The Way I See It - Hoofing through France
Permalink +Wed, Sep 30, 2009, 8:00 am // Ham Hayes
Working Through a LockTry learning some of the language. Even in the French countryside where English hasn’t been invented yet, endless mirth can result from sincere attempts to pronounce the local lingo. Hand and body gestures can often help. I even used folded elbows and flapping arms in an effective chicken imitation at a village restaurant. The smiles were big, the food excellent and the bonds established. In some cases, our hosts would speak only English so they could practice their skills. That kind of thwarted my strategy, but the game of connecting plays both ways.
Honor people. In our travels in France, we navigated through 67 separate canal locks. They were all free and were manually operated by lock keepers: men and women, old and young. Those folks worked hard. We know because we helped crank the lock gates open and shut alongside them. The keepers appreciated our effort. They also were wonderfully surprised by the unanticipated small gifts that we brought from the US, on good advice, for them. Quite a few conversations resulted that would not have happened otherwise. These were truly moments of grace. Many, if not most of us, go about our work each day, or see others going about theirs and don’t acknowledge the contributions made. Are we not more likely to find fault instead? We get what we choose, don’t we?
Want to learn something? Ask a question and then listen. It is best to keep the lips zipped and ears open. France has some fabulous, well known tourist sites, some of which we visited. And like many other countries I’ve been to, the real gems are the people. Now if you ask and listen, you are likely to find out a whole lot more about the interesting things to see and know, rather than if you just bought a tour or wanted to make YOUR point to a local. In our case, we learned about which restaurants to go to. We also “discovered” the incredible local produce markets, found the best wine merchants and extraordinary places to visit. And most importantly, we found new friends and had some laughs together.
Observe and adapt. One conclusion I came to on first arriving in Paris is that I could suffer severely at the hands of Paris drivers and traffic. In a word, impossible. We quickly learned to go underground to the Paris Metro. Paris is large and densely populated. It is essentially 6 stories high. Five stories of apartments on top of ground floor shops. Note: Bellingham should not use Paris as an infill model. The streets are mostly narrow and heavily, seemingly permanently, clogged with buses, cars and motorbikes. I think the most popular car is the Chloresterol and it runs on French butter. Some Parisians ride bicycles in that mess; they must believe in reincarnation. Paris streets have signs at intersections that tell how many pedestrians were dispatched in the last year for that intersection. In short, the Metro works.
Food. The French love food. I love their food as well. They are really good at it, starting with the almost universal availability of great produce and meat products, everywhere. We did not see a lot of processed food. Almost everyone we saw was thin. I suspect that’s because they have to walk due to the traffic.
Nothing’s perfect. Oh, and by the way, the French have problems, too: pollution, street people, religious intolerance, economic dislocation and I’m sure a few other things. Sounds a bit like us over here. One lesson of traveling is to see ourselves in a little kinder light. Whenever and wherever you are “working,” remember that “working” is actually serving. Now look at the other folks around you and remember that they are serving as well. Let’s try to honor that service. I’ll guarantee the food will be better, and you might just laugh a bit more.
Comments (0)
To add a comment, click here to login or register.
The Way I See It - Hoofing through France
Wed, Sep 30, 2009, 8:00 am // Ham Hayes
One good way to better understand our society and culture is to visit another country. Many questions and a little bit of trepidation can arise before and during…
0 comments
Highly disturbing
Fri, Sep 25, 2009, 3:56 pm // John Servais
These photos are from a video taken at the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh. Why are unidentified, Army-fatigue-wearing men very forcibly taking a protester and jamming him into an…
10 comments; last on Sep 29, 2009
Village Books
Changing the Power Structure
Wed, Sep 23, 2009, 10:38 pm // Craig Mayberry
One of the underlying currents of the recent discussions around health care is the role of the federal government. I thought it would be interesting to see how…
3 comments; last on Sep 25, 2009
Sikh-ing Respect for Cultural Diversity
Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 1:32 pm // Guest writer
Editor's Note: We received this Letter to the Editor in response to Kamalla Rose Kaur's earlier story, 3 comments; last on Oct 24, 2009
