From Private Lessons to Perpignan

You may remember me talking about giving private English lessons to a group of 70-something friends on Thursday nights. The group includes Gilbert and Danièle (married couple), Odette, and Marie-Émilie. Gilbert and Danièle are going to the Philippines this month, and so they decided to take some English lessons, and Odette and Marie-Émilie decided that sounded good to them too.

So in November, our story began. Odette came to pick me up and we went to Gilbert & Danièle's home. We had tea and cake and started with "Hello," "How are you?" "I'm fine." "Not so great." "My name is..." "How old are you?" etc. I'm talking basic. We've worked our way through the topics of transportation, restaurants, airports, hotels, etc. They are enthusiastic, motivated, and so much fun to teach. They regularly say "We should only speak English from now on - it won't be difficult with Kate, she's not like a teacher, she's like a friend!" They even remembered my birthday (despite not having seen me for three weeks) and sent me a text message on the actual day when I was in Germany. 

I had mentioned to them that I'd like to profite more from France, and they mentioned that we could take a little excursion together. Last week, I got the following text message: "Dear Kate. Please, can you to be available Saturday 09 Feb go to Collioure. Your's four students. :-)" a) How sweet! Yes, please! b) Check out that English, eh?!

So this past Saturday, we headed out. We actually went to Perpignan instead of Collioure as the latter is right on the sea and it was too cold and windy (surprise, surprise) that particular day. Funnily enough, we actually got started about 45 minutes late because Gilbert & Danièle forgot and went to the fiançailles (engagements) at City Hall. (Danièle: "I remembered we had something at 10, or 11, and I had a doubt. Then we went to the finançailles, and I didn't see Odette, so I had a second doubt. Then I didn't see Marie-Émilie, so I had a third doubt. Then Odette called and told us we were supposed to be picking you up... and then I knew.") Hilarious. Adorable.

So off we went to Perpignan (Odette told me to sit in the seat with the best view so I could check out the views of the Mediterranean on the way). Enjoy the pics from our adventures!

another "aux Dames de France" building like the one we have in Narbonne - I've really gotta figure what these building are. Right away, my impressions of Perpignan were: palm trees, sun, color! (More color than Narbonne.)

Just the bank. Regular ol' Caisse d'Epargne, Art Nouveau-style

bridges along the River Bassa

This is one of the old gates to the city. Also, you can see the Catalan flag in the top right. (You may remember me talking about Catalan culture when I went to Barcelona.)

Here are my friends entering the gate. From left to right: Odette, Marie-Émilie, Danièle, Gilbert.

This particular gate is the Porte Notre-Dame.

a model of Perpignan back in the day, this gate was part of the ramparts

Notre Dame (as in Porte de Notre Dame) - quick French lesson: Notre Dame means "Our Lady," so anything Notre Dame is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. (Also it's pronounced "no-truh dahm;" only the university is called "no-ter daym.") :)

I love the colorful buildings! Also notice how far the houses jut out over the shops.

As we were walking by, we heard bells... just this random exterior clock & its bells.

statues performing different Catalan traditions

signs in French then Catalan

la Cathédrale de Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Perpignan, built in Catalan Gothic style

We showed up at the Cathedral, and it turns out that Odette had printed out guides from the internet on the Cathedral, the Palace, and the building where we ate lunch. She had added hand-written notes and page numbers. COME ONNNNN too sweet.

the building where we ate lunch. It was formerly some kind of building for fishers. I can't really remember. See the little boat top left?

Scene: Lunch (in the building seen above)

moi: "Hmmm, I think I'll have a pizza."

Odette: "Are you sure? Are you very sure? That's not a good idea to have a pizza, you can get pizza anywhere."

moi: "Oh yes, I'll get the Pizza Catalane."

Odette: "No, no, I really don't think that's best. Why don't you think about getting something special? Some seafood, the duck? We're offering it to you. Are you sure?"

Merci d'insister, Odette. Merci d'insister.

Seriously this was delicious.

And crème catalane for dessert, again at their insistence. :) It was basically crème brûlée with a little twist.

the Hôtel de Ville (city hall) - I'd really like to know what's going on with those arms. See 'em? Hmm.

We did a little shopping in this really cute fabric store - I got my very own French trousse (pencil bag) - VERY important here in France. I'll include more details when I do a post about French students.

Perpignan actually kind of reminded me of New Orleans a bit - colorful, wrought iron balconies, palm trees...   And we all know that I love New Orleans. (Did you know that I love New Orleans?)

This random tucked-away building looks a little Gaudí-esque to me (also see Barcelona post).

On the to the Palais des Rois de Majorque, or the Palace of the Kings of Majorca. Here you can see the ramparts.

History lesson! (Skip if you're not interested.) I had no idea about this one, so here we go: From 1231-1349, there existed the Kingdom of Marjoca,* which included the four Balearic Islands (in the Mediterranean and now belonging to Spain) as well as Roussillon (as in Languedoc-Roussillon, which is the French region in which I live) and Montpellier. The palace was situated in Perpignan.

gorgeous day

view from the top - Perpignan rooftops and some Corbières (the little rocky mountains), I think...

You can check out this video for a panoramic view, a good insight into the windiness of our region, and a little peek at my sweet French friends.

Not sure if you can tell, but the Mediterranean is visible along the horizon here.

The sunshine is kinda stealing the thunder of the Pyrenees right here... but you can kind of tell they're there.

This guy's just chillin'.

You can see the more Gothic arches on top (added later) and the more Romanesque arches on the bottom.

some chapel views...

Marie-Émilie was walking around with a pad and paper looking at different things (floor patterns, doors, tables, etc.) and writing them down for ideas to remodel her house.** I realized that it was basically old school Pinterest happening right in front of my eyes.

Just a typical "driving through Languedoc-Roussillon" scene - Corbières and vineyards.

I had a lovely day with my "students." I feel so lucky to have found them; not only has it been a source of a little pocket money, but also more insight into French people, their culture, and their life. In teaching them, my French improves, as well. (Bonus!) They weekly give me tea and dessert. And this day, they took me on an excursion and spent time with me (and spoiled me!) for no reason. The whole day, they were talking about other possibilities for our future excursions ("Oh, we could show Kate Collioure next time." "Kate, have you seen these abbeys?") as if they haven't already done enough. LOVE it. Love it all. So lucky. Adorable in any language.

Also, I listened to my brother Brandon play piano basically the whole time I wrote this blog post. Just hangin' out via Skype on a Sunday. Technology is fantastic. 

You know how it is.

*As I'd only heard of the island of Majorca and not the Kingdom of Majorca, and I wasn't associating Majorca with France, I kept hearing "Palais des Rois Mages" ("Let's go to the Palais des Rois Mages," "Later we'll go to the Palais des Rois Mages"), which means Palace of the Three Wise Men. I was a bit confused.

**Yes. Remodel her house like a palace. How cute is that? I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.