Bastille Day and Beautiful Bèze

As usual, things have been pretty busy with the excavation and all, and I have yet to say anything about France!

The flights were good, and the rendezvous point with my student even worked out (I brought another American student to the excavation with me this year – it’s nice having another one of us around)! We took the train down to Montbard where one of my excavation friends picked us up; it’s always nice to see a friendly face upon arrival!

The past few years I have been in Dijon for Bastille Day (it is like the American Fourth of July), and this was my first time experiencing the holiday in Châtillon. I could not have asked for a better introduction to France for my student. There were crowds of people of all ages that evening, many holding brightly-colored paper lanterns. There was a procession of people around the city holding open torches (very Frankenstein-esque) accompanied by music, and they stopped at the football/soccer field where the mayor gave some speeches. Upon completion, new music began as did the fireworks. We had a front row view of it all and the show lasted for about twenty minutes or so. The fireworks were really impressive for a place I consider to be a small town, and I laughed at how French they were – really coordinated and artistic explosions, the music, setting a proper mood… I commented to one of my other friends that in America, we do not care if it is artistic; we just like to see shiny things blowing up.

We had our first week of work, then the weekend. I suggested to some friends we could visit Mireabeau-sur-Beze, because it had a really interesting late La Tene – early Roman period sanctuary that I had read about and it was listed in one of the local travel journals. Well, the site now sits under a collection of houses (it was a rescue excavation), and there was no museum, just a display of objects housed in the tourism office. Bust.

No photos of the cave, but the water exits.

Luckily, we had another plan, and that was to visit 

Bèze,a village we passed on our way to Mireabeau. This was a really beautiful medieval town with some really charming old architecture. It also boasted Grottes de Bèze, a fantastic cave you could tour, which we did. I always like cave tours, but this one was particularly unique because within the cave is a source or spring where water bubbles up as it travels out to the river nearby. For this reason, part of the tour is walking on foot, but the other part is in a non-motorized boat to limit pollution. The guides pull the boat along by grabbing ropes which are anchored into the cave ceiling. The water inside was beautiful and crystal clear. I was really surprised that no prehistoric activity took place here because it was rather magical (there is a lot of cave art from the Paleolithic period found in many of the caves in France).

After the tour, we walked around for a while just enjoying the beautiful architecture and had some ice cream and a coffee next to city hall. We found another beautiful spot with a family of swans floating around in the little pond. Sometimes certain parts of France just seem too perfect and charming to be real. 

Baby swan stretching his wings.

The excavations are going well. Last week there was an article about our excavations in the Dijon paper. The best part is there was a photo of my student hard at work, and I was mentioned by name for my dissertation research. And the best of the best part was I went to buy a copy for me and my student, and the guy at the shop realized I was one of the excavators (we are really dirty most of the time). He asked if I was one of the Germans, and after he learned I was American, he got so excited because he knew I was mentioned in the article; he even told some of the other people on the excavations later how exciting it was to have an American there! Local celebrity? Not quite, but I felt pretty awesome regardless. Time to rest up for week number three! 

“Yippie Yah Yei Schweinebacke!”

Ok, so I thought I’d be done posting about Germany, but I keep remembering so many good things I learned that need to be shared. I guess this discussion works for American movies brought to Europe in general.

I do not think I need to explain that many English films get dubbed when they go abroad (not all though, many just have subtitles). Well, since I typically do not understand the dubbing I just watch and laugh because it sounds funnier in another language, and in the case of a piece of crap film like Twilight, the French version was actually better because the actors/ACTRESS actually had some emotion in their voices (see note below on why I was watching Twilight).

Anyway, John the German and I were discussing the Die Hard films on day and he dropped this phrase on me: “Yippie Yah Yei Schweinebacke!” I asked him to repeat it and I said, “Ha! It rhymes!” He was confused because those phrases obviously do not rhyme, but then I explained the English version. I needed to know, “What does ‘Schweinebacke’ mean?” Turns out, this traditional German insult means “pig cheek.” This led to a good long laugh for me. I am not sure exactly why this translation tickled my fancy so much. Perhaps it was the good fortune that there is actually a phrase in German that mimics the sound of the English version,

or that the insult is strange, or that it just seems so innocent compared to the much more offensive English phrase. Oh! On a side note, there is a funny site called “Thumbs and Ammo” where they photo-shopped the guns out of scenes from action films and replaced them with a thumbs-up! Some are pretty hilarious and inspired me to make this gem combining the German phrase and one of their images.

