Bonjour!

So, I finally got around to taking some pictures, so people can see what I'm actually up to now.

Here is the main street near my area, St. Paul. It's bubbling with activity all the time. There's everything I really need, a bakery, grocery store, butchers, lots of cafes (including my now usual one with requisite hippie girl working the espresso machine), and metro station.


This is the church that's on St. Paul, quite ornate. I'll probably go once just to check it out.

Below is the museum of modern art I went to today. A very cool place, lots of artists everywhere, but also lots of tourists.
















So yeah, here's an installation piece, basically big cotton filled body parts that raise and drop randomly. Yes, that is a bag of boobs.


What an asshole!
Handy!
Hey! Who's that guy?!? And no, that's not a gut I'm sporting...it's the mirrors I swear.
Hmm...red and black.
The chocolate shop near my apartment. I'm sure all the girls are collectively drooling right now.
Right out front of the butchers, sooo good. A little on the pricey side, at 16 Euros a chicken, but man, when I tore into that just minutes ago, it was delicious. I think I took the one on the top left hahaha.
Not too much else new right now, I'm just living a nice lifestyle. Go to work, eating good food, drinking with friends I've met, relaxing in my apartment, wandering the streets, it's all good.

Hmm...so, here I am. In Paris.

Here's a little something I wrote in panic on the plane:

Ahh the wonders of technology. I'm on my flight to Paris right now, and writing you this. Surely this is a delayed blog, but take what you can get. I'm suddenly surrounded by French people, and I don't know how I feel about it. Recognizing easy words, like numbers and subjects, is coming quick, but I have no context. "Ok, so I know you are talking to me in a group setting, and you mentioned the flight number..." This will be an entertaining few weeks as I stumble about Paris.

I'm already missing Calgary a bit. It is such an easy lifestyle I live while I am home, how could you not enjoy it? Being in your native culture also is refreshing. I find that simply being around people who think like you do is innately satisfying. There was the usual 20 minute panic attack at the airport in Calgary today, much like when I've gone other places. I suppose I should start realizing that when that happens it means it is good and it will all work out. Hopefully.


Ok, cut to the now. Here I sit in the only cafe close to my apartment that has both internet and dinner, sipping a beer and stuffing my face full of baguette. It's admittedly pretty cool so far. French people are actually pretty nice, and most recognize after the first syllable that I'm an Anglophone so they will try to speak English. It's nice, but definately isn't helping me with my French, which is coming along very...average. I dunno what it is, probably the accent, I just am not nasally enough, even with a cold.

So what's good here? The food! So damn delicious, and in a completely different way than Houston. In Houston the food was god because it tasted good, whereas here it is so great because of the inherent quality of it. A burger will taste good if you douse it in grease, and slap on a ton of cheese. But duck will simply taste good in a pan fry with bread crumbs, because it's simply good food. The cafeteria at work simply rocks. For 3 Euros I get a full meal, including an appetizer and coffee afterwards, and it's the real deal. Stewed pork, tandoori chicken, baked salmon, it's all good. The coffee! Good lord is it delicious, this is why people drink coffee! Starbucks tastes like utter crap in comparison, just burnt with no real flavour. I honestly look forward to my coffee breaks not for the break but because of the delicious java. I went to my first bakery today as well, had a danish with raisins, but not quite. The pastries are light, fluffy, warm and without much sugar. It's just so damn good. Sooooo yeah, the French know how to eat.

My apartment for the week is pretty cool, I walk out a little ways and see the arc de triumph. People at work ask me where I stay, and then look in disbelief and laugh. It rocks, it rocks. The only problem is the lack of internet, though that's probably a good thing since it gets me out and about.

However, that's the other thing so far. This city is friggin confusing, it is the complete opposite of a grid system. Streets that go nowhere, everything at angles, there is no real sense of direction since you are surrounded by apartments that look exactly alike. Restaurants? Hmm...cafe, braissere, bar, sushi parlors, all packed together, looking identical. My only real reference right now is the orientation to the arc, as I know what side I'm on (sort of).

Aaaaand the bad. French people and ridiculous systems of rules and laws seem to go hand in hand. The legal procedure for getting me here is simply asinine, there are so many forms to be filled out in duplicate, information repeated everywhere on different forms; very, very specific pictures of me; and I'm not even close to being done it. At work, there are a lot of unspoken rules and regulations people follow, and even more rules which are actively implemented. No listening to music at work (as you may not hear the fire alarm), I can't give first aid to someone since I don't have certification in France, there are fire extinguishers which I can't use because you have to take a course to use them, and that isn't even touching the actual business aspects. I guess the inherent difference is that the French think it is easy because there is always a procedure to follow, whereas I think it is hard because I naturally could find a better way to do it.

And this discussion actually reminds me of Midnight's Children (which I truly intend to finish!). Saleem talks about being able to cheat on exams and whatnot, and I realize that even if I had the ability during school to do so, I wouldn't. Simply because it would be way to boring otherwise. The only enjoyable aspect of a test is the challenge of it. To work your mental muscle, it is innately satisfying.

I'm going to take some pictures soon of random crap, and probably of the Museum of Modern Art because it's just so...hippy. So hope all is well with everyone and send me e-mails/comments to let me know how everyone is doing.

Peas,

Joshy Poshy

Allright, that's it. I'll pound out another blog.

