wearingunderpantsinfrance

let me just say...

2009-12-03T06:14:00.003+01:00

...that i may receive mixed reviews, but Monsieur et Madame Obama will be receiving an invitation to our wedding. the save the date has already been sent, and i'm sure that he's added our wedding gift to his christmas buying list for this year. so there you have it.

unconventional business travel

2008-08-12T06:13:00.003+02:00

as a result of fall orientation for 4 local universities occurring at the same time this year, Lynchburg Virginia is facing a dearth of hotel rooms this week. and since my team didn't book far enough in advance, we're all having to scramble to find accommodations. some used their "platinum override" at the local Marriott to essentially kick out "common guests"; the rest of us who have hearts are scrambling to find an alternative.

my alternative consists of a local B&B, the Carriage House Inn Bed and Breakfast. at this very moment, i'm sitting in my four-poster bed surrounded by antique furniture (and wireless, of course). and in 7 short hours i'll be devouring a delicious breakfast of berries, croissant french toast, and eggs and sausage, according to the paper left on my pillow. i'm already excited about wednesday night, an excitement bound to be enhanced by the fact that even the B&B wasn't available tomorrow night so i'll be making the trek to a Super 8 in Appomattox.

my team thinks it's hilarious that i'm staying here tonight, and i suppose it is. we're all accustomed to accruing massive amounts of hotel points and staying in the same, cookie-cutter style rooms wherever we go. so to have a 3-course, country breakfast and a wrap-around porch complete with porch swing is quite a change from the usual routine. the hotel points and Marriott consistency can certainly be nice, but if you ask me, this is a welcome change.

2008-02-17T01:37:00.002+01:00

articulation, where are you?! i'm sitting here in nashville on a friend's couch, trying to put some thoughts into words. the first thought is that i'm not altogether sure, and haven't been since my return to the states, that i should be writing post-Paris on this blog. should "wearingunderpantsinfrance" be limited to my time in the aforementioned land? i know i posted an article here earlier in the year, but as i didn't actually write it myself it may not count. i guess by virtue of writing at this moment, i'm deciding that this blog shall live on. so be it.

as i mentioned, i'm in nashville for the weekend. i came up thursday night, valentine's day to be exact, timing my arrival with the arrival of tyler "diesel" harlan, neal the spiel palmer, and matthew magic merker. after a romantic dinner with neal and tyler at Jackson's, we rendezvoused with matt, erica, susanna, and sarah before going out for a night on the town at a Nashville landmark--Jesse Zane's Nashville Nights. there's really nothing landmark about it, as evidenced by the fact that we were the only ones in the place, and likely the only ones to have set foot inside all night. but that didn't stop us from singing karaoke like we'd never sung before. we even got a few people to stop as they walked by and consider coming inside. the consideration was shortlived. despite wanting to get in bed by 1 to be able to work friday morning, i managed to get home by 3 for a short night's sleep. but of course it was worth it.

friday i met up with tyler, neal, matt and debo at the pantry with your and my favorite waitress, Mary Fitzpatrick. she was on her game as usual, particularly baffled by tyler's worldwide travels. being the busy businessman that i am, i had to get back to work for a couple of hours but called it a day at 330 and went to play disc golf with tyler, matt and dan, my high school friend at Vandy Med.

today has been a good day, highlighted by a HUGE game against Florida---in typical Vandy fashion we had to pull it out at the end. but it was great, nonetheless. now i'm headed to dinner with the DeBos, the soon to be Aldersons, and mr. harlan.

so much for a pensive post...

The Green Mile

2007-08-30T18:07:00.000+02:00

here's an interesting article on the ecology of food transportation, from a Deloitte publication.

Efficiency, not distance traveled, might hold the key to supply chain sustainability
by Lee Barter

“Life is difficult in the country,” observed English essayist Sydney Smith in 1855, “and it requires a good deal of forethought to steer the ship, when you are twelve miles from a lemon.” Plus ca change. One hundred and fifty years later it seems the distance between you and the twist in your next Bombay Sapphire is once again a going concern. Stressing the importance of minimizing “food miles”, the Slow Food movements in Europe and North America have made fast progress advising consumers to eschew globally-sourced supermarket wares in favor of locally raised produce from the farmer’s market. Food retailers have received the message and responded. Last fall, Whole Foods announced a plan to greatly expand the slate of local products on offer. European grocery giants, Tesco and Carrefour have also followed suit.

Why the turnabout? Have we traveled a bridge too far in pursuit of the perfect martini? More pressingly, can we draw meaningful conclusions about the environmental impacts of supply chains simply by peaking at the odometer?

The logic of food miles has an intuitive simplicity: the farther food travels from “field to fork,” the greater the associated environmental impact from transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The stakes are significant; a recent study revealed 25 percent of heavy trucks on U.K. roads transport food. Meanwhile, Americans sit down nightly to dinners sourced from five countries, on average. The uneaten broccoli being scraped into Swedish trash cans was almost certainly shipped 12,000 miles from Ecuador before meeting its ignoble fate.
How can such a system possibly make sense? Surely any measure to reduce the distance food travels to market would be positive for the environment, no?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Filled with such deliciously titled figures as “Energy use in the life cycle of spaghetti” and “Greenhouse gas impacts [of] tomato ketchup”, the most recent report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), at Manchester Business School, turns up some surprising findings. For example, tomatoes sourced from Spain consume more energy from transportation than local tomatoes, but far less in aggregate, owing to the extra energy consumed by hothouses used to raise British tomatoes. The study also reported German apple juice imports from Brazil were less energy-consumptive than local production, despite traveling 10,000 more miles to reach the store shelf. For similar reasons, lamb from New Zealand was found to possess efficiencies versus locally raised meat. A pair of German researchers have even coined the term “ecologies of scale” to describe how mass supply chains can use size to offset the environmental penalties of distance.

Unaccounted-for transport efficiencies greatly reduce the usefulness of food miles as a proxy for sustainability. Considerations such as transportation mode (a container mile on water is roughly 50 times more energy efficient than a mile in the air) and load factor (a heavy transport truck running empty consumes 70 percent of the fuel required to move 25 tons of cargo), among myriad other complexities (emissions at high altitude cause far greater impacts than those at ground level) preclude such simple abstractions. Surprisingly, once these variables are accounted for, the most important transport leg in food supply chains is often the consumer’s commute to and from the grocery store or farmer’s market (in many cases exceeding the combined emissions for all preceding movements). Indeed, any environmental benefits obtained by purchasing local produce from the farmer’s market across town were quite likely nullified the moment you drove past the supermarket. This revelation produces an unexpected conclusion: it might be better to shop local than buy local.

However, as European regulators consider new legislation that could add food miles information to grocery labels, the relative efficiencies of transportation modes may get lost in the shuffle. From the perspective of the consumer trolling the supermarket aisle, it is hard enough to choose between great taste and less filling, without the added long division of air miles versus sea miles. Ultimately, as food miles labeling gains traction with consumers (and it appears this is happening) the onus will be on exporters and the transportation industry to come up with a simple, yet reliably accurate way to measure the environmental impacts of supply chains.
Deloitte Consulting supply chain guru, Chris Gopal, has noted that the shipping industry was late to the game in recognizing this need and is now scrambling to define standard measures for environmental performance. From Chris’ vantage point, the market for experts who can help companies measure and manage supply chain sustainability is teetering on the cusp of a vast and rapid expansion.

The Buy Local movement is freighted with unique social and political baggage (a good deal of it valid) that must be considered before applying the lessons of food miles in the broader context of supply chain sustainability. Not convinced? Simply look for similar “Buy Local” campaigns for toilet paper, for televisions, for blue jeans – they don’t exist (at least, not yet). Nevertheless, the food supply chain has been studied more than most and offers worthy insights about sustainability. The most important, albeit counterintuitive, lesson is that supply chain sustainability is not simply a function of distance. It is the most efficient, rather than the shortest, supply chains that are often the greenest.