Die Hard, rated G for all ages!

In addition to movies being dubbed, the titles are often changed. Sometimes it is a literal translation into the other language, or they are changed and added to. Brokeback Mountain, for example, becomes Le Secret de Brokeback Mountain. In other cases they keep the title in English, but change the phrase. I have not found a good explanation for why they do this exactly. It seems that the titles which receive this treatment might simply be difficult to translate or they do not have an equivalent word in that language. For example, Step Up became Sexy Dance and The Hangover became Very Bad Trip (it seems crazy the French do not have a word for ‘hangover,’ instead they say someone had ‘too much wine’).

Hopefully this was not overly boring for those of you who are not into films. As a movie lover, and I suppose as an anthropologist, I find it fascinating to see which aspects of films and movie culture are exported and modified to fit a different culture. The best part is, there is always something new to discover or learn about this because there are always new TV shows and films entering the movie world!

**Oh! And as for watching Twilight. This was two years ago, I believe, when I was staying with a friend in Dijon. She had to work for the day and I wanted to practice listening to French. I looked at her movie collection and thought, “Which of these is going to have a simple story line and basic dialogue which I may be able to understand…” Well, it proved to be that one! The funniest part was that after about an hour and a half of listening to and reading subtitles in the French, I became tired and switched back to English. I regretted it immediately. My god, the French made the film bearable because the actors actually had some feeling in their voices, but the original film…my god…how on earth were they allowed to make four of these movies?**

The Art of “Bon Appétit”!

I need to talk about “bon appétit” for a minute because I like it so much. One of the most regular questions I get while in France is “What do you say in English before a meal?” Unfortunately we do not really have a good expression other than “Enjoy your meal,” or in some cases “bon appétit” is used. This is always received with a sad face. Why is bon appétit so important? I think one reason is because food is so important in France. Enjoying fresh, rich, flavorful food is embedded in the culture. Meals are meant to be savored and enjoyed at a slow, relaxed pace with good company.

There are several common courses that I have experienced and I am sure there are others: apéritifs, entrees, main courses, cheese, dessert, and digestifs. Apéritifs are usually some sort of drink before the meal and can be a mild alcohol, wine, beer, etc. Entrees are a small plate, such as a salad of some sort which is then followed by the main course. Cheese acts as a follow up to the main course and can be eaten with bread. Dessert is self-explanatory but may be fresh fruit instead of another form of sweet. Finally, digestifs are normally a strong alcohol or liquor that is at least 40%. Eating is a ritual and is taken quite seriously.

I bring this up because in the past week I have had three strangers wish me “bon appétit” randomly and each time it has made me smile. The first occasion was when The Hobbit and I went for pizza in Châtillon. An old couple entered while we were eating and as they walked by, they wished us “bon appétit” in the sweetest fashion. For the second occasion I was at the train station in Dijon waiting for my ride to Nice. I decided to grab a sandwich and was eating while resting against a wall when a young, awkward looking guy walked by and wished me “bon appétit” quietly. The third case was last night in Nice when we were returning to the apartment with some food in our hands and my friends’ neighbor wished us “bon appétit” as we were ascending the stairs.

I thought about how bizarre this is to have strangers say this to other strangers, but then my mind transitioned to thinking this is rather nice. It is unusual to get a “hello/bonjour” from strangers in France, but “bon appétit,” this is something sacred. 

I Got a Bit Distracted

Well, the excavations finished this week and I realized that I have not provided an update in a long time. While this might make some of you worry (Mother), this is actually a good thing because it means I was keeping busy and was having such a great time with my friends that I was not on the internet all the time. Since I slacked off, I will give a brief summary of what I did and what we discovered at the excavations this year.

We were still working in the same area as last year on top of Mont Lassois. There is about 12 to 18 inches of soil on top of the bedrock which was removed with some heavy machinery. After much of the top layer was scraped off, we cleaned off additional layers of dirt to search for features, such as postholes, pits, and ditches. We opened a huge area and it took four weeks to get everything visible and clean. What we discovered were lots of postholes which indicated that there was another (or several) houses on top of the plateau in addition to the large house which they discovered several years ago. In the past then, the site had one very large house which they believe belonged to the princess of Vix and then there were several smaller houses, but still quite large, that were around the big house. The entire area was then enclosed by a ditch which we also explored further. Several structures of later dates were also evident during our work and two more graves were also excavated this year.

