Pictures

Here are some random pictures to shut some people up (you know who you are!).

Here is Sarah at the Trocadero for the Fête de la Musique.

The hills are alive with the sound of musique!

Sarah at the Jardin d’Acclimatation. This ride has a stuffed animal that they lower & raise as the cars pass. There is a rope velcroed to the animal that the kids try to grab. Sarah is very excited since she got the rope (you can see it in her left hand).

I got it

Laurie and Sarah on the bouncy horse ride that aunt Nancy didn’t care for.

Giddyup!

Sarah & aunt Laurie.

Owee! You’re pinching my arm!

A tale of two towers

Mine’s taller!

I’m getting to like this lifestyle

I have read books and taken classes about “cultural differences” between the French and Americans. I can’t say that I really see & feel these differences a lot. Until this week.

I was in a meeting with my manager, team leader & other engineers working on the same project. At the end of the meeting we were discussing schedules. The final document for the project is due at the end of July and I was worried that my manager would not like the fact that I wanted to take a week of vacation in the middle of July. Especially since I had just come back from a week of vacation.

At one point he turns to me and says (keep in mind I have not talked to him at all about vacation yet), “Will you be taking two weeks of vacation in July?” It is simply assumed that everyone will take lots of vacation in July and August. Who cares what the deadlines are? So I look at him and say, “No, I’m ONLY taking ONE week!” in that suck-up American way of saying things.

He was probably thinking, “One week? What a loser.”

P.S. If you don’t lik my typos thn you cann just STFU & GBTW.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Yes, this blog is still active. I’m just too lazy to update it. Today is a nice lazy Sunday to cap off a week of vacation before going back to work.

Sarah’s aunt Laurie has arrived safely back in ManKattan after a visit. Sarah had lots of fun with aunt Laurie, although she was truly baffled by Laurie’s attempts to reason with her. Sarah had lots of fun on her third trip to the Jardin d’Acclimatation. It was hot & sunny on Saturday and the splashy water play area was open. Sarah brought out her swim suit the next day and said she was ready to go and play. We’ll have to wait for aunt Jackie’s visit next month.

Friday night, horns were honking and people were setting off firecrackers outside our apartment. Apparently, Turkey defeated Croatia in a penalty shootout to win the Euro 2008 quarterfinals.

Saturday night, we went down to the Trocadero to listen to some live music for the Fête de la musique, the yearly music festival that occurs on the summer solstice. Yesterday was the longest day of the year. It didn’t get dark until after 10:30 (I mean 22h30). Sarah was running around having a good time and being generally well behaved, although she was a bit cranky en route. I watched in envy as other parents wheeled their sleeping toddlers around in strollers. I have come to accept this will rarely happen with Sarah. She will not sleep if there is something going on. She may occasionally pass out from exhaustion, but a nap? Never.

The Metro was a mad-house. The gates for people with strollers & such were locked open and people were just flooding through. It was hot and late and I wanted to get home and pass out. As I was trying to get off, Sarah let her blanket fall on the floor and my man-purse got stuck on her stroller when I bent down to pick it up. The wheels of her stroller just went straight down into the gap between the train & the platform. It was just a perfect shit-storm. Then there was the fun of walking through Charles de Gaulle station with 100s of drunk people screaming all around. People were generally loud but not being assholes, so we passed through without incident.

We did a biking trip to see Monet’s garden in Giverny and ate lots or read meat, too. Drank lots of wine and hung out in parks & cafes. The usual.

Maybe some pictures later if I feel like it.

Ciao!

[edit]: Typos fixed at the request of miss Graham R. Nahtzee.

Why Americans are so fat

Check out this “Nutritional” information!

The good news is that it is crustacean free!

Nancy’s Visit

We managed to survive our first visitor from across the pond. Nancy spent a week at chez Blair along with a side trip to St. Malo and side-side trips to the D-Day beaches in Normandy and le Mont-Saint-Michel. We rented a car and I broke my four month driving fast by driving fast on the French autoroutes. We had a Peugeot 407 diesel station wagon with a 6-speed manual. It took a while to get used to driving a stick again after 10 years of autos. I managed to stall out in the middle of the Porte Maillot roundabout on the way out of Paris. Driving in Paris is nerve-wracking. Especially when trying to remember to shift. On the way out of Paris, I chickened out and took rue de Presbourg and rue de Tilsitt around the arc de Triomph. But on the return trip, I successfully managed to do a 360 degree transit (and only one! - Look kids! Big Ben, Parliament!) of the étoile, which included getting all the way to the interior of the circle and back to the exterior. Now I can say I’ve done it and will avoid it in the future!

