Jeanne Koré Salvato

Summer fun!

“It’s a very bits and bobs piece of writing.” This is how, apparently, you use the phrase “bits and bobs” in a sentence, according to the all-knowing Internet.

As we approach the Fourth of July in the States, my thoughts naturally turn to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

to wait

I strolled into a used bookstore in Versailles, France. It’s true. On the one hand, you’ve got the beautiful gardens of the Versailles Palace, not to mention the Palace itself. And then there’s a used bookstore.

It’s the season for summer book lists to begin to appear. And I thought, how about some books translated from French that are fun to read?

Lo and behold, we recently celebrated Africa Day on 25 May. An Irish friend reacted to my surprise that there was an Africa Day in Dublin.

What is it like to teach English literature in a French school? How fond of stairs are you?

One of the best names for a bus stop in France is called Puits Sans Vin. This means a well without wine. I thought, wow! Some wells have wine?

Ah, housework. I had a friend in France, an English fried, refer to it as “mind numbing housework.”

It was a cold and snowy night in December when I stood at the podium in front of hard souls at the American Library in Paris about to give a presentation on a novel called in French, La Vie Devant Soi by Romain Gary.

No car and importantly no driver’s license–this state describes many more people than you might imagine living in Paris and its environs. What’s a person to do?

The American School of Paris is a joyful place. Faculty meetings include brie and wine. The Extension Program, where I worked, is a part of ASP and is an outreach program for French kids eager to learn English. (Or at least their parents are eager for them to learn.)

Beedis. That is the way to a fantasy life in ze France. Did I basically lose you at hello? First of all, what are beedis?

Champagne was in the air! (Remark: How many times is she going to talk about champagne? I almost with

The fiction author, George Saunders, recently spoke about qualities inherent in the short story: efficiency, escalation, and even transcendence. Some literary works do not adhere to this pattern, he said, such as “Waiting for Godot, but

French students study French literature in a curious way.

A poem by the Sufi mystic Rumi begins, “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.”

The holiday season in France is a testimony to how much the French value celebration.

One of the funniest stories about travel and crimes and not really speaking the language occurred in a bathroom in a small hotel in Italy.

There’s a New Yorker cartoon where Godot, in a baseball cap and a hoodie, apologizes for begin late. He says, “I slept through my alarm, …

Godot time

A friend of mine who was a member of a Zen sangha once told me that he and his wife were the only ones not to pass the test of the koan

A man who had meditated twice a day for forty years described his practice this way “My early morning practice sometimes get delayed until 6 pm.”

A friend of mine sent me an article from the NY Times by Andrew Russeth, (Sept 17, 2020), “Art About Waiting and What It Takes to Endure.” Naturally, this article will turn to Godot.

Now that we’ve established that the kid is the boss in a foreign country, it’s time to see the things the children get up to over there in France

William Wordsworth writes, “The child is father of the man.” While he means this in a philosophical way, any ex-pat who isn’t really in the know in the new country will discover

We are all doing too much waiting–for the pandemic to be over; for a vaccine to arrive; waiting for the end of those awful tallies rising. Wait, what?

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.

The hour is nigh; the first of September is the very day when school kids return to class this year in France.

The general hilarity of living across the street from a Sufi master was tempered by the very fact of the master, whose measured sense of purpose had inspired thousands around the world, including, of course, his family.

The foundation’s treasurer, full of vim and energy (or prunes as my mother’s friend used to say) assured us that all remodeling would be finished within three months. Well …

Estragon, one of the gentlemen in Waiting for Godot gives his opinion about where they are. The particular spot where the tow of them now find themselves is exactly where they were yesterday.