't hurt.

SAMEDI (saturday... again) : The day of love. This was a fun one. I met up with Genna, Kamila, John, Emily, and Alex at the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) for some wandering and chocolate-eating. It was a beautiful day, and I could think of nothing better than strolling through a park, making snide comments about statues, and eating Twix and Toblerone. Perfect. After the park, we made a stop at one of our favorite (read "cheap") bars in the area -- the Gentleman. It was pretty packed, and the TVs were all playing the France - Scotland rugby match. I'm sure this is something important, but as I don't follow the sport, I'll have to fill you in later. I'll ask Jillian. Anyway, after a couple drinks, we headed over to Kamila's place to make some dinner. We originally planned on having shrimp alfredo, but we couldn't find any suitable frozen sea creatures. So we settled on veggies -- a nice alternative. Next, the girls were all planning on heading to what I think was supposed to be a "girls night" at Brittany's (another DePaul student) apartment, but John, Alex, and I decided to tag along anyway. And it was great. Very classy.

DIMANCHE (sunday... again) : The day of... well, today. I haven't done much, as I usually just chill on sundays, but I did make the trip up to Montmartre. I spent most of the afternoon up at the Sacré Coeur Basilica. After chilling and reading for a while outside on the steps, just looking at the city stretched out in front of me in the sunshine, I went inside the basilica for a vespers service. Very nice. And full of nuns, which I love. And it was surprisingly exciting. They have a "no photo" policy, so every five minutes or so, a worker has to reprimand someone sitting in the pews, or walking around the aisles, for snapping illegal pictures. I even saw one guy get chased outside by a worker trying to take his camera. Hilarious. Other than that, I've just got homework, dinner, and sleep on the schedule for the evening.

Well, that was exhausting. And probably really boring to read. Seriously, if you've made it this far without falling asleep or forgetting your name, I salute you. If I could give you a high five, I would. Seriously.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

NEWS FLASH!!

THIS JUST IN : I have the best mom ever!

Thats right. Hershey kisses, candy hearts, Pop Tarts, chocolate hearts, HOME MADE COOKIES, and Spider-Man valentines. Does it get any better than that? I love care packages.

IN OTHER NEWS : Frequency of stomach aches expected to rise dramatically in the next few days.

i work with these people...

so this last week has been pretty wild --  a conference, new classes, a bout with an unknown sickness, IES drama, high school cafeteria lunch. i'll fill you in soon, probably later today or tomorrow morning at the latest. i've got some unexpected time on my hands...

i just wanted to drop a quick link to the awesome new Ni Putes Ni Soumises website (in case you forgot, NPNS is the association for which i do my internship). since their site is totally in French, i'll go ahead and remind you that NPNS is an non-governmental organization working to stop violence against women, promoting equality, and educating people on what "respect" really means. anyway, the new site looks great. even if you can't read it, check it out! (and click around a little -- the pictures change!)

Great Work!!

[5 février 2009]

not the best way to start the semester :

Even though my classes don't start until monday, I returned to my internship at Ni Putes Ni Soumises this week. After spending all last semester planning trips around my fridays at NPNS, I decided early on that I would avoid that at all costs this spring. So I shifted my class schedule around, letting me place my full day at the office on tuesdays, with my half day on wednesdays. Perfect. So I went into the NPNS office early tuesday morning, eager to ring in the new semester with a day full of translating and fact-finding. After making the customary trip to greet everyone with a Bonjour, I sat down with Mar to get my assignment for the day.

She told me she had an important project for me to work on dealing with a governmental program called Espoir Banlieues, which could be translated as "Hope for the Suburbs". It is a set of programs spearheaded by Fadela Amara (the Secretary of State for Urban Policies / founder and former president of NPNS) intended to de-ghettoize Paris' suburbs, using some pretty lofty and sometimes controversial tactics. My job was to read several articles, research the program's website, find comparisons to similar programs in the US and abroad, critique it from the NPNS viewpoint, and create a report to sum it all up. This report was to then be distributed to the rest of the team in the office. That's a lot on my plate, non?