The good news is that supply chain efficiency and environmental sustainability may have finally found common cause. High load factors and fuel efficiency are desirable both from a cost and per ton emissions standpoint. The cheapest modes of transport (ship and rail) also happen to consume less energy than more expensive channels (truck and air). This new thinking should come as welcome relief to supply chain managers facing tough new mandates to “green” their organization’s supply chains as the Al Gore Era steams into year three. The bad news is that it will be an uphill climb to accurately measure the environmental sustainability of supply chains and efficiently relay the message to consumers.

But perhaps there are alternatives we just haven’t conceived yet. Food kilometers? “Kilometers are shorter than miles,” comedian George Carlin notes, “Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers.”

2007-06-12T04:51:00.000+02:00

a brief update, before i die of exhaustion.

i wrote that last entry at 740 am in Paris, approximately 1.5 hours before i realized that my 1:35 pm flight no longer existed, and that i was really booked on an 11:30 flight home. i was fortunate enough to have checked my delta itinerary that contradicted my studentuniverse booking information, and of course, turned out to be right. so instead of exchanging my euros, dropping off my friend's bike, and returning another friend's cellphone, i entrusted said items to carlotta's boyfriend, ran out the door, successfully flagged a taxi, and made it to the airport at 1020. even at the airport, i had to hurry and cut in lines to get on my flight. but thankfully i was indeed aboard my flight. i have to confess i was looking forward to flying the later flight as it was operated by Air France, which means better food and an after-dinner Bailey's or Cognac. and speaking French. but i managed, and got back to Atlanta safely, where i met becca and my parents---my mom ALSO happened to find out about the flight change, so i didn't have to wait 3 hours for them to pick me up. and then we met my brother and his wife for a big american steak dinner at Ray's Killer Creek. and i put bone marrow on my steak, which has a very strange consistency but melts right on.

and so now i am home, totally exhausted and heading to bed. i still have a lot to process re: leaving France, moving back to the States, my year in Paris, things i've learned, etc. call me or email me and i'd love to chat about it with you.

barclay

and this little piggie went "waa waa waa" all the way home

2007-06-11T07:41:00.000+02:00

it is monday morning, june 11, 2007. 7.42 am, paris time. i am preparing to leave my apartment in a few hours to catch the RER to the airport, and a flight back to Atlanta. i saw becca off this morning, she left the house at 6 to fly standby on one of two delta flights.

so here i sit, making sure my bags are packed and the weight is mostly evenly distributed. i've got to drop off my friend's bike, give back my phone to the friend who lent it, change my euros to dollars. and though these errands are all very much associated with leaving France, i still don't quite feel like that's what i'm about to do. i haven't really had time to process this transition---with my 3 weeks back in paris after china i have been busy trying to see people and things in paris, and especially the last 10 days with becca here, i haven't been able to give this big event much thought. i hope i will take the time back in the states, or maybe even on the plane, to start to decipher or unravel my year here in Paris. i will ask lots of questions, and try to understand the ups and downs, positives and negatives of my year abroad. what lessons have i learned? how do i know myself better? which experiences have impacted me most??

i must confess that already the fall seems like a blur or a distant memory. that i hardly remember what it felt like to be without an apartment for those first 6 weeks. and while that and other experiences have been difficult, i'm certain i stand to learn much from them.

everyone has been asking me if i'm ready to leave, and in the end the answer is no. i usually tell them that i'm eager to go back to the states, to go back "home" per se, but that i'm not ready to leave france. and that's the truth. had i nothing at home to call me back, i.e. a job, family, friends(primarily the first, as i could stand living here and returning home to visit if i had a job in Paris), i would be glad to stay. i will miss france, french culture, french food, french formalities. i will not miss french bureaucracy or standing in lines in France. i will miss Paris specifically, being the city i love the most, with its parks and museums and restaurants and cafes and public transportation. hemingway and his "moveable feast" couldn't be more right.

i apologize for the disjointedness of my thoughts here, but understand the gravity of the situation and the fact that i haven't even begun to process the changes i've undergone and will continue to undergo. thanks for reading, i wish you all the best wherever you may be.

dirty south

2007-06-06T23:56:00.001+02:00

becca got into paris last wednesday after a bit of nervousness, on my part, over whether she would make it at all--that flying standby thing is very nice cost-wise, but nerve wracking otherwise. over the past months i've been compiling a list, mentally, of places to go, restaurants, parks, etc. i have to say, at the end of 7 days here, that we have not succeeded in conquering even half of this list. however we have done some exciting things, not limited to: Da Gelo a Gelo at the Opera Garnier, followed by a superb french dinner at "the three little pigs"; a weekend in Aix-en-Provence, my ancient home in the south of France where we dined with my host family friday night, an old professor saturday night, a conservatory friend for lunch, dinner with a church friend after sunday evening church, and the most exciting part of all, visiting the Calanques. to visit these stone cliffs on the Mediterranean, we took a bus to marseille and another bus to luminy, from where we hiked to a belvedere offering a nice view of the sea, and then down to the water. at the water's edge, we were enticed to take a dip, despite not having bathing suits, either one of us. so i in my boxer's and becca in full clothing, we tested the waters. all was well and good until we jumped off of a rock, and as i came up to the surface i realized i'd lost my glasses. the water was about 8 feet deep, but crystal clear. which didn't help me much since i couldn't see, but i implored becca to find them. despite the freezing cold water, and with the help of a stranger's mask, becca located the glasses and dove down to grab them. having already thought about making my way back to paris without seeing clearly and then buying new glasses, i was quite relieved and impressed and awed by her mad search and rescue skills. all in all, however, the Calanques were definitely worth seeing.

back in paris we've been busy with dinner with my best friends from church, hanging out with my Scottish friend Frankie, church service last night, a goodbye picnic with the english teachers from school(where i came out on top with 12 or so new French books), and a friend's birthday dinner tonight. tomorrow i go to the French Open to see the women's semifinals, provided it doesn't rain.

and before you know it, i will be on a plane home next monday. i haven't even started to process it, and i'm not sure i will. this may very well be the last blog entry i have about paris. or maybe not, who knows. but don't be surprised.

abl

cultural capital of the world

2007-05-25T17:26:00.000+02:00

that's what they call Paris, at least. some of the most important and notable museums are in Paris; Paris is home to the can-can; outside of America, jazz finds its second home in Paris. literature, opera, ballet, fashion--the list goes on.

today, however, Paris took culture to another level. i happened upon the strangest thing i have ever seen in Paris, something that defies words and can really only be conveyed through pictures. i leave you with this:

2007-05-24T13:30:00.000+02:00

keeping with the spirit of timely blogging, i offer you a list of positive and negative impressions of that mysterious oriental country, China. i'm honestly forcing myself to come up with a list of positive impressions, so as to not appear utterly negative. i'm working on it...

the positives:

best chinese food i've ever had
unreasonably cheap beer
unreasonably cheap everything, for that matter
one Great Wall
something other than european architecture
trandem bicycles available for rent on the boardwalk
Bubble tea
stiff ping-pong competition
5€ full-body, 1.5 hour massage
Korean barbecue
traditional tea ceremony

the negatives:

arteries caked with MSGs
large-scale absence of fruits and vegetables in daily diet
continual stares
the radio amplified across the campus in weihai every morning at 6:30 am
people spitting everywhere
inter-city transportation
inter-city transportation
inter-city transportation
traveling 100 miles in 5.5 hours
being elbowed out of a "queue"
not being able to communicate very well(admittedly my fault)
ugly architecture, on the whole

and on a final positive note, the morale boost of the trip came when neal and i were in weihai and passed a group of young schoolchildren, 6 years old i'd say. as we walked by, i heard one boy ask, "zhong guo ren?", meaning "chinese people??" despite his friend's quick dismissal of us as foreigners, i was elated to be mistaken for a chinese person.

