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EP 82: Daytrips and Festivals; and how Rebecca's Visa Process Hijacked her Heist Plans.

• Rebecca West

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Where to find Rebecca:

Aimee:

Rebecca, before we begin, I just wanted to mention some big news in Europe. I don't know if anyone in the States is paying attention'cause there's always something going on in the states, but the Napoleonic crown jewels were stolen from the Louvre over the weekend. A seven minute heist in broad daylight and a historical treasure has disappeared. I'm wondering, especially since you are in such a good mood today, if you and Damien have a side hobby that you wanted to tell me about.

Rebecca:

No. However, for anybody who is trying to learn French, and I must have mentioned this a million episodes ago, that there is a remarkably good TV series called Our Song L Pong. And um, actually hold, hold the mic'cause I'm gonna look up the spelling on that. Alright, so in the French culture, there's an entire series of books. They're older books about this guy, Arsan Lupan, which is spelled A-R-S-E-N-E. That's the first name. Arsan looks like Arsene. And Luon is L-U-P-I-N. So it looks like lupin. So he's the gentleman burglar, and it's this old series of books in France that everybody knows. And recently they made this fantastic Netflix series. It's a modern day story. A guy living in this world down on his luck, totally loves the book as a child for reasons that you'll see if you watch this series. And he pulls off his own heist. And so most of the comments that I am seeing on this heist out on the internet from people who are living here is like kind of a wink and a nod to loop poem. we're not necessarily rooting for the people that did this, but it feels like some sort of a movie.

Aimee:

We're not, not rooting for him.

Rebecca:

Right, and especially in a day and age and in a country where the wealthy are not esteemed in the same way. You've definitely got lots of people who are upset about the loss of a cultural heritage and. And this, that's not something we should take lightly because it is truly irreplaceable. But at the same time, when you read about the jewels that the royalty had, and you're like, you know, this one necklace had 5,000 diamonds on it, and you're like, Hmm, maybe one person shouldn't have 5,000 diamonds.

Aimee:

I'll also mention like this is not the first heist out of France this year because last month in September there was gold worth about, I think 600,000 euros or something stolen from the French national Museum of Natural History

Rebecca:

That one makes me sadder.

Aimee:

and I, yeah.'cause you're a geologist

Rebecca:

because it's natural, pure gold, which is really hard to find. And it wasn't associated with wealth, it was associated with science and.

Aimee:

Yeah. The price of gold. The price of gold is really high right now, so, so, again, again, like. This rash, this uptick of, of French looting burglaries has occurred since your arrival in France. And I am, I'm not gonna make any accusations because you know that's not proper.

Rebecca:

be inappropriate. I have been, um, obsessed with, okay, so the, the thieves, they. Borrowed a cherry picker that was right next to the museum. And so that obviously makes it feel like there's a bit of an inside job here because there's this very convenient forklift thing. And um, I am obsessed with those because it's one of the things that the French people use to move apartments. They literally hire these cherry pickers to take furniture out of a third, fourth, fifth floor window. Elevator it down rather than taking it through the building. And so I do have a, an inexplicably large number of videos of those on my photo feed, which maybe I should delete.

Aimee:

hashtag recon.

Rebecca:

We've talked about how I, I'm deep into recon. I don't do anything on the first try. I want to plan ahead, so. For nothing, but if I am looking for an alternative career, you may have just sparked an idea.

Aimee:

Yeah, well, I mean that's going to be a little bit of a problem since you actually succeeded in getting your fingerprints done this past week.

Rebecca:

Dang it. You're right. My timing is totally off.

Aimee:

So either you are also about to disappear. Or you are now, uh, forced to be on the straight and narrow

Rebecca:

Well, darn it, there goes that dream. Um, but yes, I did get fingerprinted this week, which was a huge, huge huge milestone and feather in my expat cap. Um, it's something that Damien didn't. Uh, well, he may have gone through it, but it was, it was so long ago.'cause he's so ahead of me in the process. So first what this is, is that you, back when you're in the United States, you go through your first round of giving your biometric data. And I did that in San Francisco. And then you show up in France and then they confirm who you are and you need a first round of visa. Then a year later, in theory give or take six months, you get to renew your visa and that's the stage I'm at. And so I, I'm just sitting around having extended my Visa several times as listeners will know. And then I got a random email from the government saying, this is your. Concordance. I have so many pieces of paper because the thing about Europeans is they want all your pieces of paper.

