I started writing this post the moment we got back from our trip to the US, but as usual, I slacked off and never finished writing it.
We had a lot of mixed feelings being back home again. With the exception of a very brief business trip, we hadn't been back in town since our wedding almost two years ago. We've been feeling quite homesick, so it was nice to get a fix of some good Mexican food and to be back home with friends and family.
Naturally, this brought up the question about when to come back again-- which we've been struggling to figure out since we decided to up and move to Paris "for a year or so". If we could transplant everyone we love over here with us, there wouldn't be anything to consider at all.
So how about it guys, wouldn't you all like 7 weeks of paid leave for vacations a year? We can always put out the air-mattress...
Those of you that already watch our Flickr feed probably caught on to the update last week, but for the rest, just wanted to add a few words and a link.
Back in May we took advantage of our generous French vacation leave and took a little trip to Iceland. It was an adventure to say the least: hiking, climbing, off-road driving and river fording, and some relaxing too. It was incredibly unique and beautiful that we found ourselves with almost 900 photos at the end of our trip. The photos really don't do these majestic landscapes justice, but we had to try and capture them nevertheless!
"Some" photos here with their relevant captions/explanations.
"France just had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote."
In light of last night's élection présidentielle. Here's a little YouTube video from last Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher:
There's also a similar editorial that he wrote for Salon.
"For example, France just had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote. Eighty-five percent turned out. The only thing 85 percent of Americans ever voted on was Sanjaya.
Maybe the high turnout has something to do with the fact that the French candidates are never asked where they stand on evolution, prayer in school, abortion, stem cell research or gay marriage. And if the candidate knows about a character in a book other than Jesus, it's not a drawback. There is no Pierre Six-pack who can be fooled by childish wedge issues. And the electorate doesn't vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with. Nor do they care about the candidate's private lives: In the current race, Ségolène Royal has four kids but never bothered to get married. And she's a socialist. In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him a liberal he immediately grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something.
The conservative candidate is married, but he and his wife live apart and lead separate lives. They aren't asked about it in the media, and the people are OK with it, for the same reason the people are OK with nude beaches: because they're not a nation of 6-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts. They have weird ideas about privacy. They think it should be private. In France, everyone has a mistress. Even mistresses have mistresses. To not have a lady on the side says to the voters, "I'm no good at multitasking."
We had the first round of the presidential elections here last week. In order to win the presidential election one candidate has to win an absolute majority (more than 50%) of the votes. Since this is pretty unlikely from happening, it's pretty much guaranteed that the election will be split into a first and second round (the second round is between the top two winners). There are a few exceptions (like the previous 2002 election), but it's almost always between the two major parties: Socialist Party (PS, aka "the left") and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP, aka "the right"). Counting the minority parties, there were actually 12 candidates, but like the US the media really only gives coverage to the two major parties.
Similar to the US, every channel and possible form of media has been brainwashing and ramming political crap down our throats for the last few months. Although it feels like it has been forever, they actually started about three or four months ago instead of two years before like the US. The angle is quite different as well, there's virtually no mud-slinging and the media doesn't dig at all into the private lives of the political candidates (at all). The lack of dirt and scandal doesn't seem right at all from the American politics that we are used to.
As for the actual voting process, it's a bit simpler than what I was used to in the US. You're basically given a blue envelope and a bunch of little scraps of paper printed with the various candidate names. Once you've cleared the registration list, you stuff the candidate of choice into the envelope and drop it in the polling box. That's it. No "hanging chads" or confused seniors, it's a pretty idiot proof process.
Well, I guess all of the talk from work, television, radio, and papers have brain-washed me a bit too. I didn't expect to end up writing as much as I did about all of the election stuff, but I guess that's basically was has been on our minds lately.
Not a single post since August of last year, and I don't even have a good excuse.
Lethargic. Lazy. Slacker. Go ahead, you can throw some more my way...
We've had some adventures in the last few months, some which have already been told by Maya. She was fortunate to spend a few months here in Paris to play and explore. So we were excited to take afewtripswith her whenever we were able.
Then in December, Shanta's family came to visit and spend a few weeks with us during Christmas through the new year. It was nice to spend the holidays with family, as it is the time of year that we really feel the distance.
In March, Amy came to visit. We spent another weekend in the Loire Valley visiting the châteaux with her. Unfortunately we weren't able to take much time off while she was here, but we tried to make the most of it!
I guess that about sums up things since August. I'm going to try and throw myself back into this blogging thing. Promise.
The third year around, and we were experts on exactly what to expect for the Fête du Muget. But instead of roaming the neighborhoods searching for the sweet smelling flowers we decided to go hunting in its natural habitat. So we did like the Parisiens do on a beautiful sunny day: get the hell out of the city and go to where it is green with fresh air.
So we took the train outside the city to one of our favorite hiking spots, the Forêt de Fontainebleau. It was actually our third time exploring, although the last two times were during the winter. It's a reminder for us ex-Californians that the rest of the world truly does have four seasons. Going in the spring time was a completely different experience. The forest was alive with birds and insects, and colorful with blooming trees and wildflowers and lush green foliage.
You can try to bug the bookworm into posting a handful of her few hundred photos on Flickr...
After hearing all of the buzz about this movie from TV, internet sites everywhere, and even more credible places like Wired Magazine for the last year and a half I had thought for sure that we would miss out on the phenonoman here in Paris. Well, on my way to work last week I passed a couple dozen posters in the metro station. I guess I was wrong-- it's gone international!
"No movie shall triumph over Snakes on a Plane. Unless I happen to feel like making a movie called Mo' Muthafuckin' Snakes on Mo' Muthafuckin' Planes."
- Samuel L. Jackson, while presenting the award for best movie at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards
An annual tradition here in France to celebrate the summer solstice and take advantage of the longest day of the year is the music festival Fête de la Musique.
Basically a day (and all night) where free concerts and bands can be found playing on just about every street corner and open space in the streets of Paris, and the rest of France. The city of Paris provides the equipment and generators, and encourages musicians of all types of genres, experience, and ages. Much fun to just walk around the city and explore all of the sounds!
For those of you that don't speak French, the name of the event is a clever play on words meaning either "Celebration of the Music", or "Make Some Music". :)
Life in Paris (and life in general) as told by a computer geek and a bookworm.
"Quand il est midi aux États-Unis, le soleil, tout le monde le sait, se couche sur la France. Il suffirait de pouvoir aller en France en une minute pour assister au coucher de soleil."
--Le Petit Prince
Jennifer @ mercredi, novembre 07, 2007 7:34:00 AM said...
@ samedi, septembre 22, 2007 8:16:00 AM said...
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