October 27, 2008

フランス南部旅行:アルル

いよいよ Provence 地方に入りましたが、今回の旅行で訪れた最後のローマ都市になるのが、Arles。Amphithéâtre romain 円形闘技場、Théâtre antique 古代劇場、Thermes romains de Constantin コンスタンタン共同浴場などがあわせて Arles, monuments romains et romans としてユネスコ世界遺産に登録されています。とてもこじんまりした旧市街は、ローヌ川からの風が吹いて、真夏日でも少し涼しく感じ、散歩が快適でした。

Arles はまた画家の Van Gogh が1年ほど滞在したということでも有名です。私が大好きなひまわりの絵の一つを描いたのもここに滞在しているときだったそうですし、旧市街を歩いていると何箇所かゴッホが絵に描いた場所に遭遇します。彼が入院したことがある病院跡の Espace Van Gogh の中庭もそうで、花がたくさん咲いていてきれいに管理されていました。

さらに、Arles から南に数キロ行ったところには彼が描いて有名になり、現在はゴッホの橋と呼ばれている、跳ね橋が再現されています。
Arles はプロヴァンスとローマ都市の雰囲気が混ざっていているのが特有で、今回の旅行の前半のテーマであるローマ遺跡を締めくくるのに、最適でした。ここからはアヴィニョン→リュベロン地方→エクス・アン・プロヴァンス→マルセイユと行きました。

October 19, 2008

Hold-up at Franprix

I was waiting at the check-out line at Franprix, the local supermarket, when two men in black—one wearing a hooded top that partially covered his face, and another, a helmet—entered the store. They quietly demanded the cashiers to open the cash register, putting what appeared to be guns against their necks.

At first I thought this was some sort of a joke. After all, what they had in their hands did not look like real guns, and well... it didn't look like a real hold-up; don't they usually tell everyone to freeze or something? In fact, most people in the store didn't even know what was happening and was going about their own business.

When I saw the store manager open the cash register and give it to them, and heard the alarm go off, I quietly went back behind the rack where they have chewing gum and candy, and crouched down. I stayed there until I heard the shatter of coins that the burglars left behind as they rushed out of the store, and the voices around me say that they had left. Then there was a flurry of voices—one of the cashiers accusing the store manager of giving them the money—after all, couldn't he see that they were fake guns? The store manager defending himself, and calling the police. People rushing in from outside the store, asking if this was for real; people inside the store, with shock and disbelief in their eyes.

What seemed, for me, quite bizarre was the speed with which business went back to usual. I thought we would be asked to leave, or at least, the store would close after such an event. But no, people continued to come in to the store and those of us waiting in line at the cashier continued to be served. Just before it was my turn to pay for my goods, a man came into the store to inform the store manager that the thieves had been caught a few hundred metres down the road. It so happened that the road that the Franprix faces is a rather heavily-patrolled road, perhaps because it leads to the only prison within Paris, or perhaps because it is close to a well-known mental institution. The two men must have just run into the police partrol car that happened to be cruising by.

I thought I had stayed calm during the event, but the stress must have been rather intense—by the time the men had left the store I had a bad ache in my tummy, and for a moment I was afraid I was going to start having contractions. I realized then that we are completely unprepared what to do in such situations. I remembered the earthquake drills we had every year (wasn't it in September, on the anniversary of the great earthquake of the Kanto region in 1923?) when I was going to primary school in Japan. Every Japanese knows what to do in the event of earthquakes. Granted that Japanese are more likely to encounter earthquakes in their everyday lives than people are burglaries, still, shouldn't we be better prepared for what to do in these events?

October 17, 2008

Half of a Yellow Sun

It is through works of fiction that I often get insights into historical events, particularly recent ones. Through Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones, I learned about the appalling and gruesome details of the massacre that took place in the Dominican Republic in 1937, when President Rafael Trujillo commanded his army to kill Haitians in the country. Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb gave me a glimpse into the revolution in Ethiopia in the early 1970s. Shauna Singh Baldwin's The Tiger Claw enlightened me on the Nazi Occupation of France during the Second World War. In fact, my dislike for purely historical books have led me often to pick up books that are based on historical events that I could learn from.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, however, caught me off guard completely. I knew from the back cover that this book would be about Nigeria—but I must admit my ignorance here: I had never heard of Biafra until I read this book. While it's true that Africa has always been a bit of an enigma for me, I was still very shocked to learn that I had no prior knowledge of this secessionist state that existed in south-eastern Nigeria for nearly four years.

