Autumn in Rouen

This was my last week of formal classes. The certificate I received to note my accomplishment.

There are six proficiency levels for Frech as a foreign language: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. The B is an intermediate level. At most universities you need a B2 to be able to take courses in French. A person at a “C” level is considered to be bilingual. To determine one’s proficiency, different organizations offer a standard examination. The DELF (diploma d’études en langue française) is awarded by the French government and is recognized internationally. The DELF exam I took was the B1. I should find out by next week how I did.

The theme of this last week at school was “Taste.” It piggy-backed on “La Fête du Ventre” – litterally “The belly/stomach festival” – taking place in Rouen. The Normands love their food and are very proud of what they produce locally. Think “farmers market” writ large!

There were three streets filled with all kinds of food and drink, crafts and displays. Oysters (l'huître) and scallops (coquille St. Jacques) by the bushel.

All manner of apple products...

 

This vendor was making and selling freshly pressed apple juice. So good. Apples are also used for the famous calvados (apple brandy) and cider. According to this vendor, it is a favourite of Pope Francis.

Cheese is also big here: Camembert, Livarot, Pont l’Évêque, and Neufchâtel are all locally made soft white cheeses, named after the town or village they were first made. The oldest type is Neufchâtel created in the 11th century. The youngest is Camembert created around 1791, the time of the French Revolution.

At school, one of the instructors brought in all four for us to taste. I already had tasted (and buy regularly) three of the four. The one I hadn't tasted yet was Livarot. It is the round one with three dark stripes on the rind. It is also called "The Colonel" because it looks a little like the hats they wore in the military. I'm glad I got a taste of it before buying any. I like strong cheese, but this one tasted like you rubbed a sweaty cow with it before serving it. Wow. For the first time since coming to France, I couldn't finish what I was given to try.


There were also lots of freshly cooked food.

And cooking demonstrations. Here two different chef give us a taste of their wares. The first is making vegetable ravioli.

And the other sauted scallops with a creamed cauliflower sauce.

People lined the street going from booth to booth. There were a couple of music groups entertaining the crowds. This one played jazz, New Orleans style...

And this one played Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

The guitarist carried his own amplifier and the sax player gave it his all. Later, I saw the group parading through the streets. What a great way to spend the day.

On the weekend I also went to the lookout on St. Catherine’s hill. I heard tell that it was the spot from which Claude Monet painted one of his famous paintings of Rouen. You can barely see the lookout near the top of the hill above the church.

It was quite the climb up the back of the hill, but it was worth it once I got to the top.

These rowers looked like water spiders from this vantage point.

And this is Monet's rendition...

Coming down from the hill, I walked through some of the streets in the old city. This house is a tad crooked, wouldn't you say?

I wonder if insurance costs are high here? The houses must be very sturdy if they have been standing for a few hundred years. I also came across an old graveyard. You wouldn't know it from the outside...

 But through that small doorway is a graveyard dating from the time of the first Black Plague in Rouen - 1348.

 Three quarters of the population died at that time and their remains placed in a mass grave here at L'Aître St. Maclou (St. Maclou Atrium). The grave would have been where the trees now are. Two centuries later, in the 1500's the Black Plague returned and this time two-thirds of the population died. The four ossuary galleries (bone galleries) were built around the grave site  and the bones gathered up and placed in the cloisters in order to make room in the grave for the bodies of the dead. The cloister/ossuary is decorated with all kids of macabre figures.

 

When I looked up ossuary gallery on the internet, I saw pictures of the catacombs in Paris. The bones here must have been stacked in a similar fashion. The only difference was this one was created above ground.

 In the 16th century, the bones were removed and the cloister turned into a boys school (can you imagine the nightmares??). In the 1940's the cloister was turned into a regional fine arts school. The school recently moved, but there is still a gallery here. 

I wonder if they hold Halloween parties here? One final picture...the mummified cat and mouse found in the walls when they renovated.

On my last day of class I brought my camera to school to take some final pictures. I started with the park a block away where I always had my lunch.

After three heavy hours of class, it gave me a bit of a breather before going back for another two hours in the afternoon.

Being the last day, the school organizes a simple farewell to the students who will be finishing their studies. Everyone is welcome to come.I was able to get a few pictures of some of the people who made these studies so incredibly rich. Joanna (left) was also the one who organized the Theater Club. Christine (right) is French born and raised, but also has oriental ancestry. She told us of the time she was directed to the "foreigner" line up at the boarder when she returned to France from a trip to the U.S. "But I'm French."

 Susanne helped me a lot with the SOS after school workshops on grammar. Nathalie (left) gave me several individual lessons and Vanessa (right) had a great way of keeping the students focused on why they were there.

Malika oversees the administration and Landry (below) the learning groups.

 

So now I have a couple of weeks left in Rouen. I will continue to study on my own using some of the resources I purchased. I will also take advantage of some of the things that are happening here. For example I bought a ticket to the Requiem by Mozart being performed on Friday by the Prague Opera Choir and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. It is being performed at one of the large gothic churches here, so the sound should be incredible.

I would also like to return to Dieppe once more. Not being in class, I can choose any day that suits me. Only seven weeks to go and I'm home again.