all in all, i'd recommend visiting China. just be prepared to be shocked by a culture so different from your own.

b-a-n-a-n-a-s

2007-05-24T01:22:00.001+02:00

one might so label a maiden voyage in China. about a week into my stay in China, neal asked me what one word i would use to describe China. the word that came to mind was "a mess", the French translation "bordel" literally meaning a brothel. i'm not sure if that comparison fits, but that country is certainly a piece of work. i believe Neal's word choice was "insane". speaking of Neal, the Foreign Expert himself has thoroughly chronicled our trip together in China, and i'd like to refer you his way for a detailed explanation. however, i'll also give you my own little take on things.

i went to China with few expectations, having done zero research about our intended destinations. Beijing did not meet my non-existent expectations for a capital city, as it was entirely too spread out, with remarkably little of interest to see. as i say that, i do think the Temple of Heaven and the Taoist temple we visited were interesting. and the Great Wall was not to be missed, but does it really count if it's a 3 hour bus ride away? instead, what i enjoyed most was the novelty of being in China, particularly the novelty that is dirt cheap. we took taxis everywhere, beer cost us 30 cents per liter, we ate dinner for 5 bucks per 3 people! my best memory from Beijing comes from our last evening there when, tired from the day of visiting temples and whatnot, we relaxed in the hostel courtyard with some Tsingtaos, before feasting at a Xingjiang restau down the way. there we ate the best potato chips i've ever tasted, along with delightfully seasoned lamb that fell off the shank. and chicken hearts, yum. gosh, i'll never forget that meal.

as Neal mentioned in his version, Xi'an did not get off to a good start, with crummy service at the hostel and an overpriced dinner. but saturday morning we were back at it, looking forward to the day seeing the famed TerraCotta Warriors. i confess i was a bit disappointed, as the site was expensive for Chinese standards, and it was altogether touristique. sunday, par contre, was a day extraordinaire, as we bussed out to Huashuan to hike one of China's 5 holy mountains. 2100 meters and 5 hours later, we settled down for a chilly night's sleep in a Taoist monastery on the mountain. the way down was considerably faster, though not much less strenuous---the two-day hike left me sore for days!! fortunately, and somewhat painfully, a 5€ full-body massage back in Weihai took away a good bit of the stress.

Weihai provided a delightful contrast to our brief visits to Beijing, Xi'an, and Qingdao, as i was able to take it slowly and see what life in an average Chinese town is like. we played some tennis, shopped for tea sets and gifts downtown, rode a trandem bicycle along the water, sang karaoke, went out in a motorboat in the Yellow Sea. i even played basketball with some uni students while Neal was in class. however the most unique experience was certainly visiting a Korean bathhouse. having never had much locker room time in high school, the completely naked thing was entirely new to me. i'm glad to say i didn't have to get over any uncomfortableness, but was just able to appreciate the cultural experience.

i have more to say about China and its oddities, but that'll be in the next post. zai jian.

China

greece--a bit late

2007-05-24T01:01:00.000+02:00

this is me trying to retroactively chronicle my excursion to Greece. nevermind that it was over a month ago, or that since then i've gone to China, with yet more chronicling to be done.

well greece started off with a bang, as i left my cellphone in the taxi from the athens airport to the hotel. despite my repeated calls to myself(!), i or he did not pick up. we even tried a few taxi companies, but to no avail. needless to say, i wasn't thrilled. the first day was spent primarily eating, starting with a gyro lunch. now this wasn't the gyro i'm accustomed to in america, the shaved lamb that comes from the large rotating spit of meat--it was pork instead. and a gigantic portion. fortunately for me, i was getting a bit of exercise wheeling my dad around, and at times carrying him up stairs.
tuesday we hit the main attraction, the acropolis. tickets were normally 12 euros, but i paid 4 as a student and my parents paid zilch as a handicapped person and his escort. but we more than made up for it when we hired a private tour for a hefty 80 euros. the acropolis was remarkable, but i felt it lacked something that could really paint a picture of what it must have been like. we did get our fill of crumbling ruins, however, as the one ticket got us into 12 different sites. and all were crumbling. we saw temples and churches and markets and theatres and even an ancient public bathroom.

on wednesday we headed to the port to catch a "Flying Dolphin" headed for the island of Hydra. we settled on Hydra as we needed an island reasonably close to Athens, and the icing on the cake came in the fact that no cars are allowed on the island. instead, everything is transported by donkey! without a doubt, Hydra turned out to be my favorite part of Greece. or at least of the 2 parts i saw. we stayed in a beautiful hotel, with a charming south african lass as hostess. and it was refreshing to have little to do more than stroll through the streets, window shopping and snapping photos of the harbor. i gladly took the opportunity to hike to the top of the island, to a Greek Orthodox monastery that overlooked the island and the sea beyond. there i was met by a "brother", who beckoned me inside, led me into the chapel, and then gave me water and a piece of turkish delight to fortify myself for the journey back to the town. it was very pleasant to get off on my own, not hampered by crutches or a wheelchair.

everywhere we went in Turkey and Greece, i eagerly ordered stuffed grape leaves(dolmades), as it's one of my favorite mediterranean foods. in Hydra, i was desperate for some pasticio--greek lasagna, but was unsuccessful in my search. (fortunately, Olympic Airlines served it on our return flight to Paris--flying outside of america affords much more interesting meals.)

i honestly can't remember anything else that happened after Hydra, so i'll leave you with some pictures. enjoy.

Athens

2007-05-12T12:08:00.000+02:00

well neal and i are here in Qingdao. i know that means i have a lot to update on the past 10 days or more, but i figured i'd tell you what we're up to now. we arrived yesterday on a bus from Weihai. the bus was comfortable enough, but the movie line-up was less than pleasant. we had a typical early 90's asian action movie, followed by something starring patrick swayze and rowan atkinson, and then finished up with a Chinese action movie involving horses and swords and bad dubbing.

our accomodations, on the other hand, have been stellar. thanks to kimberly(i don't even know her last name), a fellow couchsurfer, we are staying in a spacious apartment with our own set of keys and a pretty cool gal to chat and hang out with. upon arriving last night, we dropped our stuff off at her apartment, grabbed a quick street dinner, and then hurried to the movie theatre to see Spiderman 3. !. it was not superb. i didn't expect it to be, and it certainly didn't exceed my expectations.

this morning we went to the Tsingtao brewery, possibly the number one attraction for westerners to this city, though i wouldn't quote me on it. we forewent the tour and just had a pitcher of beer instead. at 11 a.m. following our imbibing, we headed for Tortillas mexican restaurant. in China. it wasn't exactly mexican, but i know Neal was glad to break up the monotony of chinese food. this afternoon we visited the two churches in town, one catholic and one protestant, as well as a park overlooking the city and the waterfront. tonight we're aiming for a good dinner, the Paulaner bar for a german brew, and maybe a club to catch Kimberly's co-worker's band. tomorrow we're going to go to an International church, eat lunch, and then head back to Weihai.

if the internet connection gets any better in Weihai, i'll update on the rest of our trip. stay tuned...

assistant no more

2007-04-27T02:14:00.000+02:00

well hello there. i confess that each time i remark to myself that i should probably write something on my blog, i feel rather lackadaisical. and of course the purpose of a blog, or at least so far as i see my blog for the year in France, is to chronicle my life over here. regularly. informatively. right.

so in unusually timely fashion, here is a little post that relates to the very event of the day: my last day as a teaching assistant in Paris. that's right, my 7 month contract has run its course, and my surcharged schedule of lengthy teaching commitments and extensive planning required for said teaching has thus been greatly reduced. believe that if you want.