Aimee:

In Spain, they want three copies of all your pieces of paper.

Rebecca:

Oh, okay. Here we go. Okay, so I got an email saying that my convocation, my con was scheduled. And of course the French government, like most governments is just gonna say, surprise, here's your time and date. You better show up. And so you do, and I did have to move some things, but that's what you do. I was pretty nervous just because this really means a lot to me and I don't wanna mess it up and I wanna do things properly and no ice. And, and mostly because I didn't know what to expect. And again, as long-term listeners will know, I'm a nervous Nelly. I like to know what to expect. And so Aimee and I, you and I actually got to chat right before I left and I was all the flutter. Very nervous about going. And folks, it's so easy if you're facing this, it real. I've said it before, it's just like going to the DMZ. So there's bunches of places. You go to the right one, that's the good first step. Mine was in the 17th around Mont. No idea why. And then there's almost always a line outside of a very bureaucratic looking building. You guys might remember I talked about that first French wedding I went to, which was at the. town hall, those are gorgeous, but the rest of the bureaucratic buildings look just like a, a Department of Vehicles building. So you stand outside'cause there's always proper security and they really don't let you in very quickly. So bring a book, dress for the weather. There's not necessarily gonna be an overhang or anything. And then, um, because it's an office for foreigners. You are gonna see a whole lot of confused people who kind of speak French. And so there's always sort of this, I don't know, flurry of nervous activity as people are trying to figure out, am I allowed to go in now? What do you want from me? Is this the piece of paper you need? Please like me, please accept me. And then, uh, it was my turn and I went through that same flurry and stuff, but you have the right piece of paper.

Aimee:

Real quick, do they, while you all are standing outside in line, do they let. People in one at a time, or do they let small groups of people in at a time? How does that, how do you get from outside to talking to somebody about the papers that you have?

Rebecca:

It is one at a time because you're passing through a metal detector, sort of like if you're going into a courthouse in the United States. It's just that you're queuing up outside, but you're going through that passage one at a time. And in this. Case, it's a double glass door. So one glass door opens. You go into a vestibule where there's a human and a metal detector. You hand the human, the piece of paper that says I'm allowed to be here. They say something mostly unintelligible to you in French, and then you nod and smile as if you understood. Then you take your paper back and you go through the metal detector, and I didn't have to give away any bags or anything, but I only had a small purse with me and my paperwork. Then you go through. And you know, you're so nervous. I don't know if this happens to you, Aimee, but like you almost, it's like when you're trying to hear something and you're nervous and it's like there's a buzz and you can't make things out. This happens for me visually. I'm like, where am I supposed to look? And it's so weird because the welcome desk is right in front of your face, but you're so nervous that you don't behave normal. Um, but I go up to the welcome desk and I hand them my piece of paper. And he confirms that I'm there for this thing and he hands me a number just like at A DMV. And then you go sit in plastic chairs, which with a whole bunch of other people. And then there's different numbering systems, sort of like IKEA has. So it'll be M 28 and then Z 12, and you never know when the M are gonna circle through. So you really have no idea how long it'll take. then when your number finally is called your, uh, in this case, I walked up a little stairs and sat in a little booth with a lady who was very nice to me. but it was all in French, of course, and she took my paperwork. She confirmed that, you know, whatever she needed to confirm. We did fingerprints. On a machine. It's not, liquid Ink fingerprints, it's the machine kind. And then she said that in one and a half to three months, I should get an SMS. That's what they call texts here. They always say SMS usually, and saying that I can come pick up my actual card, so this is my, this is my celebration. That's, that's it. That's the whole story.

Aimee:

Totally fantastic and.

Rebecca:

oh, sorry,

Aimee:

Assuming that it takes the longest of that timeframe, you should then be receiving your card about 11 months after your Visa expired. Right?