In the first part of the book, we become acquainted with the main characters: Olanna, the "illogically pretty" Igbo woman, who forsakes her high-end life in Lagos to live with her lover, "the revolutionary" Odeningbo; Ugwu, the houseboy who works in the house of Odeningbo and who enjoys listening quietly to the friends that gather at his master's house every evening. Olanna's twin sister, Kainene, does not share Olanna's good looks but is an ambitious business woman, who in her own way also rebels against her parents; and Richard, the white man and Kainene's lover, who learns to speak fluent Igbo and almost considers himself as one, while being reminded by everyone around him that he is not.

When the events of the late 1960s hit them, it comes as a bit of a shock. The effects are all the more dramatic because we have become acquainted with the characters, whose lives are suddenly and profoundly overturned by the events. Although the book recounts well the diversity of people living in the area, and their contrasting lives depending on whether they live in villages, cities, those who have lived abroad, the servants, etc., the lives of everyone—regardless of their status before the war (unless, of course, they can afford to skip the country)—are hit equally hard by the events.

Ultimately, the book is a love story; a book about love and betrayal. I was particularly struck by the strong words of Olanna's aunt, who reproaches Olanna's devastated state after Odeningbo's first betrayal:

I now know that nothing he does will make my life change... My life will change only if I want it to change... You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man... your life belongs to you and you alone.

The book that one of the narrators in Half of a Yellow Sun wrote, titled The World was Silent when we Died, reminded me of a book I read a few years back: We did Nothing by Linda Polman. When I first read Polman's book, I was appalled to learn how powerless the UN is, and at the dismal state of peace-keeping missions to civil war-torn places such as Haiti and Rwanda. But after a few years as an insider, I now know the process quite well. As Polman demonstrates in her book, it is not the UN that fails, but rather, the Member States; "the UN can do nothing by itself... it can only do what its Member States allow it to do".

If I only knew how to act, and not to be silent, when masses in places faraway die.

October 13, 2008

Maternity leave

At a check-up with the ob-gyn last week, she declared that the fetus has already dropped down to my pelvis in preparation for birth, and that my cervix has shortened. Therefore, until my fetus reaches full term (i.e., 37 weeks, approximately in two weeks), I am to take medication to prevent contractions. She also told me that I should stop working.

This was not at all what I expected--in fact, I had been considering asking her to write a medical certificate, which would enable me to work until 2 weeks before the expected due date (the French due date is 41 weeks). Without the certificate, I can only work up till 3 weeks before the due date. The organization where I work allows 16 weeks of maternity leave, which can be taken from 3 - 6 weeks before the expected due date (and can be taken until 10 - 13 weeks after birth). Even though I tire more easily, since I am doing OK, I figured that it would be better to have more time BEFORE than AFTER the birth.

But of course, my doctor would not write such a certificate; she insisted that I must rest, since it is my right to take 6 weeks of maternity leave before the expected due date. In fact, it is a pity that it is too late for her to give me a certificate for sick leave, as I certainly qualified for one. A conversation I had with my organization's welfare/social assistant confirmed this--there are some doctors that agree to write such a certifiate, but this is rare, since it is not in the French mentality to continue to work when you no longer have to.

When I lamented this to a senior colleague, she gave me this piece of advice: "Do what the doctor says and enjoy this time because your life will never be the same! Take walks, go to the movies, read books plus all the practical stuff to be ready. And remember: no matter how much work you do there will be more there waiting. "

By French law, women are entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave--six weeks before birth and ten weeks after birth. The social security system is, of course, the main reason why the fertility rate in France is so high (although I suggested another reason earlier). All the other women in my sophrologie/birth preparation classes have stopped working already, after having taken sick leave.

Of course my colleague is right. I should enjoy the time that I have. But am I being told to stop working because my body requires it, or because it is my right to take sick or maternity leave? I will never know.

