Quatre Semaines a Paris

Well, that’s that. Outta Sri Lanka, outta Europe, back in the US, which I must say feels as unreal to me (after ten days) as any place else I’ve been in the world. Actually, in many ways more unreal since the US floats through the world in a bubble of its own making, blithely ignorant of what so much of the rest of the world experiences and lives. Here we still drive hummers and SUVs and don’t ponder that ignoring all speed limits burns gas far more rapidly…at the same time as we expend more energy screaming about gas prices than lobbying our congresspeople to invest in public transit (duh) or letting AAA know we think they’re evil for not having gotten behind higher public spending on pubtrans decades ago, and lower subsidies for roads, armies in Iraq, and all else that prioritizes individuals behind the wheels of cars, rather than in seats on trains. Duh. Enough soap box for now, and sorry to start that way…it’s just, the US and its issues are sometimes so unreal to me.

The Musee d'Orsay remains one of my very favorite places in Paris, and it's clearly been added to Mom's favorites list. Above you see the view from within the clock of this former train station now housing one of the world's finest collections of art, including the ever-popular impressionists; look closely and you'll see runners in the Paris marathon on the other side of the Seine: this was a great vantage from which to enjoy the marathon! I take this opportunity to remind you that I listen and respond to my beloved readers. Ever-loyal and supportive Ondrej commented some months ago that he wants to see "Paul here, Paul there..." so here you have the first of many self-portraits I took during this period: me reflected in mirrors while taking in the cultural highlights of the museum. Rather artistic, don't you think? :-)

To answer the most FAQs I’ve had since returning: Yes, I’m done with MSF for the time being. Yes, I’ll be heading back out with MSF, most likely in the fall (Sept) and most likely somewhere in Africa. Most likely for six months or so. Yes, it’s definitely the right thing for me at this point in my life. Yes, I do get a bit lonely every now and then and it’d be nice to find someone (a gay someone, that is, preferably cute but if wishes were fishes…) as interested in the (out there) world as I am. No, I don’t think doing the work I do makes it any less likely I’ll meet Mr. Right, since staying in LA on the off chance I might meet Mr. Right one glorious day, while doing work that was putting my soul slowly to sleep, wasn’t really working either. Yes, Sri Lanka was depressing and challenging, but I’m incredibly glad I did it and proud that I’ve learned everything I learned there. Yes, it was hard and sad to leave China so suddenly, especially just when my Chinese reading and writing were making major headway…and no, I’ve hardly done anything with my Chinese since last August. Yes, I’ll be in LA all summer. I’m incredibly tired, even seven weeks after leaving Sri Lanka, and I need to just settle in some place where I can sleep and have no obligations, no responsibilities, no one needing anything from me.

That summarizes the answers I’ve given almost everyone since landing. Can I sign off now?

Nah, I guess I’ll say a bit about the Europe trip. :-) ColomboàDubaiàParis went reasonably well; despite a four-hour delay leaving Colombo in the aftermath of the below-mentioned small-aircraft strike on the air base next to the CMB airport, I just barely made the connection at DXB and landed on time at CDG. Debriefing at MSF Paris: check, a good experience all round. Ten days of class at MSF: check, a chance to talk about humanitarian issues (gosh, my French really must be getting better) with other folks who’ve been facing similar issues, and to put them in broader context and with some historical considerations.

Then Mom came in to celebrate her birthday! And this is what you’ll be looking at: pictures of Paris and what we saw there; Switzerland, Germany and Holland and what I saw there after escorting Mom back to CDG for her return flight to NYC and so on and so forth and so on. There’ll be captions explaining most of what you’re seeing…and if you have questions, drop a comment on the blog and look again a day or two later, and you shall see a response from yours truly.

Long time readers of SMW, SLT will recognize Max, my former head of mission in China who's now settled with his wonderful family back in Paris, where he works for Action Against Hunger and Delphine works with MSF HQ. I think Mom really enjoyed meeting a lot of my Paris friends...and I'm only sad I didn't get pix of our outings with Thierry, Judith & Xavier, and Xavier & Delphine. (Yeah, reading the list of my friends, you get an idea of what names were popular in France 30 years ago or so, huh?)

Before it all gets stale, I want to ponder a few developed world vs. developing world “top ten” type lists. I’m stunned that so much time has zoomed by since leaving Colombo, and I’ve chosen to use my last full afternoon in NYC sitting in a café with reliable WiFi in order to post all these photos and these thoughts so that I can cross this off the to-do list, thus leaving me free for other items on said list while I visit Steve in Pittsburgh and then do my whistle-stop drive back across the country, re-accreting all the detritus that I deposited in basements in Pennsylvania and Ohio 2-1/2 years ago so that it can then be unceremoniously dumped back in that lovely storage space in Marina del Rey. I’ve realized the summer, too, will pass too rapidly and all too soon I’ll be off in Chad, Central African Republic, Niger or Democratic Republic of Congo trying to figure out what it means to be a field coordinator as opposed to an administrator. So better get this done while I still can!

