a cult movie in France

I will be glued to the TV tonight. 'Les Brozes Font du Ski' is showing tonight on TV1. I’m excited because this movie is showing, but I am more excited that it will be on TV1 because that is one of the channels that works. Before I got here, I was pretty impressed that Paul had managed to purchase a TV, hook it up, get cable... and have it all working when I got here a month later - even though it takes 2 different remote controls to operate. He bought just basic cable... no frills or movie channels. It didn’t really matter since we didn’t watch TV very much.

After the kids were here during the summer, we suddenly discovered that we had some movie channels. We don’t know if the kids somehow ordered them, or whether there was some hidden clause in the contract that said we would get them later... they just appeared.

We are equally baffled by the disappearance of the “free” channels. We can no longer see the channels that one would not have to pay for if they didn’t have cable. We don’t know why and we don’t know what to do. We tried calling the cable company... but imagine trying to call a French cable company to complain and getting the litany of “press this button if...” only it’s all in French. So after that didn’t work, we decided to send them an email about the problem. We still haven’t gotten a response so we just live without the free channels.

So back to the movie...

I guess every country has its cult movies. We have “Blazing Saddles” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”. Lots of my students (and I) liked “Office Space”. There is a cult movie here about some people who go skiing. I first learned about this movie after we went skiing and found ourselves stuck in a non-moving ski lift at closing time high above the alps. I had visions of spending the night on the lift. Later that night, someone told me about the movie which had a scene in it that matched our own predicament. And so a big part of the dinner discussion centered around this funny movie.

The next Monday at my French school, the teacher announced that we would be working on listening skills and we would watch clips from a movie... “Les Bronzes Font du Ski”. I couldn’t believe my luck! We didn’t get to watch the whole movie, just a few funny clips but I learned more about the movie… it’s the second of a series of 3… the third just came out this January… and Paul said everyone at work has been talking about it.

So... supposedly... we will get to watch the movie in it’s entirety tonight...maybe. And then ... only maybe... will I understand it.

it's a moving parade, seriously....

 
 

La joi de vivre

I heard a noise outside my living room window. It sounded like a parade... some cheering, the sound of beating drums... and just a lot of commotion. “I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter...” It was a parade all right...one that was formed for the purpose of moving someone from one place to another. Each member of the parade was carrying a piece of furniture, a box, or something from the previous location. Going down the street were... a mattress... chairs... a couch... pushcarts loaded with stuff... grocery carts loaded with boxes... even a wheelbarrow loaded with things.

I'm not making this stuff up! Wow... good to be home.

moving parade 2

 
 

moving parade 3

 
 

moving parade 4

 
 

nice sight 

about the trip

On the first day back in the good ole USof A... it was a strange feeling have your kid picking YOU up at the airport (seems backwards)... we didn’t go to the hotel, but instead went straight to Target. “Tar-jay” takes on a new meaning! It was very strange there too... we were walking the aisles and I was having visual overload as we stood in the grocery aisle...and then...at the end of the row, there was a kid with his dad. He started talking to his dad in French. My mind just couldn’t process this – seriously – I had a moment of utter confusion as I heard French being spoken in an American Target store! Jeff had to remind me that “D.C. is an international city, mom.” And then, as I walked past a woman blocking the aisle, I caught myself saying “pardon” en francais. It was all very bizarre.

I loaded the shopping cart with Bisquick, chocolate chips, brownie mixes, cake mixes, soynuts, spaghetti sauce mixes, BIZ detergent, and other such oddities that I haven’t yet learned to live without. I was really tired from the long trip and it just made “shop till you drop” have a whole new meaning.

I spent the next day at Books-A-Million and other small bookstores around the hotel. I think I came home with about 10 new books, including 'Tale of Two Cities' and 'The Three Musketeers'. I bought a few magazines too. I also bought 'Goodnight Moon' and 'Green Eggs and Ham' as baby gifts for a French friend who is pregnant and married to an American. I figured that kid needed to grow up with some good American culture.

While there, we enjoyed fine dining at Chipolte, Krispy Kreme, Fudrucker’s, Best Bagels, California Pizza Kitchen, Subway, and Quiznos. I drank a Root Beer and a Dr. Pepper.

