Happy Friday!

A few random comments heading into the weekend:
- My French class is going well. I really like the teacher and think she does a good job. The class has about ten other students who are all around my age. When I took French in the US the students were all American so we would whisper to each other in English when we did not understand what was happening. The difference now is that everyone is from different countries and the only common language we have is French (and it is a bit hazardous at times because this is a beginning French class). It is interesting listening to classmates speak French with accents from around the world.

- I am in London now. I arrived on the Eurostar yesterday morning and am going back to Paris tonight. Before arriving I did not realize what a treat it would be to speak and hear English everywhere! Yay!

- The grocery situation is getting better and better as with each attempt at a new store I find more of what I am looking for. Our office is in a nice suburb of Paris and there is a grocery across the street that really does remind me very much of Whole Foods. I have found a few closer to home that I know I will visit often. This coming weekend though I will spend more time exploring French street markets and doing a lot of pointing for what I want. I have got to focus more on French food vocabulary words.

- Tuesday at work I had my work medical exam. Apparently it is a law in France that all new employees have an exam by an on-site doctor. This has nothing to do with my visa status, this is something every French worker has to do. It was a bit difficult because the nurse did not speak much English, but we got through it. I had an eye exam, provided a urine sample, gave a medical history, and then the doctor listened to me breathe, poked my stomach, looked at my throat, took my height and weight. Apparently this doctor lectures everyone on how important it is to eat fruits and vegetables but I don’t think she was up for the effort in English.

- I am still working on my own hypothesis as to why French people don’t get fat because the amount they eat for lunch actually really gets my attention every day. Picture five foot women, size zero, eating like football players, every day. I mean two trays of food, napkins tucked into collars, and taking a full hour to eat everything on the two trays.

- Steve and I are working with our company to obtain our Cartè de Soujours. The visas we waited forever for in the US expire after three months and the next step is obtaining a Cartè de Soujour. Every ‘moving to France’ book talks about these cards and what a lengthy process it is to get them. They are residence cards that give you permission to stay in France for two years. After two years you can apply for another two year carte. After those two years you can apply for a ten year carte. The process involves applying for the carte and then waiting and waiting. I understand that when you apply you receive a receipt and that receipt is our key to the next step to living in France. Someone from work will escort Steve and I to the police station in a few weeks to pick up those golden receipts.

Second Weekend

Our second full weekend in Paris was quite fun. Friday night we saw Casino Royal. Lucky for me it was in English with French subtitles (rather than being dubbed in French). Saturday morning Steve and I met our friends, the Garcias for an early lunch and a bike tour of Paris. The Garcias are moving to America next month and they wanted to go on the bike ride as part of their farewell tour of the city. We had a great lunch looking up at the Sacre Coeur and then set off for the tour. After an hour of discussing which tour we would go on (I am told this negotiation process is very French – we reserved for one tour, were convinced a second tour was better, and finally ended up on a third) we set off with a Dutch family of six and a guide who rode so fast we thought she was trying to lose us. Our guide has a license to guide people in Paris and she was quite knowledgeable, but her information was all in French so I got what I could from what our friends translated for me. We rode through some pretty busy streets and ended up in the much more peaceful19^th arrondissement. We saw beautiful parks where teams of older men were out for the afternoon playing balls, nice old homes, and a science museum that was built as a slaughter house but turned into a museum when they realized the doors were too narrow for the width of the animals. We rode past Notre Dame just as it began to rain and right as we rode into the Latin Quarter it started to pour. We took cover for about 10 minutes until it let up a bit and then rode for about 30 more minutes, returned our bikes and thanked the guide. I made a mad dash for BHV before it closed and completely enjoyed myself. The store is six levels and has everything you could need (a la Target), but with much more upscale offerings. The basement is all hardware and sells more than anyone could ever use.

Saturday night we went to a party at the apartment of a co-worker who Steve had met once before, and had a really good time. We knew no one before arriving but everyone was really friendly and interesting and there was no shortage of champagne. After, we met up with friends at two different bars until 3am when I pulled Steve home because I could no longer take the smoke. I am counting the days until the impending public smoking ban, but I am told there are quite a few questions as to how well it will be enforced.

Sunday Steve worked all day and I explored our neighborhood more. We are very close to the Moulin Rouge so I walked over there and past the Amalie hangout, Deux Moulins. It was very crowded so I did not go in, but I continued to find more wonderful stores, restaurants, bakeries, etc. which made me feel even more comfortable in our new neighborhood.

