Photos

I added more photos to the Marseille photo album...check 'em out by clicking on the title "Photos" above.

En Panne

"En panne" in French means broken down, like a car on the side of the road, "Ma voiture est en panne." Or my ferry that I am supposed to be on right now. We went down to the port this morning, ready to embark on our adventure across the Mediterranean on the ferry "Carthage". But it was not meant to be, for she was "en panne" and had to turn around back to Tunis. Which meant that all of us waiting to board her and head to Tunis (from Marseille) were reimbursed 100 Euros (yay!) and now have to wait until Saturday morning to depart. Inconvenient but at least we weren't on the boat went she decided to "en panne".

So since we were downtown anyway, we sent out stuff back with our driver and decided to stay and Christmas shop. We stopped along the way and took pictures of some old churches, the vieux port (the old port) and the Sea. The Christmas markets were starting but we went straight to the Santons section. Santons are clay figurines of many designs and sizes that are famous for this region. They are handmade in small workshops in and around Marseille. Most of these shops have been in the same family for centuries. You can buy the regular nativity scene or go more for a traditional French look and buy an old woman with lavendar or a fisherman. They can be as tiny as a thumbnail or bigger than a Barbie doll. You can also buy houses, wells, barns, trees, etc to make your own little village. The Santons markets start the end of November and go through until the end of January. I bought some Christmas gifts and then a small nativity set for myself. You can buy them plain (to paint at home yourself) or painted. They vary in quality and detail. It was overwhelming to walk up and down the 50 or so stands and finally have to decide on the set I wanted. But now that I know where they are I can go back!

The weather was freezing cold today. Sorry, fellow Canadians, I'm not wimping out here, but it was COLD. My legs hurt it was so cold today. The wind cut right through us. It was still about plus 8 C, but I was so chilled at the end of the day.

And good news...most of the buses in my neighbourhood are running normally so I can start "getting out more". Yay! Just in time for Christmas shopping. I noticed that they're starting to put lights up downtown and Christmas trees.

So we leave on Saturday morning for Tunis and arrive after 22 hours on the Sea in Tunis. May the adventure continue. And may our new boat "Casanova" not "en panne".

Saint Laurent Church

Saint Laurent is a medium-sized church and comprises three naves separated by square pillars. Its exact origins are uncertain but it is mentioned in a number of 13th Century documents and was known to be enclosed within the Château Babon that was destroyed in the 15th Century. Saint Laurent was the parish church of the fishermen and seafarers and is the only parish church from the Middle Ages still preserved in Marseille today. The church was pillaged and severely damaged in the Revolution but was spared from being demolished when it was transformed into a warehouse and continued to be used as such until the Concordat was agreed. Marseille considered Saint Laurent as one of its principle churches until the old quarter was destroyed in 1943. It became a National Heritage building in 1950.
The Massalistes built a temple to Apollon on this hill, which served to the defence of their town. It is in this point that the Roman legions became established when Caesar had crushed Massilia. In 850, the bishop Babon, built a defensive set in which the inhabitants looked for refuge in case of danger. It is then that was built the church Holy Laurent.
Saint Laurent was the church of the sailors and the fishermen. It was known for the traditions which were attached. Particular masses for the sailors, the offerings of fishes.

La Major

La Major was built between 1852 and 1893. On the left side (not shown in this photo) is the old cathedral built in the 12th Century. 

Le Vieux Port

 

2 little fishermen

The two little guys seemed very keen on trying to catch some fish. Note the church on the hill, Notre Dame de la Garde. 

Santons Market

Here I am at one of the Santons (Sahn-toe) booths, waiting as he carefully wraps them up. You can see the medium sized ones, people and animals. They also have very tiny ones and larger sizes. This is only one of about 50 booths, so you have an idea how hard it was to decide! Go to www.escoffier.fr for more of an idea of what some Santons look like. The site is in French so just click on "collections" on the top to see the pictures. 

Protestors march downtown

A quiet afternoon of shopping turned into a protest march (of what they were protesting, I'm not sure). Last year, there were over 365 protests/demonstrations in Marseille...that's more than one a day. So lucky us. We got to see one. 

Protestors blocking my view

Église Saint Vincent de Paul dite des Réformés was built in the place of a convent of reformed augustins. It was built between 1855 and 1888.