it has been a bit of an odd week---i returned from Athens last friday night, knowing full well that i had a mere 10 days before i'd take off again for China. last saturday morning as i performed my weekly market routine, i felt much less a resident of my neighborhood, already or once again a stranger. and while that feeling has subsided in part this week, i know full well that that sensation will become more and more of a reality as i approach my return to les States. subsequently, this week has not been very strenuous at school--a few classes had farewell parties for me, while others ended on an anticlimactic goodbye. one class even failed to show up, so no goodbye was even issued. leaving the school today(and snapping a few pictures while i still had the chance), i felt a conflicted sense of sadness in realizing that 7 months of my life and the very reason for my being in Paris had now terminated. it wasn't quite like leaving high school or college; i guess it was just hard to believe.

so there you have it. i am no longer an english teaching assistant. i do, however, continue to reside in France, for the time being. and living in France without any obligation is AWESOME, if you didn't already know it. i hope that gives me sufficient time to enjoy the little-seen parts of the city, to spend more quality time with the people i'll be leaving behind, and to prepare myself for the path ahead.

pictures to follow from Turkey and Greece. and sooner or later China.

galata kule

2007-04-15T22:03:00.000+02:00

here ı am ın ıstanbul, typıng on a keyboard that has two forms of the letter "ı", one of whıch has the dot{i} and the other that doesn't{ı}. as fortune has ıt, the ı ın the place of the amerıcan keyboard ı ıs the dotless ı, so dont be fooled by the absence of the dot.

so yeah, ıstanbul. thıs has been a cıty unlıke any other that ıve vısıted, and ıd frankly say that ıt ranks ın the top 5 of beautıful cıtıes ıve seen. ıf youve been here you may beg to dıffer, but there's somethıng about the 7 hılls, the ınnumerable mosques grazıng the skylıne, the neıghborhoods of buıldıngs crammed together. to me, ıstanbul ıs an amalgamatıon; ı see elements of latın amerıca(utter chaos, traffıc nıghtmares, sellıng any and everythıng on the street), asıa/afrıca/anywhere outsıde of western europe and latın amerıca(ı cant communıcate much outsıde of gestures and feeble attempts at turkısh words or phrases), and of course the relıgıous culture of the Muslım world. needless to say, ıve been transported outsıde of my famılıar world ınto a pleasıng, yet jarrıngly dıfferent, unıverse.

the vısıt has also been made ınterestıng by the fact that my dad ıs on crutches wıth a brace on hıs knee, meanıng frequent taxıs and a lot less walkıng than ım used to on a vacatıon. ıf youve traveled wıth me you know ı lıke to walk to get a sense of the cıty, and honestly ıve felt somewhat handıcapped(no harm meant to my dad). ıt wasnt terrıbly apparent untıl ı snuck away for a brıef 40 mınutes thıs afternoon to explore our hotel's neıghborhood; ı dıdnt have to see thıngs from the ınsıde of a car, ı got to move at my own pace. ıll just say ıt was a bıt of a relıef.

ı dont want to make thıs too long, but ı mıght as well mentıon that ı ate lıver and trıpe for the fırst tıme ın Istanbul. and ı nearly ordered braın tonıght just for the sake of ıt. ı also took my fırst step on the asıan contınent today--we took a boat down the Bosphorous and ı took advantage of a passenger pıck-up on the Asıan sıde of Istanbul to make my presence felt.

tomorrow we wake up early to catch our flıght to Athens--ıt's on an old-school twın prop plane. oh by the way, another reason to vısıt ıstanbul, asıde from my bewılderıng journalıstıc ıntroductıon to the cıty, ıs the kındness of the Istanbulluş. they are overwhelmıngly frıendly and wıllıng to help us, partıcularly my hobblıng father. just to ıllustrate, last nıght on leavıng the grand bazaar, we couldnt fınd an honest taxı, and as we struggled to fınd the way home, three young guys poınted us ın the rıght dırectıon, then walked us that dırectıon, then paıd for our tram, then walked us to the hotel. all the whıle not understandıng anythıng we saıd other than gestures and hand motıons. and away from hıs own home.

come to turkey.

i bike paris

2007-03-13T18:59:00.000+01:00

such is the name of a bike tour company here in Paris owned by my two friends Paul and Christian. it's actually "Bike About Tours", but they have new t-shirts brandishing the ibikeparis logo.
what does this have to do with me, you ask? well i'm now the proud of owner of a bicycle. i've heard for the past 5 months that i've been here that seeing Paris on a bike really changes one's perspective. they say the city becomes a lot smaller, and you see a lot of things you've never seen before. so taking their advice, i got in touch with someone advertising on craiglist. it's a couple of college guys who pick up bikes and repair them in their spare time. the bikes aren't impeccable, but i guess their angle is value, selling a decent bike for a good price. (note: bikes in Paris are rather expensive, and the awesome city bikes are even more than mountain bikes, which can be purchased relatively cheaply at sports stores(150€ or more))

as for my bike, it's a baby blue "Mercier", complete with bell on the left handlebar with which i can kindly urge people to get out of my way. there's a light to announce my presence at night, but i think i need a new bulb. there's also a rack on the back complete with hinged clamp that i can use to secure books or whatnot. of course, preventing theft is an issue, as i daily see locks attached to fences but no sign of a bike. had i a courtyard in my apartment building, i'd gladly keep it there, but for now it's on the street, well secured, i hope.

by the next time i write, i'll be on my way to expert knowledge of the city. i just hope to avoid a repeat of my freshman year bike accident...

passing through?

2007-03-02T12:59:00.000+01:00

well i'm back in Paris. i left off last in Barcelona, where i had an unforeseen extra day after missing my flight to Lisbon. i'm proud to say i caught the flight to Lisbon later that evening. upon arrival i was greeted with homemade french fries, i think for the first time in my life. Tania, the portuguese assistant at school at whose house i stayed and who served as tour guide, always ensured that i was well-fed. so my time in Lisbon consisted of lots of local pastries, as well as a delicious home-cooked meal wednesday night that made Jewish and Italian mother look like poor hostesses--i literally couldn't stop tania and her mother from putting more food on my plate. fortunately, it was good food so i didn't mind too much.

tuesday we visited Sintra, a UNESCO world heritage site and charming little town. we trekked up a hill/mountain to visit the king and queen's summer palace, which afforded a beautiful hike as well as nice vistas. upon returning to Lisbon, we rushed over to the opposite side of the city to visit the site of Lisbon's 1998 world expo. the architecture was stunningly modern. at this point, i was exhausted from the day, but Tania and Soraya just kept going. i thought we'd never stop walking or eat dinner for that matter.

wednesday Tania showed me the town, as we visited Belem, home to a romanesque monastery and nearly as ancient pastries. next we saw downtown and took a trolley ride up to the St. George Castle. the area surrounding the castle has incredible Moorish influence, and it was fascinating to stare down on the rooftops. after buying a few pieces of local ceramic for gifts, we hurried home for aforementioned homecooked meal.

thursday afternoon i flew home to paris, but not before a last stop at Lisbon's Modern Art Museum. i cut it close once again in getting to the airport, but i made it home last night, thankful to be home.

take a look at this album, and others from my trip:

Biarritz

i was intending to add a post-script about passing through, but i'll do it later. now i'm off to visit the city.

