Back in Germany on the way to India, Germany where literally before my feet touched the ground of the Vaterland I was beschimpft (scolded) by two different people. Why? Because I had to turn around my rolling suitcase before I could get off the bus from the airplane to the terminal (which I could not do before the doors opened because we were crammed in like....dragées); this meant the people behind me were blocked for at least a second or two.
[Dragées are given out at christenings and sometimes weddings and other special occasions in France. They look nice, don't they?]
I still love Germany. It's so Christmassy here already. Lots of Advent wreaths and gingerbread and stollen and little red-and-white gnomes everywhere.
The computer here isn't working very well so I can't put in the photos of the amazing Michelin-one-star meal I had on Monday night, courtesy of my visiting American friends. If all goes well I will be in India Thursday and will try to post them from there.
[Update: Here they are. First the pink champagne! Then the strange English translation of the French menu. I had to ask for the French version to recognize some of the dishes. Also, don't you think everything sounds more appetizing in French? then two amuse-bouches, then foie gras, then the main courses: daurade with truffles, duck with scallops, veal medallions and two vegetable courses that I don't remember; chocolate cubes, then desserts with a serving of "homemade" marshmallows or guimauve.]
From a magazine I have just discovered that Jack Lang and Alain Juppé have their own blogs. (Tiens, qu'est-ce qu'íls sont branchés ceux-là! Comme moi.) Jack Lang is notorious for awarding the Legion of Honor to Sylvester Stallone and for supporting the Loi Toubon that tried to legally straitjacket the French language. A law that engendered lots of insulting references to American English as a sabir atlantique ["transatlantic gibberish"] and to "notre cher Shakespeare;"as if the people who love to use this phrase could even speak English; even though the relation of American English to Shakespeare's language is exactly the same as that of modern French to Racine's; as if Racine would understand smicard and RMIste and beur and HLM, and, and, and! But don't let me commence, as my Cajun Tante Ida used to say.
Je lis régulièrement ce blog, mais il me semble n'avoir jamais laissé de trace... Alors, au lieu de rester anonyme, voici une briève appréciation! Et puis, je reviendrais! =)
Also, the English-French bilingualism (is that a word?) is very interesting to me... (oh then I'm not the only one!)
Merci Noelia, The blog has been public only for a couple of months, since hurricane Katrina, so maybe that's why. Thanks for your note!
Posted by: Noelia | 17 November 2005 at 00:26