A Fast Month

I should try and make some effort to write myself up to date on my life. Apologies for brevity, if I was more on the ball with my writing I would have more detailed recollections. As one of my housemates just said - it's been a long month, but a fast month. We had a full week of intense training for everyone, which was certainly draining. Part of the reason it was so taxing was our loosely established lifestyle at the Diocese, which made a proper routine elusive. The training itself was, for the most part, quite fascinating (for me at least). Some of the lectures even satisfied my appetite for academics, which I have been sorely missing. Some of the training period consisted of sessions on protocol, safety, institutional responsibility and various other tedious subjects. The majority, however, was made up of historical and interpretive training. The philosophy was to start big and work down to the specifics. Personally I enjoyed the discussions of the "big" moreso than the small, and some of the endless grinding through farm fields where neat things would have been was tiresome. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would like to thank our two primary instructors Nigel Cave and Phillip Robinson. Nigel is a late-middle aged English Catholic with a PhD and an acerbic wit. His endless jabs and sarcasm were quite unforgettable and his instruction was superb. Phillip I worked with less as he focused on Vimy, but he was a delightful chap as well. No formal background in history, but decades of experience with the Royal Engineers. The retired colonel is deeply involved in trench and tunnel excavation and disarming of antique explosives. Both are quite well regarded in their fields. At the end of our week of training both the summer and fall guides as well as pretty much every other employee of the two sites had a huge "Méchoui" at the home of our boss. Méchoui is just a fancy name for a lamb-roast-party, but it was a jolly good time and I snapped some nifty photos. It wasn't particularly heart wrenching for the new crowd, but for the departing guides it was definitely an emotional night - especially for those whose interguide romances were ending. I can imagine that our own departure in December will be equally touching. It did give me a taste of the personalities of the old group, but I feel like on the whole both groups did less mingling and more introspection. One group just beginning to establish its social dynamic, the other's being torn down. Again, I can only imagine the complexity and depth of the relationships after a full session. After barely a month I feel I could write a treatise on our own. This didn't come as much of a surprise to me, but it is impressive nonetheless. When you spend so much of your time with so few people you just get to know them really damn well.

Anyway we were promptly injected into our living and working routine which will remain more or less consistent throughout our stay. There are four possible placement combinations for each individual. Each person can either work at Vimy or Beaumont-Hamel and and live at either Maison Vauban or Maison St. Aubert. For those who aren't familiar Vimy Ridge and Beaumont-Hamel are the only two Canadian 1st World War memorials in France that have interpretive staff. As for the houses, they are both rented for our benefit by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). st. Aubert is on the main downtown drag in Arras and is more like a modern apartment. The other, Vauban is a more traditional and spacious home. We work five days over seven from ten till six, which for us (five) B-Hers means leaving Arras no later than 9:15 in order to open on time and getting back to the house at 6:45ish. The primary task of our staff is providing guided tours, which I've come to appreciate. There's a particular art to it and getting it right can be very rewarding. It can be tedious at times, and tiring when dealing with heavy visitor traffic. at times it can be quite monotonous and drab, especially when the weather is crap or when nobody shows up. More often than not, we're busy with something and I generally enjoy myself quite thoroughly. At this point my desire to go back to school is greater than my desire to extend my visit, so there's a good chance I'll end up back in Canada in the winter. The story of my site is fascinating and very moving and I particularly enjoy presenting it in such a way that it illuminates many aspects of the great war for people. At BH, unlike Vimy, each tour guides approach end up more unique and personalized. If I get a chance, I'd very much like to transcribe it, now that it's faily cemented in my head, and slap it together with a few pictures to try and recreate it for the viewers at home.

Back in town, home life is quite an interesting time in itself. For the most part everyone gets along quite well, and our house at Vauban is particularly blessed with easy-going people. Until the end of September I have the honour of being the only male at the maison Vauban, earning me the nickname Vauman. I won't try and explain the ridiculous dynamic this has created, but suffice it to say that I have role to play in the house that is altogether pleasant and the ladies of Vauban make me feel very appreciated. They really are a fantastic bunch, and even when we do nothing it's a blast. Unfortunately I don't get to see so much of the residents of St. Aubert, especially those who work at Vimy. We do have pretty frequent group dinners, outings, parties etc. Arras isn't exactly a party town, but there are a couple of bars and clubs that stay open long enough to accommodate us. With the fairly spacious homes hosting a party is never a problem and wines and beers are dirt cheap. Arras is full of restaurants, as is pretty much any mid or greater size French community. The food is almost always great, no matter where we go. That's definitely one cultural difference I've noticed, no matter how cheap you go, unless they are serving only for tourists or aquired taste dishes, pretty much everything is delicious. As long as real French people eat there, they can't get away with anything less. Other cultural issues, I think, will require a separate discussion later. For the French drinking with food is mandatory, and more drinking usually takes place before and after, but rarely to excess. Only in pubs and clubs on occassion, but even that seems rare. Our North American attitudes towards booze, combined with the cheap price and obscene availability (anywhere that sells anything) have lead many guides past and present to consume more liquor than we would at home. I don't see it negatively impacting me too greatly, but its something I intend to keep an eye on.