beset by travel woes

2007-02-26T15:13:00.000+01:00

i´ll get to the travel woes later, but i thought it worthwhile to update on my trip since san sebastian. thursday we took a bus to bilbao, which for us held a) an airport, b) a Guggenheim, and c) some local spanish kids who were friends of keith´s parisian roommate. we stayed in the old town, again in a pension, and spent the afternoon wandering around. on top of parque exteberria, we watched a gang of old men play a peculiar game of ¨bolistico¨which has similarities to bowling. then thursday night we took the metro out of town toward the coast to meet up with hasier and tamara, as well as their friends aiynara and benni. keith was limited to english, but conversed with aiynara and hasier, and i spoke with tamara, mostly in spanish. they were really nice and made sure we had a good time. then for friday they suggested meeting up for lunch, which we did, and they took us to get the ¨best sandwiches in town¨to be eaten in a nearby park. again, going out of their way to show us a good time. after hanging out a little more, we said a somewhat sad goodbye and headed for the Guggenheim. if you have no idea what Bilbao´s guggenheim looks like, look here. very modern, and incredible from inside.

friday night we caught a late night flight to Barcelona, though it was delayed and with bus trip and all, we didnt sleep until 330. saturday morning we met up with keith´s friend chris who randomly hopped on a plane from L.A. and met us here. we spent the day mostly outside, going up a nearby mountain and lunching in Park Guell. keith was really into Gaudi, and his interest was rather contagious. so sunday, after a visit to the Miro museum and a paella lunch, we visited Casa Mila which had a great exhibit on his work, and the house itself. then last night, we took in a soccer match, my first in Europe, first professional match anywhere--barça/bilbao. bilbao was pretty bad, but it was nice to see the home team win. the city has been packed with brits this weekend, so i think there were not too few soccer hooligans at the game.

as for travel woes, this morning i missed my flight to lisbon and i´ve rescheduled for tonight at 7. nowhere did they mention what time check-in closed, not to mention they moved the flight time up 5 minutes. i was pretty upset, and after some difficult communication with the Clickair office by phone, got a seat aboard tonight´s flight. word to the wise, don´t fly Clickair. so i´ll be staying in lisbon with the portuguese assistant from school, an experience i hope will give me some local flavor. then it´s back to paris friday, which i´m excited for. it´ll be nice to stay put for a while as well as to focus my time on getting to know that inexhaustible city. and of course people i know and look forward to seeing.

i hope you´re all well, in your various corners of the world. hasta luego from Barcelona, soon to be Lisbon!

kaixo from basque country

2007-02-21T21:26:00.000+01:00

so i thought i´d update my adoring masses on my travels thus far. i´m currently basquing, as tyler harlan so cleverly put, in San Sebastian in the heart of Spanish basque country. we started our trip in Biarritz, where we had the good fortune to stay in the apartment of Keith´s family friend. we were thus able to cook dinner and have a base of activity. this was especially nice, since biarritz is fairly dull. being winter, there weren´t a lot of people in the area, and the weather was somewhat unfavorable. the exception was monday, when we rented a car and drove through the French countryside to a couple of towns: Saint Jean Pied-de-Port and Saint Jean de Luz. the former is a town along the Chemin de St Jacques or El Camino de Santiago. also in the town is a fascinating pelota or jai alai court.

yesterday, tuesday, we caught a bus down to San Sebastian. after a brief search, we found our current "pension"---the first guy threw us out because we didnt decide quickly enough, so we´ve swung to the other end of the spectrum where our current hostess calls us her "ninos" and "chiquitos" and continually touches our faces. i guess you cant beat spanish hospitality. we´ve had a good number of tapas(called pintxos here) and will likely eat more tonight. last night we heard the local Basque orchestra play Rossini´s Guillermo Tell Overture, Schubert´s 8th Symphony, and Mendelssohn´s 5th. with the exception of a trumpet player, they weren´t bad.

tomorrow it´s on to Bilbao, for the famed Guggenheim and some other museums that seem to live in its shadow. we´ve got a connection in that city as well, as keith´s parisian roommate Diego has put us in touch with some "very Basque friends". then friday night we fly to Barcelona late where we will eventually meet up with Keith´s friend from the States who told him two days ago he was flying to Barcelona. promises to be an adventure.

i hope to give another update in Barcelona, or when i´ve made it to Lisbon next week. hasta luego.

i am a jelly doughnut

2007-02-15T10:56:00.000+01:00

as my clever title betrays, i spent this past weekend in Berlin. not only had it been on my list of places to stay during my current European sejour, but a friend from "uni" is/was doing a training period with Deutschebank in Berlin and provided extra motivation for paying a visit. And who can argue with a free place to stay?

those familiar with Easyjet and other cheap european airlines may know that to secure the cheapest flights, one often has to be willing to fly at ungodly times of the morning or night; in this case, i had a 640 am flight out of Paris-Orly. okay, that's not too unreasonable, but Easyjet closes check-in 40 minutes prior to the flight, which meant i needed to be there by 6 am and no public transportation would get me there in time. except the night bus, oh yeah!! said night bus was free and fairly speedy, but on the downside, it doesn't run near my apartment. so a couple of friends graciously let me "sleep" on their futon---i say "sleep" because it lasted a mere 4 hours before i had to hightail it to the bus stop. boring story short, i got to the airport, incredibly hungry and incredibly tired, and made it to Berlin just fine.

having spent the past 4, nearly 5, months in Paris, i was nearly shocked by the cheapness of Berlin. transportation, food, drinks, lodging--all are expensive in Paris. not so in Berlin. 1.50€ S-bahn ride into the city from the airport, compared to 8€ from Paris' Charles de Gaulle. lunch on friday, a famed "currywurst", set me back a whopping 1.70€. the most painful, however, was a pint of beer, Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen, a preferred libation of mine--3.30€, in a nice restaurant!! not at happy hour!! you couldn't really ever get a good beer for that much even in a happy hour in Paris.

not wanting to give the impression that all i did was eat, drink, and marvel at low prices, i'll detail a few of my visits. while Jenn worked friday, i hit the city on my own, wandering down Unter den Linden, the classical "strip" of Berlin. at the western end i strolled by embassies, an apparent favorite of Neal Palmer. one in particular was fascinating: the Russian Embassy still has hammer and sickle's carved into its facade. also at this end is the Brandenburg Gate, complete with a man dressed as a soldier with a communist flag in hand, ready for the oodles of passersby in the dead of winter in Berlin to snap a photo and collect some change. not far from the gate i visited the modern Memorial to the Holocaust, which consists of a memorial "park" and an underground museum. if i'm not mistaken, i heard Peter Eisenman, the man who designed the memorial, speak at Vanderbilt just last year. it's a fairly minimalist piece, consisting of blocks of concrete of varying heights in a grid-like fashion. the museum was interesting, not to mention warm.

i also saw the Reichstag's dome, which affords a nice view of the city, but there's nothing much to say about it.

saturday jenn and i(i have a friend here named Justin whose wife is named Jen, and whenever he says Jen and I it sounds like "gemini"...) went to a market to buy ingredients for dinner. this was perhaps the coldest hour of my life, or at least in recent memory. but it was fun to try to ask for certain things, like 50 grams of cheese, or pay for our goods, altogether relying on pointing and guessing at prices. this day was also our Berlin Wall day---on Neal's suggestion we visited the East Side Gallery, a 1/2 mile stretch of preserved wall recently(2000) painted by international artists. then it was on to the Museum of the Berlin Wall, which chronicled the wall's construction and events surround its construction and destruction. finally we finished the day at Haus am der Checkpoint Charlie, a maze of a museum with an overabundance of information but some fascinating artifacts and tidbits.

saturday night we were supposed to eat dinner at Unsicht Bar(unsichtbar means invisible, apparently), a restaurant where one eats in the dark, served by blind servers. there's one in paris, Dans Le Noir, and one to be opening in London. we didn't end up going, however, as it was rather pricey and the 50% off coupon we had wasn't valid on the weekends. i'm glad to say, however, that we did go to a restaurant mentioned in H&M's Berlin guide as a "cool" restaurant; at Monsieur Vuong we had bamboo tea, vietnamese beer, and Vietnamese noodles.