Rebecca:

because we started this whole thing in February, so yeah, I'll be receiving my card right when it's time to start renewing again. And this is not unheard of. This is actually really common. And I may or may not get that text. My husband did, never, did not ever get the text, which again is not unheard of. And our lawyer warned him that this could happen and he said a certain amount of time has to pass and then we can email and say, Hey. So ironically, Damien got his card the day after I went in to get fingerprinted. So it was a big week for both of us.

Aimee:

Wow,

Rebecca:

So, yeah, it feels really good, especially because I am flying back to the States in February, and so knowing that this is settled takes a lot of pressure off of my shoulders.

Aimee:

A hundred percent. Yeah. And. Will the card that you're applying for now actually be valid when you fly back to the states?

Rebecca:

I have no idea, honestly, because I know that S Damien just picked up his card, so it has an October date on it, and the lawyers asked me to send a picture of it for their files and then they emailed me back to say, cool, we will be emailing him again six months before it renews next October. So that date. Aligns with when he picked up the card, not when any of the other things happened. So I, I have no idea what that is. My life, I have no idea what's around the next corner at any moment.

Aimee:

Yeah. Yeah, it definitely feels that way when dealing with any kind of bureaucracy. It's just

Rebecca:

Like, it almost makes me feel like a religious person, like

Aimee:

Oh, yeah, yeah,

Rebecca:

going on.

Aimee:

exactly. Exactly. It is a hundred percent trust and blindly following the herd.

Rebecca:

Yes. um, I'm happy. Yeah, you, you take the celebrations, you, you take the wins and, and move on to the next

Aimee:

Yeah. Yeah. That's super exciting.

Rebecca:

I also had, well golly, I had some business wins this week, which. You know about, but I think you texted me and said, what are you gonna do to celebrate?

Aimee:

Mm-hmm.

Rebecca:

Which got me thinking about that. And so I took myself to a vintage store that I've been following on Instagram for a year and was too nervous to go to. And I finally said, this is the moment I'm gonna go celebrate my French achievement by going to this vintage store. And it was in the mere, it's if anybody loves vintage, this gal is so adorable. She's. She looks like a grandma, but she, in her reels, she's dressed in 1950s. Clothes, authentic. They're gorgeous, and she's showing off her other clothes. And then sometimes one of her, I don't know if it's a family member or a clerk, is also wearing the vintage clothes, so the reels are so cute. It's ezelle swing not spelled out, Madam Mazel. It's M-A-M-A-Z-E-L-L-E. Swing. Such a cute feed. And if you're in the maret. Such a cute store. Much tinier than you would expect from looking at those Instagram reels. It's just one of those tiny little boutiques and it's almost entirely focused on the 1940s fifties fashions. She has some that are a little bit earlier, but gorgeous.

Aimee:

Did you find anything that you really liked?

Rebecca:

I, I tried on a couple of things that I liked, but they weren't quite right, so often true with vintage, but I did find two pairs of what I think are bake light earrings. If they're not, they have that vibe and they're very colorful, very, very fun and happy. So yeah, cut myself a little souvenir.

Aimee:

Yay. Good.

Rebecca:

Um, and actually in explorations, because we are. Aware that our time is coming to a close in Paris. Maybe in six months things are still really up in the air. but we know that there's an end coming and so we're trying to explore more. So we did one of the outings that you can do from Paris really easily. So if you guys, if anybody wants to be a cooler tourist than your friends, all you gotta do is hop on the P train and you can go to the oldest. Medieval city in Il de France. Il de France is the region that includes Paris.

Aimee:

Right.

Rebecca:

So technically it's only an hour train ride out of Paris. Except for that, it's on the opposite side of Paris from where we live. So for us, it's a two hour train ride and it's on the weekend at least. It was only two 50 Euro two.$3 I I think that they've changed the, well, they've changed how the metros are priced now, so it's simpler and I think that might be a lower cost on the weekends. I would have to look that up to confirm that. But anyway, we went on a Saturday. It was two 50 to go, two 50 to come back. Lovely train ride. Very clean train, no bathroom. And then this is a true, proper medieval city with the full Rampart and some fabulous towers and some great old churches. And um, it turns out it was the third largest city in France, in the mid Midieval times after, um, Paris and something else. I can't remember right now because they held all the champagne fairs there, all the big trade fairs for champagne at that time.

