Confidence is Key, Or Now the French Call Me Murphy

I've been using the Rosetta Stone computer program to learn French and I like it. It shows you pictures and words, you repeat the words aloud and the computer even corrects your pronunciation. You also are 'graded' on typing the words using the correct spelling and any accent marks, so it's in depth and has really helped here. I'm finding that because of my background in Spanish, I'm able to read some French so that's helping.

My mother used to say "Pride comes before a fall" whenever we'd act overly confident or arrogant. Let me tell you, hearing your mother's voice echo in your head after you've done something stupid is possibly one of the most annoying things on the planet. (Love you, Mom.)

I walk into the grocery store, feeling more at ease with shopping. This 'winning attitude' comes from a combination of pure avoidance (if it doesn't have a picture and I don't recognize the words, I just move on) and a limited but growing collection of food related words. This has actually been working for me, except for the directions on packaged food and some mysterious looking meat pack that Brian chose, but that's what Google translate is for!

Brian needed some lotion for his foot and I confidently said that I could pick it up for him one afternoon. The body section is a little overwhelming, but I found some pump style bottles that helped clue me into the right category. I chose a bottle that said 'hydrate' and was 'lait' scented, which I understand means milk.

When I got back to the apartment, I decided I wanted to try it. I pumped some into my hands and it had a weird clear bubbly look. I'm pretty skeptical at this point, but rub it on my leg, where it turns a white color before I spread it out. It had a lotion-y feel to it, so I thought, 'what the hell,' and kept using it.

At the team dinner that night, I tell A, our American lady friend, about how weird French lotion was. S was listening and said, "that's not what our lotion looks like. That's not what anyone's lotion looks like. What did you buy?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I bought hair gel. I bought hair gel and rubbed it all over my body.

For now, I only grocery shop with one of the French guys, who double checks my purchases.

Good God, I hope we don't get sent to Singapore.

The Louvre, or The Best Ten Euros I've EVER Spent

We are lucky enough to live about ten minutes away from The Louvre and that's where our friend A, Brian and I spent our Saturday. There are several hundred pictures on Facebook, if you'd like to take a look. We only made it into two of the wings and I'd love to return.

I didn't know this, but the museum is actually inside the palace and it is enormous!! To be honest, I spent an equal amount of time gazing up at the fresco on the ceilings as I did the actual art. There are multiple stories and levels and it spans several city blocks. I loved the grand marble staircases, sweeping courtyards, and the incredible mouldings. It was humbling, actually, to stand in these magnificent rooms and imagine how it looked when the King held court. We shared some wine on one balcony and sat in awe of where we were.

We saw the Mona Lisa and there was a crowd of perhaps seventy people, all trying to get pictures. There was a velvet rope that separated the crowd from where she was encased in glass and four bored looking guards stood next to her. A and I commented that the crowd was made of all nationalities, and marvelled at how popular she was. (I do understand the mathematical beauty, etc.)
There was a similar flurry of activity at the Venus de Milo, but my favorite parts were in a different part of the museum.

 First, they've taken the time to restore the Kings apartments as authentically as possible. Coming from my last job, I eagerly pointed out different clever furniture pieces and my companions would listen politely. There was so much gold in each room, from gilding on the furniture to the walls and ceilings, to the fabrics and candelabras. Brian was surprised about how small the King's bed was, perhaps a modern full size, though not as long. The dining area was vast, and we counted 48 chairs at the long formal table. We joked about how our last apartment could have fit at least six times in the grand salon, his private entertaining room. Among the settees, numerous bistro style tables were scattered, with a few chairs at each one. It was truly beautiful and so impressive.

The Louvre has the second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world and that may have been my absolute favorite part. It was so large and spanned several different floors and wings that we didn't get to see everything, but what we did see took my breath away. They had an entire TOMB that you could walk through, with the hieroglyphics etched in the walls. Some of the colors were still vibrant and it was amazing. There were also complete stone walls and columns, a room of ten foot stone sphinxes and Osiris' tomb. There was a collection of sarcophagus and intricately wrapped mummies. There were rooms of jewelry and sacred amulets. One of the coolest parts, to me anyway, was that they had a Book of The Dead, laid out and covered in glass on a wall. It spanned 19 meters and was delicate and Brian took a neat picture of Osiris weighing a heart down in the Underworld. It was spooky and fascinating.

