IS THERE MORE THAN THIS PROVINCIAL LIFE???

Little town
It's a quiet village
Ev'ry day
Like the one before
Little town
Full of little people
Waking up to say:

[Townsfolk:] Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!

[Belle:] There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Ev'ry morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town..............

Alas, Day 3 in Decazeville and I have already explored the town in and out three times! This provincial life is quite charming. The school I will be working at is a boarding school, thus I am able to live right on campus. My flat is quite large: 2 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms (more or less- I don't have a bathroom that encompasses all the usual elements- toilet, shower, and sink. Each room has 2 of the 3 elements so I can't really describe the rooms as say 3 1/2 baths etc...), my big doe eyes are finally liberated by LARGE windows. The living room opens up to a fantastic view of the mountains and yes you got it......chickens!!!!!!!!!! The base of the economy is an aluminum factory a few miles away, thus it's easy to see why there is ONE restaurant, one supermarket, and a few boulangeries, all of which close for two hours midday (as I sorely found out when trying to find lunch in town yesterday.. Nutella and banana it is then!) Despite the less than vigorous commercial life here, there IS something more to this poor provincial town in fact.

Last night, I attended a small philosophical gathering (CAFE PHILO) at the local bar organized by the philosophy teacher here. I attended his class this morning. They are discussing Stanley Kubrick's the Shining. The fact that the class is all in French and that I am trying to stay true to this blog's mission statement to gain different perspectives on knowledge, the class, despite being high-school level, was still quite thought provoking. A separate post will follow on my thoughts. There is also a little dance school where I am hoping to take classes etc, etc.

As far as the nature of the people, they are the typical french. Aggressive in their opinons yet open to discursive challenges, They like their discourse square and neat. No threads must be left hanging in a discussion. True to the brain's neurology, they become frustrated when a pattern in the discussion is not readily revealed. More Logic and less intuition is their grounding to reality. I better load up on metaphysical ammunition if I aim my students to think beyond formulas. Logic doesn't always correspond to reality.

I start my duties tomorrow. On va voir...