Aimee:

wow. Is champagne grown in that region? No. No, it can't be because it's grown in the Champagne region of France.

Rebecca:

Yeah, um, well, all I know is that they definitely held the champagne fares in Pvo. Oh, by the way, that's the name of this little town. So to an English speaker, it's gonna look like PVOs. It's P-R-O-V-I-N-S, but that's not'cause that's p, that's a totally different part of France. So we're talking about a little tiny town spelled P-R-O-V-I-N-S, Provan, and you can get there in a one hour train ride from Paris if you want to see something that most tourists never forget to.

Aimee:

How fun. So you, I imagine, walked around, looked at the medieval architecture. Was there anything going on on the weekend? Was there anything that was super memorable for you?

Rebecca:

Well, one thing is that the, the big walls, the big ramparts are very intact, and so we got to walk on the wall, which is one of our favorite things to do. But also we were walking down in what would've been the moat area? Not would've been, I mean, it's just not, you know, used anymore. But it's still there. But you can walk down in that area and as we're walking along, we look over and there's, there were these gated. Doors. one of the gates was open, and so we went in and upped these very steep stone stairs all the way through the rampart walls, through the upper gate. And we were back inside the city. And of course we're talking about all these stories, like, well, this is clearly how they got the princess out and, you know, whatever. That was really fun. And then you can climb the, so it's Caesar's Tower, the Tour de, and. You end up, well, first of all, the, the stone passages in the tower are very tiny. They're tinier than Ian's shoulders. so don't be afraid of small spaces, but you end up in the bell tower, like with the really old wood beams right in front of your face, covered in pigeon poop, and the bells are right there in front of your face. And the everything in pvo is just a little bit. Older and less cared for than the big tourist areas.

Aimee:

Right.

Rebecca:

So it, it just feels much more almost ghostly, like the, the, the, the threads are thicker there to the, to the past times. So those two things were really, really cool.

Aimee:

That sounds pretty awesome. Actually. That reminds me, I, one of the things that, I did last week is I finally found a piece of art. That I want to take back with the states to commemorate our time in Ro and Shane and I both agreed that we really liked that and wanted to see it in our home. And it is a view from one of the ways that we can get home going up a hill with the tower from the Cathedral of Gerona. directly in front of, of the route going up. And it's, I mean, it's a street that we walk multiple times a week, right? So it's a view we're very familiar with and instantly recognizable to us. And the color palette that the artist used and the technique that the artist used makes it look like it's a rainy winter day in Eroni. it's a really nice piece of work and, the gentleman that was helping us said that, a lot of people come to Spain to get art. Because it's so much cheaper than when they take that same art over to the US for an exhibition. He's like, then you know when it's like this same painting that you can get for 2000, 3000 euro. When I take it to New York and we do an exhibition there, we charge five or six times

Rebecca:

Oh, of course. Yeah.

Aimee:

Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's fine art, so it's not cheap, right? It's not like you're taking home a 50 euro painting or anything. However, it is quite affordable for fine art and you know, once we told'em what we wanted and, organized delivery, he, took us on a tour of Carrera No. Which is this street That goes through, the older area of town, not Buddy Vel, not like the Jewish quarter, the oldest quarter, but just outside of that, on the other side of the river. And he informed us that this street, which I also walk on every single day, was built after they tore down an old monastery that had been there for hundreds of years. And he showed us,, remnants of the wall where the some of the gates had been, and then took us into this purse store and said this was the original location of our shop. And when my partner purchased the space, he wanted to open it up so it had a nice open feel. And as he was tearing down the walls, we found these arches from the monastery.

Rebecca:

Wow.

