To be continued. A suivre.

The sunny Easter Monday morning on which I last put pen to paper seems a strangely distant dream; a sign of the whirlwind form that the past few weeks have taken (and my lack of authorial discipline…) After a fortnight in the familiar setting of Solihull (interestingly considered both bizarre and impossible to pronounce by all Alsatian parties consulted…. Have they seen their place names?) I have finally arrived at the point of taking stock and sifting through the fog that is this returning travellers recollection of 7 months as une alsacienne. Despite initial reservations, I am pleased to say that hey, il n’était pas si mal que ca. It wasn’t so bad after all.  There are even some things I’m missing already… Ironically first on the list being the weather (*of late*). Just prior to my departure, arrived both my mum and the sunshine to enable me to profiter bien to a final few days in Alsace. Summer arrived without warning, allowing a pleasant three days of walking and enjoying the sights of a region that blooms in the finer seasons and becomes even more beautiful with a sprinkle of glorious sunshine. Compared to the-not-quite-so-beau temps here, this climatic treat made the farewell even more bittersweet.

 (*it must be noted that the Alsatian winter is not something I currently pine for. I enjoy being able to feel my toes on a daily basis.)  

It was also with a twinge of sadness that I left the chez Ellen I had grown rather fond of, and the neighbours that came with it. Two conversations amidst my suitcases were a reminder of the precious nature of all encounters, brief or otherwise. Even if I did not spend a great deal of time with my those living around me, even small conversations and the mere crossing of paths means that each of us played a role in a season of the others life. Lydia and Paul are names I will associate with College Daniel, and I am pleased our journeys overlapped.  Similarly, I know I am blessed to have been able to tisser les liens and spend time with a wider selection of real-life-French-people I never would have pictured meeting.

From une chere Parisienne who found Alsace almost as foreign as I did, and luckily also shared my like of tea drinking accompanied by good conversation, to learning about the lives of more 'experienced' acquaintances and being treated to kind hospitality and not to mention good food. I was of course treated to the stereotypical three-hour-lunch that necessitates strategic eating to enable you to last until dessert. My mum made this mistake when invited by an amusing but thoroughly lovely older couple, Annie and Claude, in thinking the avocado-salad was the main course – it was only midday after all.  

I’m already enjoying the fact that “ foreign correspondence” can now officially be on the to-do list…. Hearing an update from church reminds me that I really was part of the community, and not to mention the fact that it makes me feel rather cultured to have French pen-email friends.  The visits to chateaux, trips on the TGV, and lessons in Alsace-culture-and-etiquette, made for an interesting experience. But it was actually learning to  “do life” and to do it alongside people regardless of changes in language, culture and country is what i consider to have marked the year thus far a success. Personal Development (according to the latest lingo in HigherEducation) looks to me like more than a growing vocab-book (though this useful) and a host of adventures and exploits to recount. Its negotiating a role in the French education system that wasn’t quite as easy as I anticipated, finally finding French humour funny (after understanding the joke), and enjoying la vie quotidienne and the every day chats that go with it.  I love the fact that this season was filled with interesting encounters, genuine friendship, and all the ups and downs of real life, just la version francaise.  Despite the seasonally sunny glow under which Part One concludes, I’m not quite ready to leave the story there. Not yet “fluent”, and feeling there are still valuable lessons to be learnt, fortunately the adventure doesn’t stop in Alsace. Soon to be swapping my bike for the metro, a slow pottering pace for the rhythm of 9 to 6, I’m just about ready to re-pack the suitcase.

Bring on Part 2.

To be continued. 

Sunshine

I got me flowers to straw thy way:

I got me boughs off many a tree:

But thou wast up by break of day,

And brought’st thy sweets along with thee.

The Sun arising in the East,

Though he give light, and th’East perfume;

If they should offer to contest

With thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this,

Though many suns to shine endeavor?

We count three hundred, but we miss:

There is but one, and that one ever.

(From “Easter” George Hebert, 1633)

Considering it is Easter Monday, and the sun is at last making an, all be it timid, appearance, this poem of thanksgiving seems an appropriate thought for the day. The simplicity of Herbert’s actions and lyrics express a joyful and almost innocent thankfulness for all that this time of year signifies. As dawn breaks and the light of day rises, he lays flowers and gathers greenery in an expression of his gratefulness and rejoicing in the new life that now surrounds him. Not only does he appreciate the beauty and wonder of the new day, but also he gives thanks to its creator in acknowledgement of the real Light, that outshines three hundred suns. 

Yesterday I didn’t lay flowers, and sadly was not up with the sun, but was treated to an Easter celebration also full of the simple joy of the season. Spending the afternoon with new friends in a slightly idyllic rural setting, sharing a meal and entertaining ourselves with games (“Jungle Speed” is definitely one to be purchased…added bonus of no words involved, so also no linguistic disadvantage…) it was a simple but special Sunday that seemed to match the junction we have reached as April commences. Not only did the exploring of their “garden” (more like a mini-farm to me) include a seasonally relevant visit to the hens and newly born rabbits, I appreciated more than anything the comfortable ambiance and ease of conversation that makes the first Tuesday evening at our church home-group (in which I was too frightened to even introduce myself) seem like a very a long time ago. Back in November I mused that it would be the small moments of kindness and friendship that would mark my time in Alsace, and as this season is drawing to its close, I can reaffirm this sentiment. 

It is with anticipation that i await a return to the slightly less idyllic but equally special Solihull, and it is with (nervous) excitement that i think on the stage to follow this appreciated interlude, but at the same time it is not without sadness that I will leave the peaceful period a l'alsacienne I am at last seeking to savour. Easter weekend brought both a reminder of how blessed this season has been.  Apparently we are experiencing the lowest temperatures at this time of year in over 50 years, but even the cold weather doesn’t stop me echoing Herbert’s thankfulness for the gift we were given before having time to lay our flowers, and the small signs of this love along the way.