We are making progress getting the phone set up, but it will be a few more weeks.

Soldes!!

I started work last week and I can not believe how kind everyone here is. So many people have made a point of introducing themselves and different people invited me to lunch each day last week.

Our first weekend in Paris was nice. Good weather, and a lot of exploring. We ate at two nice restaurants and found an excellent boulangerie which reminds me very much of the High-Rise bakery in Cambridge. On Saturday Steve’s French ‘parents’ (from his exchange program in high school) came to Paris and Steve had to work but they invited me to an excellent exhibit at the Grand Palais featuring buried under-the-sea Egyptian artifacts. The sales (soldes) are on and everyone is going nuts for the deals. Sales happen in France only twice a year, January and July, and they last for about six weeks each time. Even some stores were open on Sunday to accommodate all of the shoppers. I did a bit of looking but did not buy anything.

South Africa pictures

These pictures are all from Gillian. Enjoy!

The phone

Steve and I have Vonage but we have not quite been able to set up the internet connection at home. It is proving to be a somewhat difficult task because we do not exactly know how to navigate the system, I can not call (because of the language thing), Steve is working so late that the customer service centers are closed by the time he gets home, and we are not exactly sure of which provider to use. I have to get my cell phone through work and I imagine that will also take some time. I will let everyone know when we get connected.

Later Whole Foods

For the past few years I have always done my grocery shopping on Sundays and then cooked up a bit of a feast on Sunday evenings to pick at throughout the week. That’s all going to change now because almost everything is closed on Sundays in Paris, including most grocery stores. When Steve and I got back from SA on Sunday the cupboards were bare so we set out in a desperate hunt for something to eat. Luckily the fruit store was open so we started with that and even luckier the proprietor told us of a grocery he thought was open. We raced over and sure enough, success. Naturally, as expected, the grocery stores here are small because space is scarce, but this will definitely take some getting used to. Options are slim and supply is not quite what I would expect for a big city, but I am very excited to figure out how the French manage to be the foodies of the world on what I have seen so far. One store, Monoprix, is some sort of department-like store (more tomorrow because I am going there tonight) that added a grocery component. In a way this store most reminds me of Whole Foods because they offer a good selection of food prepared on-site. My French is not good enough yet to determine if they have a healthy slant on what they sell, but the prices are above other stores; a la Whole Foods. A French friend recommended a chain called Franprix which so far is okay, but the selection is slim – I almost jumped for joy yesterday when I found tomato paste. I have yet to find black beans, but I did manage to find canned and raw lentil, kidney and garbanzo. I need to spend more time in Franprix’s wine section – they seem to have excellent selections in the 5-7 Euro range. As I was lugging my groceries home last night I passed a store that sells only frozen food and reminded me of an extra large Trader Joe’s frozen food section. They even sell you insulated bags for your walk home. I will definitely research that store more as it looked very promising.

On to more important things: work! Day one has been successful. The offices are beautiful and the people are nice and mostly speak English really well, but even I could understand most of what was said in French. We have a cantina for lunch – a co-worker took me over and showed me the ropes. It was a bit intimidating because the menu changes daily and of course the menus are all listed in French. I grabbed the few vegetarian items I could find: salad, yogurt, bread and brie. The seating area is on the second floor and as you descend the stairs to the first floor there is a coffee bar where everyone has an espresso before returning to work. We skipped coffee today, but there were 50+ people there today – it was very French. I have my computer, phone, and desk so full steam ahead.

Back from South Africa

We had a wonderful two weeks in South Africa! Lots of beach and family time, drinking of wine and tea, food and family... lots of relatives! The Franklin's house is located here right outside of George, in Groot-Brakrivier (Great Brak River in English), Groot-Brakrivier in Africans (the local language). We spent a day in Plettenberg Bay, with a stop in Knysna. I will post pictures and more details when I get them together.

This morning I had my french medical exam which consisted of: me hoping they spoke English (the doctors did), waiting in the waiting room for an hour, being weighed and having my height measured, an eye exam, a chest x-ray, a quick consultation with a doctor who looked at my x-ray (and confirmed I do not have TB), listened to me take a few deep breaths, and sent me home. Now that I am offically healthy (according to the French) I will begin work, starting tomorrow.

Tonight I have my first French language class - not a minute too soon!