Viva La Difference !

I have received a number of e-mails wondering what I am up to..am I all right as the blog has been silent for a week. I am alright but I guess I overdosed last weekend with the wine report and then the blog on being "alone" that I took a break. I have been doing my usual walk to Pommard...this time for lunch and a visit to some wineries to try their fare. I have found a Library with nothing but books and materials on wines and have spent already a few hours there reading and trying to determine who is saying what about Burgundy wines. Then on Saturday I attended a class at the L'Ecole des Vins de Bourgogne...where I learned the classifications of wines in Burgundy and the importance of the terroir as well as how to taste wine...we then tasted 6 different wines from various appelations in Burgundy all of which were very representative of their terroir.Now alot of this I had learned in my Sommelier course last fall but I decided to do a beginner course as it was totally in French and the important part to me was to taste the wines they were providing for us and hear what the professor had to say about each od these wines which were so indicative of Burgundy.Listening to the spoken French was difficult however he had lots of overheads and handouts and that was much better. It is always amazing to me how much of our own language incorpoates French vocabulary and how much we as Canadians can read French...so that was not too bad. At the luncheon a young woman who had done her MBA at the University of Colorado sat across from me and helped me out a bit with the conversations going on around me.
And then there is just the everyday walks around the town and housekeeping etc..and where does the time go? The idea for me was not to pack this trip with loads of activity but to "live " here...going to the market, the post office, and sitting in the Place de Carnot..reading my book. The Post Office by the way always has a line-up and they seem to do all kinds of banking there...in fact there is a sign over a door announcing financial matters.. like folks go there for loans etc...and people always seem to be paying bills or sending money...mailing letters is not the #1 priority.
I feel like I have become the "voyeur de Beaune"...watching the families,watching and listening to couples as they have lunches or coffee,gazing at rooftops and yards, fashion and flowers and just everything that is going on around me...also trying out different foods...I have to watch out how much of that I indulge in.
So this morning when I emerged from the apartment I could see that France had not fallen apart after the election..the postman was right outside my door parking his bicycle...they deliver mail on bicycles...yellow ones...and trucks were delivering products and people were on their way to work just like on other days. I had rushed home Sunday evening to watch the results of the election on TV...not too hard as it got very quiet early in the Place so everyone was home and watching. But here was a difference...they just came on at 8 PM and said who had won...there was none of the reporting of polls like we would have ..polls from across the Country so you could see who was voting how in what parts of the country. I missed that suspense that comes with how we do our elections. But once again I did drop into a polling station yesterday just to see how busy it was...and it was very busy..and it looked to me like they run them very similarly to how we run ours...and they still use paper ballods.And some people were frustrated that they could not vote because they did not have the proper identification.
And then there is the toilets...straight down they go...it seems to me to be superior to our loops and turns of the pipe which probably leads to more cloggings...how come we adopted such a different model? And even today in the restaurant the toilette was both male and female and we all washed our hands together..no urinals. And also the electrical outlets...here they are round prongs with always a grounding third prong...whereas ours in North America are flat pongs and not always a grounding prong. But again why the difference?
Here is something I find interesting...I have been in this apartment now more than three weeks and although there are 7 apartments I have seen no one for all this time... is that not amazing? I am in and out frequently but have met no one in the halls...other than on the first day I arrived. Now I can hear some people...voices and footsteps in the hall..but I do not know what anyone looks like. I feel like there is a reserved nature to the French....totally my opinion.... I have been noticing how people live behind walls or high brick fences...they have courtyards behind the fences...small gardens ..gravel drives ...very little grass...at least here in Beaune.The most grass I have seen is at the Place and even there it is a pretty small patch. But anyway grass is not the issue it is the fact that the houses are organized so differently from what they are at home....they come right out to the street...so that you open the door right onto the street...and step inside to a hidden world..another world..a private world. And then there are the windows with the shutters which are open in the day but at night are shut..well some folks do leave them shut in the day to keep the heat out and cool in...but you don't get to see the lights inside...the shutters are wood and impermeable to light...so one of my favorite things to do is impossible ...that is walk around and see that people are home at night and moving around their homes.Lots of people even drive their cars right into the courtyards and shut the big arched doors to the world. Even today when I was walking in what could be described as suburbs ..the houses are surrounded by walls with gates...you can look in a little easier as I did but the message to me is still ... this is a private area...
Anyway time for a little supper...I will write some more tomorrow...maybe I haven't really felt like writing...By the way Bruce will be here in a few days...