"Words and images"

The course description caught my attention:
"Good storytelling is born when the right words are matched with powerful images. This two-session workshop will provide the basic writing tools for crafting a good article and the photojournalistic skills to capture great photos to accompany the story."

Just what I need to take my writing and photography skills to the next level . . .

The first day of class was Wednesday, November 10th. I have a project to work on for next week - and now I am intimidated after seeing the instructor's work.

No more clichés - either in words or in pictures. Each of us left the instructor's studio on the Ile St. Louis looking for unique photo opportunities. Maybe if I convert some photos to black and white it will look more like art??

Anyway, the late afternoon sunshine (after a day of rain) took my breath away. Cliché or not, I just had to capture the light on Notre Dame as I walked home on Wednesday afternoon.

My apartment

November can be cold and rainy in Paris and this month is no exception. Fortunately, my apartment offers an antidote to the depressing weather.

My first reaction to the goldenrod-colored closet doors, the burnt orange carpet, and the oranges, reds and yellows of the bed was less than positive. However, I have come to appreciate the warmth that they bring to a gray day.


The walls are still pretty bare, and I'm waiting to find just the right pictures to hang. In the meantime, I did bring back my drum (I found it in the Taos Drum Shop and I'm convinced it harbors some ancestral spirits.) I also bought a small armchair from a nearby shop. The guitar? Left behind by Nathalie, along with a funky orange lamp and hundreds of her books.


The balcony needed some color too. I'm told the cyclamen and heather will easily survive the winter outside. The colors cheer me up and I've even been favored by the visits of some small yellow and gray birds that seem to appreciate the birdseed that I've offered.


The apartment is quiet because I look down on some greenery rather than the noisy street.

Cruise?

"How about a cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg? Would you be tempted?" The question from Michel came halfway through lunch on Sunday.

Would I be tempted? You bet! Sounds much better than renting a "camping car" (RV) and driving through Tuscany - which he mentioned last time we met.

The Russian river cruise wouldn't happen before next spring/summer, so there's plenty of time to think about it - and to decide if I'm interested . . .

Midterm elections

No, you haven't stumbled into a political blog by mistake.

I've been struck this week by how closely the French have been following the recent midterm elections. It started with my landlords and neighbors René and Sophie who invited me to dinner the other night to watch the election results on TV. French TV channels featured several prime-time programs tracking the U.S. political races. To be fair, René and Sophie spend several months a year in California, and although they aren't U.S. citizens and can't vote, they follow American politics very closely.

Later, on Friday afternoon, I joined a French/English conversation group which meets regularly nearby. There were around 50 people, in small circles of 6-8 people, with about 80% French and 20% English/American. The format includes 45 minutes of English and 45 minutes of French conversation. I joined a group which included a nucleus of French regulars who have been participating in the conversation groups for over 7 years. Again, I was surprised at the level of interest in the U.S. elections and our English conversation included an in-depth analysis of the results along with many comparisons of the Obama administration vs. the Bush administration. Needless to say, Obama is much better regarded here than his predecessor, and the French will be watching and hoping that Obama will be successful in implementing his agenda despite the recent setback.

Just another reminder of why I like living here. The people are engaged, interesting, and interested in the wider world.

Michel

The first meeting with Michel went a little bit better. I met him through eDarling which is remarkably similar to eHarmony in its time-consuming questionnaire that attempts to make better matches. In fact, the site is so similar that I thought it might be owned by eHarmony. No, said the customer service agent, but eHarmony is a major investor in the company.

So far, I prefer eDarling. It provides more background information on its members and less focus on purely physical description. It also offers "guided communication" much like eHarmony - meaning that you are given tools to learn more about the person before meeting, rather than presenting a completely random selection of age-appropriate members.

Michel's profile seemed interesting; active, well traveled, with many interests in common. He has a daughter and four grandchildren who live in Minneapolis, so he was particularly interested in meeting an American. We have been corresponding for several weeks and finally met after my return to Paris.

This time, a meeting for coffee was followed by a movie and a light dinner. He was much more of a gentleman and willing to take things at a pace more my speed. We'll see if he's a good listener. . . I've agreed to meet him for Sunday lunch and a concert afterwards.

Papinou

"Papi" is a French expression for "Grandpa". "Nou" reminded me of "nounours" = teddy bear. So when I saw the pseudonym "Papinou" I conjured up the image of "Grandpa teddy bear". The photo supported this image - blue eyes, nice smile, a certain gentleness. I discovered Papinou via Meetic, the largest French internet dating site. Or rather he discovered me. He "flashed" me. Huh? What does THAT mean? "Vous avez reçu un flash."
After some head scratching, I figured that "flash" was Meetic-speak for "wink" in eHarmony-speak. It's called sending a "smile" (sourire) in eDarling-speak. I'm learning a whole new language!

Meetic is big on pseudonyms and short on personality profiles. It also seems to focus on physical appearance - with specific questions regarding weight, silhouette, and style of dress. For "style" I had to choose between BCBG (huh?), branché (trendy), business, bohème, classique, ethnique, décontracté, rock, sportif, or other. Only in France! Another question: which of your body parts is the most attractive? And what are you looking for in him? Pecs? abdominals? hands? feet? butt? etc. To be fair, eyes and smile are also included in the list, as is "the most beautiful is not on the list".

Anyway, besides age, pleasant photos, a non-smoker who likes restaurant and cinema, plus "flash", I didn't have much else to go on when it came to Papinou's description. And after several emails back and forth, we finally met for coffee after my return to Paris.

He seemed surprised to see that I resembled the photo in my profile. Apparently, lots of people don't resemble their photos? He made lots of disparaging remarks about botox and liars. Lots of disparaging remarks about a lot of things. And he was too eager to hold hands and tutoie. Not my cup of tea! So much for my initiation into online dating . . .

Kissing frogs

eHarmony? eDarling? or Meetic? or all three?

Do I really dare subscribe to an internet dating site?

I had a great visit with Teri and JD who told me how they met through eHarmony. They explained the process thoroughly. Hmmm.

Later, I met Catherine and Jean Pierre, each with three school-aged children, who met through the French site Meetic. They, too, swore that the system does work - even though it is extremely time consuming to go through dozens, sometimes hundreds, of profiles of eligible singles.

Eventually, after being assured that yes, nice girls (and older women) DO go online, and yes, there are plenty of older gentlemen out there - I decided to subscribe. Besides, I'm not desperate. I am perfectly happy living alone - although an occasional dinner companion might be nice. Furthermore, I decided that it could make a good story - maybe some journalistic research? Could I deduct the subscription costs from my taxes? Or maybe another study in social anthropology? Why not?

So which site to choose? And more importantly, how do I describe myself? And what AM I looking for, anyway??

I eventually signed on to all three sites.

I subscribed to eHarmony first, but in hindsight that didn't make much sense - their members are primarily located in the U.S. and I'm looking for a dinner date, not a penpal. The eHarmony site did offer some very interesting contrasts with the French sites which I'll go into in a later post.

I also subscribed to a European site called eDarling. Funny name, but very similar in format to eHarmony in that it involves an extensive questionnaire which supposedly enables a computer to provide good matches. I'd had a couple of "hits" on this site and started corresponding with a couple of people but had yet to actually meet anyone face to face. I was traveling in September, and then unexpectedly returned to the U.S. in October. Now that I'm back, maybe I can get back down to "business". And I have.

Oh, so now you want details? Stay tuned!