ok, quickly now, after a slow start sunday we hit the Hamburger Bahnhof museum, again per Neal's recommendation. very modern, some pieces interactive, some quite good. we tried to make an evening english church service, but having the time wrong and arriving late, we decided to forego church for the abovementioned Hefeweizen; i'm convinced we made the right choice(....)

starting saturday night, i had to depend on Jenn for dinero as my recently reissued French debit card didn't come with a reissued pin, and my American debit card was back in Paris. so monday morning we went to AmericanExpress to get a cash advance, only to find out that the office was closed. fortunately, the lady there let me borrow their phone to call AmEx and get the pin on my card to use it in an ATM. simple enough, until they, for security reasons of course, asked me questions not related to my account but available in a public database(!!!). they were the following: 1) what is the year, make and model of one vehicle registered to my home address?---answer, '93 Honda Accord; 2) in what year was my current home built?---i have no earthly idea; 3) what is the month of vehicle registration renewal for my home?---having just put the sticker on my car, i answered December, cringed through the pause, and pumped the air when i heard "correct"!

so monday consisted of a cash ordeal, a, once again, cheap breakfast, and a nervous train to the airport that got me there just minutes before check-in closed. but i made it back to Paris in one piece. as it would have it, monday in berlin was beautiful, blue skies and warmer temperatures. and of course it was gray and rainy in Paris. c'est la vie, as they say.

saturday i'm off to Basque country, Barcelona, and Lisbon during my 2 week school vacation. that's right, living in slightly socialist-minded France means 8 weeks of vacation during the school year, 12 hours of teaching as an assistant(now reduced to 10 just because they haven't given me any more hours), and a solid number of national holidays. i'll update on my journeys as i can, so stay posted.

Berlin

Rennes

2007-02-03T04:40:00.000+01:00

the better part of this week i spent in a town called Rennes, west of Paris in the region of Bretagne; Rennes is, in fact, Bretagne's capital. this Bretagne is the smaller version of Grande Bretagne, that is, Great Britain. the Bretons came from Britain in the 4th or 5th century a.d. from a cultural perspective, it's a rather interesting region, one of the last to cling tightly to its regional language, breton, a celtic language that appears altogether indiscernible to my eye.

for me, Rennes was the sight of the French Fulbright grantees midyear meeting, a small break from projects throughout the country for the 30 some odd grantees. people came from Grenoble, Strasbourg, Perpignan, Aix-en-Provence, and even a tiny little research center in the middle of nowhere in the western regions of France. we toured the city, learned about the devastating fires that have ravaged Rennes with unsettling frequency, listened to presentations from various grantees, visited the facilities of the largest daily French newspaper, and spent a good deal of time hanging out. we ate crepes, as crepes originate in Bretagne. we visited several of the popular student bars--Rennes is home to 60,000 students!! i have to say that the best part of the trip was certainly the people, laughing and joking as well as learning from their experiences.

the Rennes trip also got me out of 2 days of teaching this week, leaving me only thursday and 5 of my 12 classes. yesterday i went to discussion group as usual with Vintage, and today i walked along the canals in the northeastern corner of the city, in addition to translating letters for an hour.

coming up this week, i have a church-wide brunch sunday morning, with the idea being that each person brings a dish specific to his family and/or country. then sunday night is the super bowl, which i will watch with a group of Americans. and next weekend i'll be heading to Berlin, to visit the city as well as to see a Vandy friend, Jenn McCaleb. and not long after that i'll be on vacation for 2 weeks, heading to basque country, barcelona, and lisbon.

i haven't taken many pictures lately, but here are some great shots from the muddiest/most fun football i've ever played:

Invalides Invasion

an american in paris

2007-01-20T18:37:00.000+01:00

i realize that i need to do a better job of updating this thing, so bear with me. lest one get bored with too much information at once, i'll try to space it out a bit.

i know at least one person has asked what day to day life is like here, particularly teaching. so i'll tell you. i teach 12 hours a week, though the one hour commute as well as lunch breaks at school means i'm "at school" for 21 hours each week. and it's all contained in tuesday thru thursday. mondays, this semester, are reserved for translating letters for a non-profit organization called PLAN France that functions in child sponsorship in the developing world. And depending on what time I get up and get going, I've also time to run errands or go to the park or a museum. Then Monday evenings i give an english class at a chinese church in the 13th arrondissement. As for fridays, i've decided this semester to use fridays for lesson plans, trying to be more proactive in preparing for lessons and therefore not leaving it till monday and the day before a given day of teaching.

as for lesson planning, that has been my least favorite part of my existence here in France. i've felt quite lazy about it, but the consequence of poor planning is a stressful feeling of trying to have material to discuss or activities for students while, in fact, i'm just praying for the end of the day to arrive. it's difficult to know what my role really looks like, here as a teaching assistant; while the job description is to help facilitate conversation and improve the english-speaking skills of the students, the teachers insist that the more important reason for me being here is to have fun. so you can imagine that it's difficult to remain motivated without grand expectations. not only that, but there's really very little supervision or accountability in the program, either from the school or from the Fulbright program. what i hope to achieve is a balance between relaxed enjoyment of life abroad and a realistic attitude of what i may expect to accomplish as a t.a.

the other considerable difficulty in life abroad at this point is the transition from school(kindergarten to university) to professional life. i am unaccustomed to not living in close proximity with peers or having daily contact with them. the size of paris and the dispersion of assistants and other friends throughout the city is an obstacle to daily and/or regular interaction. it seems that building friendships is a lengthier process, given what little amount of time with people is prescribed by my existence here. while i live with roommates, they remain roommates and not entirely friends; that's not to say that we don't hang out, go to movies, talk quite frequently. but the relationships at home haven't been my main target. instead i've developed closer friendships with a few assistants, in particular, as well as several people from school and the churches i've attended. but with Paul, for instance, a New Zealandish friend from church, i see him consistently only once a week; others i may see twice a week, but in comparison to living with friends in a dorm or spending time daily, this feels like a drought. part of the difficulty comes in the fact that i have oodles of free time, while most people who have jobs, and students, especially advance students, are much busier and/or tired when the day is done. NEVERTHELESS, i have seen progress in friendships, and i'm very glad for those whom i count as friends.

what do i do for fun?, one might ask. at least once a week i have a friend or two over for dinner, though my limited menu means i can't have the same person over too frequently!! i also meet up with people at a cafe or a happy hour several times a week. on the weekends there's often an assistant gathering of some sort; last night i went to a housewarming of a British assistant friend, which turned out to be quite the culturally educational experience. i found myself struggling to not speak with a British accent, despite being told that the only thing more annoying than an American accent is an American trying to use a British accent. and this saturday and last, i got my weekly exercise playing American football on the lawn of Invalides. ball games are strictly prohibited, as the sign indicates, but it doesn't stop the plethora of soccer games played all weekend. and it sure as heck didn't stop us. last saturday we played in the rain and mud, 5 Americans and 5 internationals. it turned out to be my most memorable experience in Paris yet, as well as my dirtiest.

today i played with three American from church as well as some Marines stationed in Paris. both this week and last, we were the subject of not a few photographs by perplexed onlookers, including a full bus-load of tourists at one point. unfortunately for the field, it was a mudhole after last week; fortunately for us, the local police weren't around to stop us.

i forgot to mention that an important aspect of my life here so far is my involvement with a bilingual church, Vintage. while an actual church service is only held once a month, we meet weekly in groups in different parts of the city. i'm part of a "Table" group on the left bank(south), a mere 10 minute walk from my apartment. on Sunday mornings we share a meal together and chat and sometimes play teeball in the nearby park. thursday evenings we have a discussion group, as well as dinner. i realized the other day that there is something altogether different about being a part of a community in someone's home; while i enjoy the people at another church i've attended, there's an evident difference made by spending two days per week in someone's home at Vintage. not to mention the family in whose home we have our group has four kids, including an 18-month old, Charles, cute as he can be. he's honestly a highlight of my week.