Here is our trusty steed:

Ray & Tom may hate them, but the 407 was a nice car

The car came with a built-in GPS. I also had my Tom Tom One, which I had pre-programmed with the hotel and other info. Rather than try to figure out the built-in GPS, we just used it to show our general location and used the Tom Tom for navigation. It did pretty well and only tried to take us the wrong way down a one-way street once. Although that was only after we took the wrong exit on a roundabout, “Look kids…!” It also informed me when I was exceeding the speed limit, which is good, because there are regular speed cameras on the roads here. I never saw one cop on the road. Either on the side, pulling someone over or just cruising the highway. They must all be in unmarked cars. I liked the highway driving. People stayed to the right except when passing. No left-lane bandits. No “well, I will eventually catch up to that truck 10 miles ahead, so I might as well stay in the left lane” mentality. Traffic flowed smoothly. I kept to the speed limit. I can’t really complain about 130 km/h (~80 mph) limits on the main autoroutes

Two GPSs - Dual or Duelling?

Overall the trip was very pleasant. We had to drive through some heavy rain, but the traffic was generally light on the autoroutes. We had a beautiful day in Mont Saint-Michel, which was the main reason for the trip.

<p style=”text-align:left;otel & Mont Saint-Michel. We never bothered to figure out the built-in GPS and just used it as “wide-angle” view of our general location and the Tom Tom for actual navigation. The Tom Tom took us on some roads that weren’t even on the map when we drove from he D-Day beaches to Saint Malo. But it got us there. It only tried to take me the wrong way down a one way road once.

We stayed at the Hotel Alba (Jessica was nowhere to be found) on the beach at St. Malo. Very nice view out of the front window, where we sat to eat breakfast.

Nancy having a smoke on the boardwalk

Before the long climb to the top

The alley leading up to the cathedral

Taking a break from pushing Sarah

The long walk up

On Mont Saint Michel, overlooking the bay

Spring is here at last!

Last weekend was the nicest weekend since we’ve been here, at least as far as the weather goes. Flowers are in bloom everywhere. Of course, I got sick (again) just in time! I don’t know if it’s the pollution or all the new germies I’m exposed to on the Métro for my everyday commute, but I’ve been sick for about four weeks of 12 I’ve been here. I’m just recovering for “May “Sweeps”. I love May so far. It’s warm and we have 2 4-day weekends back to back! Then after the second 4-day weekend, we take a week of vacation for Nancy’s visit. Not too bad!

La Tour Eiffel Est Trop Cher!

I love Legos. I might buy this (for myself!) if it were under 100 Euros. But 210 Euros? I don’t think the original Eiffel tower cost that much (after adjusting for inflation, of course).

From the rooftop of the same store (Gallery Lafayette) selling the Lego tour Eiffel, you can see this fabulous view of the real thing!

It’s always funny when you see something that reinforces a stereo-type of the French. In this case it was the tendency to wear a lot of black clothes.

From the Department of stereotype Enforcement

The laundry detergent makers here in France make a “blend” specifically for black clothes.

Touchdown!

Window Shopping:

The Paris Lamborghini dealer is acros the street from our flat. Comes in handy sometimes.

Pony Mouth

Did You Miss Us?

Hey, long time, no write. We’ve been busy drinking wine and eating crepes & chocolate, so it’s been hard to find time to blog. So what’s been happening?

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Package Check

On the same day our tax refund was deposited in the bank, we received our long-lost box of mail from the US full of envelopes marked “Important Tax Document!”. It only took a couple months for the “6-10 day” delivery. On the same day, the “We’ve Moved/belated Christmas cards” that we ordered (from France) in January also arrived. It must have been clean out the closet day at La Poste’s HQ.

Sarah also got a package from her friends back in Virginia. She was very excited! She loves the coloring supplies and the Dora bag. Sarah has become an artiste. Her favorite medium is sauce bolognaise.

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Aye, Laddie! I’m a Wee Bit Scottish!

How you doin’?

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Je suis désolé. Je ne parle pas bien Français!

I have added the “bien” in there lately. My French is getting better, but it still sucks. I am understanding a little bit more of the conversations I hear. And by a little bit more, I mean I may pick up an entire sentence out of thousands. I started my French lessons last week. I m learning a lot, which is easy when you start out knowing next to nothing.

