The Dentist

(Picture taken from: http://tillsaly.blogg.se/images/2010/1573625485_69074323.jpg)

The 27th of October I broke a part of a tooth and called the dentists in town.

The first told me that he couldn't receive me until after New Year, in January or February, the second that she had a waiting-list so long that it would last 20 months(!) before I could come to her but I could of course sign on to the waiting-list if I wanted.

The third was a dentist my wife adviced against visiting as she had a bad experience of him.

Now it lasted only one dentist on my list, a dentist that my mother-in-law adviced against.
Well, I had to visit someone. I had no pain in my mouth but I didn't feel like waiting until it got worse.

I called him and to my surprise I got an appointment the day after!! Warning, warning!!

I came there and first of all the clinic stank cigarette smoke, though it came from a adjoining room and this in spite of the fact that French law forbid smoking in the workplaces, not least when working with health care!

In the waiting room I met a woman in the 50's and soon we were joined by a young woman who just came out from the dentists room.

The other woman entered the room and after a couple of minutes we heard her first moan but the moaning got worse and suddenly she screamed with pain while we heard the dentist try to shut her down:
"Shh Madame, shh...!"

The young woman looked at me in a desperate way and it looked as if she wanted to leave.

Then it was my turn and after some explanations concerning my name, not to easy to pronounce or write for the French, the dentist started the 'work' in my mouth.

Normally though, one examine the tooth, take an x-ray/exograph and then try to mend it.
He, on the contrary, started to examine my tooth, puting something into it and then took the exograph!

After this he established that the coralroots in my tooth wasn't totally cured and that he had to continue his work at another occasion.

After this visit I got a pain in my tooth, something that hadn't bothered me before.
Luckily - through my mother-in-law - I came to another dentist and he couldn't decide what kind of 'stuff' his colleague had put in my tooth but he examined it and put something else in the tooth, making the pain go away.
I will continue the work later on in November.

Now it feels better and I surely have more confidence in this dentist than in the other!

La Châtre de A à Z

At the same time as I'm reading about the life lead by Franz Kafka during his last year, as depicted in his diaries, continuing to read about Scandinavian literature, I also try to combine these readings by taking a look in the above book written by Solange Dalot, among other things a member of L'Academie du Berry.
As I very much would like to work with promoting the cultural life in La Châtre, Berry and Le Centre - as one call the central parts of France - I've penetrated some books about different aspects of the history of this town.

Earlier I've - among other books - read 'Les racines de George Sand' (below) telling the story about the family roots of George Sand.
It was an interesting book giving me insight into some parts of the French history and the importance some of Sands relatives played in the shaping of France.

(Picture taken from: http://livre.fnac.com/a2409943/Solange-Dalot-La-Chatre-de-A-a-Z)

(Picture taken from: http://www.amisdegeorgesand.info/jouve1.html)

Dracula dans la forteresse de Cluis-Dessous

In the fortress of Cluis-Dessous, an old beautiful ruin, the amateur theatre group - or association - called Le Manteau d'Arlequin, staged the classical story about the blood sucking Dracula, first and foremost known through the book by Bram Stoker.

Briefly about the group: They were founded in 1920 under the name of Société Musicale et Lyrique, changed the name to le Cercle Lyrique before taking the name they now use.

They have won several competitions for amateur theatre groups, held in Montluçon and Vichy.

The performance of the evening kept itself very much to the book by Stoker but it also had references to the film by Francis Ford Coppola, who in turn is very loyal to the original book.
The night and all its shadows and the castle ruins, of course created an ambience worthy the content.
No microphones were used wherefore the actors sometimes had to spek out more loudly than the situation demanded, taking in to consideration the content of the story.
On the other hand music interleaved the change of scenes and prerecorded sound was used in a very comic way. E.g. when someone dropped a cup the sound was amplified making it sound as if a whole store of porcelains were knocked about.
On the whole a well staged performance ending at one o'clock in the night.

I apologize for the bad quality of the photos, taken with an iPhone without zoom.


























































(Photo poster copied from: http://a34.idata.over-blog.com/314x500/2/79/27/64/FINAL-AFFICHE-DRACULA-4.jpg)

George et Fanchette

...directed by Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe is a TV-film we started looking at (first episode) telling the story about the author George Sand (Ariane Ascaride) and how she took care of a young woman - Fanchette (Anaïs Demoustier) - who is analphabetic.