that's certainly enough for now, but i hope to update again upon my return from Rennes this week, where i'll be heading tomorrow for a conference of the Fulbright grantees. i hope it proves relaxing.

all the best to everyone, check back very soon.

happee sanksgiveeng

2006-11-23T15:21:00.000+01:00

or so the french might say. all this week ive been teaching about thanksgiving, sharing a bit of the history as well as recipes and pasttimes. researching for the history was actually quite informative, as i learned how turkeys came to be the main dish of choice(abraham lincoln sent them to soldiers in 1863 since they could feed more than a chicken could), how the 4th thursday in november was declared as the official date(originally the last thursday via george washington in 1789, moved to the penultimate by FDR in 1939 to prolong the Christmas shopping season and thereby stimulate the economy out of the great depression, and written into law as a compromise in 1941), and i learned that 45 million turkeys were consumed in 2003 on this one day.

i found that most students knew very little, maybe just the turkey bit, and didnt even know what a cranberry was in french. a neat aspect of this lesson was discussing Thanksgiving and multiculturalism, as a lot of the students come from other countries and backgrounds. one class today is mostly portugese, and quite proud of it. i have students from mauritius, guadeloupe, turkey, africa, middle east, asia, etc. and as i learned thanks to wikipedia, transplanted families often take up the traditional meal but with their own variations--italians may eat pasta, prime rib for the irish, etc. one variation that seems completely bizarre is a Cajun dish known as "Turducken". according to wikipedia and the salmon family website, turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. check out the site if you're at all unclear. The Salmon family says its superior, but im not sure i want to break with tradition to try it.

last night i prepared sweet potato casserole à la Suzanne Levine. i was able to find the potatoes at my saturday market just behind my house, and the casserole seems to resemble my mother's. the proof is in the pudding, of course, so tonight at 7 we'll know how i did. i'll be sharing thanksgiving with some American friends as well as international friends. i think we'll be eating chicken rather than turkey, but as they served turkey at the cafeteria today, i got my bases covered. it should be neat to see what our brazilian, senegalese, singaporean, and dutch friends think of the meal. i'll be preparing the sweet potatoes again for a meal saturday night at the house of my pastor and his wife, which will again be a mélange of people.

as this day marks the official start of the Christmas season, tomorrow the lights on the Champs Elysées will be turned on, an event i may attend. and of course Christmas music and movies are now all fair game. the girls i lived with for 3 weeks before i found my place were hankering to start the Christmas music in October, to which i protested and they conceded when i wasnt around.

speaking of finding my own place, i had a housewarming party tuesday night which was a dashing success. about 20 other assistants and Fulbrights came over with wine in tow to toast my new apartment. my French roommates were there and had a really great time, so we've decided to have a big party in december and to invite each of our friends for a multi-lingual fete. i successfully made my own guacamole, and the Mayfield 17 boys would be glad to know i used Trends 1 for the music. housewarming in French is "pendaison de crémaillère" (literally hanging of the chimney hook), fyi.

the bell just rang for my next and final class, but i hope everyone has a very happy thanksgiving. enjoy the break and each other.

my home to yours

blogger ate my post

2006-11-01T20:00:00.000+01:00

let's try this again.

i went out of town this past weekend, as i'm on a 2-week vacation. lille, in the north of france, was the destination, for a couple of reasons. firstly, it's a notable city and i thought deserved my attention; secondly, it's now hosting lille 3000, an Indian culture festival with art exposes and such throughout the city. actually, i thought that i'd be eating lots of indian food and people would be parading through the streets. the festival consisted largely, however, of visiting a couple different Indian art exhibitions, taking my picture with one of many large elephants lining the main drag, and sipping free chai as i watched an Indian theatrical spectacle on a large screen outside of the Opera house.

also of interest was a fine meal saturday night wherein the main course was kangaroo. it was really quite delicious. they suggested cooking it like i like my beef cooked, so i had it "bloody", as the word translates from french.

sunday morning i aimed to go to the american church in Lille, but when i showed up at 1030 no one was there. so i went to a french church instead. as i was sitting in what i thought was the 2nd service, i realized that the time had changed in france as well as in the states, and i was sitting in on the end of the 1st service, the time change also explaining why i missed the american church. but i was really glad i missed the american church and went to the french church instead, as i met a student named Dieudonne, literally God-given, and he was very welcoming. and as a result of standing next to him, all the people who greeted him also greeted me, and often with a couple kisses. perhaps you could call them "holy kisses".

sunday included a lively market, a visit to a big park complete with zoo, the american church's evening service, and dinner with friends from Paris. then monday, instead of spending the entirety of the day in Lille and returning to Paris at night, i went to Amiens, site of the largest gothic building in all of France as well as a series of canals winding amongst gardens. the church was nice, but i entirely preferred the punt ride on the canals--the fall colors were breathtaking.

back in paris, i celebrated halloween first with dinner with friends from church, then i went out with assistant friends. my costume was a frenchman, for lack of a better idea--i bought a horizontal striped blue and white shirt, a beret, a baguette, and i drew a mustache. turns out none of the french people at the party we attended were in costume, but they gestured to mine with a smile. though the party (on a boat) started at midnight, we were too late to take the metro and it took quite some time to walk to the party. we arrived at 230, entered the party around 3, and left at 6. it was early/late enough for the metro to be running, thankfully, as i basically would have refused to walk back home.

today i visited the Pere Lachaise cemetery, home to Chopin, Bizet, Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and others. tomorrow i head for Bordeaux for a couple days/nights, then back to Paris before school resumes next week.

please check out my photos from the trip here

flat andrew's parisian adventures

2006-10-27T01:20:00.001+02:00

at mark's prodding, i'm going to tell you all a little story about my week. while vacation started wednesday, i have to say it's been rather an eventful week. the events started monday, when Dina Powell, u.s. assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs came to my high school. i don't even normally teach on mondays, but this was clearly an exceptional case. madam powell oversees cultural exchange programs, including the Fulbright program, and wanted to see Fulbright at work. so somehow out of the 5 fulbright teaching assistants, my school was chosen.
anyways, this relatively important person came to Lycee Evariste Gallois to see me and to meet some students. and all the teachers at school were super excited and extremely nervous, and even more excited when they finally met her. one of the male english teachers said he was in love, and kept recounting how she told him to "call her dina".

then tuesday morning i went to unesco(united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization) for a conference on global higher education. basically, fulbright chose a bunch of academics to be "new century scholars" and to study higher education with colleagues from all over the world. anyways, it was just fun to be included in the conference. i even chatted with stephen heyneman, a vanderbilt peabody professor. and i got introduced to people here and there. and i took a picture of flat stanley in the garden of unesco. and at the eiffel tower. and at notre dame.

the big week culminated tuesday evening with an invite to the american ambassador's home. it was rather ornate and elegant, and quite an enjoyable experience altogether. madam powell gave a little speech in which she recognized my school, my principal, and even me, and they made me go up to the front to stand by the podium as my principal gave a little speech. then there were pictures all around, including a picture of me with the ambassador and his mrs. as well as dina powell and mr. stanley.

following such an extraordinary evening in the presence of such stalwart republicans, everything else this week has been a let down. yesterday i got a cool new phone for 1€!!! and nearly lost my man purse with ipod and camera. and today i translated a bunch of letters from french child sponsors to the children they sponsor. and tonight i went to the eiffel tower to hang out with some assistants---it was bring your own bottle. and i left my nalgene and frisbee there, but fortunately someone grabbed the bottle. the frisbee, on the other hand, was last seen in the hands of a french girl. so they say.

this weekend i'm thinking to travel to lille where there's a big indian culture festival going on. i'll keep you posted.