Sarah is saying a lot of French words now. She can count past ten and knows he days of the week (dimanche is her favorite). She can say please and thank you and I don’t know. She knows manger, which I think is her favorite part of school!

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Pardon!

Sarah contemplates her first Metro ride at rush hour

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Meet my new stylist. And her friend.

Happy ending?

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Happy Easter!

Sarah among the daffodils on the champs de Mars

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Au Café

Enjoying a chocolat chaud at café Kleber on the Trocadero.

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La Penseur

Sarah thinks about the meaning of life on the Métro. Or maybe about that cute boy at school.

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Da Comrade!

Blastoff!

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Well, can’t hink of anything else right now. À bientôt!

Disney Day

Happy Birthday Viviana and Andrea!

A day at DISNEYLAND PARIS… to celebrate!

Only a short metro-ride away, and we reach “Main Street USA”. Seems reasonable, since this ‘is’ Disneyland… but then why are all of the characters names in French?

Did we find Sleeping Beauty’s castle? Mais non… C’est “La Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant”. =)

Sarah was disappointed that they didn’t have a “playground”, as we had her all excited because we were going to a “park”. But she got over that once she got to ride on the carousel. She was really happy!

We were happy too! We got to go on Space Mountain. It’s great that they let you “swap” rides when you have kids. Carlos and Anna went on the ride and we waited at the exit with the Kids. When they were done with the ride… we swapped and jumped right onto the ride! Totally awesome! As you probably know… Space Mountain is the roller coaster in the dark… with laser lights and movies screens at weird places. “Did we just go upside down? Not sure…. oh… I think we did that time!” Wheeeeeee….

Have fun kids! Sarah, Javier, Andrea, Viviana (or Viviana, Andrea…)

Steve really wanted to wear the ears….

At least it waited until the end of the day to rain… And Sarah fell asleep in her stroller (AMAZING!).

Lost in the Mail

“Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor gloom of night…” but oceans? That might be a problem.

A month’s worth of mail was boxed up and sent to me “international priority” about 22 days ago. The delivery times are stated as 6-10 days. I think we’re a bit outside the window at this point. La Poste should leave a note saying they tried to deliver, but I haven’t seen one yet. I check the tracking every few days and it’s been the same for weeks:

Your item left the United States from NJI at 4:38 PM on February 25, 2008. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

Preferably, much later. I have no idea if the tracking ends at this point or if it will tell me when it’s arrived in France/Paris. But if it left the US on 25 Feb, then it would have to be here by now. Unless they put it in a bottle and tossed it in the Atlantic. At this point, one wonders.

Of course, just about every detail that one would need is in this package; bank account numbers (US & French), credit card numbers, the PINs I need to make wire transfers so we don’t starve in Paris. I keep checking my accounts on line, waiting for everything to go to zero/infinity.

Of course, our luck with domestic packages has not been much better. We ordered about 100 cards to serve as our belated Christmas/We’ve Moved cards. That was in the beginning of January. Nada. They claim they sent them. Who knows?

Well, I wanted to get a post up so our fans don’t think we’ve given up on the blog. I guess as we settle into the comfort of everyday living, our stories will be fewer & farther between. Look for pics of Sarah’s & our first visit to Disneyland Paris in the near future. But after I cook dinner & drink a bottle of wine, I’m usually ready for bed. Especially since I’m &@%@%ing sick again. Need to build up a tolerance to Metro germs.

À bientôt!

Pre-School Drop-out?

So, what does one do with the most

adorable,

precious,

smart,

beautiful,

talented,

cute,

curious,

loving,

cuddly,

fun,

amusing,

creative,

etc.,

Little Girl

Who…

-won’t say “Bonjour”

-screams at the assistants

-doesn’t participate

-does what she pleases

-doesn’t even attempt to speak french

-makes that ‘phbttt’ sound

-sticks her tongue out

-squeals for no reason

-cries/screams all the way to school (or back) when “naughty”

I hope that they don’t kick her out!

Honestly… I think that they shouldn’t expect her to speak French fluently in the first month! Even in English, Sarah listened a long time before she began to talk (and now won’t be quiet!). So…. I don’t have a problem with her not speaking much French. However… something must be done about the remainder of the list.

But that couldn’t be “OUR” little Precious? Could it? No…. not our little SARAH!

(If you know Sarah, you know the answer to that question!!)