So I got to work on the summary, wondering how long it would take me to do all that. After a quick lunch, I joined Mar in the conference room. A group of university students from Delaware had asked to stop by during the last week of their month in Paris. They had been studying women's rights and other social issues in France, so a visit to NPNS was definitely in order. I helped Mar out during her presentation, since she isn't used to speaking in front of large crowds in English. I had a pretty good time, and took the opportunity to schmooze a bit with some fellow Americans. After this, I sat back down to work on my project some more before I went home for the day.

A few minutes before 6, I started packing up my things and congratulating myself in my head for a successful first day back. But I spoke (to myself) too soon, because Mar then asked me, "Are you leaving." I said yes. "Well, are you finished with the summary?" I said no. "You know that was supposed to be done today, right?" I had no idea. Apparently Mar had explained all this earlier that morning, but I hadn't understood, either because my ears aren't quite fluent or because I was a little taken aback by the sheer amount of time and work it would take to finish it. Well, there wasn't much I could do, so I apologized and told her I'd work on it a bit that night and finish it the next day. Then I left the office, feeling pretty crappy about all of it.

The night wasn't totally ruined, though, because I met up with my host mom and her friend right after I left work to go to a special presentation at the Music Conservatory. It was a kind of master class on ethnomusicology, but open to the public. The guest speaker came to talk about Mongolian and Tibetan monks and their specific style of chanting. Sounds boring? It wasn't, because these monks use a technique where they can produce two notes at the same time -- using only their voice. It's called diaphonic singing, and it's pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I still have not mastered the art. But I'm not giving up any time soon.

Anyway, back to the NPNS saga... I got up wednesday morning, got dressed, did some reading on Espoir Banlieues, and went to grab lunch. Since I had been coming into the office at 3pm for my half days all last semester, I assumed it would be the same this spring. But yet again, I was wrong. Around 2:30, I got a call from Mar asking where I was. She said I was supposed to be there at 2. I told her I was on my way. Once I got to the office, I explained my confusion, which she wasn't too angry about, but she still seemed put off about something. She explained that due to my deadline-mixup the day before, pretty much the whole office was hounding her all day for the report. See, she wanted it tuesday night so she could look it over and send it to everyone wednesday morning. Now it was wednesday afternoon and there was still no report. 

Understanding the gravity of the situation, I split up the remaining work with Mar and got cranking. We finished it in about an hour, then she sent it off to the coworkers. What a relief. And it was actually a pretty interesting little project. While doing research, I found out that one of the more controversial aspects of Espoir Banlieues is the fact that they want to use busing to help increase diversity and success among suburban schools. I don't know if you recall, but we tried using busing in the US to do accomplish a similar goal. And it FAILED miserably. So heaven knows why Fadela and Sarkozy want to try it out over here...

With that out of the way, I finished my half day at work writing up my weekly press review, in which I find news articles from around the world dealing with women's rights and send summaries to all my coworkers. Piece of cake. I got that done, said goodnight to everyone and headed home, feeling much better about my second day than my first. Buuuut, that feeling didn't last long. As soon as I got home, I received an email from Karim, the web guy at NPNS. I had attached the wrong file to the email I sent to the entire office, so no one actually got my press review. Instead they got a useless .dat file. So not only does everyone know it was my fault that the project summary was way late, now they all think I don't know how to operate Microsoft Word.

Great work, Cody.

Well, that's the conclusion of the tale of my terrible beginning to spring semester. In other news, I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (aka Forrest Gump 2) today with Genna. Man was it long, but I actually liked it quite a bit. Also, I'm going to a conference with NPNS tomorrow that's all about Espoir Banlieues. This conference is the entire reason I had to write up the report in the first place. We want to have ammunition for the question and answer session with Fadela. Things should get interesting. And it's being held in Dreux, one of the suburbs. I say any chance to visit the ghettos is a chance I'm willing to take.

Happy Travels

-- Cody