Fanchette works in the house of Sand at Nohant and it's through this circumstance that Sand becomes aware of her inability to read and write.

For an author like Sand where every word is precious and where she coudln't live without writing, this is of course worse than if Fanchette had been struck by a disease!

Through hard work she tries to bring her into the world of letters and sentences.

At the same time we get to meet the daughter of George Sand - Solange (Françoise Gillard) - and also the son - Maurice (Raphaël Personnaz) and of course Frédéric Chopin (Fabrice Pruvost).

In this series one displays the conflicts between George Sand and her daughter. George Sand could be very harsch against Solange and it's known that she prefered Maurice but on the other hand, a mother preferring her son(s) is not to uncommon.

Solange - on the other hand - is somewhat spoiled although one also can understand the frustration she endures when asking favours from her mother, answered with a 'no' and at the same time seeing how her mother supports 'the whole artistic world', almost.

The acting is good and Anaïs Demoustier has also acted in Les grandes personnes, (among other films) the film Aurore was engaged in as a production assistant and we both worked with the translation of the script.

For the local population in La Châtre and Berry this story is of course the more interesting as this really is the 'George Sand-site' number one in the world.

(Photo copied from: http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2009/07/21/c4acab0a-75d8-11de-b11e-bfc12359e343.jpg)

Ambassadeur touristique de l'Indre

I've finally received the so called Carte de membre du Club des Ambassadeurs, making me Ambassadeur touristique de l'Indre!

This is a result of the education I followed in La Châtre; Visa Accueil Tourisme, giving the participants a deeper knowledge concerning tourism in France from a more general point of view and Le Centre in particular.

This includes information concerning the cultural heritage in all its diversity (castles, churches, monasteries and other interesting sites; music, literature, film etc etc.) and how to improve the welcoming of tourists in this very region.

With this card I'm able to visit a great number of different sites in the center of France and this for free. Of course it's meant that I shall invite my friends or other people I know coming to visit us in La Châtre and so I will, now being an 'expert' in the field!

(Photo copied from: http://www.espritberry.fr/tourisme-collaboratif/)

Verification number two

Today we went through the different parts of the car, exteriorally, including those under the bonnet.
This was - of course - somewhat more difficult than the interior parts and it's very important to give detailed answers, in order not to lose points during the exam.
As the test has changed there are a lot of details the inspectors will look very closely at.
When it comes to driving economically or ecologically, this is required of us (as I wrote in connection to verification number one). The problem - not such a small one - is that none of the teachers or inspectors know what this actually means as they have no schooling concerning this requirement!


(Photo car copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8CLISME7gqZWl9yyk_p84D_7tSfyU-Jj-paulVo0exCFhkstAiqTwGk9X5rgs43OOtbcRbj34VQnz3HnkIEpLLoNhCtHUeB9_O_RLGWFTngbFtqTJwb9_LPYmjnAnlPfrCgUSw/s400/Dsc00244.jpg)

Vérification number one

Today I made a theoretical test at Auto Ecole Chauvet in La Châtre, concerning the different parts of the car, interiorally.

This meant finding different buttons and indicators and so on.

We were four persons, three young french women and me.

The problem is that I sometimes misunderstand or confuse different words referring to different functions on the car.

The test went well however and now I will wait until I get back from my visits to Paris and Rouen (11-21/3), for another four or five driving lessons, another theoretical test and the examination in april.

New rules concerning the examination has been launched, meaning that the inspectors very closely will look at our 'economical' or 'ecological' driving among other things.

(Photo car copied from: https://www.novaweb.fr/component/expautospro/detail/49229/nos-marques/citroen/ds)

The Birthday of Frédéric Chopin

Aujourd'hui, nous fêtons le 'deuxième' anniversaire de Frédéric Chopin. 
Selon son acte de naissance, il était né le 22 février mais selon d'autres sources, le 1 Mars.
Les sources indiquant la date ultérieure, estiment que l'acte de naissance est une falsification, donc nous célébrons Chopin aussi bien le 22 février qu'aujourd'hui !    

Today we celebrate the 'second' birthday of Chopin.

According to his birth certificate he was born the 22nd of February but according to other sources the 1st of March.

The latter sources say that his birth certificate is false and therefore we celebrate him both the 22nd of February and today!

