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Tom and Ronit Ricoy
Monday, August 15, 2005
Ricoy Update No. 12
Another Ricoy update -- August 15, 2005!
2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY:
Ah, Paris! We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks early so we could do so at the Eiffel Tower. We started the day with a city tour, followed by lunch at Altitude 95 (Eiffel Tower restaurant) and a ride to the top for phenomenal 360 views. We lazed away the afternoon on the grass near the tower’s base, gazing up at the Paris landmark and asking each other the paradoxical questions all couples in love must ponder at their anniversary: Has it been 2 years already? (Time has flown!) and Can it only be 2 years? (But it feels as if we’ve always known each other; our love and lives have become so intertwined that no other reality seems plausible.) It has certainly been a beautiful 2 years and it was a beautiful day to celebrate! And the day was not over! Still stuffed from lunch (the most delicious non-Thai meal I can remember eating!), we walked around, then had salads at a streetside café. At 10pm, we took a cruise down the River Seine and marveled at the lights of Paris.
Other Paris highlights included Notre Dame Cathedral (incredible!), the Louvre (somewhat brief – I’ll explain), great food (French and Thai… and even McDonalds tasted better in Paris), an introduction to the French language, etc.
We took 2 French lessons. I entered that classroom knowing 2 or questionably 3 French words – and mispronouncing even those! What a humbling, tiring, and somewhat intimidating experience to be a true language beginner -- but what fun it was when things started to click, even after just a few hours, so that we could understand just a little more of what we heard and saw. It was moving to think of my own ESL students, mostly immigrants who work so hard to learn our language and to make a new life for themselves. I already had tremendous respect for my students, and this experience really reinforced that!
All in all, Paris was a wonderful experience! The downside was definitely the price – expensive! We try to be budget travelers ($11/night on the beach in Thailand, 16/night ocean-view in Tenerife, Spain, 30/night by the beach in Portugal) but we forked out $65/night for 3 nights in Paris. Even youth hostels in Paris would have run us $50 (despite what I said about seeming like we’ve always been together, I do still face sticker shock when I realize that youth hostel prices which would be reasonable for 1 have to be doubled, as there are 2 of us now!)
AMERICANS HAVE CLASS!:
Visiting the Louvre was also a wonderful opportunity, though it didn’t work out quite as hoped.
I will preface this story by sharing that we are tiring of attitudes toward our own country, government and culture. Regardless of political persuasion, I think most fair-minded Americans would be disturbed by the selective and biased news coverage and portrayal of our government (particularly the president), U.S. policies and American culture. While most Europeans are kind to us as individual Americans, various comments betray widespread perception that Americans lack class, culture, good judgment and intelligence.
Well, our visit to the Louvre got me thinking about my own definition of class and culture. For one thing, the United States’ relative lack of class structure (though this is in peril of changing) paradoxically gives America “class” in my book. And Americans’ emphasis on the worth of the individual (much maligned as individualism is) is closely related and something I highly value. The way I was treated by people of varying nationalities at the Louvre made me proud of my fellow Americans, but it made for a disappointing day. I cannot stand for long periods of time (knees), so I always use a wheelchair when visiting museums. Our fellow tourists were beyond rude, cutting us off and walking in front of us so that it was difficult to move forward and even squeezing directly in front of me and blocking my view of exhibits, sometimes glancing back at me to make sure they didn’t trip and then placing themselves directly in front of my “view.” There were kind individuals of many nationalities (the most understanding was a Taiwanese Louvre employee who came to our rescue at the Mona Lisa), but most people were remarkably rude and acted as if I didn’t exist. The American tourists, on the whole, were a notable and refreshing exception. A number of fellow Americans were conscious of me as an individual and thoughtfully made way and asked others to do the same so that we could see. While I am the first to admit that we Americans are far from perfect, and it is quite possible that the American tourists on the whole knew less about the Louvre exhibits than their European counterparts, from what I saw, the Americans displayed true culture and real class.
We did manage to see the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, some fascinating Egyptian antiquities, beautiful sculpture and a number of less-than-inspiring French and Italian Renaissance paintings (okay, call us uncultured, but we didn’t like them… I do like painting, though -- Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet…).
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING:
Coming from a 24-hour, flexible American culture, we have had to adjust to a more regimented (especially in Spain) European culture – or starve. When it is “eating time,” the restaurants are packed. When it is NOT “eating time,” the restaurants serve only drinks or close. (We missed a few “eating times” this past week as we discovered “eating time” is different in Spain and France. As we neared the border on the way home, we were trying to decide whether to stop quick before we missed French “eating time” or to hold out for a few hours before Spanish “eating time” began.)