October 8, 2008

フランス南部旅行:ニームとポン・デュ・ガール

フランス最古のローマ都市として知られている、Nimes。ここのハイライトはやはり、古代闘技場 Arenes です。ここをゆっくり見学するには、最低でも2時間は必要です。オーディオガイド付きで7.70ユーロと入場料がちょっと高めですが、十分価値があると思います。

ローマ時代には、この闘技場でのパーフォーマンスを見るために、丸一日人々が集まったそうです。「見て、見られる場所」として、この時代の社交には欠かせないものだったそうです。社会におけるステータスによって座れる席が変わります。朝のライオン(またはその他の動物)対人間の戦いに始まり、ハイライトは午後のグラジエーター(人間同士)の戦い。お昼休みには、朝戦った動物に死刑になった人たちを餌としてやる(!)イベントがあるけれど、これは退屈ななので、普通の人は観賞(!)しなかったそうです。

この Nimes へ Uzes から約50キロの間、水を提供した水路の一部分が Pont du Gard という水道橋。2000年以上前にこれを建てた、ローマ人の建築技術にはただびっくりするだけです。18世紀に Fragonard が描いた絵にもあるように、昔から人々はこの橋の下を流れる川を憩いの場所としていたようです。天気が良い週末の日だったので、たくさんの人たちが川で泳いだりピクニックをしたり、8月最後の週末を楽しんでいました。この Fragonard の絵は、パリのルーブル美術館で鑑賞することができます。


Pont du Gard にある La Grande Expo という施設の博物館では、橋の歴史や構造などをくわしく学習できます。ここの展示もかなりうまくできていました。昔からの「人間と水」の関係をとてもおもしろく、そしてわかりやすく、展示しています。それだけでなく、ローマ時代に建てられた、他の水道橋のことも学べます。

そこで思い出したのが、以前出張で行ったことがある、スペインの Segovia の水道橋。規模は Pont du Gard より小さいのですが、この橋は町の真ん中を通っています。この橋の下を通るたびに、何か落ちてこないかちょっと心配でしたが。ちなみに、Segovia とはその他歴史的な建物が多く残っていて、よい雰囲気の町でした。

October 1, 2008

Birth preparation classes: Sophrologie

Despite the fact that I feel that my tummy is getting bigger and bigger, it appears that by French standards, I am small. When I tell people that the due date is mid-November, they all look suprised--some even double-checking with the remark "you mean, this coming November?" (what do you think, November 2009? Duh!).

As the due date approaches, I have begun to read up on the process of birth itself.

Back in April, when my gynaecologist urged me to find a hospital to give birth ASAP, I managed to register myself at Notre Dame de Bon Secours, a well-reputed hospital within walking distance from home. I did, however, spend more than five hours on the internet searching for alternative options, especially facilities that are more conducive to natural births, only to find that the only birthing centre in Paris had recently been closed down. Thus, I had to give up any thoughts of having a natural birth in Paris (as a first-time mother I did not consider home birth as an option). This is a bit of a shame in a country where innovative natural-birth advocates such as Drs Lamaze and Leboyer originated.

It was therefore with much delight when I found out that Hopital Notre Dame de Bon Secours offered, in addition to conventional birth preparation classes, sophrology (or sophrologie in French).

According to the "Energy Centre", Sophrology is:

a structured method created to produce optimal health and well-being. It consists of a series of easy to do physical and mental exercises that, when practised regularly, lead to a healthy, relaxed body and a calm, alert mind. The exercises are called dynamic relaxation (relaxation in movement).

As it applies to preparation of birth, preparation consists of exercises that visualise "your body and the baby’s place within your body, whilst relaxing and breathing in and out slowly and rhythmically", which are supposed to help ease the pain of giving birth.

Believing that this was the one opportunity for me to get as close to natural birth as possible, I registered myself for the course, despite the fact that sophrology was more expensive than the conventional birth-preparation classes. I have been relatively happy with with the classes, the "hands-on" type of intimate relationship the class shared with the midwife who is in charge of the classes, and the visualization exercises with which we finish each class. Therefore, I was quite taken aback recently to find that out of ten pregnant women in my class, I was the only one even considering birth without an epidural.

Furthermore, when I asked the midwife whether we would be watching a video of birth(s) in order to better prepare ourselves, she told me no, because "the image would be too much for some women".

I find it quite unfortunate that the process of birth has become over-medicated and institutionalized in the West, and that women seem to be distancing themselves from what should be a natural and normal process of life. Or, should we be happy that painless births are perhaps one of the numerous factors contributing to the baby boom in France, making France the country with the highest fertility rate in the EU?