I met a wonderful smart and handsome guy named Marc (see, Lola, I DO try...) on Easter Sunday, and the next day we took a walking tour throug the Paris he wanted to show me. The photos of me nicely posed on a bridge over the Seine (above), and in front of La Colonne at Place Vendome and the Palais de Justice (below) were taken by him. Sadly, we lost touch after that. :-(

What I realized I love about the developed world (European version):

--great trains that run on time

--bathrooms in the trains that are other than disgusting

--plentiful supplies of toilet paper in said bathrooms

--drinking water straight from the tap!

--ability, even in larger cities, to go for extended runs without asphyxiating oneself

--tennis on television!!!!!!

--supermarkets full of great cheeses, pastas, sauces

--many varieties of olives! (Colombo featured green and black, period; some Beijing foreign-food marts would have kalamata or imported Italian olives of OK quality)

--clean streets usually free of dog souvenirs

--the ability to be anonymous, since my skin color doesn’t make me stand out

What I (already) miss about the developing world:

-whole families coming home from work and school together on one motorcycle

--negotiable pricing in most places

--outdoor fruit and vegetable markets that kick butt

--vibrant community life on the streets, even in the big cities: from Beijing grandpas in their pj’s out walking their birdcages in the morning, to the neighborhood cricket boys in Colombo and everything in between

--bicycle fish vendors in Sri Lanka’s towns and villages

--learning new things every single day

-- the sense of being special because my skin color makes me stand out

After two days of debriefing in Paris, I hopped Eurostar for a weekend at Peter’s place (thanks, as always, Peter) in London. Watching the rolling green fields slide past outside my window, I realized I’d also missed the kind of rolling green glaciated landscapes in which I’d grown up. Though Sri Lanka and China are both remarkably beautiful and I was constantly thrilled and excited to live and learn in them, and indeed I came to feel at home in so many ways, somehow they were always alien landscapes that my heart knew weren’t really mine, so to speak. I hope you enjoy these pictures. A few friends have informed me they’re eager to see the updates, and I’ve certainly been eager to get them up here. I have no idea if I plan to post over the summer or not. Consider me on summer vacation, from the blog as from all other obligations, until further notice. Get in touch personally, if you’d like to: I’m sure I’d love to hear from you.

Mom and I took a boat tour on the Seine, giving us a chance to see the city from river-level and get to know the bridges up close and personal. I've run by the river many times but hadn't previously been on it.

One of many advantages to working with a Paris-based organization is that I get many friends who live in Paris, and get to spend enough time with and around them that I get to know neighborhoods that are off the tourist map. Above and below: views of the St. Antoine canal and its locks. Also above: Chateau de Vincennes seen from the Bois de Vincennes, and a monument you might recognize. :-)

Mom and I had a great deal of fun exploring the city. The early- morning bridge by the Grand Palais is from an easter- morning run I took before Mom arrived, but the other three - rather obviously - are from our time together. Notre Dame looked especially lovely surrounded by blossoming trees which were encouraged by the incredibly unseasonal warmth and dryness that France (along with Germany and Switzerland) were experiencing throughout my entire trip.

Notre Dame's famous rose window.

The Cathedral at Chartres

Scary images to threaten evil-doers up on the clock tower, and views of the fields around town seen from up top.

Tiny (and Beautiful!) Liechtenstein

Having been obsessed, as a stamp- collecting child in landlocked southern Ohio, by the world's smallest countries, it came as a special treat to me to realize that "tiny" Liechten- stein is within easy day-trip reach of Zurich, where I was based for five days after Paris. (The "tiny" comes from a fragment Carrie remembers from a sports announcer who used the adjective in describing the home country of an Olympic skier at some point.) The country is idea: goregous, easily seen in one day with a bus bas for the Liechtenstein bus system, and just generally cute and fun. For an extra fee at the post office, you can get your passport stamped, but at the borders you're unlikely to see any Liechtenstein authorities. Though the Austrians, when I made the mistake of walking too far down the road toward the border and then asking a question about a monument to "the events of 1945" involving the Russians, did take a great interest in my passport. Must be a boring assignment, the Liechtenstein border.

Factoids about the country: it's in between Austria and Switzerland, on the upper Rhein (the wide riverbed with only a little water in it is the Rhein; that it was so low in mid-April tells you how bad the summer may be in Europe); it has its own ski area (you'll see some shots below, both of the ski area and of the Rhein seen from high up) near the highest point, which is something like 2500 meters or so. I feel a bit bad about putting this ahead of my Zurich shots...but after all, how often do you get to see pictures from Liechtenstein? :-)