There seems to be a “time” for everything. Lots of activity or no activity. There is “shopping time” and the stores are packed (but they close for a few hours every afternoon), there is “movie time” when all the movies start at exactly the same time, and “standing-in-unnecessarily-long-line time” (which no one seems to question) for the ½ hour before movies start (followed by 2 hours of inactivity at the box office during “movie-watching-time.” And there is even “vacation-time” (which we are now in) when the whole of Europe seems to be on vacation, all packing into the same campgrounds, beaches, etc and making for very busy roads. To our American minds, the logical solution to spending one’s life in long lines is offering more choice so that people can choose to go at less busy times if they so desire, but that is contrary to the culture here. So, we are watching the clock because we don’t have any food in the refrigerator as (having just gotten back from France yesterday) we missed “shopping time” and so are planning to go out at “eating time.”
PORTUGAL:
The Portuguese border is only about an hour from Salamanca, so we rented a car a few weeks ago and drove to Portugal. The countryside was beautiful and we drove all the way to the coast, meandering into a small seaside village.
GUATEMALA:
No, we didn’t go to Guatemala (not since December anyway)! However, we are happy to report that Quinn (current subdirector) will be able to stay at least through the end of the school year and Kevin (English teacher) will be able to stay through 2006. Quinn has identified a Guatemalan teacher he feels may be a good future subdirector, so please pray about the school’s leadership and future. There are still many concerns regarding the director’s ethics and this limits the ability of those working to provide students with the education they deserve.
MEXICO:
No, we’re not in Mexico either (not since January, though we’re talking about heading back there next winter or spring). However, we ask for your continued prayers for a family that has been through a terribly difficult couple of years. Lucy still needs your prayers and Elipidio (her father) was recently hit by a motorcycle and is recovering.
CANARY ISLANDS:
We are now off to the Canary Islands, Tenerife to be exact, where we will continue our Spanish studies. I love the ocean and we are looking forward to island life!
COMMUNICATING WITH US:
We won’t be online much while we’re in the Canary Islands. Tom will be online a couple of times a week, but that is for homework so he may only check e-mail occasionally. I will try to answer e-mails once/week.
Our mailing address from now through November will be:
Thomas and Susana Ricoy (estudiantes)
Don Quijote Puerto de la Cruz
Avda. De Colon, 14 – Edificio Belgica
38400 Puerto de la Cruz – Tenerife
SPAIN
(Yes, I am Susana at Spanish school, as my first name is Sue.)
We’d love to hear from you!
2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY:
Ah, Paris! We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks early so we could do so at the Eiffel Tower. We started the day with a city tour, followed by lunch at Altitude 95 (Eiffel Tower restaurant) and a ride to the top for phenomenal 360 views. We lazed away the afternoon on the grass near the tower’s base, gazing up at the Paris landmark and asking each other the paradoxical questions all couples in love must ponder at their anniversary: Has it been 2 years already? (Time has flown!) and Can it only be 2 years? (But it feels as if we’ve always known each other; our love and lives have become so intertwined that no other reality seems plausible.) It has certainly been a beautiful 2 years and it was a beautiful day to celebrate! And the day was not over! Still stuffed from lunch (the most delicious non-Thai meal I can remember eating!), we walked around, then had salads at a streetside café. At 10pm, we took a cruise down the River Seine and marveled at the lights of Paris.
Other Paris highlights included Notre Dame Cathedral (incredible!), the Louvre (somewhat brief – I’ll explain), great food (French and Thai… and even McDonalds tasted better in Paris), an introduction to the French language, etc.
We took 2 French lessons. I entered that classroom knowing 2 or questionably 3 French words – and mispronouncing even those! What a humbling, tiring, and somewhat intimidating experience to be a true language beginner -- but what fun it was when things started to click, even after just a few hours, so that we could understand just a little more of what we heard and saw. It was moving to think of my own ESL students, mostly immigrants who work so hard to learn our language and to make a new life for themselves. I already had tremendous respect for my students, and this experience really reinforced that!
All in all, Paris was a wonderful experience! The downside was definitely the price – expensive! We try to be budget travelers ($11/night on the beach in Thailand, 16/night ocean-view in Tenerife, Spain, 30/night by the beach in Portugal) but we forked out $65/night for 3 nights in Paris. Even youth hostels in Paris would have run us $50 (despite what I said about seeming like we’ve always been together, I do still face sticker shock when I realize that youth hostel prices which would be reasonable for 1 have to be doubled, as there are 2 of us now!)
AMERICANS HAVE CLASS!:
Visiting the Louvre was also a wonderful opportunity, though it didn’t work out quite as hoped.