Diplomatic Dabblings

anyone who travels knows what im talking about

2006-10-13T15:24:00.000+02:00

the other night i had your cliche hostel experience. i came back to the hostel after another repetitive day of searching for apartments and the like, and had the inclination to relax a bit at a nearby bar. ive always noticed it to be somewhat charming, full of people at literally all hours. and the people themselves look interesting. as it was still before 8, i figured i could even have a beer cheaply, as happy hour goes from 5-8 at said bar. i had half a mind to go there alone, with simply a book and my pipe; i dont know if pipes are allowed, but as everyone in france smokes and/or breaks the law on regular occasion(neither of which are necessarily related, its just known that french people feel it their duty to obey as little of the law as possible, minus the biggies) i figured it`s my right to smoke a pipe where i darn well please. but instead i ventured to ask around at the hostel to see if anyone wanted to join me. the response, however, was why not bring wine back here. so thomas the american who has been away from home for 9 years, yuso the japanese guy here on business not speaking either english or french, and i went down the street and bought a bottle of wine each. when we got back we shared our wine with a german girl and an american girl and proceeded to picnic with some chocolate, cookies, bread, and cheese. the part that`s cliche is the part where we move to the kitchen, and one by one people begin to trickle in. the guys running the place who are from india brought their own liquids, while a canadian, a chilean and eventually the aussie joined later. so there we sat 8 english speakers, excluding yuso of course by our conversation in english. we naturally discussed america`s foreign policy errors, as well as education and what it should look like in developing countries, as well as a few anecdotes here and there including erica`s signing experience at gallaudet(children?).

in other news, im going to normandy this weekend for a retreat with a local church. it should be nice to get away and meet some new people, as well as to see the beach.

im still working on housing, and even turned down one option today that was mine for the taking. the problem was its size relative to two people of opposite sex and mostly unfamiliar with each other. one person would have had to walk through the other`s bedroom(actually the living room/2nd bedroom) to get to the kitchen, shower, toilet. but i came from visiting a great apartment on the southern periphery of Paris that isnt ideally located but has a fast train that permits easy access. im first on the list and hope that it will happen, but its a bit complicated as the owner is in cambodia and has to communicate through his friend. we shall see. keep your fingers crossed for me.

ciao ciao.

2006-10-08T22:11:00.000+02:00

well all, welcome to paris. here you will see myself and the rogue traveler Wes Whitaker during his visit to the City of Light. he popped in for a brief two-day visit after touring around Greece and Turkey. we took advantage of many opportunities afforded to us, particularly eating crepes, waiting in line for 2 hours at the Eiffel Tower(he, not I), and being pestered by guys at Sacre-Coeur who detained us to tie bracelets around our arms only to then demand 10 euros a piece. we gave them 2 and have forevermore been marked as an idiot tourist. but honestly, i kept walking until the guy pointed out that wes had been successfully stopped and that i might as well also. actually, someone asked me last night if i'd spent much time around Sacre-Coeur lately. shucks.

i have been assortedly occupied of late, of course with the continual housing search, but also with church friday night and tonight, a prayer walk this morning, sangria with my german friend Sebastien, and Nuit de Blanche last night, a night of art and debauchery across the city.

anecdotally, here's a neat story. friday night i came back from post-church dinner around 1 and started talking with an egyptian guy staying in the hostel. we kept talking and eventually decided to take a little walk. this little walk took us at least 2 hours and took us to the Seine and back, a fair piece. but he was very interesting and just an enjoyable companion. you never know who you'll meet in these places.

i have a lead on an apartment and hope it will come through. it's about darn time!

here's a little toast to a couple of good friends of you and me: Neal Palmer and Suzanne Levine, who simultaneously celebrated their birthdays on October 5th. well actually, Neal was 12 time zones ahead of my mother. but i salute them nonetheless.

ciao, bisous, a bientot,
andrew

still here,,,

2006-09-27T01:09:00.000+02:00

well everyone, im in paris at long last. i arrived friday morning and since then have been busy being unbusy. more precisely, ive been looking for apartments but without success and lots of time in between. the first day i got into charles de gaulle around 630 am but without any place to go. i waited and called and waited and called a couple friends until one picked up and let me come leave my bags at his place. i was at the airport for 7 hours!!!

so friday night was at his place, saturday through monday nights at an apartment rented for a week by 2 girls i know, one more night at the first guys place, and tonight in a hostel. basically, i approached this whole find somewhere to live thing rather naively and without understanding the necessity of getting a place, preferably an apartment to be rented short term but at least a hostel, for one week while i search for a permanent residence. the efforts i made this summer to find places to live have all come up nul, even the one i visited friday night. with 3 italians, but they smoke in the apartment and havent called me back. it would have been somewhat auberge espagnole-like, or at least auberge italienne. but alas i havent heard another word. i visited another on sunday with a woman in her 40s and two kids there every other week, but its expensive for whats offered. by the way, no apostrophes here, people.

i visited the 3rd apartment last night; it was big and nice and more than i want to pay, but i would take it if offered. the immediate vicinity was very diverse, with me being in the vast minority. theres even a daily market on the street right outside! and its not far from montmartre, which used to be and perhaps still is the somewhat bohemian, artsy part of paris. sacre coeur is there, moulin rouge and the sexodrome arent far away. actually, all of the aforementioned are at least 15 minutes away. but its not an undesirable locale. i think i didnt make a good impression on the person though(czech grad student studying in the us at ucsantacruz) and will be surprised to get the place.

all in all, i was very frustrated and sad and homesick at the beginning; now im more aware of the effort required, in particular the waiting, yet still anxious to find a place. im also bored at times, my day being filled primarily with walking around from the american church where ads are posted to the franco-american commission to use the internet and settle other matters and then eventually back home. today, on one such route(american church to commission) i stopped to sit on a bench near the eiffel tower and to read ads/call people. in the middle of finding an area on a map, a pigeon graced me with his particle presence, on my shoulder and messenger bag. lesson learned: when you think its bad, wait till a bird craps on your shoulder. so it must be an upswing from here on out.

today i think ill go read in the champ de mars, which is the big grass field in front of the eiffel tower. i may go to a small group bible study tonight, and earlier a happy hour with some other fulbrighters.

more to come, hopefully with housing secured.

bumps in the road

2006-09-14T17:17:00.000+02:00

that last post was really just a test, so consider this my first official post. i, perhaps, had intended to wait till i was actually in france to start, but i think it's worth informing cyberspace and the non-descript "persons" reading this so-called "blog".

you should all know that i am NOT flying to Paris today, as originally intended. tuesday the french consulate in atlanta called me to tell me to reschedule my flight, my visa would not be ready in time and i needed to push my departure back a week to be sure that i would have passport in hand. the reason? their computer's not working, and hasn't been for over a week now. as of yesterday afternoon, it still hadn't been fixed. perhaps this is a special computer, perhaps a french one that requires a frenchman to hop over and fix it. and let me tell you, the french aren't exactly speedy. i hope that little cultural judgments either a)disappear, or b)remain because i've become convinced of them. in either case, i don't know why they can't just fix the computer in a city that means business and runs on machines. but i have to wait.

what was my reaction to this news? i have to say i was shocked; in part, i was glad to hear i had some more time to get ready, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc. i was also glad to know that i wouldn't be spending 3 days in a hostel by myself in Paris with big bags and nothing to do cause it's the weekend. but at the same time it just feels so odd to not be departing as planned. i feel like a bit of a weenie for wanting the extra time. i'll expound on the weening thing another time.

so now i continue to wait for my visa. and pack. and go visit my uncle in Florida this weekend. and i watched Harry Potter 2 last night. and hopefully get more excited and less stressed/nervous about my little sejour across the seas.

2006-09-07T22:17:00.000+02:00

and the beat goes on

blogger erased my last post

1990-11-01T19:27:00.000+01:00