AAAAAmagwenya, IIIII(||)esha!

So, for all of you non-Xhosa speakers out there, I've found that "||" phonetically represents the 'x' click. (In other words, ixesha, which means 'time,' includes the x-click.) With this said, 'Amagwenya Ixesha' is the two-word song that one of my classmates, Yana, made up in South Africa some time around our safari in Isinkwe National Park. If you're still trying to figure out the tune, think Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba! That's the first line to the opening chant in 'Circle of Life,' from 'The Lion King'. I recently found out that this part of the song is the part that is clearly sung in isiXhosa (as opposed to other songs from the musical version which include a mix of isiXhosa, isiZulu, etc.). You can find the lyrics here. (ps/ the Q in nqoba is a click, !; for future reference, the 'c' click is often phonetically represented as '|'.)

In any case, I bring this up because this is the first line of 'The Lion King,' or rather, 'Le Roi Lion,' the French version that I saw this past Tuesday. I had seen the musical in English before but I felt particularly attached this time for two reasons: the fact that I finally got to see it, and my study abroad experience in South Africa last fall. Given what I wrote in my last blog entry, watching this musical brought the emotions to the forefront and I was so moved by the entire performance. The clicks, the South African languages, the clear notions of African spirituality and the circle of life, as well as the clear notions of faith and belief, the bright colours, the djimbes and other African instruments, the fact that this musical was in entirely foreign languages (minus one line in the entracte: 'One by One'), the majority of which was in French... and I understood it, and the exuding spirit of these performers was just too much to handle. This musical currently stands as the epitome of the mélange of everything I have studied and experienced this past year.

In the end, it didn't seem like everyone was giving the performers a standing ovation, but I also didn't bother to really look around. All I know is that my row definitely, did and never have I clapped so hard for a play or musical.

Wicked

If you haven't been able to tell already, 'wicked' is now one of my favourite words to use. For the sake of not over-using it, as well as to begin this entry with awesome news, I shall like to begin by saying that Trevor and I cooked the best dinner we've ever cooked. To date. Ever. And we've cooked. A lot. Of food. Did I mention yet that it was wicked good? Because it was.

After the rather disappointing news that no tickets were available (at least for the student rate) to see Le Roi Lion, we decided to change course and cook dinner, yet we didn't realise how intense it was going to be. We went to Franprix (I had to go to a second one, too) to buy the ingredients, as well as to our boulangerie. Cue the jazz music. Trevor and I kept switching roles between head chef, sous-chef, and saucier. And like professionals, we pulled together a fabulous meal that we both couldn't seem to get over. At one point, we had all four pots going and probably took about 1,5 hours to prepare the meal, but it all felt like a rather calm process. We cooked bow-tie pasta and made our own white sauce to go along with it, with a side of broccoli and topped off with freshly cut parsley. We also had our cheese course, as well as dessert in the form of a raspberry-filled brownie and cherry sorbet with a side of macarons, and ended with chocolat chaud. Apparently, we've broken out of the cycle of non-complicated dinners; we ate all of this while watching Gran Torino.

But before all of this wonderful-ness, I went to school and didn't do so great on my quiz and by the end of my Travaux Pratiques class, was a bit overwhelmed with French for the first time this trip. Following this, I had my immigration and citizenship class, which turned out to be even better than all of us imagined it'd be; Odile is so cool. I also got my mid-term exam grade from her. I didn't do too bad and am excited for the rest of this half of the semester!

Clicking in Paris (Written on Wednesday, Posted on Friday)

In isiXhosa, ndiqala means « I start ». And with that, I shall start writing this blog entry by saying that I’m really looking forward to tomorrow evening. In the meantime, let me begin by recounting my cycle of life in Paris.