This was a fantastic day that I will remember for the rest of my life.

International Bonding, or We Made New Friends

Brian's team members include an American lady (age 28, called A), a French man (age 28, called S), and a Belgian man (age 27, called C). I'm the youngest, but four of  the five of us will be celebrating our birthdays every two weeks through Oct and Nov. The other night, S took us on a walking tour and it was incredible!

First, I'd like to point out that August in Paris is ridiculously hot and humid. (This is why the wealthy escape the heat and spend the entire month in the Southern part of the country.) The heat lasts long into the night and we started our adventure around six pm. We walked through Paris' version of Central Park, over the Seine River, through the Louvre (you can walk through the courtyards without seeing the museum), past Notre Dame, and into a district that reminded me of the bustle of SF's China Town.

The sights were amazing and we stopped to take pictures often as we walked. S had a particular restaurant for dinner in mind, about thirty five minutes away from the hotel, but he sneakily kept telling us "it is only five more minutes!" The streets narrowed and owners stood in the doorways, calling to us to come try their food. Many food types were around, but we went to a tiny place that served Gyros and it was fabulous!  It was tasty and the portions were huge. We ate ours Israeli style, putting our fries inside (thanks Sarah & Matt!) I was feeling a little dehydrated, and C and S kept insisting that beer was the best way to hydrate, after water. I said no thanks, and loved the European logic lol.

 S entertained us with a story that explained why these sandwiches were called Greeks and not Gyros. We were at a Turkish owned place, and the Turks and Greeks fought for many years. The Turkish army would awaken in the morning and declare, "I'm going to eat a Greek for breakfast!" If we can figure out how to get back there, we'd love to return.

Night had fallen after dinner, and we saw the Notre Dame in lights. The architecture and sculptures are astounding, especially when you consider that it is celebrating it's 750 year this summer. I really hope to go back for a service or tour. There were entertainers and hundreds of people milling around the front grounds.

S shooed us along, and we continued down narrow, dark streets. We were having a great time, laughing and chatting, though we teased him that he was taking us somewhere sketchy because of how quiet it was. Suddenly, we came onto this large square full of people! There were lights and cafes, people eating dinner at ten o'clock, bars open, and smokers every place you looked! We were amazed, but we continued past, once again plunging into the quiet darkness. Again, after some blocks, we came upon another busy square, and it continued like this, neighborhood after neighborhood.

We decided that this must be 'the real Paris' and I'm hoping we can make it to that side of the city again soon.

We all got along so well, and even though we came from very different places, we discovered we weren't so different after all.

The Great Grocery Store Adventure, or I Understand Poor Julia Childs

Further research on my part probably would have informed me of some of the following, but to be honest, I mostly had focused on the many amazing sights Paris has to offer.

We have been able to go to a 'large' chain style store that offers cosmetics and some clothing, as well as the largest selection of food that we've been able to find so far. The selection is much more limited than an American grocery store, and frankly, I think even Corning's small Sav-Mart could put them out of business. (Before you start grumbling, yes, I am aware that most Parisians in this part of the city shop for a day or two at a time and that eating out is far more popular. However, old habits die hard, and everything is so darn expensive at restaurants around here.)

The street level has big garage door style doors (fairly standard around here) and you take an escalator down to the store, so it's all underground. Don't forget to bring your own bags or you'll have to buy some.

I think the most unusual difference is that they don't refrigerate dairy as cold as we do. We found the eggs on a shelf near the chips, and the milk was cool, but not cold. Additionally, open mayo is regularly left on cafe tables, like our ketchup. (By the way, squeeze style red bottle are still ketchup, but yellow bottles are not mustard, it's mayo. We're big mustard fans, and had to spend some time scraping globs of warm mayo off the first time we used the bottles.)

Popular yogurt flavors include Rhubarb, Prunes, and Fig, but I went with the familiar strawberry.

The produce section was an interesting adventure. Cherries from the US (the only selection available, one variety only) were $19.84 per LB!!! Strawberries were shockingly small and made California's "look like doping fiends", as described by our American team member.

Sliced meats inundate the meat section, but are more like smoked prosciutto than deli meat. They had an entire Pate section in the 'deli' counter, and Foie Gras was everywhere!

The ethnic food section was nothing like ours, they had a small section of Indian ingredients and that was where peanut butter was. We saw jars of Skippy brand (the only we saw) that were about half size of 'regular' jars, but were priced around $7. The Mexican food was disappointing, with just a couple of tortilla sizes and teeny jars of salsa, but EL PASO brand did make it over here, with the hard taco shells.