Holidays are given in advance and other guides always share your days off. One learns fairly quickly who they would prefer to travel with and I've had the chance to take several trips already with and without company. Paris I visited just for an evening, mostly to see a nifty concert called Rock-en-Seine with a couple of my coworkers, but also got some touristy stuff done. Brie, Emily and Sophie had been there for both days of it and they convinced me to come out for an evening to see the Raconteurs on the second night of the concert. Getting there was a bit of a pain but I feel like it was well worth it. We all slept crammed into a budget hotel room made for three and took the early train back to work. Marseille was awesome as well, I travelled there with my friend Corinne, whose idea it was. Otherwise I probably never would have thought to go. The city is ancient and absolutely beautiful, and the weather on the Mediterranean can't be beat. The city is teeming with life and features an interesting blend of French, Italian and North African/Middle Eastern culture. Although the Franco-Italian side dominates the tourist areas, the other elements stem from modern migration. We visited old fortifications, gorgeous churches, old abbeys and took a boat tour to an island chateau. We watched the sunset on the beach and dined at dusk on the water under a blanket of Jazz. The hostel was a bit crappy but we didn't spend a whole lot of time there. The French absolutely loved Corinne, who is Québecoise. Most of the people we met didn't know dick about Canada, but they really love the idea of Quebec. I'm curious if any other old colonial nations have such idealized view of their old territories, or is it just because it passed over to the English so early that they have this strange sentiment towards it. Certainly Corinne's cheery personality helped to bring it out of them. The long train ride home, like the arrival, was quite painless and rather relaxing, something I would like to do more often.

Comparitively getting to Madrid was quite hectic as the Beauvais airport (where Ryanair flies) is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere. This necessitates all kinds of peripheral travel arrangements just to get there and back on time. I was a little nervous as it was both my first time alone and my first trip to a country where I really don't speak the language. I met a very interesting Polish guy on the way over and got lots of fascinating insights on western and eastern European culture. The hostel I stayed in was bitchin and very high tech, gorgeous, clean and offered lots of great activities and I took part in all of them. I did a walking tour that gave me all the sightseeing I could want, a Tapas tour where I sampled excellent Spanish finger goods and drunk delicious sangria, and a pub crawl that gave me a taste of the outrageous nightlife of Madrid which last until dawn on the right nights of the week. The pub crawl was probably my least favourite, our group being composed almost entirely of drunk Brits and Aussies, it didn't feel particularly authentic. Some of the places we visited, however, were throbbing with local crowds. I walked through one of Madrid's beautiful public parks in the evening for hours until I was too accosted by drug dealers to stay. My time spent in the Reine Sofia and Del Prado art Museums was incredible. Del Prado had one of the best collections in Europe, presonal highlights include Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights and the greatest works of Goya's black period. Greatest of all was the Reine Sophia's Picasso/Guernica exhibit. Probably the most powerful exhibition I've ever seen in my life. It was utterly indescribably moving. All throughout I met interesting people from Europe, North and South America and Oceania. Sadly I didn't really get to know many proper Spanish people, as hardly any Spaniards speak English. Overall a great experience. Lastly our evening visit to Lille can't go without mention. Lille is a moderatley sized town on the border with Belgium where we went for a colossal holiday party called the Braderie. There thousands come to get drunk, eat mussels and buy utter crap. The city was packed to the Brim with French people, some even rowdy and drunk, overall a good time. For those who have the chance to look through my photos, the Lille trip is put together with an evening in Arras for our "Wine and Cheese". We ended up at some of our usual bars and had a particularly fun night, especially we ended up dancing at an underground club. Some of the photos I snagged are quite memorable.

Anyhow thats a pretty brief summary of my activities to date, sadly lacking in in insights that occured to me at the time. I shall try and make an make an effort to concentrate my thoughts on cultural issues that have occured to me and try to draw something out of that. For the meantime my thoughts remain engaged in my little social bubble and my upcoming plans.