The Hills are Alive

So much can be done in one week!

I’ve been so lucky to learn and experience so much in Week 2 of my adventures in France. Spring in the mountains, as usual, has had a late start. But it’s easy to forgive the tardiness with all the endless array of flowers, shades of green, and fresh air. And being in France, gardening is taken very seriously. When you enter a new town, its sign not only indicates its name, but how many flower “stars” it has received. As in, there’s some commission or group that goes around France and rates a place based on how beautiful its flowers are. That’d be a nice job. Voreppe has 3 (out of 5), so not bad at all! And I don’t think this counts the flowers in everyone’s gardens, or the flowers just beginning to blossom in the surrounding mountains. It’s stunning–more and more so everyday. This will partially explain why most of my pictures will have flowers in them.

Most towns in France also have a MJC–Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture (Youth and Culture House). The MJC in Voreppe focuses on a different topic every year, planning events and town gatherings surrounding that idea. This year, it’s happiness: le bonheur. And, as it happens, the span of time when most of the activities take place correspond with my stay in Voreppe! The activities are free and many are very typically French–breadmaking, a lecture on the history of chocolate, a plant exchange– and more unique ones like laughing yoga and Nia (Now I Am, a kind of movement/dance to inspire happiness). I tried laughing yoga and it was so fun! I was in a room with 20 other people I didn’t know (except for Catherine) and we performed different exercises geared toward laughing spontaneously and without reason. The belief behind it is that laughter (from any source) will increase happiness. It worked for me!

And last Saturday was a day of happiness in the park, where there were different happiness workshops in the afternoon. I wrote a “recipe” for happiness, listened to poetry written about happiness, made a bouquet of flowers, and painted bamboo to plant around the park. Young and old, most of the town seemed to be there, trying to be intentional about their happiness. I was already happy, but it was a wonderful afternoon! I felt so welcomed even with my minimal communication abilities–a smile goes a long way.

Other goings and doings:

I spent another afternoon in Grenoble, this time by myself while Catherine was working. It was rainy so I spent my time in two museums: one on the history of Grenoble and the other on art through the centuries. It’s so cool to be in a place where everything is so old. So much to be learned! And it was also helpful to improve my French vocabulary.

Catherine brought me to the weekly market on Friday–food, so, I was happy. I met her “people”, those she goes back to every week to buy her fruits, or vegetables, or cheese of course! She even asked her cheese seller if we could visit his farm in the neighboring town and he replied without any hesitation that we could, anytime. So casual, so friendly!

On Saturday evening, Catherine, Zoé, and I went to a concert inspired by the birds. It was amazing! A 5-man band with piano, percussion, clarinet, bass, and alto played for an enjoyable hour, mimicking all the lovely birds of spring.

Sunday, the whole family and I went to the remains of an old castle and picnicked in a town from the medieval ages. After, we went to Saint Antoine d’Abbaye which, as you might have guessed, had an old abbey (French isn’t so hard). There were also many artisan vendors there, selling made-in-house leather goods, pottery, and metal jewelry. There was also a small, but extremely interesting museum on the history of perfume! Each type of perfume had an old bottle you could squeeze to smell each concoction. My favorite was Eau de Cologne. We say cologne for men’s fragrances in America, but Eau de Cologne literally means water of Cologne, Cologne being the German city. Eau de Cologne was citrusy and fresh, and didn’t leave me with a slight headache like most of the others.

Monday was sheep farm day! Remember Catherine’s cheese seller? And if you know anything about me, you know this was my day. I love sheep, I love cheese, I love mountains: I love sheep who make cheese and live on mountainsides. The cheese seller lived in the next town over, so we walked all afternoon through the mountains to get to his farm. He had 50 or so sheep, and he showed us how he milked them and the cave where he aged the cheese. I didn’t learn the cheese making process but…that’ll be for another day. So fun and it was a beautiful day! I think my favorite so far.

Tuesday we went to the Bastille in Grenoble, which consists of the remains of an old military fort. It rained all morning, but cleared by the time we started climbing up. The “bubbles” (gondolas) in Grenoble carry people up and down to the fort. On clear days, you can see Mont Blanc (France’s tallest mountain). We were not so lucky today but there were plenty of other peaks all around. After having a drink at the terrace cafe overlooking said peaks, we headed back down in one of Grenoble’s beloved “bubbles”.

Wednesday was a quiet morning; I spent an hour with each of the children for English (more on the teaching another time). We had a nice long two-hour lunch with one of Catherine’s lifelong friends, and after I decided to run up to the Chalais. I ran extremely slow, but I almost made it the whole 4-6km up the mountain (what more can you ask from a sprinter?), and I gladly ran the way back down (although my knees were not so glad). Zoé and I then went to watch a documentary on happiness: “C’est quoi le bonheur pour vous?” (What is happiness for you?). The director/producer made the movie after traveling to over 50 countries and asking what happiness was to people from all walks of life. Unfortunately for me, most of the interviews were with intellectuals and psychologists of happiness, and I couldn’t follow a lot of the French. But I caught the gist, and I agreed with a lot of the points. After, Zoé explained it more to me in both slow French and some English. The gist: happiness is found within, happiness is most potent when shared, and happiness is made from connections with others and the world. Je suis d’accord.

Thursday we left for the south of France for 4 days, to an area called the French Colorado. I’m excited to be here and will add more pictures early next week!

A bientot.

I’ve already said at least 1000 words, but I think the pictures will speak 1000 more:

“Ils ont essayé de nous enterrer, ils ne savaient pas que nous étions des graines.”

“They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know that we were seeds.”

The art museum in Grenoble

Can you find the bubbles?

The bouquet I made on “Happiness Day” at the park–we made the white part to hold the flowers as well

Castle Ruins

The shingles on the buildings in Saint Antoine D’Abbaye were so colorful!

Old mural in the abbey

The shell of the Camino de Santiago (St. Jacques de Compostelle here)! This is on the Voie de Vezelay I think (We walked on the Voie de Tours when we were in France).

Among many other delicious things, Catherine made this tart from ingredients grown in her garden or the surrounding mountains: spinach, lemongrass, and chestnuts.