Carnival

I didn't think I would have anything to talk about. It's been a month. Last weekend I did something worth mentioning:

Dunkirk, France

Only know that I look up the English spelling of this city do I realize that it sounds familiar because it played a pivotal role in WWII. That has nothing to do with Carnival.
Contrary to what I said last post, I clung to my camera, depended on its filter of the world, and appreciated its usually sobering effects. As a result, I have a photobook that is fairly interesting, and holds, what I will call, my best photo ever!

I just had to put an exclamation mark there, not that I had to call it my best photo ever, but I'm exercising my liberties. There is a culture built around Carnival. There are scores of songs about beer, weewee's, and homosexuality that support it's liberal cause. My favorite line, maybe because it was one of the few I could understand amidst the mob like brew, was "oh, la la, I have lost my woman, oh, la la, and my man as well."

The environment was madness. Costumes of all colors, types, degrees, and purposes: events of all colors, types, degrees, and purposes, people of all colors, types, degrees, and purposes, basically it was a whole lot of whatever. Pictures.

Most of the men dressed up as women, it a wig, and dress, and make up. The colors were bright--red, pink, orange. One dude carried a big axe around. There was a cult that had umbrellas, only the umbrellas were ten feet in the air. I don't know the reason, but this group joined together in the parade, and has a reputation for bustling the most.

The events are numberous. There's a custom called "chapel"ing. This is a private kind of thing. Since my friends had friends in the town, we were invited to party in their house, drink beer, and then go out on the street again. Kind of like a pit stop, but backwards.

There is the "bande" event, which I thought would be like a general parade. It was that, basically, times 12, at least. In the bande all the lines link arms, and push, either forward, or backwards, depending on the song, or the point in the song, I didn't really get it. This isn't organized like freshman football practice, this is like--cockroaches fleeing from fire--intensity pushing. This is the worst place in the world for your shoe to come untied, or to be barefoot. Most people wear boots, but I only had running shoes, and my shoelace came untied. I was happy by the time it was shredded to bits by the people behind me, or in front of me (depending on the song, or the point in the song, I didn't really get it).

This bande happened after the fish throwing from the city hall event. I understood this one a little better, since my friend recapped the history. Once upon a time Dunkirke got a new mayor. The people said they wanted lobster, so the mayor threw lobster and fish from the city hall to make them all happy. To this day the people still want fish, and they get them. Generally, they are happy, but I hear the pushing here is as bad as in the bands. I missed most of the throwing, because of the chapel. I didn't catch a fish, but later, when I was waiting for the train at a station, a student I know from Hungary brought a fish over, and a random guy I was talking to, who kind of looked like a fish, said he would eat it if she didn't want it. I'm a vegetarian again, but made an exception for this custom. See picture of fish man opening fish (raw!).

In the night, after the bande, there's a stage of people playing music, and around the stage is a ring of people doing exactly what they did in the band! Despite the fact that my shoelace was tied, I had a tough time breathing. Again, they went backwards, and forwards. I saw a weird guy with a blind-stick-like stick tapping the ground in a break in the ring, and the front row jumped back from it like it was a phython. I would hate to be that phython. Anyway, that memory is only another unexplained moment of carnival.

I wish I had more to say. I should have watered down my sentences with fish blood and all that litter in the streets.

The school is open for good, knock on wood.

I've got 4ish French poetry classes this semester, so I should know how to pronounce Baudelaire by the time I get back.

Miss you all, especially the Ms. Weather. I had to go play soccer in the sun yesterday, and I hear you have -1 F, with snow storms regularly.

Happy Valentine's day.