June, 30, 2001, to July 5, 2001
An interesting amount of things have happened to me since I wrote last. Last weekend I went to Paris on Sunday (after finishing shopping for my apartment on Saturday... still one or two things I need to get, like a mop, but all in all I've spent about 1000FF==$125 which is all being reimbursed by Matra. I have of course had to buy other things like food and train tickets...) So anyway on Sunday I went to Paris and walked around for a while. I found the most famous English book shop in Paris: Shakespeare and Company. They're a tiny little shop which is extremely busy. I picked up some travel books about France, Paris, the Loire Valley (where the chateaux/castles are in France), Belgium and the Netherlands. The bilingual little girl at the counter told me that an acting troup associated with the shop performs a free outdoor play every Monday and Saturday at 8pm. I decided to go back this Saurday to see what that's like...
After that I took a riverboat cruise on the Seine for an hour. I got to see a lot of the sights (from the outside) which I had explored already during spring break this past March. It was a beautifully hot day, and riding down the Seine was fun. Lots of people were tanning on the concrete banks of the Seine, and I saw one extremely bronzed elderly lady sitting topless. (How European, eh?) The cruise I took was run by a company called Bateaux Parisiens and featured live commentary in 4 languages (French, English, German, and Spanish). The same translator said everything from memorization in each language. It was pretty cheap - only about $7 to ride, so I'd do it again if I got to go on one of the bigger boats with an open-air top deck. The one I actually went on was a bit smaller and had glass windows and ceiling, so it was a wee bit hot under that.
Some tidbit trivia on French culture is that apparently camouflage is very "in". Every 3rd girl I see is wearing a tank top in camouflage of brown shades. I've also seen camo shoes and camo bags and camo sundresses. Sorry, guys, seems this trend is just for women. Speaking of women trends, again, all the women here of all ages seem to dress exclusively in skirts or sundresses. Some wear pants but none wear shorts. They also are constantly in heeled sandals - platforms typically. The strappier the better. Consider this your advance preview into next summer's fashion fads in the US... :)
The French people love their dogs. There are no leash laws or pooper scooper laws, even in Paris, it seems. AND people bring their dogs in restaurants and grocery stores all the time. It is not uncommon for women in chic clothing to be seen carrying a tiny little dog with a bow in its fur in one arm and a long baguette (French bread) under the other.
When I was trying to figure out the typical business hours of places around here I kept seeing signs saying things like "7J/7" or "24H/24". Took me a bit, but I figure out they mean 7 days (jours) out of 7, and 24 hours (heures) out of 24. The second number seems redundant to me, but I'm just an ignorant American I guess... 24-hour joints are much less common. But then, it's pretty rare for any business to be open all 7 days, or even if they are, to have full workday hours every day. It takes a bit of getting used to when you have to remember many places are closed Sundays period, or Mondays, instead. Nearly everything in my suburb closes at 19:30 or 20:00 at the latest. But the trains run until 00:30, and places in Paris tend to be open later, tho only bars and restaurants.
This past weekend was France's "Fete du Cinema", which means all over the country, you buy one movie ticket and can then get into any subsequent movie for 10FF==$1.25 (a normal movie ticket is 45FF for adults, 36FF for students). It lasts for 3 days and is very popular with French people. Unfortunately I only got to see one movie during the festival, but that movie was well worth it: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain. It's a French movie and I have no idea if it is running or will run in the US. It was really great tho - funny and touching, and creatively done. Of course, some of the French was way too fast for me to follow, but I got most of the gist. I hope to get it on DVD (if it becomes available) and watch it with English subtitles to get the jokes I missed the first time. :)
Work is going pretty well - I finished my training, for which they gave me a cute little certificate. This week I am exploring the software on my own some more, and next week I start talking with one of my colleagues about the data exchange problem. That is, with so many different CAD formats and whatnot out there, how can we use data in different companies or areas of industry? On Monday I gave a mini presentation on my previous work experience and prospects for the summer to about 10 people - the "important" folks here at OpenCASCADE. I spoke in English, although two of the women who had spoken with me before said I have "tres bien francais" which made me feel pretty good. I've settled into a kind of routine now where I speak French to my coworkers and they practice their English back at me. It works out pretty well for both sides.
