Have I mentioned lately ...

... that Junior is a LOSER!!!

French 101

Even though there are reportedly only about one-fifth as many French words as English words ... it turns out to be a lot of work to learn French. Or maybe it's just a lot of work if you start in your 40's with no previous training. But we are making progress (despite what Lolly says on Facebook). I can often get through a restaurant experience with full sentences now - as opposed to blurting out single word grunts while jabbing my index finger at a picture on the menu like BoBo the talking Gorilla.

I guess it helps that I find the whole language thing interesting. Here's a little factoid I picked up this morning while reading "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong." Back in the 50's, IBM invented a word that has now become an official French word. That's a big deal because this sort of thing (official Frenchness) has been tightly managed by the Académie Française since the 1600's. It's the French word for computer: ordinateur. Evidently, there was some necessity to invent such a word because the first two syllables of the English one bear very unfortunate similarities to "con" and "pute." In French, these are deeply offensive words used in reference to women. So there you go ... IBM: defender of Les Femmes and La République!

Another Day in the City

Lolly blew up her American sewing machine. She replaced it this week with a French sewing machine and so that kicked off The Search for Fabric. We begin in Les Halles where, I'm told, the fabric selection was uninspiring.















But St Eustache was cool looking ...















The Search continued to Montmartre where, upon surfacing from the Metro, we ran smack into an undocumented workers' strike by Les Travailleurs Sans Papiers (Workers Without Papers).































And then found the fabric district - the holy grail ...















And a shot of Sacre Coeur through an alley to boot. (Note the hundreds of tourists sitting up there on the steps. It's always like that).



















Took the Metro to our favorite veggie, wok sort of place in St Michel and walked home through Luxembourg Garden (after stopping at Starbucks near the Sorbonne, of course) ...

Nationalism? Racism? Beats me Wally

Here's a quote from Michael Palin's book "New Europe" where he interviews a Czech film maker in Prague:

"The French have always wanted to be French because they believe they're the best. The Germans are only now emerging from that guilt feeling of what happened prior to and in the Second World War. The Italians are confused in everything they do, and I think Czechs are secure in being Czechs with Czech traditions and a Czech way of life."

It's just one example but I hear this kind of thing pretty frequently around Europe ... even in professional settings. That is, it's common for people to make sweeping statements about other people groups - usually labeled by nationality. And while I can say with confidence that I have adapted pretty well to the various cultures I work in over here, this is one thing I have not gotten used to. As an American, I've become very uncomfortable with any statement that is structured:

[people group A] are [any descriptive phrase].

There's an easy way to test yourself on this if you live in the U.S. -- is there any good way to finish this sentence: Mexicans are [fill in the blank]. I would say: no there is no acceptable form of that sentence in terms of respect or accuracy or kindness.

Honestly, I don't really know how to respond when it comes up in conversation. On one side of my brain, my American alarm system is going all 5 alarm and telling me to step away from the conversation. On the other side of my brain I'm thinking that European countries may have simply chosen to be more nationalistic. Maybe this type of generalization is just the flip side of nationalism.

Another Visit!

We're having a great visit with our friend Davin. He's camped in Geneva for several weeks on a work assignment and bopped over to Paris on the TGV. So here are today's photos from around Paris:

All three of us snapped simultaneous self portraits:















Notre Dame is still compelling after all these visits:















The Arch and a little Champs Elysee shopping. Davin scored some French rap at FNAC.















Sacre Couer















And a photo with a moral ... never ride the Paris Metro on Saturday afternoon

Palin

Michael Palin has made many valuable contributions to the global cultural market place. My personal favorite is the Fish Slapping Dance:



But I also admire how he has reinvented himself in the post-Python era. He's become a travel and culture writer. I just finished and can recommend his latest book "New Europe."

Tour Montparnasse

As the story goes ... back in the late 60's / early 70's this skyscraper was plunked down in the middle of Montparnasse. This is a district with a storied artistic and literary history and also happens to be where we live.

Anywho ... it doesn't exactly harmonize with your typical Haussmannian, Parisian architecture.



















So the inevitable outcry led to an inevitable ban on skyscrapers within Paris city limits. This, inevitably, led to the clustering of skyscrapers just outside the city limits. And most prominently, it led to La Défense which is where my office is. It's not a very Parisian looking place. It's as if someone said: you know this would be a great place for a bunch of skyscrapers! So they laid down a huge pedestrian courtyard and BOOM - Instant Financial District ...