#frenchfusion Adventures: For the love of Convenience

Whew! We finally hit the stop and am sure my Camera man, Monsieur Roland will be waiting, he’s got a car, so enough of this “living like the locals ish” already but at least, I tried the train, it was ok. I may try it again but for now, duty calls. Got down, followed the crowd and into this big hall, I have to find my way to either the entrance or exit. Picked up my phone and dialed Roland. Bonjour Monsieur Roland, This is Gina… I heard a Ladies Voice instead. Bonjour, Roland has gone to the Gare to pick you, have you seen him?

Errrmmm, if I see him, I won’t even know him, we have been talking on Phone and emailing each other and he was referred to me by a friend of an acquaintance who works for France 24. It’s sure going to be a fun day if Roland left his phones at home and is here in this “beehive” of a place, searching for me. I called up my Host Marie-Christine to let her know I have arrived and just in case Roland cannot be found, she may come pick me up or I just do another Taxi.

Then, I remembered Roland had shared a number once during our various emails, so I began to scroll through my inbox via my phone and alas! I found another number. Hello Roland….. Hallo came the reply. It’s Gina I am……. And he said, Yes, I am looking for you, your train is here, walk up to the Tourism building, I will meet you there. Now that is a relief, I began to explain my features, I am wearing a blue jeans a bright blue t shirt with braided hair.

I located the Building by the station and of course I see Roland taking his establishment shots, Nice, I thought, he is working already. He walked up to me, we shook hands and we quickly did a summary of my mission (we have been doing it via mails and calls for over a month now). He helped with my luggage and into his car as we drove off to Marie-Christine’s.

As we drove I began to think, its here! French fusion, I have to do this and do it well this is a self funded project but I truly want to enjoy it, I have dreamt about my docu-travels like all my life and if I keep waiting for when I would get everything, I may never live my dreams. So I am doing this and I am going to enjoy it. But then I had expected Roland to be younger but he looked like he is in his Sixties, that is good in terms of experience and patience but on the other hand, I can be very hyper when it comes to creative work, I never get tired when am “on” so I don’t know how he may be able to cope when I start stretching the limits (my camera crew in Nigeria understands me already, they are young so I can keep stretching) I am Nigerian and we naturally have respect for older people so in my mind, I know with Roland, there would be NO stretching, we have to balance our pace and create a wonderful synergy for this project.

As we drove down the streets to Marie-Christine’s, I knew I needed to get some money, we need tapes, we need cash for all the restaurants and anything that may be of Fancy, Roland locates an ATM Machine and parks by the side of the street. I cross over and withdrew a couple of Euro. As I did that I wondered at the marvels of Technology these days, the fact that I did not bother myself seeking to change all the Euro I needed via the Black Market merchants in Nigeria, I just picked my Master Card a few euro from a previous trip and that was it, No money issues, I can use the ATM and POS anywhere for any transaction. Now that is convenience.