Aimee:

then as we were digging, we discovered several bodies of the friars or people from the monastery and there's pottery. And so the, this purse shop has these arches from, I think about the 12 hundreds in the store. And then they have, what they do in Gerona at least, is when there's architectural remains. That are discovered, underneath an existing structure underneath the street and something's being built. They basically just put a very thick plexiglass is what it looks like. So you can see down into the ruins. And so you look down between your feet and there's pottery shards and he's like, over here, you know, we took, he said, we took some of the. The bodies and you know, relocated them out of respect. But here you can see like there's a little bone still sticking out where we didn't get to it and they had cannon balls from Napoleon tucked in underneath the floor from one of the times that the French invaded Gerona. And he's like, we know that these were from the Napoleonic era because Napoleon's symbol of the two eagles is on the cannonballs.

Rebecca:

That is the coolest thing. I have heard in a long time.

Aimee:

And it's just, no matter how long you live here, there's just this crazy, crazy ancient like historical stuff that is literally right here,

Rebecca:

Yes.

Aimee:

you just don't know what you're, you can never fully know the footsteps that have walked before you, right? Where exactly you are walking and what that space has been over the eons. That same street, there's a picture of it in the Museum of History, the crossroads where you cross point the pra, which is a stone bridge onto Carrera know, and it's a photograph of that intersection from After the Germans had bombed Gerona in World War II and you can recognize it to some degree, you know, some of the buildings survived and are still there, and, but it's from a very, again, a very different point in history and it really, it's difficult to describe the. Feeling of getting your brain to wrap around being in 2025 and seeing 1285 at your feet and 1938, like in, in this photograph and here I stand and here this is, and I am where that was, it's just. It's just so incredible and very humbling. Very humbling.

Rebecca:

It's, it's one of the, well. That's, I went to like a hundred places just from what you were just saying, because it brings up so many random things that we've discovered over the almost two years of being here.

Aimee:

Yeah.

Rebecca:

I think that it's really easy as an expat to take things for granted after a while as things sort of settle into being normal, feeling

Aimee:

That's not an expat thing. That's just a human thing. I mean, think about the, think about how like we both were in Seattle for decades. I never made it to Mount Rainier. I was like, you know, it's right there.

Rebecca:

Yeah. Yeah,

Aimee:

People come from all over to go there. I never bothered. Right, and even in, in your, you know, everybody's hometown, whether or not, it has some kind of claim to fame, we take it for granted because it's just there.

Rebecca:

and I think that the joy of being in Europe is that. Unlike in Seattle where there's definitely stories to pick out and learn,

Aimee:

Underground tour folks, if you've never been.

Rebecca:

So good. Love the underground tour. But here, speaking of underground, there's just so many layers and I would encourage people, what I did the other day when I got together with my new friend, Alyssa, she said, let's meet by the statue of Benton. And I was like, okay. But then I was like. I wonder what that statue's about. So just with Google at your fingertips. Ask a question, dig in. This is great for chatbots too. Just type in what's this statue about? And then that took me into a deep random history lesson about the reign of terror in France that I did not know anything about. And, I learned about how people were on the right side and then ended up on the wrong side and got guillotined by the people that they were, you know, trying to fight. You know, the whole thing. It's all history. It's so fun. Just go look at a statue and say, why is this statue here? Somebody made that statue for some reason. Why is it a story?

Aimee:

And you can do this. You know, if you're in the states and there aren't statues where you live, there are streets with names of people you do not know.

Rebecca:

Why is it named

Aimee:

is this, why is it named that? Who was that person?

Rebecca:

Allow yourself to be curious because it's very easy to be exhausted by this adventure and kind of fall into your Netflix habit, which I have definitely done a lot of.

Aimee:

Yes,

Rebecca:

And then next thing you know, your adventure is over, whether you see it coming or not. And you'll have missed an opportunity to really enrich your life and your brain and take away some cocktail stories for the next time you're out with friends.

Aimee:

exactly.

Rebecca:

Um, speaking of cultural traditions though, you said that there's a big one coming up around the corner

Aimee:

There is.

Rebecca:

annual tradition in Gerona.

Aimee:

Yes. The ER starts this week and it is our Patron Saint Festival. The patron saint of Gerona is Saint Narciss, and actually, here's a great correlation because the biggest miracle that he performed after he had been executed by, I believe he was killed by the French, I think he was a bishop. Um. Honestly, I don't know that he was murdered.

