Facing France

Yann

Martin

Florence

Mathias

Marianne

Louis

Nadia

Nurkyz

New Moon.

The man on the mind this month is Edward Cullen. The second film in the Twilight series, New Moon, has once again had floods of people rushing to watch the tragic love story of Edward and Bella. Even here in France for the English version (version originale) the waiting lobby here was so full that you could smell the sweat before you entered and I didn’t want to go to the toilet because it could have caused us to miss out on decent seats…

But what is it about this film that has caused its popularity? Is it solely the good looks of our dear Robert Patterson? Is it the thrill of the plot? Or is it the beauty of the relationship between Edward and Bella. Because their relationship is beautiful. In fact for me the films is about the beauty of love, chastity and fidelity.

Firstly there is the concept of chastity and the struggle… Edward is asked by the Voltari how it is that he manages to live with this human without spilling her blood to which he replies “Believe me it is not without difficulty”. Shoghi Effendi expands on the Bahá’í concept of chastity to state that it “demands daily vigilance in the control of one’s carnal desires and corrupt inclinations”. So in this way I think that Edward shows strength of holding back despite his desire to do otherwise. In the same way nowadays we have to have this strength in upholding Baha’u’llah’s exhortation of “spotless chastity”. And at the end before doing the deed of “changing” her, he asks her to marry him. The idea that if he takes that step it is serious and it is within marriage, an eternal bond and a “tie that will endure forever”.

The idea of fidelity and the commitment to one person is evident throughout the film. Bella tells Jacob that for her, “It has always been him [Edward]” and we can also see the nature of the relationship by Edward’s response to her worries about her aging and him not wanting her when she looks like her Grandmother. He just replies by asking if she has understood at all his feelings for her which show that they run deeper than just physical attraction and that he is completely faithful to her. This is clear again as he wants to marry her so that they can spend the rest of their endless life together!

In the Bahá’í writings there is a Hidden Word that says “To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved”. In their separation the heart of Bella clearly has no peace as she screams in her sleep and Edward’s inability to live when she is not alive shows separation being as death for him.

So is it the striking jaw line and dark eyes that are winning the girls up and down the country or is it the near perfect relationship (in a strange abstract surreal kind of way) that Ed embodies?

“What is this, some sort of survey?”

In the Junior Youth programme, one of the main elements is the concept of ‘Service’ and it is very important to integrate service into the lives of the junior youth in the early sessions of the group. For our first project we decided to do a little research exercise – we divided the junior youth into groups of 3 – 5 and then each group, armed with a ‘microphone’ and notepaper to do things in true reporter fashion,  went out to ask the inhabitants of the area what they though could be improved and what they thought a the junior youth could do as a collective act of service.

It was lovely to see the junior youth speaking with such pride as they explained to the interviewees what the junior youth group was and that they were going to improve their quartier and the world!

So now we need to choose and carry through the act of service … one that came up quite a few times was ‘get rid of the big buildings’ … I don’t know how easy that one would be …

Ode to Layli

We have a mystery writer on Forage today .. Guess his or her identity..

I sit here waiting as you dance,
Wondering what I’m doing in France.
I texted Florence, no reply yet –
Perhaps she’s playing hard to get.

I don’t know how your camera works.
In that respect, me, it merks.
“Rinsed” and “seen” you prefer to use,
If only we had Urban Dictionary in Toulouse.

The French language, it brings me pain
Like your studded nose – how insane?!
On Forage I hope this doesn’t go
Or the world will know of your honteux.

Dr Lopez, Pancake boy, the list goes on
Your liaisons, they’re far from bon.
So shamefully dressed, you had to return
To pyjama lady – when will you learn?

“Cochonneries“: the word has served me well
But “je suis confondu” is all I ever tell
La langue francaise, c’est merveuilleuse
But spoken vite, it’s affreuse.

Now it’s time for Taylor Swift,
This poem has suffered drift.
The points it made are very scattered
But killed some time – that’s all that mattered.

Bare Jokes Day

strolls. red thread. cheese.

Marianne and the Garonne

Little Red Man.

A Sunday afternoon, Marianne and I decided to take a stroll around Toulouse to see the beautiful river and check out some of the photography that was being displayed at the ‘Manifesto’ photography exhibition.