Another Adventure Downtown

I needed to go downtown to change my ferry tickets to Tunis. So a friend and I waited at the nearest bus stop (that we saw on the internet still had buses, remember the transit strike) for over 25 minutes. After talking to a few people that passed by, we decided it would be faster to walk the 25 minutes to the nearest metro station and then take the metro downtown. Which is what we did. Once we got on the metro it took us 10 minutes to get downtown. Then we walked about 20 more minutes until we found the office building we needed.

We ended up walking into the wrong door, talked to a travel agent who led us into another section of the office and walked us right up to the counter where another lady helped us. If we hadn't made that mistake we would've had to wait in a long line. The first lady (travel agent) also had to explain to the ticket lady how to do the changes, because at first she told us that she couldn't do it. The travel agent stood there and argued with her and told her how to change the ticket. So if we hadn't walked in that wrong door in the first place...well, I'm not sure how things would have turned out. Other good news--I had to pay a lot less for upgrading my ticket than I anticipated! Yay!

Then we had a few minutes to spare so we shopped in a couple Asian market stores. I bought a BUNCH of rice noodles (I'm allergic to wheat pasta), powdered coconut milk (Satay curries!) and a sweet rice dessert.

Then we headed home on the metro and walked to the office. A morning's work complete our task accomplished...even if we couldn't use the bus. And now, France's national train line is on strike, so trains all across the country have been delayed or cancelled. Loving it!

My Saturday

I watched Sesame Street in French (hey! It was Saturday morning!) It’s called “5, rue Sesame”. Most of the characters seemed the same but Big Bird was changed into some weird furry yellow creature, named “Nac”. Where’s my Big Bird from childhood, the one with the big beak, googly eyes, and yellow feathers? I didn’t see my fave character…Oscar the Grouch. Wonder what he’s called in French? “Oscar le grouch”?

I called the French business Chronopost to figure out where the heck my plane tickets were. They were supposed to be delivered on Friday. Honestly I was pretty stressed and worried, thinking the worst—that I wouldn’t be able to get them before I leave on the 24th. The guy was nice (and thankfully patient with my French). It took a couple tries to communicate my file number to him. Him--“That’s “m” as in “Mary”? Me—“No, that’s ‘n’ as is “non”. They’ll be delivered to my office on Monday morning…here’s hoping!

I went to a jazz night at one of the downtown churches. There were 3 musicians, one played piano, accordion, and sang. The others played drums and bass cello. It was awesome! We started out in the basement with drinks and snacks, visiting and hanging out. Pretty soon the little room was full of people, warmth and energy. A Nora Jones CD was playing in the background.

Thankfully I found someone that was patient enough to have a conversation with me! It was so encouraging to be able to talk to someone in French, to have a real conversation and to be able to express myself. And it was good not to be able to fall back on English, because as of now, most of my friends are native English speakers, and even if we start out talking French, we usually revert back to English…because it’s easier. Another encouragement is that I met someone that has a friend that may be interested in spending some time helping me with my French conversation skills. Yay! I’ve found that I can study all that I want but what I really need to do is to get out there and talk to people.

Back to the jazz night, we went upstairs into the chapel for the music portion of the evening. The room was darkened, with a few lit candles, the hum of conversation died down and the band played a few songs to warm up. Then they played some French hymns that we sang along to. The pastor then talked about Jesus being the Light of the world as the Gospel of John (Chapter 1, verse 9) describes. We each had a tea light candle that we lit to symbolize that we carry with us the “Light of the world”, that God is with us. The pastor talked about the gift God has given us in knowing Jesus and encouraged us to make a decision to believe in Him as God, Lord and Saviour.

The church is planning on having a similar night in March. Their goal is to encourage the believers in Marseille and also to inform the community about Protestantism. There are a small number of Protestant churches in France, but mostly they are seen as “cults”. There’s a lot of misunderstanding, false assumptions and opposition to Protestantism. The churches hope that the more the community around them knows, the more open they will become to hearing the Gospel. See my August entry “French History 101” for more info on Protestantism in France.