I did none of this work though. I was adopted by the documentation team and helped to describe and draw 300 of these postholes, pits, and ditches. I worked with then daughter of one of our directors to do this. I am incredibly grateful to her because, though she speaks English very well, she let me practice my French which improved dramatically in a matter of the first three days with her. She is only 19, but she is one of the sweetest and most mature people I have ever met. It would have been a long and more trying summer without her help! Anyway, we were quite the team and really kicked ass at getting all of these documents in order. I even got to do some drawings this year which turned out quite well in my humble opinion and much to my surprise. My supervisors were also quite happy with my work and I feel good knowing I helped make things run smoothly this year. The weather was also much improved this year and we only had one day of rain, but it was not bad enough to make us stop working.

In addition to the work, my very good friend The Hobbit was able to come to the site at the last minute. He is in the top ten of my favorite people in the world, so we had a lot of laughs and good memories again from this summer. There were a lot of great people at the site this year in general. I really liked the people on the Swiss team, which was a nice change from last year and the Austrians were great this year too! Overall, there were lots of good conversations, good jokes, and late nights this summer. I have never felt more exhausted after an excavation as I do this year. It was worth it though.

To recover so that I may do more work when I arrive home, I am going to Nice for a week. Many people know of Nice, a beautiful and expensive city in the south of France which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. I am so excited to see the beach and the water I can hardly stand it. I am sitting at the train station now waiting for my train (which goes back to Lyon first). Why did I decide to go all the way down to Nice? Well, there are Minnesotans in Nice. A couple who went to high school with Reed and who I have met several times have taken a year off from the States to live in Nice. I am looking forward to some familiar faces and accents and I hope they are too! After Nice I will go back to Paris for a day or two and then will finally fly home on the 21^st of August. I will write again before then to share my adventures, but for the moment, just know that I am happy, relaxed, and going to a fantastic place in just a few hours!

Hugs to all!

Bringing Sloppy Joes to Dijon

For my final day in Lyon I actually left the city to visit a small town called Vienne. The city had some well-known Roman ruins and a nice museum that contained mostly mosaics and wall paintings from the many houses excavated in the area. After I returned to Lyon in the afternoon, I relaxed and stayed in for the evening.

I caught a train the next morning and worked my way back to Dijon. My good friend, Sarah, in Dijon left her keys with a friend so I could stay at her apartment. I grabbed those and then met up with my friend Clement with whom I would be excavating. We had an important mission for the day: grocery shopping. I promised him two weeks prior that I would make a traditional American dinner for him and his family the next time I was in town. Trying to decide what a traditional American food is can be tricky as most of ours are modifications of other culture’s recipes which tend to add extra fats and sugars. I proposed Mac and Cheese, a standard for me, but he vetoed this one. My next idea, which I did not describe to him until we had purchased the ingredients, was for good ol’American Sloppy Joes. He seemed intrigued by this but I think perhaps had difficulty imagining it since eating it on a hamburger bun made it seem like it would be more of a hamburger. Anyway…

The next day I went over to his mother’s house and began cooking. I really like a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Foods which is what I used for this one. I had to substitute ground turkey for ground beef since there is not really that much ground meat in France. I picked up some coleslaw to eat with it which I was surprised to learn is well liked in France, though a bit different from ours at home and not as good as what my boyfriend’s mother makes (you have ruined me, Carol!). After an hour or so of preparation, cooking, and simmering, the Sloppy Joes were ready.

I explained how to eat it and that the purpose of the meal was to get it all over your hands and face. I said that is also why I chose this meal because it would be something so un-French. I also showed them my special technique of squishing down the bread in the center of the bun to accommodate more of the slop; they liked this too! I was a bit nervous because I wanted them to like it but had no idea if they would. After a few bites, the laughter began and I was pleased to see them take not only seconds, but even thirds of my Sloppy Joes! I was so happy that it was a success! 

We left shortly after for the excavations which began that Monday. I am two weeks into the excavations now and am happy to say that while they are quite different from last year, I think things are way better. We have only had a bit of rain one day which is completely different from last year. Many of my good friends did not return this year with the exception of Clement, and then The Hobbit made a last minute effort to come, so I have the two of them again. I have become closer with the French students this year than I was last year which helps a bit with the language. My roommate this year is a really cool Austrian girl that I actually met two years ago when visiting Vix and who I excavated several ditches with last year. I am not really excavating this year, but rather, am helping to document all of the new features at the site (for example, a wall or posthole after its discovery). After two weeks, I have drawn over 150 of such features (mostly postholes). The best change this year though has to be that all of the teams are mixing. Last year it was quite divided and so the Austrians stayed with the Austrians, the Swiss with the Swiss, the French with the French, and the Germans with the Germans. This was different from day one and everyone has been talking, sharing drinks, and doing things together. I have met some really great people so far and am enjoying the excavations tremendously as a result (as I have not blogged in two weeks this should be your proof!).