On Monday, I woke and went to my econ class, hoping to receive my mid-term grade. However, I would not be so lucky and would have to wait a bit before receiving it. On the other hand, I went on a mini quest for « Euro shoes », the term I [and I’m pretty sure others] use to describe the shoes worn by many of the Parisians here. On very basic terms, the shoes have a bit of a point to them. Thankfully Trevor had previously dissuaded me from purchasing them near our area; for less than the price of one pair there, I was able to find two pairs in St Dennis. I’m wondering how I’ll be able to bring all of my stuff home… in any event, that purchase officially ends my list of have-to-buy purchases. As we were unable to interview anyone for our third dossier assignment over the weekend, Trevor and I decided to be brave and try interviewing the women at our favourite boulangerie. In anticipation for the prospects of interviewing them and needing the extra energy to do so, I made a chicken, ham and gouda on baguette sandwich for the two of us. Unfortunately, they were busy (as usual) and we weren’t able to interview them. So, we went over to Franprix to do a bit of grocery shopping, as Trevor would be cooking dinner that night. Shopping completed, we went back upstairs and ate dinner in Trevor’s apartment (now that we know how to use the stove). He cooked rice and beans, with eggs over-easy. It sounds simple, but he cooked our meal successfully, despite the obstacles standing in his way, such as the lack of black beans and the lack of Mexican spices. It was wicked good (that would be the Boston lexicon fusing with my own) and very filling. Despite that fact, we still went through dessert (cherry sorbet with chocolate crêpe biscuits) and chocolat chaud. I then began to write my econ paper (no worries, I had done the research beforehand) and eventually quit as I was beginning to fall asleep writing it. (N.B. I didn’t work on my econ paper earlier, as I was aiming to finish my FURSCA proposal on time. Even though I finished writing it, I was unable to turn it in in the end. *Sigh.*)

I woke up early on Tuesday to finish writing my econ paper and did so sans problème. We then went back to our boulangerie to try and interview the women there, but they were once again busy. As a result we reverted to having to call our host dad. Without a response, I soon went to my Travaux Pratiques class and the five of us who are also in the immigration class together headed over to our class trip to the Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration (I’m going to assume you know what that translates to). I particularly enjoyed the modern, yet not-to-modern, and rather interactive-feel of the museum. However, the journey over to the museum was a bit of a challenge. We had all gotten onto the Métro together and I suddenly realised that it may be possible to take the RER (the one faster than the Métro), but it would mean having to deal with a few line changes. Convinced that I could beat the others to the museum with my alternate route, I separated from them at Opéra and made the trek. However, I hadn’t taken into account the change-over time (walking to each line spot, as well as the time to actually wait for the car to arrive). As a result, I got there a bit late, but everyone waited for me anyway (thanks y’all!).

Cue 18h30-ish. Trevor and I meet up in his apartment and we call Antoine (our host dad) for our interview project. We talked about his job, the economic crisis in Europe, and the like. I’m quite ready to write this paper and turn it in.

Following our interview, I got a move on dinner (baked pasta shells with cheese, with extra cheesy pasta sauce, as well as carrots julienne and cubed zucchini). We ate the meal while watching part I of Aladdin (quite different watching it after a few years). At the pause, I went back upstairs as Trevor worked on some of his homework. Instead of napping, as I had planned to do, I looked up stuff for Le Roi Lion, which apparently is only 10 € for a student ticket on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, the French version opened in Paris in the fall and should be playing until the end of spring. Trevor and I are planning on going tomorrow and I’m wicked excited to see it. Through my Internet surfing, I found out/realised that the movie was inspired by South Africa and that the clicks in the stage version come from Xhosa! Did I mention I’m excited to see it? A few hours later, I went back downstairs and finished watching Aladdin while enjoying a round of chocolat chaud.

Today, I got to my econ class and received my econ grade at the end of it. I don’t understand the French grading system, but I’m not complaining. Let’s just say I did better than I thought I would-ish. I then went to the outdoor Dupleix market and bought stuff for dinner and then finally made my way to McDonalds (for lunch). Christine’s brother had suggested we try it at least once while we’re here because it’s apparently better here than in the States or anywhere else in the world for that matter). In all actuality, I am a fan of McDonald here than back home.

The plan for the evening was to go see a newly-released film, Le Code A Changé, so after dropping off the groceries in my apartment, I went back out to the school to meet up with my classmates and one of our professors. We then made our way to Passy and the second-biggest movie theatre that I’ve come across so far in Paris. We were watching a French comedy and the hilarity began to start when a big box of popcorn kept passing back and forth along the aisle; Hanadi, the professor who was with us, bought us this giant box of popcorn that somehow sufficiently satisfied the American cinematic experience for about 20 students. Before the movie even began (and while we were passing the box of popcorn), music started to play and it felt like there was going to be a live, opening tango number, on the floor in front of the screen. Alas, that wasn’t the case, but the movie did start with a tango scene. The movie was quite funny and I somehow understood most of it, despite the lack of subtitles. It also seemed to follow a traditional Franco-European feel, including a very open-ended ending. When we got back to the apartment, we had dinner (beef Bourgogne with white rice and broccoli), followed by giant strawberries with Nutella, and finally chocolat chaud. I should also mentioned that we watched a couple episodes of FRIENDS during dinner, before a long night of paper writing for the both of us.