Rebecca:

So now you're just blaming the French for everything is That's what's happening now.

Aimee:

you know, the catalans historically blame the French for everything. Now we blame the Spanish. So yeah. So he was executed, uh, presumably because of his Christian faith, and he's buried. In the cathedral. but one of the times that the French invaded in the late 12 hundreds, they, they invaded gerona and the citizens of Gerona didn't fight back. They just kind of like, I mean, I'm sure they didn't welcome them in, but they surrendered very easily. but the French were really brutal to them when they invaded Among, you know, pillaging and God knows what other unspeakable things happened. They went into the cathedral and they. Opened up the tomb of St. Narciss, presumably to rob. any artifacts that were buried with him and swarms of flies flew out of his tomb and begin biting the soldiers and their horses. Depending on who tells you this legend, those fly bites killed everybody that they bid, like killed. All the French soldiers and the horses, or just the swarms of flies were so thick and so. Nasty and their bites were so, they are actually, the flies that bite here are kind of uncomfortable that they fled and they, they left the city. They were like, Hmm, let's not stick around. And then about a thousand years after nurses died, and he died in 370 ad, so about a hundred years after the French had invaded. This occurrence happened, he was then venerated as a saint. So Gerona pays homage to Saint Narciss, and his day is October 29th, which also happens to be my child's birthday. So for his birthday week, the entire town sets up dances and traditional cuddle on activities. There is a,. Decent sized. Well, tree Park, the trees were reportedly planted by Napoleon Napoleon's, soldiers or whoever. I'm sure he didn't do it personally, and they put a amusement park right in the middle of this forested park that will be going all week. it's just, it's such a, such a wonderful time and the kids get three days off of school. So my little guy is going to celebrate his birthday by taking his two buddies to the amusement park and then doing Kota folk at, 10 30 at night, which is our favorite. Very, very favorite Kalon tradition. KO folk means fire run in kalan, it goes back to medieval times, I believe, but was resurrected and turned into a cultural activity to celebrate events, I believe after Franco died. So in the, in the mid seventies. And effectively what happens is late at night. You meet in a square and all of a sudden, at least, I've only been to the one in Gerona. So all of the lights go out. They cut the lights and it's pitch black, and then all of a sudden these devils come running through the crowd carrying pitchforks and fireworks spraying. Sparks everywhere and they basically chase you through the narrow alleyways of Old Town. you're not really running'cause there's too many people. So you're kind of meandering. And if you've ever been in an ancient medieval city. If you've ever been to Venice, you know there's these narrow alleyways and they connect to each other, and so devils will jump out of the side with these sparks flying everywhere. there are a couple people who get into a dragon costume, and the dragon costume has shooting sparks that come out of its nostrils and the dragon chases you through the narrow alleyway. It's just the most amazing, amazing thing. The whole route is about a kilometer. In the dark, aside from fireworks and flares and colored smoke everywhere. It's super eerie and spooky and fun and freaking awesome. Then it ends in a different plaza. It takes about an hour and a half to walk, roughly a kilometer and, at the end of the plaza then there are. Typical fireworks in front of, one of the buildings there. They often put on a kind of play sort of thing, telling a story with fire and it's all very dangerous. from an American standpoint, it's very dangerous. I will say from a human standpoint, it is not a safe activity. Right. If you do not cover your head, there is a very strong risk that your scalp will be singed from falling debris.

Rebecca:

So for the people listening, I'm sitting here shaking my head vigorously as in no.

Aimee:

because I'm the fun one. You don't wear

Rebecca:

death wish.

Aimee:

You don't wear clothes that you like because they will end up with holes burned in them. Like your great aunt put out her cigarette on your coat. You know, that kind of thing.

Rebecca:

So, I mean, I'm assuming that there aren't usually serious injuries or are there, and they do it anyway.

