coming back
the truth is i keep coming back to grenoble and every time i amaze myself at how little i appreciated the french alps region. i just left my second hometown a little over an hour ago, changed trains in chambery and am now on my train to geneva to visit kristel. during the whole train journey the view from the train is dazzling. the picture here is one of the lakes on the way to geneva. and i’ve taken this train before a couple of times and i didn’t even remember there was a lake on the way there. funny.
my stay in france was spectacular. it was a combination of meeting again with my past, desiring things for my future, and getting a break from the present. one evening, madame masrobian came home for dinner. she has been moeke’s piano teacher for years now, taught francis too, and helped me once or twice in my piano entry contest at the conservatory. francis always said she was chiante (literally, shitting), and i often agreed, but she is incredibly nice and i was most surprised when i picked up the phone and she talked to me for like 15 minutes, asking how my life was, what i was doing, etc. monique invited her for dinner only because she kept asking about me and when she came over, she continued with her questions with the utmost interest and not in an irritating way. we even spoke about daniel berthez, a piano teacher that heard me play once when i was playing randomly in one of the classrooms at the conservatory. i was playing mozart’s rondo alla turca, and he interrupted me and yelled at me, “non! non! c’est comme ca” and showed me how it should be correctly played. when he learned who i was (some random mexican who always loved playing piano but never was able to afford proper lessons), he suggested i entered the contest and said he would help me a couple of times at no charge. and he helped me voluntarily and never charged me a dime. il a vendu son appart de cours beriat et il n’habite plus grenoble. and that’s the last news i heard from professeur berthez.
my visit also made me realize that i want to live in a city like grenoble: big but not huge, walkable, and pretty. a river (with water) is a plus. i’d like to be near places where i can go hiking and that has good weather. nonetheless, i keep talking about going back to monterrey. is it just the family thing? after almost 8 years in the states i’ve begun to miss my life there. i wouldn’t exactly call it “home sickness” although the symptoms are undeniably similar. but there’s more to it. it’s the realization that you’ve been going places incessantly for years, always restless, and the only real relationships you have are your family and a couple of friends here and there—and most often that not, there and not here. you can keep jumping from one place to another. you become an increasingly integrated member of this global society, a true world citizen. and then what? when does it stop? i’ve had enough of that.
but then i think my desire to go back is just a self-defeat in my struggle to become a better, more social, more educated, more complete, and successful person. but all of those things—save the success part—either i am already or i just can’t be, at least not as long as the restiveness goes on. success is a different animal where i live, relative to where i am from. in philadelphia, washington, new york, new haven, boston, there are just too many people like me. i feel like people in this american society i’ve lived are not people. they’re more like ants, all alike, all storing food for the winter, all in an inexorable rut that is both wearing and aimless. i don’t know exactly what i wnt, but i least i know that that i don’t want.
my train is approaching geneva. i don’t want to go without at least summarizing the things i’ve done and what still awaits me in my journey in europe. my activities in grenoble are reduced to very few things: pigging out (especially on cheese and chocolate! and of course, pains au chocolat and croissants aux amandes! mmmh), drinking wine every single dinner (yummy), swimming, playing with tilka and the tilkitos (you have to see the videos, i will upload them soon!!), and of course work on my last two papers for the spring semester. i’m now meeting kristel in geneva, will go to some music festival by the lake, then i’m leaving for stuttgart tomorrow, meet chicho, sebas, and hector there, then drive up to nuremberg to get ready for mexico’s first world cup match against iran!!!
i’m getting more excited about this whole world cup thing by the minute! too bad i didn’t get to see the first match (in fact, it’s happening right now). at least i got to see federer in the semifinal at roland garros.
and as i cross the french-swiss border, i’m wearing my swiss flag t-shirt. will be cheering for you at the final, roger! go kill’em!
my stay in france was spectacular. it was a combination of meeting again with my past, desiring things for my future, and getting a break from the present. one evening, madame masrobian came home for dinner. she has been moeke’s piano teacher for years now, taught francis too, and helped me once or twice in my piano entry contest at the conservatory. francis always said she was chiante (literally, shitting), and i often agreed, but she is incredibly nice and i was most surprised when i picked up the phone and she talked to me for like 15 minutes, asking how my life was, what i was doing, etc. monique invited her for dinner only because she kept asking about me and when she came over, she continued with her questions with the utmost interest and not in an irritating way. we even spoke about daniel berthez, a piano teacher that heard me play once when i was playing randomly in one of the classrooms at the conservatory. i was playing mozart’s rondo alla turca, and he interrupted me and yelled at me, “non! non! c’est comme ca” and showed me how it should be correctly played. when he learned who i was (some random mexican who always loved playing piano but never was able to afford proper lessons), he suggested i entered the contest and said he would help me a couple of times at no charge. and he helped me voluntarily and never charged me a dime. il a vendu son appart de cours beriat et il n’habite plus grenoble. and that’s the last news i heard from professeur berthez.
my visit also made me realize that i want to live in a city like grenoble: big but not huge, walkable, and pretty. a river (with water) is a plus. i’d like to be near places where i can go hiking and that has good weather. nonetheless, i keep talking about going back to monterrey. is it just the family thing? after almost 8 years in the states i’ve begun to miss my life there. i wouldn’t exactly call it “home sickness” although the symptoms are undeniably similar. but there’s more to it. it’s the realization that you’ve been going places incessantly for years, always restless, and the only real relationships you have are your family and a couple of friends here and there—and most often that not, there and not here. you can keep jumping from one place to another. you become an increasingly integrated member of this global society, a true world citizen. and then what? when does it stop? i’ve had enough of that.
but then i think my desire to go back is just a self-defeat in my struggle to become a better, more social, more educated, more complete, and successful person. but all of those things—save the success part—either i am already or i just can’t be, at least not as long as the restiveness goes on. success is a different animal where i live, relative to where i am from. in philadelphia, washington, new york, new haven, boston, there are just too many people like me. i feel like people in this american society i’ve lived are not people. they’re more like ants, all alike, all storing food for the winter, all in an inexorable rut that is both wearing and aimless. i don’t know exactly what i wnt, but i least i know that that i don’t want.
my train is approaching geneva. i don’t want to go without at least summarizing the things i’ve done and what still awaits me in my journey in europe. my activities in grenoble are reduced to very few things: pigging out (especially on cheese and chocolate! and of course, pains au chocolat and croissants aux amandes! mmmh), drinking wine every single dinner (yummy), swimming, playing with tilka and the tilkitos (you have to see the videos, i will upload them soon!!), and of course work on my last two papers for the spring semester. i’m now meeting kristel in geneva, will go to some music festival by the lake, then i’m leaving for stuttgart tomorrow, meet chicho, sebas, and hector there, then drive up to nuremberg to get ready for mexico’s first world cup match against iran!!!
i’m getting more excited about this whole world cup thing by the minute! too bad i didn’t get to see the first match (in fact, it’s happening right now). at least i got to see federer in the semifinal at roland garros.
and as i cross the french-swiss border, i’m wearing my swiss flag t-shirt. will be cheering for you at the final, roger! go kill’em!
posted by adrián at 11:30
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home