There were some bizarre thought provoking photos of people from Bucharest staring at you from a scene of decay, there were photographs of random people at the Toulouse swimming pool, there were some disturbing photographs taken by Les Krims of all the Krims and their neighbours … there were some clever photos of photos in the toaster and hanging on a washing line, and one that I particularly like was the set by Flore Gardner. Flore Gardner sews on top of found photographs and I enjoyed her board of photos with her addition of a ‘little red man’. You’d have never thought a stick man could be so adventurous and versatile … I like these images because the random red man has just been plopped onto the photos, like I’ve been plopped here in France. Although I think I am less noticeable than a red stick man. A girl in my dance class said that my ‘r’s are very good for an English person … I don’t know whether she was being polite or whether the English ‘r’s are just really really bad. I also find it impossible to say the word m’inscrire. The stick man is also very friendly and is consorting with all sorts of people so friendly, open and helpful… what an example this stick man is.  Got to “strive to be shining examples unto all mankind, and true reminders of the virtues of God amidst men” as advised in the Tablet of Wisdom (Revealed by Baha’u'llah). This is so important, if we change ourselves we can change the world around us, if we turn on a lamp it will shed light on the whole room…

Marianne doesn’t like art that tries to think. There was a lot of art that tried to think at the late night expo the other night of modern art in a gallery nearby. This included the ‘Tableaux Vivants’ which means ‘living paintings’ so it was basically people doing shoulder stands or holding a leg up and there was a dinner table with people sat around it eating … I ate ‘fromage vivant’ which is this cheese with micro spiders that live on the outside and apparently bring out the taste … it was nice … but you could see them moving…

Pre-jeune. Perles. Pistolets.

” Salut, Bonjour, Coucou … Je m’appelle … et en ce moment la communaute Bahaie de Toulouse est en train de lancer un groupe de … a Junior Youth Group for the young people between the ages of 11 and 15 in Empalot. This group is a chance to bring young people of all different backgrounds to work together and become agents of change in their world, in their neighbourhood. It is incredible listening to the ideas of the junior youth as they discuss how to help others and improve the life around them; raise awareness about the environment, organize a football match for the children, offering lessons teaching others how to read and write, taking care of the aged, cleaning the buildings, painting a mural…

What is excellence? What does the word excellence mean to you? In this group we are going to develop our spiritual and intellectual excellence. What are some of the spiritual qualities that you can name? What are the qualities that you see in the people you admire or love very much?

“Que chaque matin soit meilleur que la veille, et chaque lendemain plus riche que le jour précédent”

What does it mean to make each morning better than its eve?

“That tomorrow will be a beautiful day and it doesn’t rain?” says one JY (in French)

Mmm…unfortunately the weather is slightly out of our control … but we can work on ourselves to so that “Demain je serai meilleur qu’aujourd’hui”…

Although, it’s always better when it doesn’t rain. Though to be fair the weather here in Toulouse is pretty good despite it being October.

And the energy of the junior youth is endless … we had the group with discussion, games and rap and then played basketball for about 2 hours and then a few persuaded us to let them back into the apartment to collect their sheets of paper and then they stayed at the apartment for about an hour singing and trying to make a human tower. Those boys are pearls, as Bassim says.

“Ca t’interesse? Il y a un session chaque samedi, point de rendez-vous devant la mediatheque a 14hr!”

Another thing I noticed here in Empalot is that all the boys run around with guns! Just after the junior youth group and on our way the basketball court, two boys ran into the house and brought out two guns to shoot at us and each other just after having thought about how to help others …

The other side to Marie revealed...

First Impressions

View from my window

Bedroom

Rue de Languedoc

Arriving places early leads to taking random photographs...

L'appart a Empalot

Little streets en rose

Les glaces au Jardin des Plantes

Marie Luce

L'equipe!

Macaroons courtesy of Le Poussin Bleu

Laughing gargoyles

Florence "wow shards of glass"

Detachment. Observing silence. Darkness

Ok so I have decided to renew my efforts in blog writing for my year of service with the Baha’i community on my gap year.  And at the moment I am in Toulouse, France and have been here for about a week so far…

I realise the title to this blog entry might sound … pessimistic… despondent… mournful… negative… but it isn’t really.

So detachment, I think detachment is the very first and foremost test. The test of leaving somewhere that you know very well, and leaving the people that you love very much to go somewhere that you do not know, and where you know no one. And the people that you meet just aren’t the same. And understanding humour in a different language just isn’t as easy as you thought it would be. But yes I think that going away somewhere is a real test. It also makes you appreciate home and things and people … The people of Toulouse are very nice in fact. Very friendly and they actually like the sound of English people speaking French! Or they might be lying to spare my feelings…

Observing silence … This is what I found myself doing quite often as I would listen and then get tired and then listen more and find I would have something to say but then I had stopped listening for a while and so it might have already been said or asked … I think understanding things is part psychological. Interestingly enough I read something the other morning that Baha’u'llah says to “observe silence and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smouldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul”. I have always thought, if I am silent I need to talk more so that I am talking … but really this is senseless. The power of speech is incredible though, also one of the purposes of the Junior Youth programme that is going to be implemented here in Toulouse! Power of expression. I am learning how to use my power of expression in French…

And darkness… The French have dark houses!!! They always use their shutters to protect the house from the heat, the lampshades are such that rooms are not very bright, the apartment is designed so that the natural light in the apartment is not that much or that great.  Oh it is a beautiful apartment nonetheless! In the town centre in a building I think just from the 19^th Century, so not too old, but old with high ceilings nonetheless. And my next door neighbour is a Chocolatier’s shop!

So yeah, these have been my first few challenges. But it’s not negative.  Challenges are good. We grow and develop as a result of tests. Tests are good.

