Starbucks

I went to Starbucks today. There's one on the way to Montparnasse Station, and I've been walking from home to work lately since it's so nice out so I stop in to have a bit of Americana. Blueberry muffin and ginormous coffee. Today, as I went in, I saw the same two girls leaving that I've seen walking from there and holding Starbucks cups for the last week. They're as American as they come. Then there were four dudes in the front of the store. When I was leaving, the waitress was talking to them in poor English. Also American. I saw another woman in the back of the shop. She might have been American and she was about 50 with dyed blond hair so I'm giving her at least a 87% chance of being American. So that's 8 people and at least 87% of them American.

My Latest Favorite Picture

Haircut

I got a haircut yesterday; my hair's pretty short despite that I told her it had been cut too short last time. I went in to get it cut because I didn't want to wait until after I got back from the US to get one because then it'd be all shaggy, and I don't want to waste an hour of my time in the US getting a haircut either. Also, it's perfect because then I can get a haircut in a month before we go to the hot and sunny south. These are the kinds of things you have to worry about when you can only get your hair cut on Saturdays because you arrive home from work after all the shops close. Problem is, the rest of the 2 million Parisians do the same thing so Saturdays move slowly, especially if you do grocery delivery, or so I heard. We're lucky that P can go mid-week.

I was chatting with the haircutter; she was kind of dumb, but I think it represents how a lot of people here think. She asks me if people earn more as haircutters in the US than in France. I didn't know what to say, but she thought wages here were lower. She claimed the reason is that people are forced by the government to work only 35 hours a week and to work during certain times. I can see how this might limit your earning potential as a haircutter, dependent on the number of people you can squeeze in per hour of work. And if you're forced to work when everyone else works, there might not be as many clients as you'd hope for. Anyway, the conversation turned towards presidents and she then claims that Sarkozy is terrible and that Mitterand was a great president! Mitterand was the communist who introduced the 35 hour week and the largesse of the state currently plaguing the French economy. Even though he's a bit crazy and inconsistent on every issue, Sarkozy is actually trying to change this law (and help out people like my haircutter). This woman really wants Ron Paul as her president, but she just doesn't know it.

The second crazy thing she said was when she asked me how I liked our new president. I was like what are you talking about. She says, you know the new president, the guy that beat Hillary. Wow! I'm glad that wasn't the presidential race. I had to inform her that Obama still has to beat McCain in November.

Along the same lines as the workweek comments, I see every few months an article in the news about the French government seizing tons of cigarettes that have been smuggled through the Spanish border. Why are they brought in? Ridiculously high taxes on cigarettes make it worth buying those on the "black market". French people, who smoke all the time, continue to vote "left" for people that condemn freer markets, although by buying these cigarettes, they are saying they don't approve of these policies.

Dog at work

This exercise is more for me than anything.

Today we were eating lunch at the on site cafeteria and a dog came running in. He was very happy and was running underneath the tables and when people got up to leave he would chase after them and try to get some scraps. I don't know why he would want some scraps since we had beef kidneys, salmon and stuffed rabbit chunk. I got the rabbit, which was pretty good.

Aujourd'hui nous mangions à la cantine et un chien est venu. Il était très content et il courait sous les tables. Quand les autres personnes s'enlevait de partir, il les suit en espérant de recevoir des bribes. Je ne sais pas pourquoi il voudrait des bribes puisqu'on a mangé des rognons de bœuf, du saumon et paupiette de lapin. J'ai pris la paupiette de lapin qui était vachement bonne.

Heute als wir gegessen haben, ist ein Hund in die Kantine gekommen. Er war wirklich froh und er ist unter die Tischen gerennen. Wann die Leute zu weggehen aufgestanden sind, hat er ihnen mit der Höffnung den Abfall zu kriegen gefolgt. Ich habe keine Ahnung, warum er den Abfall wollten, weil wir die Niere, den Lachs et die Kaninchensroulade gegessen haben. Die letzte habe ich gegessen, die ziemlich gut war.

Another Gem in Berlin

An American, and Englishman, a German and a Frenchman are sitting in a bar. The Englishman says "the French are always talking about some regulation in 1942 regarding pressure vessels." The American thinks 'so that is why the French capitulated so easily - so they could quickly solve their pressure vessel issues', but says aloud, "That's all the French had to think about in 1942, there wasn't anything more important?". The Frenchman and the German tensed up real good but luckily the old Englishman made a funny joke and the meeting the next day was very productive.


Brooks was telling me that in school, the French aren't taught about America's role in liberating them from the Germans. They must think that de Gaulle swam the channel with a band of merry men eating cheese and wearing berets and scarves who subsequently wiped out the Germans and their tanks while Ike was trading high fives, drinking brandy and smoking cigars with Churchill over a game of snooker.

Sunshine in Paris 2

Since Phuong left, with the exception of today, the weather has been gorgeous. Long days where it's light out until 10:30pm, days full of sunshine and blue skies, relatively cool temperatures in the mid to upper 70's. This is what I remembered European summer being like in Germany. Last summer was awful here, it was cold and overcast. I remember when my family came to visit in early August, we went to Besancon and were greeted by drizzly weather with temperatures in the lower 50's.

I.Love.Home

There's nothing better than seeing your child in the home you grew up in, eating the food you grew up on, and enjoying the life you remember as a child yourself.

Oh how I miss home.

Love,
P