And had to have Starbucks coffee, but surprisingly.... it tasted pretty weak!

airport parking lot 

where is home?

What a strange feeling coming "home" to a strange land after being in the U.S. for nearly a week! It was good to see the sun while in D.C. and I'm glad I got to feel the rays for a few days because when we got back, there was no sun in sight. Time for a nap.... more later.

getting good at this 

 

counting the days....

I leave tomorrow for my tag-along trip to the states. I'm reminded of two things that my former-expat-friend Tim told me. One thing he said is that we should often get "out of culture". He was so right. I'm so ready to get out of culture! And I'm equally ready to get "in" American culture. I just can't wait to visit Taco Bell... shop in the evenings - maybe even on Sunday... get my hair cut by someone who (maybe) understands how I want it cut.... and I want to laze around and mindlessly watch TV. I also plan to laze around reading the SUNDAY newspaper that is full of comics, ads, and who-knows-what else. And... maybe I will catch a glimpse of le soleil (uhm, sorry, in English... the sun!)

The other thing Tim talked about was how on our first trip home we would be filling extra suitcases with "stuff". At the time that he told me ... I didn't really understand why I would do that, but I certainly understand it now! I've got a long list of things I will be shopping for... cake mixes... books (lots of books)... craft supplies... paper with lines going across the page (not graph paper) ... the list is quite long!

So while I will be away only 5 days, I will probably not have much access to a computer and therefore this blog may lie dormant for a short time.

But... "y'all come back now!"

can you read french? 

an interesting apology

I don’t think I will ever forgive the US postal service for their disgraceful service back in 2002. We had just moved into our new house and the adjacent house was empty. The lady who had lived there died and her daughter would visit the house about once every month or two to check on things and collect the mail. The way the postal route worked, they would deliver to the vacant house just before our house. The mail would go into a slot in their front door.

It was the spring of that year, a time when high school graduates all over the country rush home each day to check the mail to see if they have been accepted to the college of their dreams. In our case, the mail was not being delivered to our house... the US postal service couldn’t figure out how to SKIP A HOUSE if it was not receiving any mail that day. They would repeatedly deliver our mail to the vacant house. Maybe... or maybe not... they would realize that they had screwed up... we would sometimes get the mail from the other next-door neighbor. I assume all of the people along our street were playing ‘musical mail.’ In our case, we couldn’t get any of our misdelivered mail until the daughter of the dead lady showed up to check on things. Bills became overdue... we missed events... you get the picture... and... we didn’t hear from the colleges. The worst part about all of this is that repeated calls to the postal service were met with unbelievable indifference.

So.. being on this side of the pond, you might think that things would be different. Well, they kinda are and they kinda aren’t. When we ordered stamps for our Christmas cards, they were supposed to deliver them to us, just like regular mail, but in reality we just got a notice in our box asking us to go stand in line with the hoards of other people to pick up the stamps at the post office. So we obediently did that. But then we needed more stamps one day. Paul ordered them on line to ‘do an experiment’. He believed that if we ordered half-sheets, then they might decide to put them in a small envelope and then they would put them in our box.

In late December he placed the order. In mid-January, we had received no stamps. Then we began to question... did we really place the order? Did we forget to do something? Did we not understand the French? ... not knowing... we placed the order again. Yesterday we received an apology letter from the french postal service– personally addressed and hand signed – telling us that they are sorry, they screwed up. It was a very polite letter – the French are masters at politeness – they explained that the problem was that the stamps had been sent to a post office in a neighboring city! The letter begged us to accept this excuse! Wow... would the US postal service ever send you a personal letter to apologize for poor service? ... I’m still waiting for that letter from the service in 2002.

But ... now we don’t know how to cancel all the other French stamps we ordered.

the end of the Christmas season

 
 

Is Christmas over yet?

It was so refreshing to NOT see tossed out Christmas trees on the day after Christmas. I wasn’t expecting to see any and I didn’t... but I wondered when they would start appearing curbside... or exactly where I was supposed to put my old Christmas tree.

About a week after Christmas, I expected to start seeing trees, but no, no tossed trees yet. Two weeks passed, still no trees. Ahhh, Epiphany... that’s the day everyone will throw out their tree... 12 days after Christmas! No... well, a few trees here and there, but no real mass tossing of trees. We were ready to dispose of our tree whether or not it was fashionable to do it at that time.