Aimee:

I don't know how serious the injuries are. I have witnessed someone on the ground. I don't know what happened to them and medics were attending them. I've also seen. One of the devils accidentally get too close or a spark fell on her head and I think it burned her scalp and he was super apologetic, made sure she was okay, is like, is everything okay? Um, so I've seen little things like that. All of the events, Like Coda Folk as well as the Costellos, the human stacking towers, right? They always have paramedics on hand in case something goes terribly awry. They're not stupid about it, but like much of Europe, it is very much we trust you to be an adult. We trust adults to take care of their children and you know, enjoy at your own risk, right?

Rebecca:

and they also just seem almost less risk averse

Aimee:

A hundred percent.

Rebecca:

it might be a combination of the fact that they're less litigious, not like less likely to be sued. But also life is, life is more real over here. Wars are more present. Um. I think they have a more realistic sense of the fragility of being alive somehow.

Aimee:

A hundred percent and it doesn't

Rebecca:

terrified by your, your description and that's entirely my Americanness going, oh my gosh.

Aimee:

Yeah. Yeah. See, the funny thing about that is I think you are correct, and what I find amazing is that they have a more. Visceral sense of the fragility and transient nature of life. It doesn't make them more afraid. It makes them more willing to go for it. Yeah. To live. Exactly. So that's, um, the following day is the child's kora folk. The child's starts a couple hours earlier, like at eight o'clock at night. So it is dark and it's shorter that you don't go through as many. Passages and and things. It tends to be a little bit smaller, less attended, but the primary difference is that the children are the ones who get to play the devil and carry the fireworks and the sparklers and the incredibly dangerous pyrotechnics. They put them in the hands of the children and the kids get to do it. Now, for those of you who are completely freaking out right now. Yeah, families have been participating in this for generations. The children that are given the pyrotechnics are, they train for this all year, and they train for this throughout their childhood. They don't give them to any random kid on the street to play with. We will say that the child's COTA folk in some ways. I think is more dangerous, even though it's less densely populated and for a shorter period of time because the humans handling the pyrotechnics are shorter. And so all of those sparks, even when they're holding, you know, the staff with the spinning sparks above their head, it's still a good two feet or so closer to you. Then when an adult is doing

Rebecca:

Yeah. Oh my.

Aimee:

that's really where we get our clothes damaged is the Children's Code of Folk. Not so much the adult's code of folk,

Rebecca:

I've always said children were the problem, so.

Aimee:

But it is our favorite time of year. We absolutely love it. the very first year that we were here, my it, the kofu, the event actually took place on the day of my son's birthday. It's always on a Saturday, and his birthday fell on the Saturday that year. And so for his birthday, we're like, oh yeah, let's go to this thing. I guess they have fireworks, and you're supposed to be careful because I, I know from being in Mexico that not everybody requires you to be. You know, 600 meters to two miles away from fireworks when they're going on. I have been in situations where the sparks are raining down on you, so I knew that it was going to be like that. And so, I made sure we all had our head covered and stuff, but beyond that, I didn't really know what to expect and it completely broke our brains in the most delightful way. And that was the year my son turned 10. He was like, oh my God, this is the best birthday ever. Thank you so much for bringing us here. It was just completely amazing for him because he had never, I mean, he was a super coddled American kid from a progressive city. He'd never been on a school bus He'd never been on a public bus unattended. He'd never like walked to a store by himself, right? Like, our children are so domesticated and coddled. And, and then he jumps into this experience. There's devils chasing him, and, and sparks raining down upon him and he was like, oh my God, I.

Rebecca:

And so he, this will be his third then.

Aimee:

This will be his third. Yes. He turned 10 and then he had his 11th last year and this, yeah, his third Koda folk.

Rebecca:

It was pretty awesome. So does that happen between now and when we get to next record? I, I

Aimee:

it does. It happens this Saturday.

Rebecca:

hopefully folks, we're gonna be recording next time and we will still have a child intact and not too many singes.

Aimee:

My plan is that I do not have an urgent care story for our audience.

Rebecca:

Although if we did, we'll bring it to you guys. Well, that seems like a pretty good place to leave it. Um, happiest birthday to your son from all of us. I'm gonna go and speak on behalf of the listeners.

Aimee:

On behalf of my son, we thank you.

Rebecca:

And dear listeners, a.

Aimee:

I'll sign off and cuddle on today.