La Nostalgie! c/o jason mraz

This video reminds me of how exited I am that Agnes, head of the family (ok, she shared duties with her awesome husband phillipe) that I stayed with for a bit while living in france -- is coming to town!

I totally hooked her up with a friend (who happens to be married to my former high school history teacher - we're all friends now b/c I am an actual satisfactual Grown Person...haha, ok) who is a french teacher in town, and she's in town to do a lil' exchange! Lyon and St. Louis are sister cities, I'll have you know, and that relationship is the reason I ended up there in the first place (back in the day when i was like 15), and therefore slightly the reason I ended up there in the second place from sept 06-may 07.

As Jason strolls about singing, you can see the the way modern archtecture and the super old cafes and crazy weird place pompidou are absorbed by the people. Modern architecture ain't all bad as long as it served a purpose (even if that purpose is to be gaped at and called ugly -- its bringing people together! Ugly buildings create community?) France. le sigh!

I'm embarassed to admit it, but while i was there I would *occasionally* act slightly blase' and disillusioned (mostly to counteract all those Carrie Bradshaw'esque notions about a chanel store being somehow a microcosm of all french people and their country, wtf, i was proving a point about authentic rick steves'esque travel) about France and Lyon, mostly b/c:
- I lived in a somewhat interesting neighborhood (with AMAZING baguettes at the marche for next to nothing)
- on a giant and unbikable hill
- that was far from the city center (but man I got good at buses)
- and had some slightly kooky (good kooky and bad kooky) students.

...but nearly 2 years removed, as i look for bizzare pastis and Get27 mouthwash-flavored liquor at Randalls and dream of sipping it in my favorite cafe where the wierd old lyonaise dialect-speaking dudes in old-school hats hang out with a black lab after playing boules and I can get all the weird green color drinks I want ... my heart is a'longing for some France!


For anyone who's interested in perusing, I kept a weblog of this and that advnture over here at Fleur de Lori (get it?). :)