Snow and hails
The autumn is behind in Paris and the locals would say it's winter now. During the last three days the temperature hasn't really reached more than +5 and we've even seen some white in the air! Today was raining the whole day but in Gentilly the rain turned into snow when I was leaving for work. It surely cheered up my mood to walk on the streets when having a little cold. Maybe it's colder outside but inside me it's warmer if I see snow. Too bad that the temperature is still above zero so that all the snow melted right away after hitting something. And when I got off the metro in Paris, it all was coming down as water. On Tuesday I saw even more white when there were lots of hails hitting the ground a couple of times in the early afternoon. They were so many that even the streets were covered in white when I left the house to go to work. In Finnish terms I would say I walked to the train in "loska".
African food
Last Monday was a bank holiday in France. The remembrance day of the end of the first world war is a national free day here so also I could spend it at home with H. We went out in the evening because one of H's band members was playing live music in a theater and we wanted to go and see what it's like. Before the show we had dinner in a small African restaurant nearby Gare du Nord. We went there already at 7 pm and were the only customers in addition to a one lady. The man working in the restaurant was very nice and also asked if we had ever had African food. When we said no, he offered to give small samples of all of the four main dishes so that we could choose which one we would like to order. I don't remember having this kind of a chance ever before anywhere. I chose beef in a sauce that was made of nuts and H went with spiced rice and fish. Also our starters were good: some fried triangles filled with meat and vegetables and fried banana (yes, this was a starter, not a dessert). The funny thing is that both of the starters came with ketchup. Banana and ketchup..?
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| Our starters |
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| Spiced rice or white rice with nut sauce/onion sauce/bean sauce? |
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| Our main dishes |
Drama comedy theater show
The theater was a nice experience, too. The musicians came to play live music for the audience already when we were in the lobby waiting for the doors to open. And the show itself was very likable. Of course it was in French which means I couldn't understand everything they said but the plot was quite easy to follow also without. Two lovers had not seen each other for many many years and then they suddenly meet in another country. The show was built very uniquely when the couple was seen both in their 20's and in the future when they met again. Often both versions of the couple was on the stage at the same time and the older people observed the younger ones as their memories of the past and even had little contact with them too. And the live music was of course a nice addition to the experience.
Musee du Quai Branly
The first Sunday of November we wanted to make use of the free entrance to museums in Paris and headed to Quai Branly museum right next to the Eiffel Tower. Its collections are one of my favorites among what I have seen in Paris. Not having many paintings on the walls or lots of old half broken objects (- I'm not saying these wouldn't be interesting too but there are so many museums for that stuff -) but instead giving a possibility to see also more recent art from around the world: masks, clothes, weapons, ceremonial pillars... An absolute recommendation to see in Paris. I didn't know about this before but it's good that we found it on a list of the free museums.
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A mask from Papua New Guinea
from the beginning of the 20th century |
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An Asian young man made by Paul Jacoulet in 1935 and
a portrait of a man in Angola by Jose Redinha in 1938. |
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A Brazilian cap from 1960's and
a Bolivian arch from the middle of the 20th century. |
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Clothing from Egypt, Iraq, Oman and Morocco from the beginning
until the middle of the 20th century |
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| "Queens costume" from New Orleans, 2017. |
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| Masks of Diablo, Bolivia, 1961-1995 |
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"Men's ceremonial house pole" from the beginning of 20th century
and "Men's house ladder" from the mid 20th century. |
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| Funerary poles from Indonesia, 20th century |
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| "Earth spirit masks", Thailand, 2013 |
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| Interesting cups from China, late 19th century |
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| The description of these is below.. |
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| Dolls from South America, 19th-20th century |
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| This Aztec art is a little bit older, from 14th-16th century. |
My normal life in France now
My life is not bad. I have a lot of different kind of experiences, a great husband and a nice job. Time will show how much longer we will still stay here but I have learned to like and appreciate what I have here now. I have to enjoy the special things of Paris/France while I'm still here. Last weekend I got to meet with two of my ex-colleagues from the preschool I work at for 1,5 years. They came to Paris to see me and I showed them around my previous neighborhood in the Asian district. It was very nice to see them again since they are what I miss the most from my old job. Okay, some of my old students too... I plan to go for a visit and surprise all the kids there one day.
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| It's great to make some Vietnamese food at home, too. |
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This is a playground I visit a few times a week with the 3-year-old.
Notice the little signs telling from which age to which the structure is meant to.
All the playgrounds have such signs for each equipment. |
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| I got interested in felting again now that I have more free time. |