So I de-decorated it, put the bulbs away and then handed the disposal job off to Paul. Problem was, we weren’t sure where you were supposed to put it. Since we had seen a few on the curb, we decided we could put ours there too. But Paul didn’t want to carry it down the steps of the apartment building and make a mess of dropping needles. He wanted to DROP IT OUT THE WINDOW onto the street. So we plotted and planned to find the right window and just the right time to toss our Christmas tree onto the sidewalk below.

I never really liked this idea. If dropping needles was a problem, I would just have to find a way to prevent it. I soon discovered that my sister had used really big trash bags as packing material for our Christmas presents! So I somehow managed to stuff the tree into the bag so that we could drag it down the stairs instead of tossing it out onto someone’s head.

Christmas, I guess, is over.

Blue Bayou

We get together with other Americans each month for an opportunity to visit (in English) and discover new restaurants in the city. Last night, before we left, I had no idea that a wonderful surprise awaited us. OK, the name should have tipped me off, but my mind wasn’t operating fully, it stays half-frozen most of the time. We walked into 'Blue Bayou' and I thought I had just entered a place deep in the heart of Cajun country. The smell of Cajun cooking filled the air, the walls were plastered with all-things-Louisiana, and strings of American flags (the plastic kind you see at grand openings of a new gas stations) were strung from the ceiling. More on the décor later...

This can’t be real, I thought... then I got the menu. After I read beyond the chili, (aghhh) I saw Jambalaya, Gumbo, and CRAWFISH ... and there was Tabasco sauce on the table. The picture became clearer still as I realized that this wasn’t just some general Louisiana restaurant... on the menu, there were no Red Beans and Rice, no Shrimp Creole, no New Orleans-style dishes, but real Cajun food!

I ordered etoufee and Paul got a boiled crawfish plate. It was perfectly cooked, precisely spiced, and the crawfish were hot! I went over and talked to the cook/owner/fat guy. He had lived in Lafayette. His beau-frere still lives there and works at Lafayette General, and his sister (I think) teaches French at U-La La. We had a nice long talk, and he even told me his secret for finding okra! He ran to his kitchen and brought back a can of okra to show me what to look for in the Chinese grocery stores!

When the crowd cleared out, we had a chance to get a closer look at all the junk on his restaurant walls. We were a bit surprised that the only thing ‘LSU’ was a picture of the French House (bien sur) on campus. I spotted a bumper sticker from Fred’s Lounge, a picture of Elvis Presley, lots of posters from Lafayette, pictures of cajun musicians, the Lousiana State flag, the Acadiana flag, the Rebel flag, lots of pictures and other memorabilia from all over Southwest Louisiana. Paul mentioned however, that he thought only one thing was missing - an autographed picture of Edwin Edwards!

my buddies 

back to school week

I started back to French school this week. It was hard to give up the free time that the short vacation provided, but it was good to be back with the friends I have made.

On the last day of class before Christmas, the school had a party and at the party we had to provide some type of entertainment... a spectacle, as they say. Our class did a sing-a-long of a popular (in the 80’s) French hit. I guess it was pretty popular because as soon as the music started, all the instructors and other French people immediately started singing along and they didn’t have to have a “cheat-sheet” for the words and pronunciation. So it wasn’t so bad.

After our “spec-TAK-le”, us girls took a picture. These are my new Japanese friends and one girl from Brazil. The girl (front left) is my buddy. She and I started at the school at about the same time and we are both still there. I remember thinking back then about how horrible her French was... it is difficult for her to make many of the sounds in French (and English too) and she just didn’t do very well. I took about a month off to travel around France and when I returned, I was shocked at how much better she had gotten. And this week, as we all returned to class, I was shocked again at how much better my Japanese friend was speaking French. I wondered... did they think I had improved? Probably not since my vacation was spent speaking English, not French.

just a nice picture of a door 

Is customer service a dirty word?

I just got labeled a “weasel” by my husband. I didn’t realize I had become a weasel... but I guess it’s true... and I didn’t mean to become one... it just happened.

I can easily take no for an answer. I always have. I always thought ‘no’ meant ‘no’. But evidently over here “non” doesn’t quite have the same meaning.