But yeah, I think I will like Toulouse very much.

The Harrowing Striped Pyjamas.

I am usually of the mind that the film of a book always falls short of expectations. However the film ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ is an exception to the rule. Note I have not actually read the book but, I cannot imagine it surpassing the film in conveying the beauty of the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel, the tragedy of the holocaust and the idiocy of the Nazi regime.  

Another rarity is crying at films. I often get those lumps that develop in ones throat during a sad film but this film had tears streaming silently down my face as I bit my lip and stared at the screen.

The well known historic backdrop to the film was subtle so as not to swallow the characters but blatant as it formed the basis of the events and was alluded to in every scene. The focus of the film was not really on the war itself or on the ‘farm with the electric fences’ but on the relationship of the two unlikely friends: Bruno and Shmuel. By focusing on relationships as oppose to the shocking events of the period, the film was made more personal and accessible and thus history is made more personal: something that happened to people as oppose to a list of names and dates on a war memorial.

The innocence of the children in the film is a refreshing antithesis to the stone cold soldiers, the awkward dinners and the anguish of the grandmother expressed at the beginning of the play. Bruno catches view of the men working on the ‘farm’ in ‘striped pyjamas’; an accurate yet erroneous description of the concentration camps. This innocence is seen again with Bruno describing in amazement the Jew, Pavlov, who ‘gave up’ being a doctor to peel potatoes. The beauty of the friendship between the two children is a beacon of hope amongst the hatred and confusion within the family and the nations.

 

I watched this film with my sister and her junior youth group and what seemed to resonate most with them was the scene in which Shmuel is working at the house polishing glasses and Bruno gives him food from the table. A soldier sees him eating and confronts the boy asking if he has been stealing to which Shmuel responds ‘No, he gave it to me. He is my friend’. When asked if this is true Bruno, after a long pause for conscience battling, denies it claiming he has never seen this boy in his life. We next see Shmuel back at the concentration camp with a bruised eye. The distressing consequences of dishonesty in the film caused my sister and her friends to become more aware of their truthfulness as they started to say “Don’t lie like the boy in the film” in conversation afterwards. Shmuel’s act of forgiveness is yet another example of hope in the film and another example for my sister of how to treat others…

 

 

So the next day I jump on a plane and fly to Germany. The Cologne Cathedral or Dom is a huge structure that seems almost out of place. At times it looks sinister with its blackened walls and gothic form which contrasts to the rest of the city due to the war having flattened all of Cologne save this cathedral. Walking through the city with my neck crooked upwards and this dark old structure staring at me was a poignant reminder of the war and its dark and destructive effects.

 

Some houses and shops in Germany also have gold tiles on the pavement outside to pay respect to each of the Jews that were killed during the war from that residence. Walking past a shop with 15 gold tiles at its doorstep, the reminders continue.

 

The Quick

For the last 19 days I have been fasting.

The fast is quick. 19 days have passed. The sun now sets at 6:22 as oppose to 5:50. Fasting always sheds new light on life; this year something that I noted was the preciousness of time. Without food and drink one gets tired and so the will to do is reduced. On a normal day one might think ‘I am tired and hungry now I will do it later’. But then in the fast I think, well I am going to be tired/hungry a lot during these 19 days so I may as well do something regardless. Consequently, I found that I was actually quite happy doing whatever it was on an empty stomach.

“There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation”

But sleep is also very important.

A second realisation prompted by the fast is the amount of cake that I eat at school. Literally everyday there is a lesson in which we eat cake.

“Would you like a cake?”
“No thank you, I’m fasting at the moment…”
“Oh yeah!”

“Would you like a cake?”
“No I’m still fasting at the moment”
“Oh yeah! Sorry I keep forgetting!”

“Would you like a cake?”
“No thank you, I’m actually still fasting at the moment!”
“Ohhhh yeah… what about a skittle? Are you not even allowed a skittle?”

Fasting is a strange concept for many. Why would someone choose to deny themselves food and drink? The Bahá’í fast is essentially “a period of spiritual recuperation” and the abstinence from food and drink is merely “symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires”. During and as a result of the fast, “the heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases”. The material fast is a “token” of the spiritual fast.

“As I am fasting from the appetites of the body and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and make holy my heart and my life from aught else save Thy Love, and protect and preserve my soul from self-passions”.

Defined by detachment: “Thou hast bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to any one but Thee”. We are such dependent creatures and the fast is a time when we can see that it is only God that can get you through the day, not chicken nuggets or caramel shortbread.

And so it is. The fast is over. The time of spiritual recuperation has timed out. The fast is truly refreshing. Though this year it has seemed an especially quick refresher. Like a short storm in the tropics or a cup of water thrown on you at a picnic.

Naw Ruz resolution 1: no vacillating.

Naw Ruz resolution 2: be spiritually recuperated (I wish recuped was a word) more often.

Naw Ruz resolution 3: stop biting nails.

Naw Ruz resolution 4: …