Song of the moment: The General- Dispatch
Dose of amusement: I'm hot cause i'm fly, you ain't cause you not
Foucault quote of the day: The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.
Being at the d-day beaches today really made me think of that poem. But before I give you the run down on that, first things first, last night!
Last night my chef friend Ehoarn picked me up and took me out with his friends, it was a ton of fun. We went to this place to play pool, but it wasn't skecthy like in the US. When I think of pool in the US I think biker bars and all that, but this was all ages and they had dessert. It was pretty cool. His girlfriend (that's right his girlfriend for all of you who have been asking if I'd hook up with him, no!!!) and another of his friends spoke english so it was really nice. The rest didn't so we couldn't really talk but it's okay I don't think they teased me too badly and I was able to understand some of what they were saying. Then we went to the beach, which was actually one of the beaches from d-day, but basically all of the beaches on the coast of northern france are. I don't know how to explain it but his friends were all really goofy, when we got to the beach there were hills of sand and they were rolling around and then jumped in the water. They're my age so I was a bit confused by their behavior and some of what they were saying which seemed to indicate they were younger, but that's boys these days huh ladies? :p It was so nice to see the city at night and to get a little taste of the life there, so I was immensely grateful to him for befriending me no questions asked.
The only draw back of the night was that in France, and many european countries, the way girls say goodbye to everyone is to do the kiss kiss thing. I was petrified. So I had to go down a long line (8 people!!!) and basically kiss everyone goodbye, it was so awkward. Fortunately, my friend's girlfriend had given me the down low on how to properly greet someone and say goodbye. When I met her, without thinking I foolishly went to shake her hand, it's just a habit and I know that women don't shake hands to greet eachother in France, and I scared her. It was kind of funny, but I felt bad. Attached is a pic of the two of them, Ehoarn and his gf, upon lauren's request.
Then today they took me to the beaches, sadly we couldn't go to the american beaches and the cemetery because they were too far away and they both are moving to paris on monday so they couldn't spend the whole day. I just can't believe how nice they were, it was their last weekend at home and here they are spending it with me. Part of me feels guilty for being close and not going, but for me to go on my own would cost $100 in cab fairs because buses don't run on the weekend and even when they do during the week it's terribly difficult. Regardless, I'm glad to have gotten a taste of the beaches and i'll have to come back someday. Anywho, so we went to Gold Beach instead, which was where primarily british troops deployed on d-day. Visiting the beaches reaffirmed that I am not a history buff, but I do remember the basics.
Many people have told me that the beaches have a very eerie feeling and that you have a sense that many people died even if you didn't know the history. For this beach at least, I didn't find it to be the case. There were tons of houses and shops lining the beach and it seemed no different from any other. Children were even swimming in the water, around some of the remnants of docks or an extended shoreline of sorts built by the troops in world war two because the shore line eroded too easily to anchor ships and what not. (yeah that explanation is coming from ehoarn, clearly I know nothing about war artillery etc) So I'm not sure, however, I think it's impossible to divorce our knowledge of history or really anything else (culture, feelings) from our perceptions of events or places so I'm not sure I can agree with the the people who have told me that. It was also very interesting to get the french perspective. They have grown up near the d-day beaches and take vacations to them on holidays, he said he always forgets that 60 years ago there was a war there with people dying. I have a lot of anti war sentiments that being at the beaches today reaffirmed but I haven't the strength for a rant of that magnitude at the moment. I will say, however, to look down miles and miles of coast and try to envision bodies lining the shore, you can't help but be disgusted that our current foreign policy seems to have learned nothing from a tragedy this profound.
Then we saw a a short war movie in this cool 360 panoramic thing that was supposed to give you the feeling that you were there. It was kind of like IMAX but in a circular fashion. Even though I hate doing touristy things it was pretty cool and I needed it to ground me and remind me of the tragedy and historical significance of the place around me. Ehoarn and I laughed during a good part of it though because it's really funny to watch and to watch other people watching because you constantly have to turn in circles to see everything. Every image and picture was 360 degrees so it was as if you were there and turning in a circle. Technology these days.
On the way back we pulled over by some hitch hikers, and I was like "surely we're not going to pick them up" both because who does that??? and because her car was terribly small and they were terribly not so. But apparently we did, so we pulled over and I spent the rest of the trip with two french people practically in my lap. But it was okay, they seemed to be nice and were very clean and what not, not like what you'd think of in the US. Then Ehoarn's gf and I went to dinner at the only restaurant near the Abbey because Ehoaran had to go to a movie with his mom. The restaurant was sadly an italian place, but it was good none the less.
Sorry my email wasn't terribly exciting but as my trip goes on, I'm becoming more exhausted with every passing day. Attached are pics of a random castle (they are all over the place, one of the many perks of having french guides, they told me about everything that we passed) and then pics from gold beach. the black things in the water are remnants of structures build in WWII, as I mentioned earlier, so they could dock boats and unload artillery because the shore wasn't strong enough to support it.
Well, I bid thee all goodnight. It's a bit lonely here at the Abbey because while I have been metaphorically and linguistically alone all week I am literally alone now. I'm the only person staying here this weekend. It's kind of cool though to pretend I have a castle of sorts to myself. Ever since I was four I wanted to live in a castle, maybe this is as close as I get.