(Picture Chopin copied from: https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/culture-loisirs/l-oeuvre-de-chopin-bientot-accessible-gratuitement-sur-internet-1517395019)

First day at the driving school

How come I haven't had a driving license and why do I need it now?

The answer to the first question is that when living in Sweden and notably Stockholm, I never had any use of a car, as I used the public transports like subway, buses, tramways and so forth.

As I've lived most of my life in Stockholm, I have never had to think about getting a driving license and this is of course something very positive from an environmental perspective and also from a health perspective.

I used to bike a lot and this in the center of Stockholm too.

In La Châtre, the need for a driving license is much more urgent as the public transports are insufficient.

Of course there are buses but they are not close to where I live and they depart and arrive very irregularly.

With these buses one can go to Châteauroux where there are trains departing to Paris and other parts of France. Châteauroux is however 36 or more kilometers from La Châtre which means it takes quite some time getting there.

If one work in another town in Le Centre, it might be necessary to change to another bus again and so forth.

Most offers concerning jobs have been situated at least 20-25 kilometers from La Châtre and therefore I feel obliged to have a driving license.

I don't have a car but I have the possibility lending one if needed.

I will however try to use the bike during the spring, summer and autumn.

My teacher has estimated that I need around 25-30 lessons. We'll see if this is correct or if I need more or - hopefully - less.

(Photo Koenigsegg copied from: http://www.villiard.com/images/voitures/10-automobiles/Koenigsegg-CCX.jpg)

(Photo ancient bicycle copied from: http://www.hotels-paris-rive-gauche.com/blog/images/Amars/004-VELO.jpg)

Le Code de la Route

Today I passed my theoretical test preparing for my driving license.

I'm very satisfied as French is not my mother tongue and all the terminology and expressions are totally different from the Swedish equivalents - of course!

The above question did not constitute a part of the test however!

Tomorrow I will start my driving lessons.

Look out citizens of La Châtre!!

1810-2010 Frédéric Chopin

This year we are celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Frédéric Chopin!

I say 'we' as I'm now living in France and he is regarded as a French even if he was born in Poland (1810) and came to live in France in 1830. On the other hand he spent his first twenty years in Poland and Austria and the last nineteen in France, whereby it's quite relevant to call him a naturalized Frenchman.

In the parts where I live - that is to say Région Centre, Berry and notably La Châtre - Chopin is present almost everywhere. This not only connected to the home of the great author George Sand in Nohant but also in names of roads, shops, restaurants etc. alluding to his name.

The bicentennial is observed in other parts of the world too and for more information you can take a look at this site: Chopin 2010.

Chopin Concerto Nr. 2 Op 21 Arthur Rubinstein:

In Nohant however - the home of George Sand (one of them and the most important) - there have been a Chopin music festival every year since 1997, called Rencontres Internationales Frédéric Chopin.

2010 is - of course - by no mean an exception and it will surely become an extraordinary festival this very special year!

The festival takes place between 4th and 14th of June and the organizers are Association Musique au Pays de George Sand.

Chopin came to Nohant in 1839 and he there composed two-third of his œuvres and - as many would say - not least some of his very best!

George Sand was - besides a fantastic author, writer of plays and literature critic and so on - a maecenas without whom a lot of writers and musicians, notably Chopin, wouldn't have survived.

Between the 9th and 12th of July there will be a seminar arranged in Nohant and at the same time a ceremony inaugurating a memorial sign, a concert hall and a special site in Nohant bearing the name of Chopin.

For a comprehensive information concerning the events in France, take a look at Chopin2010. Manifestations en France dans le cadre de l'Année Chopin 2010 a l'occasion du bicentenaire de la naissance de Frédéric Chopin.

If you love music and the music of Frédéric Chopin you will find a lot to look at and listen to in France and not least Berry and Nohant!

(Photo Chopin copied from: http://www.classiquenews.com/images/articles/8oLjvcpw_M_Frederic_chopin.jpg)

(Photo copyright: http://s1.e-monsite.com/2009/06/29/02/62585098-maison-george-de-georges-sand-jpg.jpg)

L'Echo du Berry and ME

A week ago (10/12) monsieur Frédéric Merle - a journalist in the regional newspaper L'Echo du Berry - called me to ask if I would like to be interviewed concerning how I felt about being a Swede living in France and especially Région Centre and La Châtre.