So here’s what happened that got me this label. In late January, husband has a business trip planned to the US, not just any old place in the US, but to DC. As you may know, youngest kiddo goes to college there in DC, so here beginnith the attempt to tag along.

Husband had travel arrangements made (and paid for) by the company, bien sur, and so I started looking for cheap flights. Since I had planned on paying with euros, I thought it best to use a travel place based over here.

I found an online site, found a flight that I liked, and proceeded to book it. The payment options were to either do a bank funds transfer or pay by credit card. No problem...I thought.. I’ll pay by credit card. Bank transfers seem too complicated for me, and it can't be done online... you have to go to the bank to do it. Way too much trouble, especially trying to get all those numbers correctly translated into French! So, throughout the process, it NEVER asked me for a credit card number, never. I finally got the confirmation, etc... but never got asked about paying. So I emailed them and told them of the problem. After 6 emails back and forth... I finally said... “forget it, just cancel the reservation”. I received an email that told me how to cancel it myself. OK, I'll do it... well, low and behold, it asked for a credit card number because there was a penalty for canceling.

So I emailed them back and said... “Hey, you can take a credit card for the penalty, so why can’t you take a credit card for the payment?” (I think that’s when I got the “weasel” label.) Anyway, after about 4 more emails, I THINK I have a flight to DC and it’s paid for.

Je pense.

wintertime... one day when the sky was blue 

sage advice

“Whatever you do, don’t bring your wife to France for the first time in the wintertime.” That’s the advice that Paul’s old boss gave him before we moved here. The old boss is a really good guy. He is the one who orchestrated this move and has been Paul’s greatest advocate and full of sage advice. They met together a couple of weeks ago in Paris to ‘talk about life’.

The above-mentioned advice has a story to go with it (they always do). This seasoned expat Bernard has had many different assignments in various countries and this is the ONE piece of advice he had to give? Now I understand. Seems that his wife arrived for their American assignment in Houston during the month of August. ‘nuff said. She could barely stand the heat and threatened to return to France. Here we are in January, with winter in full swing, and it’s cold and dark and dreary. It also happens to coincide with the expat calendar of “6-8 months into the assignment blues”. Kids have left, holidays are over, the language is still difficult... good thing I didn't arrive here in January....looking forward to the spring!

King Cakes Everywhere 

galette des Rois/ gateau des Rois

(In the south of France, King Cakes are called “galette”... galette seems to be an all-purpose French word for an imperfect pie... and in the north they are called called “gateau”... the French word for cake.)

History of the French King Cake

In the 17th century, Louis XIV took part in at least one Twelfth Night Festival where a bean or ceramic figures was hidden in the cake, also known as a Gateau des Rois, the Twelfth Night cake custom is still widely observed in France, where families and friends gather around one of the different cakes served at the cake soirees. In some regions the couronne, made from a brioche dough topped with a fruit festooned sugar glaze, is flavored. In Paris and other major cities, a fancier galette built with a frangipane (almond creamed paste), prevailed. In most areas of France, a tiny plastic king or queen is baked into the galette des Rois....

... “When we have a king cake party in France, we refer to the galette des Rois tradition , ‘pulling the king or queen.’” and, “the guest who received a serving with the trinket hidden inside picks a consort. Then the pair, who will host the next King’s Day party, are crowned with the gold and silver paper diadems that adorn the cake”.

In France, King’s Day celebrations end on January 31st “France’s brioche-like couronne became the forerunner of New Orleans’ King Cake with Creoles, colonials of French and Spanish decent who settled in New Orleans, adopted the French Twelfth Night cake custom and blended with the Spanish tradition of mounting a grand ball of Twelfth Night. from : http://www.voceronews.com/editorial3_29.htm


We knew our “king cake” roots were here in France and so we were eagerly awaiting the appearance of them all around the city. As we took our weekly Saturday walk to explore the city, we saw lots of crowns - kids wearing paper crowns and adults with them too. The windows of the bakeries were overflowing with king cakes of all sorts. They seem to be smaller than our New Orleans counterparts and they come in various flavors and colors. We haven’t bought one yet, but plan to do that soon!