Food Safety Czar
Tue, Sep 15, 2009, 8:00 am // Craig Mayberry
Much has been made of czars in the current administration; however, one czar in particular should have people from both political sides a little nervous. In a case…4 comments; last on Sep 17, 2009
It Comes Down to People
Mon, Sep 14, 2009, 3:23 pm // Craig Mayberry
I have mentioned there is little difference between government and big business; both are run by bureaucracies not known to be customer friendly. This issue is important on…3 comments; last on Sep 21, 2009
Wooden Boats
Fri, Sep 11, 2009, 8:00 am // Ken Wilcox
Whatever happened to the building of wooden boats on Bellingham Bay? The tradition and the history are rich here, as people like myself, oblivious to the craft, learned…1 comments; last on Sep 13, 2009
The Way I See It - Lessons from Children
Wed, Sep 09, 2009, 9:00 am // Ham Hayes
You know you’ve failed when your action of last resort is to attack. Attacking is, in fact, a defensive response to the inability to persuade others to a…
0 comments
Orphalee Smith to run against Fleetwood
Tue, Sep 08, 2009, 8:00 am // John Servais
I've heard from trusted sources that Orphalee Smith will be filing as a write-in candidate for the At-Large Bellingham City Council position this week. As we all know,…0 comments
Welcome to the Land of the Lummis
Mon, Sep 07, 2009, 1:17 pm // Kamalla Rose Kaur
“In our different excursions, particularly those in the neighborhood of Port Discovery, the skulls, limbs, ribs, and backbones, or some other vestiges of the human body, were found…
0 comments
Word to the Wild #4: Watery Walks for Rainy Days
Fri, Sep 04, 2009, 8:00 am // Ken Wilcox
McMillan Spire in the North Cascades’ Picket Range has been on my peak-baggers to-do list since the 1980s. Barely a week ago, three friends and I finally locked…0 comments
The Way I See It - The Tsunami Is Here
Wed, Sep 02, 2009, 8:00 am // Ham Hayes
There is a sense that in recent years our political and social discourses have become meaner. Our political system is increasingly seen as being more about gaining or…
2 comments; last on Sep 07, 2009
Laurie slings mud
Tue, Sep 01, 2009, 9:50 am // John Servais
Laurie Caskey-Schreiber is campaigning for "re-election" to the At-Large County Council position - but she does not hold that position. She is currently the 2nd District member. A…13 comments; last on Sep 06, 2009
New Links
Reconveyance ChallengeSalish Sea Org.
the Oatmeal
Current Interest
Community Wise BellinghamFriends of Whatcom
Lummi Island Quarry
Reconveyance Challenge
Whatcom Elections
Publisher Recommended
GlobalPostLeague of Women Voters
Paul Krugman - economics
Sweeney Politics
the Oatmeal
Local Blogs & News
Bellingham HeraldBham Herald Politics Blog
Bham Politics & Economics
Bob Sanders
Cascadia Weekly
Citizen Ted
Ferndale Record
Friends of Whatcom
Get Whatcom Planning
HamsterTalk
Jack Petree
KGMI
Latte Republic
League of Women Voters
Lynden Tribune
MikeatthePort
Northern Light
Sweeney Politics
Twilight Zoning
Wally Wonders
Western Front - WWU
Whatcom Watch
Local Causes
Bellingham Police ActivityChuckanut Community Forest
Chuckanut Mountains
Citizens of Bellingham
City Club of Bellingham
Community Wise Bellingham
Conservation NW
Cordata & Meridian
Facebook Port Reform
Futurewise - Whatcom
Jail - local mega plans
Lake Whatcom
Lummi Island Quarry
N. Cascades Audubon
NW Holocaust Center
RE Sources
Reconveyance Challenge
Reduce Jet Noise
Salish Sea Org.
Save the Granary Building
Transition Whatcom
WA Conservation Voters
Governments
BellinghamPort of Bellingham
Skagit County
US - The White House
WA State Access
WA State Elections
WA State Legislature
Whatcom Auditor
Whatcom County
Whatcom Elections
Weather & Climate
Cliff Mass Weather BlogClimate Audit
NW Radar
Two day forecast
Watts Up With That? - climate
Leisure
Adventures NWEdge of Sports
Entertainment NNW
Famous Internet Skiers
Sailing Anarchy
Good Links
Al-Jazeera onlineAlaska Dispatch
AlterNet.org
Antiwar.com
Arab News
Asia Times
Atlantic, The
Common Dreams
counterpunch
Crosscut Seattle
Daily Kos
Daily Mirror
Doonesbury
Drudge Report
FiveThirtyEight
Foreign Policy in Focus
GlobalPost
Guardian Unlimited
Gulf News
Haaretz
Huffington Post
Innocence Project, The
Intrnational Herald Tribune
James Fallows
Jerusalem Post
Joel Connelly
Juan Cole
Le Diplo
Media Matters
Michael Moore
Middle East Times
MoveOn.org
Nation, The
New American Century
News Trust
NMFA
numbers
Online Journal
Palestine Daily
Palestine News
Paul Krugman - economics
Personal bio info
Portland Indy Media
Progressive Review
Project Vote Smart
Reuters
Sea Shepherd
Slate
Talking Points Memo
the Oatmeal
Tom Paine.com
truthout
War and Piece
Washington Votes
WikiLeaks.ch
ynetnews.com
NwCitizen 1995 - 2007
Early Northwest CitizenInternet At Its Best
TEDQuiet, Offline or Dead
Bellingham RegisterCarl Weimer
David Hackworth
N. Sound Conservancy
No Leaky Buckets
Northwest Review
Orcinus
Post-Oklahoman Confessions
Protect Bellingham Parks
The American Telegraph
The Crisis Papers