Mostly for fun, we picked up a set of Lays' snack size potato chips that had 3 flavors. BBQ, Bolognaise, and Chicken. (We passed on the Ketchup flavor.) The bolognaise tasted kind of like bolognaise, so think tomato-y. The chicken had an intense flavor that reminded us of a concentrated top ramen flavor packet. The BBQ also seemed to have a slightly different flavor than home.

My absolute favorite part of the store is the bread! Yes, they do have packaged and sliced bread, but they bake fresh bread four times a day and it smells incredible! They also have beautiful tiny pastries, in addition to loaves and rolls.

Oh, in this grocery store, you have to insert a Euro coin to release a shopping cart, and you get your coin back when you return the cart. That was fun, the three of us had to ask for help, and then we realized it was like the rental carts at the airport. (I didn't really understand this, because the store is underground and you are prohibited from taking them into the disabled patron elevator, so theft seems unlikely.) The plastic hand baskets have an extendable handle, like a luggage handle, so you roll it along behind you. I thought that was brilliant lol.



A quote from Marge Simpson echoed in our minds as we shopped, and I'll leave it in closing,
 'Remember, an elevator is called a lift, a mile is called a kilometer and botulism is called "steak and kidney pie".'

An Introduction, or An Arrival

Louis CK Airplane Horror Story

Please click on the above link to a YouTube video. This is one of our favorite comedians, please excuse the language!

Brian and I had been joking about this particular stand up routine on our way to the airport, and even made his mother and sister listen to it in the car. Our first flight, from SFO to NY went smoothly, and so did the next flight from NY to Helsinki, Finland. When we boarded in Finland however, we had our very own Louis moment.

We had been on the tarmac for about twenty minutes when the captain came on the intercom. He first spoke in Finnish, then would repeat the message in English.

"O-key, Lay-dees and Gentlemen. We are having a discrepancy with the ground crew about how much fuel we need to complete this flight. We thank you for your patience and will take off shortly."

Brian and I spun to look at each other and I had wild eyes. "WHAT??? No discrepancy, just take the bigger amount!!" This seemed like a no-brainer to us, but what do we know? They do this every day, and we just want to live.

 Another twenty minutes goes by, and finally we take off. I had never taken an international flight before, but I learned something about language differences. The captain seemed to speak twice as long in Finnish, then the English bit was much shorter. I became convinced that if we were going to die, he'd tell his country folk first, and let the rest of us battle for the oxygen masks.

Landing was really the terrifying part. Our others had been gentle and mostly turbulence free. I quoted a line from "Captain Ron" as we started to descend, "We must be close! We had just enough fuel to get there, and we are out of fuel!!" We shared a laugh until the plane suddenly dropped a few thousand feet, causing passengers to cry out in terror. It happened a second time, and Brian choked out "Is this his FIRST landing???" I had just spotted the Eiffel Tower and the plane careened again, prompting me to say, "NOO!! Now that I've seen it, I'm going to die!"

The plane had two cameras on it, one in the front directly under the pilots' windshield, and one under the plane. The screens on board would switch which camera it broadcasted, which was neat, until the damn landing. We clutched each other's hands and stared at the screens, as the plane lurched again.  We could see the runway getting closer and closer as the plane hurled itself with a frightening speed at the concrete and we did another big drop. Women all around us were gasping as our stomachs pitched upwards into our throats. I didn't think planes could bounce, but I swear it happened once the wheels hit the asphalt.

Upon collecting our luggage, two men approached us at the airport doors and some quick French was exchanged. I'm still working on the basic levels, but I completely trust Brian to keep us safe...At least, that was what I kept repeating as we followed a strange man into the bowels of the dark underground parking garage to an unmarked, regular looking car. He was nice enough, except we drove past a car on the freeway that was engulfed in FLAMES and we didn't call emergency services or stop to help the men that were running for their lives away from the smoky wreck.

Some streets in Paris (including the one we live on) are hardly big enough for a single car. We're in the Opera District, which is an older part of the city, and there are actual cobblestone avenues!

The hotel is newer and has quite a modern feel. We have a tiny studio-style place, but it does have a mini kitchen. The refrigerator has a built in wine rack! Ah, Paris!