The newspaper L'Echo du Berry do this kind of interviews with people coming from different parts of the world, moving to and establishing themselves in France and especially Le Berry/Région Centre.

These interviews are centred around some main subjects and in my case these were:

-Equality/L'égalité -Politeness/La politesse
-The social life/La vie sociale
-The countryside/La campagne
-The culture and the traditions
-The drinking/La boisson
-The bureaucracy/La bureaucratie
-The 'Swedish model'/Le modèle suédois d'aide social.

Concerning equality I said that I had found a certain ambiguity between the declarations of the French republique and the reality. In reality the hierarchies are more elaborated here than in Sweden.
I believe - without being able to relate to a more profound experience of the French society - that it's easier to get in contact with decision makers and politicians in Sweden than in France.
Of course I related to Sweden, partly because this is the only experience I can relate to partly because monsieur Merle wanted me to compare the two countries.

Politeness was an issue that came up spontaneously.
I talked about the differences in the way we great and adress each other in Sweden and in France.
In Sweden everyone says 'you' in a more intimate way ('tutoyer').
In English speaking countries one uses 'you' both when knowing someone well and when being more of strangers to each other but everyone knows when it's used and what it means in a certain context.
In France - as we know - as in many other countries, it's a difference between 'toi/tu' and 'vous', the latter more formal and used when adressing people you don't know to well or elderly people. The former used between friends and relatives.
However the 'vous' is often combined with a more polite behaviour, in my opinion.
My impression from the visits to and my stay in France is that people in general are more polite than Swedes and not least in comparison with the inhabitants of Stockholm, known to be rather unpolite.
In France it's always 'bonjour', 'bonsoir', 'merci', 'pardon', excusez-moi' etc. and even if one can claim that this is only a superficial behaviour, I personally feel that it's genuine, expressing respect for other people creating a more respectful atmosphere.
Of course this can be exaggerated when it comes to the previosly mentioned hierarchies but every behaviour has its negative sides.

Under the headline The social life I told the reporter that I found it easier to get in contact with people in France or at least on the countryside.
One are often invited spontanously to someone or someone rings the door bell wanting to say hello and offered something to drink or eat.
In Sweden this is much more complicated (maybe less in the countryside), often preceded by planning and fixed days and dates.

The country side was a headline under which I declared that I found it very surprising to discover that a small town like La Châtre, had a cinema, a theater, a museum, five super markets, a lot of different stores with all kinds of products.
In a town of the same size in Sweden (4500 inhabitants) you can't find more than a gaz station and a kiosk in which you can buy some hot dogs, at the most.
Otherwise you have to travel to the nearest major town and this could be ten, twenty or more kilometres away.

I also talked about the culture and traditions stating that the patrimony/cultural heritage is more important in France than in Sweden. My expericnce is that culture per se - in all its diversity - is much more important here than in Sweden.
In Sweden I feel that culture partly only funtion as distraction and amusement to some extent being used as a way of gaining positive results on the international market when it comes to export and import industries.
In France this might be the case too but the over all importance of cultural expressions in all its different forms tends to be more accentuated here than in Sweden - unfortunately from a Swedish point of view.

When it comes to drinking habits I told the reporter that Sweden was a part of the so called 'Vodka belt' or 'Aquavit-belt' incorporating the other Nordic countries, the Baltic countries, Russia, Polen and some other countries near us.
This implies that Swedes in general drink heavily during week-ends and mostly liquor.
In France the drinking is more focused on wine and less on heavier alcohol and one drink the wine when eating and mostly in moderate proportions. This is of course a truth with modification but a general overview would surely support this my opinion.
In Sweden there has however been some changes the last fifteen-twenty years, meaning that we drink more 'cultivated' but still the 'week-end booze' is the general drinking habit.

The bureaucracy is more elaborated in France - at least from my experience - and this is again probably related to the stronger hierarchial structures in society, combined with more decisional levels.

