Come visit!

Come visit us this summer and experience the Tour de France. This will be the last year that Lance Armstrong will be racing in the Tour. If you look at the map of the course, you see that it will be in our area quite a bit. Plan to visit us and see this historic Tour de France!

Tour de France route 

To work or not to work....

Click here before reading on:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4652647

French Holiday Looms, and Questions Remain

Weekend Edition - Sunday, May 15, 2005 · The French government wants to eliminate the Pentecost holiday in order to save money. The holiday always falls on a Monday -- this year it is May 16. French workers are not happy about eliminating one of their three-day weekends and have been protesting. Now no one is quite sure who will and won't be working tomorrow. Jim Bitterman reports.

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(15:19:53) mrskburas: are you working today
(15:20:03) mrpburas: not at 10:30 pm
(15:20:09) mrskburas: ok so did you work
(15:20:37) mrpburas: absolutely
(15:20:48) mrskburas: were you the lone man standing?
(15:20:52) mrpburas: but about half the office didn't show up
(15:20:56) mrskburas: HAHA
(15:21:32) mrpburas: the union thing is bizarre
(15:21:45) mrpburas: they have numerous little "greves"
(15:22:03) mrskburas: grievences?
(15:22:22) mrpburas: no, strikes
(15:22:30) mrskburas: ah

(15:23:41) mrpburas: the hilarious part is one mayor who respected the holiday but then let everybody off on a technicality
(15:23:59) mrskburas: haha
(15:24:35) mrpburas: then the part where the Metro workers have a "greve" and then only shut down about half the system
(15:24:42) mrpburas: enough to make people notice
(15:25:40) mrpburas: fortunately our "cantine" was open at lunch

Ah Geez, Do I have time for this?

Jury duty today. I will read the new book I bought, Eurabia. Should be interesting.

Jury Summons 

Our high-tech solution. (The office) 

My connection to the world.... France, in particular

There is no internet service in the apartment where the three of us are temporarily living. Well, that is to say, *we* haven't set up any particular service. But if we take the laptop out onto the patio, someone with a wireless network with the name 'Cynthia' has been very kind to us. Most of the time, her network is up and running and we have access to the world. Occasionally the signal is not there, and boy do we get pissed!

Ahh, the taste of home! 

all that good food

Lyon: France's best kept secret
French Capital of Gastronomy is UNESCO World Heritage City

(ARA) - Lyon, France, has long been known to sophisticated travelers as the culinary capital of France. (www.theallineed.com)

...(The Washington Post)...The occasion of this dramatic response was lunchtime in Lyon, the charming, laid-back city that's renowned as the Gastronomic Capital of France. Lyon's culinary fame is based on two main styles of cooking: hearty home cooking that uses seasonal vegetables and organ meats (offal, tripe, chicken gizzards, liver and hearts), and the loftier traditional cuisine of famous chefs such as Paul Bocuse.

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The arrival of our container of stuff has made Paul much more comfortable. Sleeping in his own bed, with his own pillow, was a long forgotten pleasure. And eating at a real dining table is clearly a more practical method than eating on the floor. But the arrival of our stuff brought unexpected surprises too. Hidden in the boxes of kitchen stuff, Paul found a single can of Hormel chili. The packers probably didn't quite know what to do with it and shipped it to France.... Lyon..... the gastronomic capital of France. Zut alors!

Paul cooked a pot of rice and poured the can of chili on top and said it was the best meal he has had in 2 months!!

home, james 

A place to dine, finally. 

Mirroring

"This is one of the most important interpretations of body language we can learn. You often see two people talking, standing in the same pose. This indicates that they are in agreement with each other, they like each other."

Body Language 

The unpacking

The photo below shows the front door (on the right) and the very huge entry hall with our stuff. The mover/packer guys did a super job carrying all the furniture and boxes up the flight of stairs, unpacking much of it, and assembling what needed to be assembled. The hardware for the bunk beds has temporarily disappeared, so they could not be set up just yet. And only one thing was damaged.... the sailing picture we bought up in Maine when on vacation - a real favorite - but only the glass was broken, so it can easily be fixed. But where to do that?.... and how to say it in French?....

A days work! 

The container arrived!

The container with all our stuff finally arrived. No more sleeping on an air mattress and eating on the floor! There was a bit of a concern about where the truck would park. Seems that the moving company called the mayor's office to get a permit to park but they said that it would take 2 weeks to get a permit. NO!!!! NOT TWO MORE WEEKS! so the moving company asked what to do about the 'problem'. Since there is an official loading zone right in front of the apartment buidling, you would think that it would not be a problem... but of course, nobody obeys the no parking sign and the loading zone is always full of cars. The moving company suggested that Paul go and park *his* car there to hold a spot. Since the car is in TOTAL's name, Paul thought that wouldn't be such a great idea. So no. The movers would just have to work it out.

There is a picture below. You can see that they "worked it out". As you can observe, they just parked the truck on the sidewalk.

Still intact - breaking the seal in Lyon! 

VISA status

"I heard my work permit was approved,
now they start on the carte de sejour. 
2 weeks?

By the way, she is working on yours
and needs 4 photos."

back again

I apologize for my deliquency...
My dad called to wish me a happy mothers day and gave me a friendly reminder to update the blog.

So what's new?
Paul has made great progress getting appliances for the apartment. He purchased the stove, refridgerator (mini-sized and NOT frost-free), dishwasher, microwave, washer, and dryer with help from who else but Madame Helleput, of course.

The good news is that the container arrived in the port of Marseilles and should be delivered to the apartment within the next week. No more "living" with only an air mattress, an office chair, and a TV that has only been working for a few days!