Speed dating

Not that much time to write, but here's an elevator pitch:

• Arrived in Aix-en-Provence at Tasneem's place on Thursday afternoon (after a long delay)
• We went to her classes, on British Civilisation and English Conversation on Friday (the theme of the class was "Speed Dating", and I was assigned to be Hillary Clinton - more on that story later!) (Poor Tasneem ended up having to be W)
• Tasneem invited her friend, neighbor and occasional English tutor (Carina) for dinner on Friday
• Today Walked around Aix en Provence as the city opened (photos below)
  
• More soon, we're off to have a pizza
• She lives above Shannon's Irish pub: they're rowdy until 5am unless you call the police (like the neighbour did once) or wear earplugs (like I did)

Shopping for the dinner party (76 Euros)
My lovely sister:
A church (somewhere)
heavy balcony above some kind of tribunal. The French take administration very seriously
Stone, blue skies, very "rustique"
On our walk, we crashed a wedding:
My first meal in Aix, cooked by my sister. Yummy
My ride over. I'll share the letter I wrote to Stellios and Andy later.
Style:
My sister's favourite bookshop, the "Book In Bar" that serves coffee and scruptious cakes (to your table) while you browse the New Yorker, Longman's Thesaurus or a wide selection of Obama books...
The Vietnamese restaurant below her appartment. The shutters shown are Carina's.

I was wearing a pale blue T Shirt. But no dog collar.
Dinner my sister cooked for Carina:

Note the cat on the roof:
Le Cours Mirabeau, main thoroughfare through Aix en Provence:

The Beach or Bust

The dentist and the Professor

It's about 0739, I woke up 2 hours later today, and feel conquered by the sun. I'm going to write first (to save precious bandwidth so that my father can listen to his Obama podcast) and illustrate later. [ed: Podcast over, illustration complete]

Yesterday started with a long run outside up John F Kennedy Avenue, and down Queen Mary Avenue, then down the hill again to my house. Here's my house as seen from the main road (look for the dark grey roof)

Next, made a trip to the hospital, here's a picture of my father (yes, he put the suit on especially for the photo, and the mac is there for effect too (no not really):

Some original artwork from my mum on the wall opposite: oil on wood.

We then had a lively discussion on marketing, and increasing revenue. I told him of my difficult experiences with Kaiser Permanente (yes, Dr Nyachoto, I hope you are reading this), and we agreed that the hospital is small enough to follow up and guide patients PROPERLY.

First, I hopped in the car and drove to the dentists' in Rose Hill. He works in a converted appartment in the middle of Rose Hill's commercial district:

There is only one Sale:

On the way back, I decided to take some backstreets behind the Rose Hill Plaza. And came to a dead-end. But hey, isn't this a nice place to get lost?

Eventually found my way back to the hospital. I had the following conversation with my father, as he dropped my at the University of Mauritius.

Dad: How much did the Dentist charge you?

Me: 700 Roupees ($23)

Dad: As much as that? (looks surprised)

Me: You mean you can do it at home for nothing? (he likes saying that when we go out to restaurants)

Dad: No, he charged you his  Foreigners Fee!

Me: Well how much should he charge?

Dad: He charges me Rs 200 ($7)

Me: Well you're his friend

Dad: But you're my son! I can't believe he did this to me!

Me: He didn't. I paid. And he's running a business.

Dad: What if you couldn't afford to pay?

Me: Then he should have charged me less. But I could. besides, what I would have paid in America is $120 (Rs 3600)

Dad: OK. 

(later)

Dad (quietly): I can't believe he did that...

Here's the University of Mauritius:

Well, only today, because of Student Elections.

The chanting was loud enough to sound like Paris, c.1968

Roukaya and I had lunch in the faculty dining hall (Panini for me, no garlic thank you) and then attended a lecture by Ellen Barker, Professor Emeritus of the LSE, on Religion, Diversity and Democracy.

No photos allowed, but some interesting points she made:

20% of people surveyed claim to be "spiritual and non-religious"
Families with no religious parents had children who didn't follow a religion
Families with two religious parents had children with a 50/50 chance of becoming religious
People over the age of 20 who had not changed of religion would never change their religion

Next, spent 2 hours in Roukaya's office, working, while she lectured. The view outside the window looked like this:

Sony's email started like this:

Hello Alam,

I don't want to spoil your holiday in Mauritius, but:

Had a wonderful meal at home with Mum and Dad (pumpkin, spinach, roti, sauteed potatoes) (sorry no photos, they asked me to take my camera to the restaurants)

then spent time on Skype with Vahe.

