New From Seattle

This has nothing to do with France, but I couldn't resist writing about it. Steve Fong emailed this picture of himself with the caption, "this is how I roll!" Stunned, I asked him what the hell was going on over there? Here's his response...

It didn't last very long. I went to Christmas like that and my mom asked if I lost a bet and my dad was never so disappointed before. He didn't talk to me all Christmas day and he just sat in the corner shaking his head. I'd never seen him like that before, so I shaved it off the day after Christmas. But it was good for a laugh anyway.

Christmas Gifts and One Proud Moment

I may not be able to speak French (or understand it) worth a damn but I am very pleased to report that I now own a scarf!! How French. Katie gave me one for Christmas. Thank god. For one, it's been chilly here in La Ville Rose and our apartment is always freezing. But more importantly, I think I was the only person in this country who doesn't have a scarf. If you've ever been to France then you know exactly what I'm talking about. They are worn everywhere by everyone. I think the average French person must own at least 3 or 4. I mean even Katie has at least 3 (they'll never let her back into the US). The picture above is me in my new scarf (admittedly, it's not the best picture I ever took but whatever).

Later that day, I experienced one of my proudest moments to date in France (right up there with learning how to ask where the bathrooms are in French). On Christmas day while out on a run, I was stopped by a woman looking for place du Ravelin. Katie and I have always joked that whenever anyone asks for directions we: 1) normally can't even understand what they're asking, and 2) never know where anything is. However today (must be a Christmas miracle), I actually understood the woman and knew where and how to get to place du Ravelin!! So I told here (well, I mainly pointed) that it was straight ahead and then right. Whoo hoo! I have no idea if the woman actually made it but that's not really the point, is it? I was actually useful for once! [Though I should point out that I think the woman had no choice but to ask me for directions since there was no one out on the streets at that point on Christmas day--she must have been horribly lost]

Rise! Fight! Never Die! Blue, Gray, In the Sky!

It was just my luck that Rice University, my alma mater, made it to a bowl game for the first time since 1961 the same year I happen to be in France. Merde. However, thanks to ESPN2 and the internet, I was able to watch the game online. I didn't get up at 3AM to watch it live, but I did catch the game the next morning with Adam Baker, a fellow Owl (Will Rice '94), who is working here for 3 months by way of NASA and the beautiful city of Houston. I'm kind of embarrassed to say I didn't bring any Rice gear but fortunately Adam was representing with his football jersey (this year's, no less). Well, I did have the fight song and the alma mater on my iPod. Let's go Rice! The picture shows our pathetic setup. Don't know if you've ever watched a game online, but the picture is tiny... about 4 inches. I think you could literally fit hundreds of pictures on a large screen TV. Oh well, at least we could see the game which in the end turned out poorly for the Owls. My only other complaint is that ESPN didn't show Sammy the Owl once! Go Rice!

And in case you're music collection is missing this classic, click here. I highly recommend tracks #19 and #3.

l'A380... voilà!

This week the A380 was officially certified. I find it interesting that the City of Toulouse has billboards congratulating Airbus on the big event. I believe the sign reads: "GOOD FOR SERVICE. BRAVO AND THANK YOU AGAIN". Maybe it's because Airbus is part government-owned, but I don't think Seattle will do similar things when the 787 flies. Then again, I didn't ask anyone if there were banners around Seattle celebrating Starbucks egg-nog lattes (it only happens once a year). Oh well, when you're 2 years late delivering this mammoth jet, I guess you have to celebrate whenever you can.

Pretty in Pink (Flowers)

Toulouse is very much a rugby town. In fact, rugby is popular throughout SW France (who knew they played rugby outside of the Commonwealth? Thankfully there is no cricket). The city has a pro soccer team as well, but the rugby club (Stade Toulousain) is much more popular. Katie and I have been trying to learn the rules and watch some of the games. My French conversation partner, Julien, is a big rugby fan and has tried to explain some of the basics to us. However, one thing that totally stunned me was that the Paris rugby team actually has pink uniforms. Even Julien admitted that while this could maybe be reasonable in soccer (the Toulouse jerseys are in fact pink--well, Toulouse is known as the Ville Rose), you don't normally associate pink with the brutes who play rugby. When I first saw the Paris team, I could not stop laughing.

So above is a picture of the Paris team and their pink flowered jerseys. Actually, these jerseys are relatively bland compared with their other jerseys which are a bright pink (though no flowers). Gotta love the French and their sense of style. Maybe this trend will cross the pond soon. Can you imagine the Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Stealers (yeah, I intentionally spelled it that way) in floral prints?

Fortunately the Toulouse club wears red and black. My brother will be happy to know that Nike supplies Toulouse with their jerseys and Adidas supplies Paris... enough said.

Christmas gift idea

I was meaning to post this earlier, but I've come across a great children's book that's equally entertaining for kids and adults. It was discovered at a local book fair by one of our friends. Tom and I immediately rushed out and bought copies (I actually bought 2) once we heard about it. It's quite amusing and perfectly appropriate for France (see "my #1 complaint" post). The copy I have is in French, but I'm happy to report that you can get an English version (click here to see the review at Amazon.com).