Ok, now that you have all had a bit of an update, I am off again to enjoy one of my evenings in the beautiful weather and good company I have found in France!

Visiting Lyon: Day 2

I got a later start than anticipated because I could not sleep the night before. The weather was looking a bit gloomy and my body was kicking me for walking up that giant hill the day before that I decided I should go back down to the center of town first and then I would hopefully have enough energy to walk back up the hill again in a little while. I descended and went to the shopping area as I had the urge to window shop. As I learned at the museum the day before, one of Lyon’s major exports was silk, and I hoped I could find a great silk store as I love textiles. Alas, I saw nothing of the sort much to my disappointment. In this area alone I walked three miles before 1PM.

I finished seeing all I wanted to see in the lower area (it’s called “The Little Island” as it is between the two rivers. I started toward the Saone and saw there was a fresh market that day. I love walking through street markets because the fruit always smells fantastic as does the stinky cheese and the meat looks so fresh. Yum! After browsing, I started to move toward the river walking under some trees when I felt something hit my head. I heard the flutter of wings and hoped it was not what I thought it was. Much to my dismay, it was; a pigeon shit right in my hair. I remember the last time I was pooped on by a bird. It was May 1996 and I was at the Detroit Zoo when a bird pooped on the sleeve of my yellow hoodie. This occurrence in Lyon will certainly be as memorable. I walked over to a fruit vendor who was packing up and asked her if she had a napkin and then showed her my head. She frantically began looking around for one as did her husband and the woman they were helping at the time also searched in her bag. Between the three of them they got a napkin and got me cleaned up. People can be so generous and kind at times it’s incredible. I thanked them thoroughly and continued on my way with a smile on my face thinking my trip to Lyon was now complete.

I did a lot more walking around the foot of the hill looking at different shops and bakeries and funny museums (they have a lot of unusual subjects for museums in Lyon such as one dedicated to miniatures that were used in films and animated wooden dolls/puppets). I made my grand ascent up the hill once more, which was a bit easier this time even though my body was exhausted. I made my way to the Musee Gallo Romain which happened to be free on Thursdays – woohoo! The museum was fantastic too! Lyon was a very important city in the Roman period and it has the finds to prove it! I took a lot of photos for future use in teaching and just enjoyed the museum. 

After the museum I walked outside to the Roman theatres which are right next to it. To my joy, another concert warm-up/practice was going on and I got to see another show for free! Once they finished, I walked slightly uphill again to the highest part of the city to see their famous (though not old) Notre-Dame de Fourviere which was perched on top of the hill overlooking the city. It offered a fantastic view of the city. It was incredible to see because Lyon, while it is the second or third largest city in France, it does not feel that big. Seeing it nestled into the river valleys though, the expanse of the area is evident and breathtaking. The other incredible thing of note is that from this point it is possible to see Mont Blanc on a clear day (and it was for me) which is 250km (155 miles) away! Unbelievable!

I headed back to my Couchsurfing host’s apartment and waited for her there. We made some pasta for dinner and she suggested we see a concert of Caribbean and African music that was playing in a park for free. Lyon has great summertime festivities for its residents and this concert was part of an event called “All the World Outside” which features different types of music each week. Well, we underestimated the precise distance of the other park and did not realize we would have to descend our hill only to climb up another. While on the map it is about 2 miles round trip, with the going up and down, up and down it was probably much more than that. We took one path that probably had no fewer than 300 steps going down. It was incredible and had me laughing most of the way. When we finally made it up the last hill to the concert it was packed with people, but we found a good spot on the lawn and had a listen. I really like African music because it sounds so happy and there are so many distinct sounds each instrument makes. Some jugglers came and were performing next to us too, so we had music and a show. We stayed for some time and then headed back to the apartment where I had no problem sleeping that night.

Visiting Lyon: Day 1

Yay! I have something interesting to write about! Its not that I don’t like my museum research, but it is sometimes a bit tedious to live it once let alone write about it again while trying to make it sound entertaining. Luckily though, I took a trip to the lovely city of Lyon this week and have lots to share!

