Villejuif

It's a powerless summer indeed. In facts, the temperature on Revolution day (Jul. 14) was only 12°C.
I had planed optimistically to rent a room in Paris for a month . But I concerned about it after I arrived at Paris actually. "Is that possible?" Any way, I was serious. I wanted to live and take photos in Paris. "I must do it"

I tried with real estate office and classified ad. on the news paper, and got the room on the 3rd day in Paris. For good or worse, the strong wish and time limit pushed me up being so aggressive. No, maybe the most biggest factor was "Good luck and Timing" I was just lucky. I found the rental room ad. on the news paper. The exact room was not available. But the owner, Japanese madam, introduced me to the wife of her husband's colleague. Then the colleague's wife introduced me to her friend. How can I describe it without saying "Good Luck"?

The room was outside of Paris in exact. The nearest station was Villejuif Paul Vaillant Couturier of Metro No.7. I thought the name of "Couturier"came from "Dressmaker"in French. But it's the name of famous journalist, politician and founder of French Communist Party.
Although the house had old fashioned brown stone exterior, the interior was newly renovated. White wall and sunshine from wide window made the living room look airy. Madam's daughter independent from her. So she had an extra room and I rented it to me. From my window on the 2nd floor, I saw the top of the tree in back yard. The leaves rustled in the wind. It's a cozy room.

I left the house in Villejuif with my camera every morning and took the Metro. For a whole month, I had walking around and photographed in Paris as I had planed. The 20 wards of Paris was so characteristic. So it was for the 23 wards in Tokyo. However each ward of Paris had much stronger taste, I thought. The rich in high-class residential area was extremely rich while there were wards where normal residence lived in. There was a characteristic ward which set on the cultural back ground of immigrants too. What else? The ward which had many hospitals and cemeteries, and of course, which involved famous tourist spots and symbols of Paris ... I visited each ward one by one. As the result, I became familiar with Paris very well.

After the all day walking, I came back to Villejuif. It's around 8 o'clock. It still had light. I stopped by the bread store and bought a half baguette for dinner. But I often ate it on the way back home and regretted I should had bought a whole baguette. After the dinner I often talked with the madam who came back from work. We talked about the things which had been happen on the day. It's also ideal situation for learning French. I'm pretty sure.

At the comfortable room, I got strange experience. It's a dream. In the dream, I was in the Auschwitz of Nazi. I was waiting in the cell with fear of being got into the gas chamber. I woke up with fear in the middle of night. 2:00 in the morning. It's nearly dawn. The curtains fluttered in the cool wind. It's mysterious because I had same dream several times in my stay.

I came back to Japan. This story would be ended up as a just strange experience if I left it. However I had extra story for it. There was a little question which had been stuck in my mind. It's about the meaning of "Villejuif" I already mentioned the part of "P.V.Couturier" By the way, what's the meaning of the "Villejuif" part after all? I checked it with dictionary. It said "Jewish town" So the quarter with old brick houses was ex-Jewish town .... I shuddered far 10,000km away from France.
I always faced to Paris in the summer. "One must go abroad for news of home" I should have got to know the local community Villejuif. I regretted a little bit.