Had a fruitful and fun session of field observations today
at ma petite école. The principal greeted me with his usual early morning gusto and
told me that he had something special for me. He said that one of the teachers
I have observed and interviewed let him know that her group is having a
conference next Friday, April 10th at 16h30. This is the day after
Bree and Jakob arrive but since it’s in the late afternoon, it’s perhaps a good
time for them to rest. The subject of the conference parallels my research
focus: immigrant children and their academic success. The teacher who brought
it to my attention will be attending, so I hope to see her there, in the 13è
which will be a new quartier for me this trip.
Now, the sun has come out and Annie and I are sitting at
Pure Café
in my Parisian neighborhood. The café sits on a V-shaped corner between two
streets (Paul Macé and Impasse Franchemont), with room in front of it for several bistro tables and chairs for warmer days. As we
enter, a sign offers, “PURE AFTERWORK: Tous les jours de 17h à
20h, coupe de champagne 7 Euro", so I plan on imbibing. We move to the back of the
café
and sit next to each other on a banquette behind a table, the better to watch
the café world go by. We take out our
writing tools and eventually start writing. We also order une noisette and a
café au lait. Miam.
The café is beautiful, filled
with bright natural light from the floor to ceiling windows which make up its
walls. The triangular bar itself occupies the center of the space, with
traditional zinc counters. The espresso machine takes up a large section of one
side and bottles of wine line another side. Liquor bottles are hung, upside down
in some serving contraption that must be used to accurately measure out shots.
Two thin middle-aged women walk in and their matching outfits
scream, “We are jumelles!” They are both wearing form fitting red wool coats,
with twin brown leather ankle boots. They have matching shoulder length
Lautrec-ian red hair, with lilac colored scarves wrapped around their necks. A
group of older men standing at the bar greets them as they walk by on their way
to join an old friend, also standing at the bar. We notice that their handbags
are slightly different. They order coffee, stay for 15 minutes or so, and then
head out with their friend.
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