Went to bed 2 hours too late (midnight). Only 6 days left. And evenings are filling up fast....

Hiking in Ferney

Valley Ferney, a small nature preserve surrounded by deer-hunting grounds. Owned by the Ciel group, a large industrialist. A small area of forest within the valley is open to tourists. The hotel lobby attempted to build a road through the valley to the hotels in Mahebourg, the Ciel group created an activist body that protested the construction, on grounds of destroying biodiversity. The Conservation Ministry became involved in the project, and discovered particular flora (the Nail Tree below is an example) that would become extinct as a result of the highway. The government therefore disallowed the highway project.

Two-dimensional palm trees in Ferney:

Stone statue in Mahebourg, put together by volunteers in 1977:

Mushrooms full of water:

My cousin Roukaya, a professor at the University of Mauritius.

The humble "Nail Tree" that saved the forest. Only three such examples exist in the world.

Me, pretending to be a deer (at Roukaya's request). The truth came out after I spoke to my uncle (the ex-Director of the National Parks) : the forest was saved in order to preserve the hunting grounds, not the Nail Tree!

200 year old tortoise. In no hurry to avoid the paparazzo:

The old hunting lodge, now a restaurant. We had an excellent meal here:

The road out out of the preserve:The lagoon in Mahebourg. A battle was fought here between the British and the French for posession.

Update: First week

I've finally adjusted to the time difference and the perpetual tiredness of the +11 hour time difference. Woke up at 0500, let the miao-ing cat in from the garage, and had a long look outside at the garden. Mauritius is more wintery than usual, with blustery winds, fine drizzle and dark clouds dominating the skies. It feels more like July and less like October (remember, this is the Southern Hemisphere).

Let me give you a glimpse of my accommodations. I'm staying in my sister's room, which used to be my brother's room, a charming room, complete with luminescent stars on the ceiling, an attached bathroom, air conditioner/heater (which of course there's no use for these days), and a remarkable doll museum:

Here are some pictures of my room:

You might be asking, what about my own room, that I occupied from 1990-1992 as a student in Mauritius. Well it's now a fully-functional gym, that my father uses every night:

From this:

To this:

To this:

(and that's not counting the beach! Return on Wednesday to see latest pictures)

Trip: Day 1

Friday Oct 04, 2008

After a disastrous start (I missed my outgoing 1320 flight to London: reasons why ought not to be discussed, but I take the blame!), I caught the 1900 flight. Vahe dropped me at the airport. Was given an aisle seat, with a spare seat next to me, and managed to sleep for 30 minutes.

I  arrived in London at 1300 the next day, and was met by Adnan, who whisked me off to Richmond in his massive black Audi A8. We spent time talking about family matters, and in the evening were joined by Alexis, Adnan's girlfriend, who is an interior designer. 

Next, met my cousins, Sahar, Ali and Hasan, who are all students in London (Actually Sahar works at Barclays Bank). Had an Italian meal with them at a local restaurant, squeezing 6 people into the Audi. 

Adnan and Alexis showed me to a tastefully decorated room, with a new dual LED lamp and custom sun shades, where I fell into a deep sleep, where I dreamt that I was falling down a long, never-ending chute.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Woke up at 0930, after not being able to sleep most of the night. Adnan very kindly drove us to Angel, where we had a pleasant brunch, then met with the cousins briefly before making my way home by train, then having dinner with Adnan and Alexis

Monday, October 06, 2008

Went to the Riko gym with Adnan, stylish gym with its own coffee bar, internet-linked exercise equipment and classical music piped into the wood-panelled changing rooms. Then, had a snack with Adnan and went to Embankment station to meet Ali again. Adnan dropped me at the airport at 1900 after picking up Alexis, then boarded Air Mauritius for the epic, 12 hour journey to Mauritius.

Seated next to me was Jennifer, a delightful person and an instant friend, whose English husband has worked for Hong Kong telecom for 25 years. She lives in Trou aux Biches and knows Hugh Vitry (the Divemaster) and Shanaz and Coen (my friends in South Africa, also divemasters). We talked for nearly 11 hours. Truly delightful and very charming!

Met my Mum and Dad in Mauritius at about 1130 am, and was whisked to the house in the Honda CRV, with my mum driving and dad sitting in the back. We spent the rest of the day talking, though I had to interrupt for a 3 hour nap. Jetlag was starting to catch up.