Lastly we talked about the 'Swedish model', up til this day a very significant trade mark of the Swedish society, so it seems.
I told monsieur Merle that the Swedish model has been under strong revision the last fifteen-twenty years and that the present government wants to make more changes in this system.
The Swedish government is using the so called 'working model' or 'back to work as fast as possible-model' meaning that they want to avoid people falling deeper into a social welfare system, passivating them.
This is something that links France and Sweden together.
The former social welfare system guaranteed people a certain amount of money and standard even if they were unemployed but sometimes this could continue for years, meaning that people lost their ability to strive for a job or a better life.
The social welfare system also implied that people having problems with drugs or/and other social problems where guaranteed a certain amount of money paying for their rent, light, telephone, travelling tickets (in order to visit the job centers and other authorities). It even guaranteed a newspaper.
These civic rights are under considerable change today though.

This interview came about thanks to one of the participants in the GRETA education (look at my blog) I participated in. She had informed the newspaper about this very rare specimen, called a Swede!
I think I'm one out of two Swedes in La Châtre and there are not more than 15-30 000 Swedes in the whole of France (the figures differs), to my knowledge.
This being compared with the 100 000 Swedes living in the London area!


(Picture logotype L'Echo du Berry copied from: http://www.ch-stamand.fr/Actualites/echo%20berry.jpg)

GRETA La Châtre 1+8/12

Education at GRETA.

What is Greta?

Well it's not a woman from Germany but a group of public educational centers for adults. These educations are complementary to other previous studies and not directed to people who is in need of catching up with school or university studies they previously missed.

The specific education I'm now attending concerns the tourism in the central region of France - Région Centre - (Visa Accueil Tourisme) but also take a wider grip on tourism as a phenomena.

The primary goal is to give the participants good and profound knowledge about Région Centre and its different tourist attractions, cultural heritage and to simplify and ameliorate the welcoming of tourists and all this in order to augment the interest for this region.

As tourism is an essential source of income it's important to take advantage of the great interest people around the world bear for France, its culture, history, food and landscapes.

The knowledge about tourism also implies getting to know some of the habits and traditions in different countries and how people from these countries usually prefer being welcomed.

This includes such things as what they prefer to eat, how they like to be addressed and not least learning some phrases in different languages.

As you know the French are seldom willing to learn nor appreciating speaking other languages but French! 

I know that one of the participants at the course objected to this and therefore displayed that he could both speak and read English and even learnt some phrases in Swedish! To be honest there where other participants who also spoke English, some German and Dutch.

Generally however the attitude has been: Either you learn French or you will be lost (somewhat exaggerated).

We got to listen to people talking English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese and was also given the opportunity to learn some useful phrases in these languages.

France is the leading 'tourist country' in the world with about 78 million visitors every year! This is quite impressing.

Most tourists however stay in Paris or near the Alpes or the Mediterranean Sea and this is a pity as other parts of France do offer a lot of interesting sights and events, not least Région Centre!

If you look at our blog (auroregunnar.blogspot.com) you will find a small collection of the many interesting sites to visit in the region.

At first the education was to last three days and three hours each time, but as our teacher couldn't make it the third date, we met for almost six hours the second and last time, 8th of December.

This the last meeting also became a formidable feast where each and everyone had brought something to eat and drink! Mon Dieu! This is one of the things I like about France: Food is culture and the participants had brought pies of different kinds, sausages, pâtés, wine and even champagne! This would never happen in Sweden!

We got to learn a lot about the region and we discussed not only the different sites to visit, like castles, churches and events but also talked about music, literature, film and a lot more.

I think this was a very useful education and after finishing the lesson we got our Visa Accueil Tourisme, proving that we had participated in these courses.

We all decided to meet the 8th of January in the home of one of the participants, to eat and drink and conduct further discussions concerning how to promote Région Centre and the different cities and sites in the region.

This education can be supplemented next year if one wants to become a 'tourist ambassador'.

Some information concerning GRETA in French:

Visa Accueil Tourisme: 3 séances pour:

- Connaître les enjeux du tourisme en Région Centre

- S’impliquer dans l’accueil de touristes étrangers rencontrés sur son territoire

- Connaître les potentiels touristiques de la Région Centre

- Conseiller les touristes étrangers

- Acquérir et pratiquer le vocabulaire de base de l’accueil en langues étrangères.

Papillons...

...dans le Berry

Berry Movies

At the EPIPAPU festival we also met with Florent Choffel (above) one of the initiators of the short film festival Berry Movies.

The criterias for participating in the competition are - in short(!) - that you should not be a professional film maker and you don't have to be a berrichon, not even French! Welcome!

BERRY MOVIES