residence universitaire
caen, 26 september 1996

m. legrand came to pick up my stuff at the cis and took me home for breakfast then they left me in the house all alone and went off to work (what amazing trust these people have! or maybe they figure me for genuine).

after making some phone calls, i started out for the day. first stop: trying to find the bank, which was really a task. i finally found it and was told that to open an account i had to have a carte de sejour and an attestation de logement. i liked that bank (le credit agricole) because if you made errors not a lot of people will know about it because it's a bit intimate. ironic but true!

following that i went walking around the carrefour, a big supermarket that sells everything from a pin to an anchor - no kidding!). there i discovered that there were much cheaper coats for sale, the same comfort and padding as the one i had bought earlier for 399 ff. oh boy, that was my first error. for everything you need and want at a cheap (er) price, go to the carrefour. remember that.

i got lost on my way back. i was trying to find my way without asking. jeez... i finally made out though.

later on my way to meet the proviseur of the lycee, i was almost picked up by a frenchman -first he asked the time, then he walked along for a while without a word. then he asked my first name and walked some more. i asked his as if i really cared. hubert! then he started asking questions like if i'm from caen, herouville etc. then he asked... listen up... if he could see me tonight. i said no. he asked ok tomorrow? i said no and thought, boy is he persistent. he then asked if i had some paper and a pen. i had all of that but i said no anyway. he found his own and gave me his number and told me to call him. when i said au revoir he asked if we could faire les bises. i asked what? he touched his cheeks and i figured he wanted me to kiss him. i wanted to tell him to kiss the cheeks on my butt but i didn't know how to say it in french.

the proviseur is a very nice man. he showed me around the school and introduced me to the staff and so on, then he called guyeton, i'm not sure that's the spelling, who was a yardsman, to drive me over to the meeting for the language assistants. i had a very nice time with him. he was asking me directions to the university residence and i was trying to figure out his camionnette.

i am the only black person at the stage, out of fifty-odd persons but i decided that hey i expected that! though i would have loved to see a black face in the crowd. anyway i made some friends especially as i am from jamaica. everybody wants to know stuff. and this is the first and i think only occasion on which i have actually been able to listen to all dialects and accents of the english language reunited in one place, and of all places in france. there were some welsh assistants, scottish, irish, american, you name it. accents from anywhere in the world where english is spoken. they had a hard time understanding me they said even though i've always spoken really clearly. but i had no problems, i guess this is owing to the fact that in jamaica with tv programmes being beamed from all across the world, one just had to be exposed to a wide variety. it wasn't the same with the other assistants. or maybe i just had a genuine interest in languages and how they are spoken across the world.

oh by the way i saw a huge billboard featuring bob marley and the wailers at the supermarket and that was the only billboard there. it felt great.

anyway back to the orientation workshop. there are two girls from the usa there who sound like they are straight out of texas. on our way to dinner a black guy stuck his head out his window from way upstairs one of the residences and shouted. the girls waved. he said, "i said, my BLACK sister!" i hadn't heard what he said the first time and i guess the other girls hadn't either. this time i waved back and said oh hi. he said something in french which i didn't hear clearly so i said "i don't understand" in english. "why don't you understand?" he threw back at me. but i continued walking as he was too far up anyway.

heading home later i asked a guy for directions. he gave me and then asked for a cigarette. course i didn't have any so it's good he had already showed me where to go.

more peace. more love.

sekhetq