I will preface this story by sharing that we are tiring of attitudes toward our own country, government and culture. Regardless of political persuasion, I think most fair-minded Americans would be disturbed by the selective and biased news coverage and portrayal of our government (particularly the president), U.S. policies and American culture. While most Europeans are kind to us as individual Americans, various comments betray widespread perception that Americans lack class, culture, good judgment and intelligence.
Well, our visit to the Louvre got me thinking about my own definition of class and culture. For one thing, the United States’ relative lack of class structure (though this is in peril of changing) paradoxically gives America “class” in my book. And Americans’ emphasis on the worth of the individual (much maligned as individualism is) is closely related and something I highly value. The way I was treated by people of varying nationalities at the Louvre made me proud of my fellow Americans, but it made for a disappointing day. I cannot stand for long periods of time (knees), so I always use a wheelchair when visiting museums. Our fellow tourists were beyond rude, cutting us off and walking in front of us so that it was difficult to move forward and even squeezing directly in front of me and blocking my view of exhibits, sometimes glancing back at me to make sure they didn’t trip and then placing themselves directly in front of my “view.” There were kind individuals of many nationalities (the most understanding was a Taiwanese Louvre employee who came to our rescue at the Mona Lisa), but most people were remarkably rude and acted as if I didn’t exist. The American tourists, on the whole, were a notable and refreshing exception. A number of fellow Americans were conscious of me as an individual and thoughtfully made way and asked others to do the same so that we could see. While I am the first to admit that we Americans are far from perfect, and it is quite possible that the American tourists on the whole knew less about the Louvre exhibits than their European counterparts, from what I saw, the Americans displayed true culture and real class.
We did manage to see the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, some fascinating Egyptian antiquities, beautiful sculpture and a number of less-than-inspiring French and Italian Renaissance paintings (okay, call us uncultured, but we didn’t like them… I do like painting, though -- Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet…).
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING:
Coming from a 24-hour, flexible American culture, we have had to adjust to a more regimented (especially in Spain) European culture – or starve. When it is “eating time,” the restaurants are packed. When it is NOT “eating time,” the restaurants serve only drinks or close. (We missed a few “eating times” this past week as we discovered “eating time” is different in Spain and France. As we neared the border on the way home, we were trying to decide whether to stop quick before we missed French “eating time” or to hold out for a few hours before Spanish “eating time” began.)
There seems to be a “time” for everything. Lots of activity or no activity. There is “shopping time” and the stores are packed (but they close for a few hours every afternoon), there is “movie time” when all the movies start at exactly the same time, and “standing-in-unnecessarily-long-line time” (which no one seems to question) for the ½ hour before movies start (followed by 2 hours of inactivity at the box office during “movie-watching-time.” And there is even “vacation-time” (which we are now in) when the whole of Europe seems to be on vacation, all packing into the same campgrounds, beaches, etc and making for very busy roads. To our American minds, the logical solution to spending one’s life in long lines is offering more choice so that people can choose to go at less busy times if they so desire, but that is contrary to the culture here. So, we are watching the clock because we don’t have any food in the refrigerator as (having just gotten back from France yesterday) we missed “shopping time” and so are planning to go out at “eating time.”
PORTUGAL:
The Portuguese border is only about an hour from Salamanca, so we rented a car a few weeks ago and drove to Portugal. The countryside was beautiful and we drove all the way to the coast, meandering into a small seaside village.
GUATEMALA:
No, we didn’t go to Guatemala (not since December anyway)! However, we are happy to report that Quinn (current subdirector) will be able to stay at least through the end of the school year and Kevin (English teacher) will be able to stay through 2006. Quinn has identified a Guatemalan teacher he feels may be a good future subdirector, so please pray about the school’s leadership and future. There are still many concerns regarding the director’s ethics and this limits the ability of those working to provide students with the education they deserve.
MEXICO:
No, we’re not in Mexico either (not since January, though we’re talking about heading back there next winter or spring). However, we ask for your continued prayers for a family that has been through a terribly difficult couple of years. Lucy still needs your prayers and Elipidio (her father) was recently hit by a motorcycle and is recovering.
CANARY ISLANDS:
We are now off to the Canary Islands, Tenerife to be exact, where we will continue our Spanish studies. I love the ocean and we are looking forward to island life!
COMMUNICATING WITH US:
We won’t be online much while we’re in the Canary Islands. Tom will be online a couple of times a week, but that is for homework so he may only check e-mail occasionally. I will try to answer e-mails once/week.
Our mailing address from now through November will be:
Thomas and Susana Ricoy (estudiantes)
Don Quijote Puerto de la Cruz
Avda. De Colon, 14 – Edificio Belgica
38400 Puerto de la Cruz – Tenerife
SPAIN
(Yes, I am Susana at Spanish school, as my first name is Sue.)
We’d love to hear from you!
¶
2:37 PM
