Even the French are Complaining!

I wrote a while ago about the gymnastic abilities required to dodge mounds of dog feces in French streets. It's a real problem everywhere - there is no law requiring curbing dogs and dog owners just do not seem to care where they do their business. It's not an exaggeration to state that in a given street on a given day you would risk stepping on at least 6 different mounds in all sizes, shapes and age. Some are in corners by the walls but some are smack in the middle of the sidewalk. Every so often you see evidence that some unfortunate soul stepped on them, and see efforts of that person trying to clean the shoe against the edge of the curb - adding to more material for you to try to avoid. Whenever we foreigners get together, this comes up as the number one everyday annoyance of French life. 

I'm usually really good at dog-output dodging - I'd like to think that my radar is constantly at work, looking ahead at least 5 feet at any given moment. The fact that I've only had the misfortune of stepping on two mounds in my 1-1/2 year here is a testament - I think that must be a failure rate of approximately 0.000001% given the number of risks lurking everywhere. When I was in NY last time, I thought, at the end of the first day walking around Manhattan,  that something felt different - and I pinpointed it as the fact that I don't have to walk in constant apprehension of stepping on something unpleasant!

Anyway, I recently ran into this handwritten sign in a small street behind our flat:

Rough translation:

Sh*t bags...

I am not insulting you, you dog owner. I just want to add a new word to your vocabulary. We hear each other. The A.S.G (Anti-Sh*t Group)

So evidently I and the other foreigners are not the only ones in distress over this topic! Hooray to the ASG!

January Sales

Wednesday was the start of the annual winter sales here. Unlike the US, where retail stores can hold sales anytime they please, here in France they are allowed two official sales periods, once in January - February and another in June - July. Supposedly this encourages fair competition among the retailers - well, another thing this encourages is mad crowds on the first day of the sales.

Granted, no news reports of people in stampedes a la Walmart after Thanksgiving, but since the sales always start on a Wednesday and many women do not work on Wednesdays (see posting on elementary schools closing every Wednesday), it can be really crazy. I stepped out with the kids last year and promptly came back home - it was utterly unmanageable, especially with Manolee in the stroller. 

The French take the Soldes (sales) very seriously. People strategize for weeks ahead of time - which stores to hit in which order. People go ahead of time and try on things and cozy up with the salespeople to try to put things on hold (heard this was illegal, but many people try and succeed anyway). Always seems to be a big topic with the moms at school. People buy things ahead, meaning, they will buy clothes for next year and the year after. I am not yet used to such strategizing, such is my habit of just buying what I need or want when I need or want. But with the recession supposedly in full gear, maybe I will get my head in order - but does that makes sense? Spend money in a recession to save money in the future? Not convinced. 

Happy sale-ing!

Xmas 2008

Hoping everyone had a great Xmas.... I had no illusions this year about getting a car from PY. I had actually very little material things on my (mental) list, such is the (sad?) fact that I shop quite a lot for myself and need nothing. 

Manolee had quite a long list, however. To keep her from bothering us while I help Hana do her homework, I gave her a rather thick toy catalog to look through and suggested that she circles what she wants. Well, she started out circling individual items, but after a couple of pages she realized by herself that she was circling everything on certain pages - so then she started to circle entire pages. She then said that if Santa does not get her everything she circled it's ok, because her birthday will be soon after ... sigh...

Hana had a very short list. Is it a sign of maturity? Or utter abundance that she has everything she wants already (the apple does not fall far from the tree?) - either way, the fact that she is not outwardly greedy just makes me want to kiss her. 

"Les Fetes" continues on... Here is a pic of the girls in front of their grandma's Xmas tree. 

Gripping Local Headline

Know what I mean?

Literal translation "Nantes (a city southwest of Rennes): they took coke and shit in car".

The first paragraph is funny too, it says that the police needed no help from the canine force in tracking down the offenders because the smell from the car was so strong and evident.

