Getting into the swing of things

So, funny story. There's this water problem in my building, where some of the pipes on my side drip within the walls, causing the paint to peel and chip. It's kind of gross, but I've lived in worse conditions, and honestly, if that's the worst thing about my apartment, I consider myself lucky. Anyways, they've been doing work on the building all week, and my landlord said he would come by this morning at 9, or just after they cut off the water, to fix everything. Naturally, I expected him at 9:15 or 9:30. Hence my surprise when he showed up at 8:35 ready to start working. It figures, the one day I actually need every minute of my morning, my landlord decides to be uncharacteristically French and be early, which is actually considered rude here. But that's not even the rude part.

I came back tonight and found the corner of my toilet wall missing, exposing the big pipe that runs through the building (they can't fix it and close it back up the same day - maybe if they didn't take two-hour lunches...), and the pipe that was dripping in the first place, that is STILL DRIPPING onto my toilet which has now lost its seat and cover. Oh yes, and the outlet that was supposed to be fixed is in pieces (i.e. not fixed) and the guys used up a roll of paper towels and toilet paper.

Oh, and the best part about this debacle? There wasn't even a note to explain any of it. After calling my landlord, I found out that the drip will be taken care of tomorrow, although I don't know how, since I'm leaving early; the toilet seat had to be replaced (I assume they broke it, because there was nothing wrong with it in the first place); they were missing a piece for the outlet; and the wall will be put back up next week, as planned.

Now, how hard would it have been to just write that all out? NOT VERY.

In other news.... I've now had all of my classes, and I can say right now that this is not going to be an easy year. Whatever fantasy I had of coming back and redoing my relatively care-free year in Paris has swiftly been kicked to the curb by the mounds of reading, papers, presentations, and other nonsense I have to do for my masters. It'll be nice to be a student again, though, even if it IS all in French and will take twice as long to do.

We went to a "soutenance de thèse" (thesis defense) today that lasted three hours. It was the most boring thing I've ever had to sit through in my entire life, except maybe that one production of Hamlet I saw two years ago, but even there I had something to look at and laugh at. I guess it didn't help that we hadn't read the 700 page dissertation (and nor would I like to) and didn't understand any of what they were saying because of the technical vocabulary, but it was still kind of interesting - in the beginning, before we all started nodding off - to see how they do it, and if anything, it was a good observation opportunity. So much of what was said was formulaic and ritual. "I thank you, sir, for giving me the floor." "No, it is I who thank you." No, I'm not kidding. Directly translated from French, that's what it comes out to. Antiquated, superficial ceremonies that have to be conducted because society deems that they should.

I started thinking about that, how everything here is so superficial or artificial - everything is a ritual or tradition, done out of habit or "politesse" (politeness), but most of it has no relevance to today's culture. Everything from not cutting your salad, never switching the fork and knife when eating meat, to having to fill out mountains of forms just to get a library card - you ask French people why they do it that way, why it's not simpler, and most of them will tell you, "it's just the way things are done." There's no effort for efficacy (or you could say there's too much), just show and tell. Haussmann. It's the same thing. Make all the streets look pretty in order to hide the poor panhandlers and gypsies in the crappy parts of town. Now it's, chop up the buildings inside to make a profit, but don't touch the outside, don't let anyone know you've ruined a 250-year-old edifice. Scarves, shoes, bags - well, anything having to do with commericial culture, obviously. Hosing down the streets every week. Celebrating obsolete holidays. Avoiding very much-needed updates. Saying "bonjour, monsieur," or "au revoir, messieurs-dames." All politeness and pretense.

Ok, so I'm not saying you should be rude. The French aren't rude, actually, when you really look at it. If there's any culture that looks down on impoliteness, it's the French. I actually like it when I'm greeted every time I walk into a store, or when guys hold the door for me or give up their seat on the metro, just out of habit and kindness. Ok, so more out of habit. Sometimes they're nice, though. Sometimes.

I'm thinking about doing my thesis on this. Maybe more on a linguistic level, but I'm more interested in the cultural aspect of it, and how all of these traditions and ceremonies have absolutely no real function today. Or maybe I'll just stick to anglophone theater in Paris. I like that one. Anyways, I could go on for hours. I have thousands of ideas about my thesis, but not just a couple that I could really narrow it down to. I'll figure it out, I guess.

Tomorrow we're going out to Vaux-le-Vicomte, the chateau that apparently inspired Versailles. I've been there, but it'll be cool to go with someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Plus, we get a free meal. I'm all about free French cuisine. As should you be.