Crossplanet

Yesterday was removal day (again!) and as usual everything went smooth, much easier than I thought. I'm so happy and so lucky to have such good friends to give a hand.

I spent my first night "at home", and I like it already! It reminds me of Lisbon. First because it's in Ménilmontant, a popular neighborhood, on top of the hill! Then because it's an old building, low ceilings, cats in the garden... I'll be happy there.

It's hard to believe but I'm moving again! Yes I know, last time was only a month ago... and I had hardly finish to unpack when I finally find the right place for me. No temporary solution, no somebody else's place, but a real apartment, on my own, in a nice neighborhood too!

I signed the rent contract this morning and got the keys of MY home! It seems that after almost 4 years of urban nomadism, I'll be able to settle down and unpack for a while.

Those 4 years were a pretty good experience but it was about time to enter a new phase.

Good news: I've got my ticket booked for Lisbon! I'll be flying on July 23 and stay there for 5 weeks. I'm so eager to be there, it feels like "going home".

No adventure planned for the summer, no fancy travels, however wonderful they may be. This year I just want to be with my friends, do nothing but spend hours on the beach with a good book and have nice dinners in good company.

Resumindo: praia, amigos e sardinhas! 

It's been a week now that I live in an "internet-free" appartment and I must confess that I find it quite agreable to be disconnected. I don't spend so much time in front of the machine, I don't even have to switch it on first thing in the morning, I don't check my emails 20 times a day... and I survive!

I can still get a lousy connection from a non-secured network of a neighbour, and when I really need to get online, I simply take my laptop and go to the nearby park where I get a free wifi point. Cool!

A few days and some cardboxes later...

Each time I move I'm amazed... what does it take to make a "home"? It's been 4 years now that I unpack in different places that are not mine. And each time it only takes a few hours to make me feel at home. This time it's even different, since I know from the start that it's temporary, for a few weeks, more probably a few months. So I didn't really unpack and most of my stuff will be stored in the basement. 

Each time less... am I going to the essential? A new step, a new phase, a new experience. And, thanks to my friend Kathy, probably the best place to be while searching a more stable solution. 

 
Moving again... the 18th removal of my adult life! I'm getting used and tired of it. The count is as follows:

- in Caen, France:  3 places in 3 years

- In New York, USA: 3 places in 2 years

- in Lisbon, Portugal: 7 places in 13 years

- in Paris, France: 5 places in 4 years 

Am I a new kind of nomad ? Is it really me that create that wandering ? Time to settle down? Anyway today I'm happy with it.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a long walk along the canal. With friends we started from Villeparisis, around 20km north Paris. After a funny lunch, we walked back to Paris, following the Ourcq canal. Quiet, peaceful and sunday-like.

Out of the many talks I have with my flatmate, the more interesting are the ones about religion. He's a Muslim, I'm a Christian following the path of Buddha. Many times we share our point of view on our way to follow the path, we share our knowledge of the Scriptures. What is in the Koran, what says the Bible, what the buddha teaches us? I like these talks very much because it's an opportunity to discover another spiritual culture and to have another point of view on the Islam.

Today after a nice talk on God and divinity, while listening to El Fatiha, the opening sourate, we agreed on the beauty of this statement, from the Gospel of St Matthew:

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.

Amen.

Spring is definitely back in Paris, makes me wish to fall in love.

Am I? or just playing back some old movie? or fooling myself? why is it so hard sometimes to know what I really feel? Is it the difficulty that makes the goal more desirable? Is it the urgency that wakes up the desire? Is it because the end is close that I wish it will never come?

En cet fin d’après-midi du mois d’août, je me trouvai à Haridwar, ville sainte de l’Uttaranchal, point de départ des pèlerinages vers les sources du Ganges. J’avais passé la journée sur les ghats, ces marches qui descendent dans le fleuve sacré, au milieu des ces milliers d’hommes et de femmes, pèlerins, promeneurs, adolescents en mal de baignade.

Mon tour était venu de me plonger dans les Ganges, Ganga mâ, la « mère Ganges » des Indiens. Descendant les marches, j’entrai dans l’eau et je sentais l’eau gonflée mes vêtements. Deux jeunes couples se baignaient aussi. Une des jeunes femmes, reconnaissant mon « étrangeté », me tendit la main et c’est avec elle que je fis mon baptême. Une fois dans l’eau jusqu’à la poitrine, elle me dit : « la tête aussi, la tête sous l’eau ! » Je n’avais pas parcouru toute cette distance pour être timorée. Je pris une grande inspiration, et tête sous l’eau, plusieurs fois, au milieu des rires et des paroles rassurantes de ces jeunes gens. Un vrai baptême du Ganges.

Puis je remontai sur les marches et me laissai sécher au soleil de cet fin d’après-midi. Tout simplement heureuse d’être là.