Back in cowtown, it's purty decent. Nice to see everyone again, obviously a little bit of same shit, different day goin on, but hey, it happens. Vacation is necessary, I can literally feel the decompression. Although, I did go to the gym today, and wow, what a week and a couple thousand of feet of altitude will do to you, i.e. break your spirit. Also the lack of all my beautiful chemical supplements probably didn't help.

I saw Jesus Camp the other night, and I can say, "Meh, stupid is as stupid does." I mean, at first I was shocked and offended that these children are being 'taught' this nonesense. Then I had a much more subtle realization, after looking at the parents of these children and the general environment they are in, what could they truly affect by believing this? I mean, ok, everyone in nowhere, North Dakota believes some strange fallacy. Does that affect me in any way? They don't even know what their beliefs mean, they just think "the world needs a change." What change? Why do you need change? What will these changes accomplish? None of these questions are answered, but it is just left as something vague. It's all a big sham really, of course these hillbillies and trailer trash are upset about their lives, it isn't the best lifestyle. But to lead them on with this belief in Jesus, and appealling to their basic urges of inclusion and exclusion (Dr. Seuss and the birds with stars on their bellies...), of simple answers to non-questions (remember folks, that a question needs a context for it to be considered a question i.e. What does it all mean? has no context), and who can forget primal violence. So all in all, I'm not worried about some trailer trash changing the world really and what they think. I'm worried about what the billionaires and people in power do.

Speaking of people in power, the documentary A Crude Awakening was also definately worth watching. As a brief note, I did respect the props they put out to seismic, because it does rock. They really did get the point across as to how fucked we really are. I mean, no other energy source will really work. We'll run out of nuclear just as fast, if not faster; wind is a pipe dream; fusion...hahahahahaha; we've used up all of hydroelectric pretty much; and then solar. Solar is really the big one, but our implementation of it so far sucks. I liked the stats as well as to how little people realize oil affects absolutely everything we do, and they do a good job illustrating the sheer magnitude of it's use in our society. In the past 150 years we have seen a huge technological boom, and that is almost purely due to the fact we found out how to use oil. Watch it, then go invest in Shell and Exxon-Mobil.

A fun little game is to follow people's chain of reasoning. I know my mom gets quite upset when I do this, because it seems the solution is obvious, but when you follow the actual chain of legitimate arguments, it's actually far down the way with many potential stumbling blocks. If you know the person can take it, you have the chance to argue at each step along the way as well. Don't try this with pro-lifers though...people tend to get upset when their near and dear beliefs are shattered by the cold, austere beauty of logic. And 10 points to the person who can name where I borrowed my description of logic from.

I miss my georise friends a bit. It was an interesting little bubble we lived in while in Houston. Spending damn near every waking hour together meant that we got to know each other really well, and I definately enjoyed it when people would call my bluff. And I hope likewise.

Hmm...I feel that I have more to write, but not enough time. Off to the bookstore, more semi-inspired writing later.

Aww man, a sunburn right before I leave...the whole front of my body too. Lesson #136: Don't fall asleep lying near the pool.

So, the realization that I'm going to be in France is really starting to kick in. This week we had a lunch at the Houston equivalent of the Petroleum Club. For those that don't know, it's basically a nice club for the good ol' boys in oil. When we went around the table, each student saying what what they thought of the program and where they were going, a hearty chuckle broke out from everyone when they heard I don't speak French and am going to Paris. Huh.

We are also finally done everything, no more presentations, no more reports (well for now...), no more tests. It's a bittersweet feeling though, all these people I've been hanging out with for 24/7 are just going to be gone and I don't know when or if I'll see them again. That being said, I think we are all going to be glad to get away from each other at least in the short term. Especially a certain roommate...

Cultural differences are fun. We all had noticed last night that we didn't really know what the other cultures were like, we just knew the stereotypes before we came here. For the most part the stereotypes were false, but I think some of them held true. French people blowing raspberries and eating a lot of chocolate, cream and butter; the Croatian guy drinks A LOT; the Pakistani speaking at rediculously fast tempo; and us Canadians. I don't know how much I instantiate the Canadian stereotype, but it's been fun to have Aaron here. He hunts for moose, has done a lot of wilderness work, and well, has lived in Edmonton hahahaha. I dunno how many of us Canucks really do all those things, but it's pretty entertaining.

One thing that has come up repeatedly in our talks is street fights. If anyone has been to bars in Calgary (or Edmonton for that matter), then you know all about it. As I'm sure it hasn't changed much in the 3 months that I've been gone, but I remember that the fighting had been getting really bad in cowtown. If you went to an average nightclub, you could expect to see at least 3 fights break out on the dancefloor and if you walked to the c-train, you could expect to get challenged twice. It definately sounds like this isn't the case in Europe (thankfully!), but the idea as to why people want to street fight has always confused me. I've done a damn good job at avoiding it my whole life, and I think its worked out pretty damn good for me. Who wants to get injured or injure somebody? In any case, I think this article is a good explanation on the whole thing and it gives some good tips, click! It doesn't mean you're a coward if you choose not to fight, as it takes a lot more confidence to avert the situation than to revert to your id and take that primal challenge.

bah, I should go tend to my sunburn here. See you all soon.

Yup, Cats rock

Click!

I can understand this.