Sunset From My Balconey

 

BBQ From The Balconey

Wow, 2 pics of me in a row--cooking. Doesn't happen everyday, folks, that's why it's photo worthy. Who's afraid of the bird flu? Not me! Here I am, happily cooking chicken on the grill. I braved the elements (10C, with wind and darkness setting in--at just 5pm). No, really, it was cold! My ears still hurt from my walk home. I should have worn my toque (too-k, knitted winter hat.) It may not snow here, but dang! once that wind starts, it cuts you to the bone! I know, I know...winter on the Canadian prairies can't compare. But it's all relative. It's cold here...for here. Anywho...what now? I have 6 BBQ'd chicken breasts. I should make some Thai Satay. I just need some coconut milk. 

Couscous and Hummus

Here I am at my friends' place helping them make hummus and couscous. We chopped veggies and mashed chickpeas for hours to prepare a meal for our church family the next day. Hummus is a chickpea spread, with lemon juice, salt, garlic, and tahini (sesame paste). You eat it with bread. Couscous is the separated grain of the wheat plant and can be cooked like rice. Which is what we did once we got everything set up in the church kitchen the next morning. (Did you know there's no traffic in downtown Marseille on a Sunday morning around 8 am?) We served about 25 people after the morning service. We had the couscous with the cooked veggie sauce, along with the hummus, bread and a mediterranean salad (lettuce, olives, feta, olive oil). Then we had coffee and sweets. On a bien mangé, as they say. We ate well!  

Chickpeas Transforming Into Hummus

Oooh! Action shot! There goes the blender, making the chickpeas into past. There go the garlics, chopped up to be added to the mixture. Wow. Astounding. 

Fire, Rain, Thunder, Sunshine

And the riots continue...the media tells us that the violence is "subsiding". Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. How do you measure subsiding violence? By the number of cars/buses/businesses that were burnt last night? (215 cars were set alight on Monday night, the police said, 69 fewer than the previous night.) By the number of immigrant youth that were arrested last night? (down to 42 from 112 the night before.) By the number of stones thrown at police or Molotov cocktails thrown into mosques? (A police officer was wounded and three firebombs were flung at a mosque near the city of Lyon.)

The state of emergency will continue for the next 3 months. 3 months! That's not until February! These emergency laws allow local authorities to impose curfews, conduct house-to-house searches and ban public gatherings. These laws haven't been used since the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s. Which should give you some idea of how messed up the country is now.

President Chirac (finally!) addressed the nation last night. He's calling all the citizens of France to band together, to work towards peace and harmony, for the Republic. Ah, that's all well and good, but the problem is that most of those that are rioting don't feel like they're a part of the Republic, like they've been pushed to the outskirts and forgotten. Chirac did make it clear that EVERYONE was a citizen of the Republic, despite race, religion, etc. My first reaction...a little too late now.

The governent is promising reforms and social programs for 2007. But at the same time they're promising to cut off social benefits to families that have a son/daughter that have been involved in the rioting. They're also promising to deport anyone involved that doesn't have citizenship papers. Funny how they can enforce these measures of cutting people off and kicking people out so quickly and yet it will take years for social reforms to take effect. Ironic, no? Especially considering that IF some of these social programs had been in effect, MAYBE some of this trouble could have been avoided in the first place.

Well, enough ranting. I'm just thankful that Marseille has been so quiet and that these riots haven't really affected my life much, except when watching the news. I think the thing that most Marseille people are worrying about is the public transport strike that continues into the 40th something day. Traffic was insane today because it had rained the night before. I literally was able to walk to work faster than the traffic. One of my coworkers spent 1/2 hour in his car, literally not moving. Total gridlock!

I hope they settle things soon because I'd really like to get out and enjoy some of the city, especially around Christmas, the markets, the lights, the shopping. This strike has really affected a lot of people. Some high school students have to walk over an hour one-way to get to school. Some elderly and poor people have had to cancel medical appointments. Some university and language school classes have been cancelled or put on hold. Wow, that makes my wish to go Christmas shopping sound really inane. I'm sure road rage is on the rise, too. I just about got knocked over by a SUV today as he tried to sneak into traffic. But when the traffic is grid locked, it makes crossing the street a whole lot easier! And safer!

We had a wild rainstorm last night. Thunder and lightning woke me up first. Then just after I got back to sleep, the sound of pouring rain woke me up, it was raining so hard I thought the streets would flood. But all was calm in the morning, except for one last HUGE bang of thunder.

