GOT LOST IN PARIS, YET, HAD A GREAT DAY YESTERDAY.

It immediately started as almost a disaster. I left for my meeting with more than an hour of lead time. I leisurely walked to the Metro station thinking to easily take my ride to my school, L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). I ended up taking the wrong train. Luckily I realized it only after a station, and the station was still just near my hotel. So I went back first to my hotel to have a change of clothes and backpack as I was perspiring profusely, due to uncomfortable weight of my backpack's contents. I was laughing to myself, and also consoled myself with the thought that at least I got lost in Paris, and not just in Bankerohan Davao City. ha ha ha ! As my appointment was fast approaching, I decided to take the taxi, as based on Google map, and a paper map, it should only be max 15 minutes from where I was, even given the traffic. So, I took the cab. It was a bit late when I realized that the driver was taking me via a longer route. I immediately felt like I was being driven by some unscrupulous driver in le Manille. But I just kept my peace. Eventually, the driver, whether truly or just contrivingly, turned out not to also actually know where my school is. He eventually advised me to disembark right beside the Bibliotheque Nationale Francois Mitterand, given that it was supposedly the landmark shown to be beside my school in the paper map. I did get off, obligingly, as I was about to lose my patience. So I did some walk first, trying to make sense where I was. And, again, realized that I still am lost, for the second time! Yet, as they say, out of crooked lines, straight lines can emerge. According to some readings I've done about the people of Paris, Parisienes may come out aloof in first glance. BUT I personally found out the OPPOSITE! I approached for help (with my practiced and prepared "Bonjour! Parley-vous Anglais?" greeting), FIVE PEOPLE in all ( some in suits and others apparently in some other work attires). And much to my surprise, EVERYONE I APPROACHED NEVER TURNED ME DOWN, and even REALLY HELPED me figure out my destination with my paper map, AND EVEN WENT FURTHER AS THEY EVEN USED THE MAP THEY HAD ON THEIR PHONES. So, here I was in the city of Sartre, Hugo, Levinas, Foucault, lost, a total stranger, but not so lost and not so total a stranger at all. I ended up literally circling the Bibliotheque Nationale (which was really quite a distance). The last person I approached, in expensive Burberry coat and other clothes, even kindly walked me up to the foyer of L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). MY! Great things didn't end there. Having been informed by the porter, one of my Program's Professors, Prof. Luc Berlivet, even really went down to meet and bring me up to our Secretary's office. Our Secretary, Ms. Zeina Bechar, was also kindness incarnated. My two Program classmates, Maria Cristina Murano and Malgorzata Ryczer were also already in the office, and they were also relieved to see me, and helped guide me through the documentary requirements, as they've went through them earlier. Also, these four people, though they all speak French, obviously decided to speak in English the whole time I was with them so that I don't get excluded. Indeed, these people only showed me all kindness and consideration the whole time we were all together. After doing our administrative stuff and lunch, Prof. Berlivet, without me asking (neither implicitly nor explicitly) even really and literally went out of his way to deliver me to my hotel via the Metro. Thus also teaching me the way in the Metro (which actually was just as simple as taking the MRT/LRT in Manila). After bringing me home, Prof. Berlivet also told me that he'll pick me up again today (because I and my two other classmates are to have another appointment at another office somewhere in Paris). I actually would have wanted to go on my on to today's appointment. However, with all the generosity the kind Professor extended to me, the least I can also do is to also be generous and humble in my accepting his kindness. The day's greatness didn't end there. Due to all the perspiration (leading to electrolyte imbalance) for all that walking, and especially with the 9C temperature to which my body was still adjusting to, I went went through some bouts of painful cramps when I was already in my room. In the past, my immediate and very effective remedy was either a bottle of Gatorade or a packet of electrolyte dissolved in a glass of water. And none was available. Absent such, I decided to opt for a home remedy: ordinary table salt and some sugar mixed with water. So, I called the lady hotel owner over the intercom and requested for salt (as I have some sweets in my room which can sub for sugar) if she had any. AND, she just kindly obliged and even personally brought the salt to my room. WOW! So, to all and sundry, based on my direct and multiple experiences yesterday, the Parisienes aren't cold, nor aloof. They're very warm, kind, even to strangers. Merci beaucoup chers Parisiens! Today, my earlier misfortune simply fortunately led me to see the palpably better, kinder, more responsible (in the Levinasian manner) side of Paris. Indeed, yesterday was a BIG DAY, an IMPORTANT DAY, not only for all the necessary administrative requirements I attended to for my PhD program at EHESS, but most especially for all that responsible touch and gift of kindness and generosity most especially from strangers, who turned out to be no strangers at all. Through their magnanimous actions they showed that underneath the label of nationality, or even skin color, we all indeed are familiar, thus connected and not strangers, to each other, by way of our common humanity. Indeed, I GOT LOST IN PARIS, AND HAD A GREAT DAY YESTERDAY! God bless us all!