I got a ride to Dijon on Wednesday and then took a two hour train ride to Lyon. In my train cabin I sat with a woman from Morocco who had been living in France for eight years. She was nice enough and patient enough to let me practice my French and I helped her with some English language questions she had. It was a nice ride overall and it was nice to spend it with a very smiley person! As we were leaving the train I somehow ended up talking to a French girl who was looking for a map like I was as it was the first time in Lyon for both of us. We found the information area, got our maps, and then went our separate ways.

The first thing I do when I arrive in any European city is to find the center of the town. From there it is possible to orient oneself, find a map (if you did not find one at the station), and find something to eat because, at least for me, I am typically hungry after my trip. I found a road on the map that went from the station to the center of town and followed the other signs which got me to my destination. While on my way, I crossed the Rhone River. I think this was my first time seeing it in person and it was quite large! The center of town was typical – a big square of some sort, a big statue, lots of shopping and lots of restaurants. I flipped through a tourism book that I got at the station and found something to do as I had some time to kill.

I chose to visit the Musee des Tissus/Musee des Arts Decoratifs de Lyon first. It was a fantastic museum that had a lovely and varied collection of textiles from all places and times. It starts with ancient textiles from Egypt which included lace, fine hair nets, detailed patterns and scenes (many with peacocks!). Later periods also have a wide variety of textiles and some complete costumes from various parts of the Near East, Turkey, Spain, and so on. While all of these were fantastic, the best part may have been seeing the fantastic dresses and garments 18^th century France and England! Oh my goodness! The style of the dresses, the fabric – this would have been my era! There were beautiful cuts and designs that flattered nearly any form. I loved it! The second part of the museum includes walking through various re-constructed rooms with objects and décor that dated to around the 17^th and 18^th centuries as well. This was quite lovely and it was nice to have a change of subject than my normal archaeology museum!

After the museum I walked around for a while and then headed toward the ruins of the Roman theatre. I had no concept of the layout or topography of Lyon prior to my arrival so I was quite surprised I had to cross yet another river, this time the Saone, to get to the bottom of a hill. The ruins were on the top of this hill and so I started working my way up. Ooo la la! This was a tall and steep path and I was sweating almost instantly! My hips, rump and thighs thanked me for the exercise!

 

I planned on looking at ruins in more depth the next day, but when I arrived I heard a warm-up for a concert that would happen later that night. I basically got to see a free concert while others later in the night would have to pay 30euros for the same show. It was a good deal and a nice way to conclude the afternoon.

Around 5:30, I headed toward my evening’s destination. I am not sure if I have talked about the website Couchsurfing.org yet on the blog, but I shall briefly describe it here. In a nutshell, this is a website for people who would rather stay in someone’s home than at a hotel. While it is typically used by young people, older people are joining the site more frequently because there are some great benefits to this idea. For students its great because you stay in someone’s home, so it is free. The main reason I like it, and the appeal for many others, is that it gives you a chance to meet people who live in the area and they can tell you good places to see or eat, or just basic things to know about traveling in the city. It gives you an opportunity to be a diplomat for your country and allows you to meet people from all around the world. You get to learn about a place and about people from these places. You give them a face to associate with your country and you also have a face to associate with theirs. It is an amazing opportunity to foster friendship and understanding.

I described all this because I have used it in the past and used it again in Lyon. It was a bit funny because I stayed with a German girl in France. She was very nice and hospitable and took me in at the last minute for three days! That night she had a friend coming over, another German girl, and the three of us made pizza which ended up being incredibly yummy! They suggested we go out for a little while after dinner. I never go out in the evenings because I am typically alone and because I am not really one who likes to go out often. It is incredible though to see a city at night; it can look so different. We walked by the opera house, which was beautiful all lit up and there was music going on as well. We went to a bar near there which was incredibly tiny and was decorated like the inside of a pirate ship inside! The floor was even the funny sort of wooden grates that you see in movies that someone is inevitably trapped under/inside. There were wooden kegs all around, wooden planks for the walls, and all sorts of funny things stored in jars behind the bar. It was loud and I was far too old to be there, but it was amusing nonetheless since I never go any place like that while in Europe.

Well, that certainly seems long enough for one entry. I shall describe the rest of my trip in another one tomorrow.

Off to Lyon!

Not much to really say yet, but I am finally forcing myself to get up and to get traveling! I am getting a ride to Dijon tomorrow, then am catching a train to Lyon where I will stay until Saturday morning (hopefully). I am excited to see some kick ass Roman ruins and might even take a day trip to Vienne (France, not Austria) for even more ruins! Woo!

I am looking forward to sharing some stories and, if nothing else, some photos!