Oh La La!!

Sometimes I wish I could record my inner monologue. I just really appreciate my thought process and the way they are so much more poetic than what usually comes out later when I try to describe what I was thinking or what I saw… but since I’m still feeling rather pensive, I’m going to try nonetheless.

A few weeks ago I was speaking with a friend of mine here and we were talking about how we are in two totally different places: I am ready to go home for so many reasons; She is prepared to stay here for a very very long time. She said to me that she is amazed each day that she lives here, in this beautiful city of Lyon; that THIS is her home. I sadly realized that its beauty had slipped out of view and I looked at the city with dread and despair. I’ve been thinking about that a lot since then. I decided that I needed to be on the lookout of Lyon’s beauty- where had it gone?

This being in the back of my head for a few weeks now, I decided a short time ago that one of these days I should walk home from the train station after work instead of taking the bus. It had occurred to me that I spend all my time on buses, metros and trains, in Amberieu and in my apartment. Perhaps Lyon’s beauty wasn’t hiding from me, perhaps I was hiding from it. Today, despite the light right, or maybe because of it, was that day.

I left the train station as normal and as I was walking to the bus stop I decided that I would walk home. The rain was light, the weather was warm enough; there would always be a reason to wait for another day… why not just do it today? So I walked down the street that my bus usually takes. I looked in shop windows; I stopped at a Chocolaterie and bought Hoho-looking thing that was just ok- not the best chocolate I’d ever had, but hey, an experience; I passed about a dozen hair cut places, a dozen pharmacies and a dozen jewelry stores. I walked in the light rain in search of Lyon’s beauty.

I was thinking of getting on the bus and heading home around the time I got to the Rhone. I decided to cross it and get on the metro on the other side- faster. But as I went to cross the river, I found Lyon’s beauty. Here it was: the water, the trees lining the quai, the quai itself, the architecture of the buildings that frame that greenish blue constantly-flowing body. This is where Lyon’s beauty lies, I thought. Here it is, for all to see. For me to see. I stood there on the bridge taking it in, letting the image soak into me like the rain water into my not-so-waterproof shoes. When I started walking again I decided not to take the metro afterall, but to continue walking.

I continued up the quai and then was pleasantly surprised to find FLOWERS!! One of the reasons I have had such a hard time finding beauty I think is because there is almost no GREEN in Lyon—there is a big park in the corner of town and everywhere else they take away the grass and lay down pavement or rust-colored stones. Sad. But here, in between the two sides of the busy street along the river, there was a median filled with green! And not just green, yellow too! And slightly further down MORE flowers had recently been planted. Here it was, more of Lyon’s hidden beauty. Flowers make me smile.

I remembered this place- the 3rd day I was in Lyon I left my safety zone of the Croix-Rousse and walked down the hill to explore Lyon. I had walked the quai until this very spot- from the other direction- and I turned in at this very spot to see a passageway that was stunningly beautiful in its antiquity. The passage and been beautiful to me on that day; it had made me smile and gave me hope for an amazing future ahead. 6 months have gone by and that passageway did no less for me today than it had all that time ago. I smiled and I saw the beauty that I had once appreciated. I reveled in it.

It was at about this time that I decided my heels were starting to hurt (baby heels) and my toes were getting cold from the wet soaking though my shoes and socks. It was finally time to head back to the apartment. But now with a lighter feeling in my heart. I would remember this day and I would be glad. I leave here in 51 days… for the next 51 days I need to remember where I am and to see the beauty in it.


That was, a peu pres, my inner monologue on my way home. But this contemplativeness started much earlier in the day than that. I’m going home in 51 days. And that is so so so so EXCITING!!! For so many reasons!! But I know I’m going to get home and realize that there are things about here that I miss. So I have decided to start thinking of these things now, so I can embrace and enjoy each and every moment of these last 51 days that I can. :)

The List:

*Telling people I live in Lyon and work in Amberieu-en-Bugey and having them tell me it’s really far away… it’s a 25 min. train ride. :)
*Having size be so controlled- because of history, culture and necessity
*The sneaky ways to get “American” products and the excitement that insues when they are found, not even bought, just found!
*The daily train rides- they’re so relaxing and having an hour to myself each day has been lovely!
*Hearing French
*Speaking French
*Pastries and Boulangeries and cheese and inexpensive, delicious wine
*The constant feeling that life is an adventure and the knowledge that everyday is different
*Everything old
*The special- homey feeling that comes when speaking English
*My friends
*The mountains
*Dressing like a professional
*The simultaneous freedom and frustration that comes with NOT being in control (examples: Administration, Transportation, Food Preparation, etc.)
*The closeness that city-living provides for “going out” activities and the ease for meeting up with friends
*Big wide windows with no screens
*Shutters that block out all the light and let you sleep ‘till noon or 1:00 if you want to.
*The feeling/knowledge that I’m experiencing something special that has already and will continue to change me and shape me
*Jam of all flavors… I might cry when I have to return to Smuckers Squeezable Grape Jelly
*The wander-able beauty that is Lyon :)
*the free time
*the rivers
*the faces and gestures that French people make that make me laugh
*And, of course, the “oh la la!!!” Life might just feel slightly incomplete without it :)