One thing I learnt last night cheered me up a bit. Marseille has the most hours of sunshine per year in France. Ah, bask in the sun. Even in winter...sorry to all those folks out there on the Canadian prairies.

To The Alps!

This weekend I caught a ride with co-workers from Marseille and we drove to Albertville Friday afternoon. This is the city in the French Alps where I went to language school for 6 months. A few of my old classmates were still there so it was great to be able to catch up with them. They only have 3 weeks of classes left! It's exciting to hear of their plans after graduation and I'm hoping to see them in the spring.

I also had a short visit with my tutor. Our conversation was all in French and I was really encouraged to realize that I can communicate a lot more fluidly, without having to stop and stutter or find the right word. Maybe things are finally settling in my poor scattered brain!?

It was pretty weird being at the dorm and not having to go to class. Weird in a nice way! The weekend was full of meetings and eating BIG meals. We had crepes one night...which I could eat because they were made from buckwheat flour (strangely not related to wheat, to which I am allergic). We fried a bunch of them up, piled them with fried ham, onions, lettuce, cheese, sauce and tomatoe. Then on to the dessert crepe, Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), bananas and flambe sugar sauce. Yum!

The weather was cold and rainy most of the weekend. The clouds were so low, completely engulfing the town and hiding the mountains. I was sad that I wasn't going to get to see the Alps but, it reminded me that, in a way, God is like that...always there, even when we can't see Him, feel Him, or even want to recognize Him. Even in the bad times when we're surrounded and feel cut off from His presence, He is there. Forever faithful. Then on Sunday the clouds finally lifted and we had clear skies all the drive home.

France Riots

If you've been watching the news about what's been going on in France, I just want to reassure that I am no where near any of the violence. It's been mostly in Paris and area. There's been a bit of trouble in Marseille but I live in a quiet suburb and am home well before dark. A few days ago it started to spread around the country, and now I've seen heard of some stuff happening in Germany and Holland.

It started with the deaths of 2 North African teens in Paris but escalated dramatically when the French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, called the rioters "scum" and said that France was going to "clear them out". The English translations I've seen don't really do justice to his harsh words. See the link www.french.about.com/b/a/049351.htm to get a better idea of what he really said and meant and how the rioters would have interpreted it. Many are calling for his apology or for him to step down from his job. I have to agree but now it's a bit late for an apology. And really, what do you say to a people that you've called sub-human and that you've hinted to about ethnic cleansing?

There's a lot of anger on both sides now (the rioters and police). Last night was a bit better, less violence, I think in part because of a curfew law and state of emergency that Chirac called for yesterday. Most of the rioters are 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants (most from North Africa). They live in poor neighbourhoods, get little education and there's a high unemployment rate (due to their low education and racism). There's been a lot of build up to these riots and I hope that the government finally takes action on changing some social policies to help better their lives and get them out of the cycle of unemployment, hopelessness and violence. And to educate the rest of France to break the cycle of racism and judgment. Although I don't agree at all with their actions, I can understand the pent up frustrations and anger, in fact it reminds me a bit of the struggles of Canada's First Nations peoples.

But this isn't the way to deal with it! In fact, instead of getting sympathy and support from the rest of France and the world, the rioters are creating more of a problem. Adding to the fires of hatred, judgment, racism and violence, the rioters are spreading the exact thing they may have (in the beginning) set out to change. Thousands of euros have already been spent in a somewhat vain effort to stop the violence. And now much more money will have to be spent in repairing schools, shops, hospitals, public transportation and police stations. Money that could have gone towards adding to social reforms or educational grants. How is burning down a day care centre and an elementary school a positive step forward? How is throwing a fire bomb onto a bus full of people bringing resolution? What good is this doing for the country? For their cause? Not much in my opinion. It would have been better to continue with talks, reforms, and peaceful demonstrations. The rioters have the world's attention now. But the after effects, I fear, will mostly be negative.

Ironic thing is with all this violence and civil-war like behaviour, France looks a lot like the countries that their grandparents and parents fled from 30+ years ago. I've heard a few Algerian refugees comment that the news in France looks like the Algeria they fled from during the civil war in the 60's.

When will this end? When will peace reign again? Who knows! But this is just a small picture of how unsettled France is right now. Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité! The hallmark moto of France since it's revolution in 1789. Freedom, equality, brotherhood. Will France as a nation live up to its over 200 year old slogan?