On Saturday Marissa and I took our time getting out of bed, made a couple of phone calls and decided to leave the hotel around noon. Our plans of the day consisted of a rendez-vous at the hotel at 3:30pm with Madame Genevieve Kourchid, the former host-mother of my neighbor in New York, and the birthday party at 8pm. We decided to eat locally so we could get back to the hotel in time.
We sat in the lobby waiting for Genvieve. She arrived and we sat down altogether and talked about Lyon, about my situation, and about where she lives. It turns out she was more than happy to let me stay with her for the week, and she was kind enough to store Marissa’s two big suitcases for the week while she is in Italy. Right then and there we packed my suitcase and backpack and drove over to her apartment in a suburb of the 5eme (I have been living out of a duffle bag so all my stuff was untouched and ready for transport). We met one of her friends in another building and continued to her apartment. Marissa and I decided to take the bus from her apartment back to the centre (only about a 15-20 minute bus right). We got off at Bellecour (a central part of town) and started our walk back to the hotel. On one of the main streets, Victor Hugo, we ran into three guys who bombarded us with an electronic scale, I know…where could this story be going, right? One was dress in a gold gown with a gold hat and the others were just really loud and obnoxious. Marissa and I tried to keep walking but they kept stepping in front of us. They asked to weigh us (how rude!) and as we kindly declined they became more and more insistent saying that it wouldn’t matter because (after they found out we were American) the units were kilos not pounds. We finally got passed the majority of them…but there was one man who kept walking with us. He apparently was captivated by the fact that we were American and kept repeating, I’ll let you go for a kiss (again, how rude!). He kept grabbing my arm and I kept saying, do not touch me! Apparently there was a group of girls watching that were about to step in. We finally were freed from that situation and actually befriended a young girl (student), who had seen the whole situation. She explained that it was a bachelor party and they meant not harm (AKA they were completely wasted and probably didn’t even realize how silly they were acting). Anyway, I figured, although that wasn’t a good experience it was coupled with meeting a really nice stranger on the street who was able to explain the situation and reassure us that it was not an everyday thing. Marissa and I just looked at each other after the entire fiasco and just started laughing, it was one more story that would shape our experience in Lyon.
We rested a bit in the hotel room before we left for the birthday party. We decided (because of what we knew of American birthday parties) that we would have dinner before then head over ‘fashionably late.’ We took the metro up to the 4eme (near Matthieu’s apartment) and chose to eat at Café des Voyageurs. Like a true francaise I ordered a hamburger! We had a wonderful waiter and the food was delicious. The restaurant was packed because there was a futbol (soccer) game on. I am quickly realizing I should start following futbol so I’m ready to participate in sports discussions. As we finished eating we looked at our watches and it was nearly 8:30pm. We decided to ask for the check and hustle over to the party. I told Marissa it could go one of two ways, either there are a bunch of people there talking, drinking, and laughing and we will blend right in or everyone will be sitting down chatting and we will be the Americans who are blatantly late. Well it wasn’t quite either situation…we were actually the first ones there. As we walked into the common area and there was a table full of food and drinks… Well now we know how a party is conducted here. We had bought a card for Matthieu saying “Joyeux Anniversaire, Thank you for being our first friend in Lyon.” It turns out he had made guacamole, a rice/tuna/olive/herb dish, quiche lorraine, and had different dips such as carrot, celery, and pea. We sat and talked for about a half hour until the other guests arrived. Everyone was very nice…and everyone else brought something (dried fruit, nuts, cookies, and other drinks…another thing we learned about a party in France). It was a very international crowd (Italian, Ukrainian, French, American…). It wasn’t quite a rager, but we had a good time. It was definitely a sit down party with discussion and some jokes. We discussed the difficulty of finding an apartment and also the option of squatting (not to worry I’m not about to go that route). BUT apparently, it is not entirely illegal to squat here and between the months of November and January a landlord cannot throw you out of a building. Later in the evening Matthieu brought his “chair” (a beer crate) over to Marissa and I to talk to his new friends. I think the best moment of the night was when Marina (the girl from the Ukraine) asked Matthieu how we all knew each other… As he explained that we had only met the day before her face was priceless… but I think she soon got over the strangeness of his statement. We learned that Matthieu LOVES film. He works in informatique now but hopes to work in film eventually. You name the film, he knows it. He even buys a monthly pass so he can go to the movies an unlimited number of times without buying individual tickets. Side note: the movies, as of this Wednesday, will be 4 euros. We discussed film for quite a bit. We decided to head back down to our hotel around 11pm. It was a fun party but the metro stopped soon after midnight and Marissa had her flight for Italy the next day and wanted to get everything organized. It was definitely an interesting night, and a great opportunity to not only meet new people but listen to French. It makes such a different when its all around you. All in all it was a good experience but we just could not stop saying, “Did that just happen?”
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