Vivant
Paris je t'aime - 14e arrondissement (Alexander Payne)
...And i found a very pretty park
I sat down on a bench and ate the sandwich i bought
it was very tasty
and then something happened.
Something that is hard to describe
Sitting there, alone in a foreign country,
far from my job and all the people I know
a feeling came over me
as if i recalled something.
Something i have never known
and for which i have been waiting.
But i didn't know what it was
Maybe it was something I had forgotten
or something I had missed my whole life.
I can only tell you
that at the same time i felt
joy and sadness.
But not a great sadness
because i felt alive.
That was the moment when i fell in love with Paris
and the moment i felt Paris has fallen in love with me.
Vivant.
Oui.
Vivant.
I am not in France, let alone Paris, but I share the same feeling as Carol (Margo Martindale). There is something exhilarating about being transplanted in another place, albeit temporarily. There is an unexplainable mix of joy and sadness, of being an outsider, and an insider at the same time. Everything looks beautiful and new; your senses are suddenly awakened and you relish each and every mundane experience-- biting into a juicy peach, successfully ordering your food in the vernacular, vain but funny attempts to communicate with random strangers... I could go on and on.
(cross posted)
Who's on listography? I'd love to see your lists.