Some of you have been asking about the French food. I eat at the cafeteria at work every day with coworkers - where they have actually edible, real French food for cheap. But then, everything is cheap here (except laundromats). Anyway one curious thing I've had were these weird little candies called "Cachou". One of my bosses gave me a few, declaring how great they were. So I ate one. Now these are small itty bitty things like half the size of an Altoid mint. They're black - they look for all the world like owl pellets. My boss couldn't explain to me what they were (or wouldn't). When I tasted it it was not exactly pleasant. Kind of gave me a nauseous feeling, heh. It made my mouth tingly like menthol but had a bitter-y coffee flavor, tho not quite coffee. My boss said they were sugar-free but as far as I am concerned this was a drawback and not a virtue. I was polite and ate those that he gave me but I won't be seeking out any more... French yogurt is much better than the American variety - creamier, and better flavors (apricot, blackberry, apple, and pineapple are 4 of the most unlikely, yet tastiest). And to say nothing of French bread and cheese, which are superb.
I'm not even going to venture a guess as to how much weight I will put on this summer - all this French bread, cheese and yogurt, and oh, the desserts. It's impossible to say no when people want you try their favorite dish of their native cuisine... I have been trying to stay active by walking to center Palaiseau most evenings to get supplies, but it is doubtful if this can entirely counteract the effects of all the heavy French food. :)
I think I mentioned before about how you can smoke almost anywhere here that you can't in the States. However, in my new office (where we actually have windows!), neither of my officemates smoke, thank goodness. They actually have a sign up on the door that says (in French) "Smoke is a byproduct of your habit. It fills the air, gets in my hair and clothes, not to mention my lungs! And all without my consent. Now, I have a habit too - I like to drink beer. The byproduct of my habit is urine. How would you like me to deposit the byproduct of my habit on your clothes and head without your consent?" Kind of a surprising thing to appear in an office, but it's amusing, since most Americans think all French people smoke - this is proof that not only do they not all smoke, but they do not all feel neutrally about it. There are creepy/scary anti-tobacco ads in the Metro and whatnot. More graphic and forceful than current American ones, I think.
In other news, happy 4th of July (a few days late). Here it rained in the evening - a huge summer thunderstorm that lasted about 10 minutes. I had gone to la Cite Universitaire (University City) to the 4th of July party the American house/dorm was having. At first I had thought it was only for residents of the house, but it turns out it was open to anyone who wanted to come, so I wasn't actually crashing the party :) I did not only go there with patriotic thoughts in mind - I wanted to meet some people I could hang out with in the evenings and on weekends... Like I said it rained so the BBQ was moved indoors. I *did* manage to meet three people and exchange "coordonnées", as the French say (names, email addresses, phone numbers). One is a Danish guy about my age, the other is a Ph.D. student from Iran, and the third is an American from Miami who just graduated high school. The American is just now learning French so we spoke English together but the other two prefer French because their English is not as good.
I am satisfied/happy now because I feel like I went out and made the effort to meet new people and actually did. Hopefully now I will have people to go out with and experience the cultural side of Paris, instead of just the touristy side... Also, a French girl who lives in Paris emailed me out of the blue because she had somehow surfed her way to my website. So we're going to meet on Monday. I also joined an online French community for techno music, hoping to find some people in my town or in Paris who might want to go out dancing to some of these famous European clubs with me. Like I said, I am proud of myself for taking the steps to find people, and can only wait now to see how things pan out.
Still have a bug problem in my apt. I think the ants crawl right under my door from the outside, so the ant traps I have probably have killed any ants that actually live in the place, because I've noticed there are less now, but the ones that are still roaming about the floor are probably just really lost. Have reoccurrences of mega-daddy longlegs spiders. Ewww. I sweep them out the door as soon as I noticed them and destroy their webs. Can't tell if the same ones come back or what. I think I can handle daddy longlegs of this size better than if they were big fat spiders, tho. I feel like I'm fighting a war with the arachnid family. :) Somehow it does not bother me as much as it would if this were happening in my apt back in Philly. Not sure if it's because they're so easy to dispose of, or if it is because I know I won't have to live amongst them forever...
I most often listen to one radio station called "Rire et Chansons" (Music and Laughter) - they play 2 or 3 songs, usually American, followed by 1 or 2 comedy routines by French standup comedians. They *often* make fun of foreigners (Asians or Spaniards or North Africans or Middle Easterners) not being able to speak French, mocking the accents they have, and sometimes make fun of Americans. I'm doing better with understanding them, but still don't pick up everything quite yet...