city sights 

 

on to Rome

Today is the day that daughter leaves for Rome to study abroad this semester. It's been a busy 2 days getting ready for the journey. Down to the train station to purchase the ticket... each tiny load of laundry takes 2-3 hours to complete... trying to cram as much as possible into as few bags as possible... creating backups of photos and files from the laptop... and a last minute trip to the bank to make sure dad's money can easily fly into her bank account. She should have a wonderful adventure studying architecture in Rome!

good day for skiing 

back to the slopes

Dad and daughter got up very early in the morning and took a trip to the Alps to ski. They went to the same place we had gone to back in December. Mom stayed home where it was nice and warm. Evidently it was a good day... snow was good, not too crowded, and no broken bones! They arrived home around 7pm after a full day of skiing.

rose bowl hype

I occasionally read the Houston Chronicle just to see what's going on in the other world. I am reminded of our trip to bring Jeff to college for his Freshman year. USC was playing someone in the vacinity and lots of Trojans were everywhere in the area. They were wearing T-shirts that said they had won the national football championship the prior year. Uh... I think it was LSU... but I supposed that if they told enough people that they were the champions, they could convince themselves and everyone else... and some things never change, I guess.

I stumbled upon an article in the Houston Chronicle... here is an excerpt..

The great Bud Furillo, longtime sports editor of the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner and a USC booster of ridiculous proportions, informed me the other morning that the Trojans have won 34 straight games — what, like I don't read the papers? — and are seeking a historic third consecutive national title. This would be a "three-peat," or as they say in the vicinity of Tommy Trojan, a "three-Pete," in honor of USC Coach Pete Carroll.

Curiously, USC didn't even play in the BCS title game two seasons ago, so how can this be a possible third championship in a row? Oh, that's right, the media — the media!!! — said the Trojans were No. 1 in 2003. So even if we're nice and concede the Trojans shared a "split" national title two seasons ago with BCS champion LSU, that would mean they are going for a "two-and-a-half-peat" this year.

(I realize that USC students and alum likely have difficulty with fractions, but someone from Stanford can explain the concept to them.)

If you want to read the entire article here....

I think I will pull for Texas as I watch the Michigan vs Nebraska game.

oranges at the market just before Christmas 

fascination with the market

Just before Christmas the markets were brimming with all kind of strange and wonderful foods. With each trip, there are foods that I just can’t identify. Are they animal, vegetable, or mineral? How do you prepare/cook it? And how do you eat it? Some things I may never know... but my French friend promised me that we would go hang out at the market some day and she will identify and teach me about the strange and wonderful foods that I see there. Sorry, I digressed...

Every single time we go to the market or a store, there is one thing that NEVER changes... zuchinni squash, better known as corgettes. The are NEVER out of season. I just don’t know that many different ways to prepare it... but I am learning! There isn’t much else that’s green in the market, ‘cept for that.

Oranges are in season, as are the clementines. In the states, they are very expensive but here they are really cheap. They come from Spain so I guess in the states we pay a whole lot for the shipping.

Anyway... I wondered what would happen to the markets when the temperature was sub-zero (celsius, but still cold!) Wouldn’t all those veggies and fruits turn to mush as they would start to freeze and then later thaw? I went to the market today... it was different... a few stands selling apples, cheeses, and things that wouldn’t freeze. Like clothes. Sadly, it was pretty bare.

the market is bare 

great going guys! 

michigan vs nebraska

I was flipping through the channels the other day with the TÉLÉCOMMAND and I saw that one station was showing a football (American-style) game. Ah ha, I thought... maybe we can actually catch a bowl game or two... maybe even watch LSU slaughter Miami (OK, easy to say now, anyway.... GO TIGERS!)

This game on French TV was between Michigan and Nebraska and I just kept flipping channels. The next day, as I was flipping again, I saw American football again. Wow! pretty cool, I thought, until I noticed that it was a game between Michigan and Nebraska.

This morning I turned on the TV to catch whatever news I could understand and happened to see American football again. You guessed it... Michigan vs Nebraska.

Happy New Year from the French lottery! 

bonne année (happy new year!)

When you were celebrating the beginning of the new year, we were just waking up! Unlike in Paris, I think there was no big celebration here for the city. Things were kinda quiet with celebrations at local places, like this one. We stayed home and had a quiet evening.