I wrote a while back about how the French twist perfectly good English words and impose new meanings to them. Well, apparently, I learned after being stopped in my tracks reading the papers today, "shit" means marijuana. Why, I ask. Again, nobody French has any answers.

WFT indeed.

The Baguette Mystery

The mystery for me surrounding the baguette is actually how people handle them. When you buy a baguette in France, they are handed to you, usually wrapped in a tiny piece of coarse tissue paper  or in a bag - reference pictures above.

What you may have noticed is that neither method covers the entire baguette. Which means that as you carry your baguette home, it will be exposed to the elements - and to you. The number of times my coat has been covered with flour by the time I get home - well, that I can live with. But many times I have witnessed people carrying their baguettes under their armpits. Yes, in the summertime.  Why the boulangeries do not provide COMPLETE coverage for the baguettes is just beyond me.

The French also leave baguettes out on the kitchen counter or in a bread basket. I have not seen a bread box in any of the French homes that I have visited. Is that weird or is that just me?

Things I miss about working at AXP NYC

1.  Paycheck

2.  Bottomless supply of mechanical pencils and post-its

3. "Salt water Taffys by the Printer" emails from coworkers coming back from vacations

4.  Unlimited supply of ice cubes in the pantry 

5.  View of the frozen Hudson River from my window

6. Vats of Germ Busters by the pantry (a misguided 6-sigma effort?)

Halloween in NY

To the Merlet girls, Halloween just would not be Halloween if we were not in NY. The year we had moved to London, on Halloween morning Hana got all decked out in her princess dress, which she insisted to wearing out to lunch - but then within 10 minutes of being out, she looked at me all puzzled and asked, "why are there nobody else doing Halloween?"

The French apparently got into Halloween a few years ago, but have now all but abandoned the notion and labeled it "too commercial" and "too American". This is a shame - I personally love Halloween and it must be so much fun for kids - to get to run around in some fancy dress, knock on stranger's doors and get lots and lots of candy in return  - well, I am all for it. I met an American mom here last year who was like, my kids don't know what it is and as long as they don't ask for it, I'm not telling them about it because who needs more sugar. I was like, well, I don't think we will be good friends - just such irreconciliable differences in perspectives and cultural reference points, you know?

Anyway, so this year again we schlepped the kids back to the US - thankfully no airport strikes greeted us this year and our trip to NY was uneventful. Because Halloween fell on a Friday this year, most towns organized activities the weekend before - so the morning after we landed we headed over to Short Hills, where my jetlagged kids got to participate in a Taekwondo Halloween party (what will these commerce-savvy TKD masters think of next!). Then we trick-or-treated through some of the stores and then headed over to the town's YMCA where the girls insisted on going through a haunted house (it was really well done! Manolee was genuinely scared and I think Hana was too at some points). 

Of course the day of Halloween, we were at it again - my good friend C held a really cool Halloween party at her house, complete with Halloween-themed decorations and snacks - see pics:

Then all the trick-or-treating - - the weather was good, not too cold, and the kids had a blast. Most houses were very well decorated, with skeletons half buried in the ground, huge spiders climbing trees, coffins scattered about the front yard... The kids ran to each and every door - some people who were not home left buckets of candy outside, one house even left a basket full of quarters outside - but most people who were home came out with huge buckets full of candy and greeted the kids, commented on the costumes, and in general were so nice - how can you not love Halloween!

Meanwhile, PeeWee fell in love with the skeleton at C's house and was putting it in all kinds of places, at the dinner table, in the passenger seat of the car, etc etc, and in general was getting such a kick out of it - see below an example: 
See how Manolee is looking at the skeleton above? Well, wouldn't you know - that night, an hour or so after the kids passed out, we heard a kid screaming - I did not recognize the voice and thought it was one of my friends' kids - well, it turnd out it was Manolee screaming at the top of her lungs - she was pointing at Hana (sleeping through all the commotion) and saying that there was a skeleton next to her big sister! It was her first nightmare ever - the poor thing.... 

Despite the nightmare, a great Halloween for the kids overall. Halloween is the best!