Parisiennes

Two months amongst the Parisiennes has given me a much better appreciation of the inhabitants of this beautiful city.  One of the most surprising experiences in my time in Paris was how safe I felt...always.  In 2 months in Paris I never felt threatened or hassled.  Good luck getting that track record in New York or Chicago.

My theory is that another classic Parisienne characteristic helps: they don't talk to strangers.  The French need more personal space than Americans.  I don't mean physical space. They just seem to feel like they are violating your privacy (or having theirs invaded) if conversation is too casually introduced amongst strangers.   Perhaps this is another reason that American's perceive the Parisiennes as cold.  Introverts are often seen as arrogant or unfriendly for the same reason in the states.

So...the Parisiennes mind their own business.  Not the best place for finding new friends.  Gee minnesotans...sound familiar?  They are not uncaring however.  Far from it.  I was always amazed at how quickly the Parisiennes jumped in to help somebody who needed help on the street.   If I am going to be hurt in a foreign city...let it be this one.

The Parisiennes seem to have an odd love/hate relationship with the English language.  In Paris english is VERY cool.  That's right.  You heard correctly.  English is très chic.   A store is simply not cool if it doesn't have some english splashed on it's name.   English pop music is everywhere.  I almost never hear a french song here.  Starbucks is a huge success right now.  However, in spite of the cool, the parisiennes continue to have a strong preference for communicating in french.    Who can blame them?  French is simply a beautiful language.

Au revoir Paris

Sigh....  This is our last weekend in Paris.  Looking forward to Aix but very sad to leave Paris.  What an amazing city.  Some photos: Paris Photos

Tout le monde à la mode

Ok...I admit.  I want the french to think I'm french.  I think it is a general goal of all "expats" to NOT be the guy who obviously does not  belong.  It's especially frustrating when the parisiennes seem to instantly know I am not french, as soon as I open my mouth.  Last night it happened on one word.  ONE WORD!  I said "merci" to a woman opening the door for me and she said "your welcome" (and no...she wasn't an anglophone).  Alas, if I insist on speaking french they always come around and start speaking french.  I guess I should appreciate their willingness to help me.

Of course, it doesn't end with the language.  One must "look" french as well.  When I arrived it meant I immediately shelved my tan jeans.  Personne (nobody) wears light colored pants here.  Your choices are black, grey, or...if you are really a trouble-maker...charcoal.  Actually, the one exception is blue jeans.  My most recent purchase was a scarf.  I have never worn a scarf in my life (well maybe once) but in Paris it is THE accessory.  So...I marched out to the store last night for my scarf.   Jane says I look tres français now.   Black pants, black coat, scarf.  J'y suis arrivé.

If you love fashion, of course, Paris is a wonderful place to be.  Especially, by the way, if you are male.  I have never seen so many shops for guys.  It's nice to have so many options.  But it is an especially great place to be if you love lingerie.  The french obsession with...well...obsession is not a stereotype.  They love to love.  And the women love to make sure the men want to love them.  You can't throw a stick in Paris without hitting a lingerie shop.  Gee...what a shame.

Au cinema

I (Jim) am a huge film fan so, of course, I've been anxious to get to the cinema.  We had out first film outing this evening.  It was great fun.

At least half of the movies in Paris right now are American films.   English films are almost always dubbed in french although I was surprised to see that many films in Paris are also now available "VO" (version originale, i.e., subtitled).   So....French or American.  We had some choices:

1. See an American film subtitled.  Good american fun but not much french value,
2. See an American film dubbed.  Non-starter (I thought).  To me dubbing is horrific.  I cannot believe how horribly a great film can be destroyed when dubbed. 
3. See a French film.  Great experience but very hard to follow and appreciate with our french level.  Appreciating a film in another language is a very advanced language skill.  Also, I have watched ALOT of french films.  While I might laud their skill, I am rarely enthusiastic.  This is, perhaps, simply because I am not French: understanding a nuance sometimes requires some life experience in the culture.  

Our choice was 2: American film dubbed. We picked an animated film so it would be simpler to follow: "Moi, moche et méchant" ("Despicable Me" in the U.S.). And...the dubbing is not a problem with animated characters.

It was delightful!  We understood most of it and the parts we lost were not a problem because of the simplicity of the storyline.  It was curious to me that the film was totally translated, including titles, into French. There was hardly a smell of English except a few subtitles (the cardboard box with the words "Box of Shame" need to be translated) but the credits suggested that Steve Carell and a swath of Americans were the voice stars.  Hmmm.  At least the poster gave credit to Gad Elmaleh (Steve Carell's french stand-in).

We tried to see this film last night (Sunday) but the crowds were huge.  It would seem that Sunday is a movie night but Monday is dullsville (there were only a dozen of us in the theatre tonight).

Cost: 11€ each.

Technology

For those of you who might be planning a similar adventure I thought it might be helpful to update you on our technical situation...

Jim's iPhone:
The iPhone has been UNBELIEVABLY useful.  Consider just some of the apps I carry around in my pocket these days:
1.) GPS and Google Maps.  I always know  where I am in Paris and I can always find my way home.  The "directions" capability is also pretty helpful when trying to figure out how to get from point A to B with the most bizarre, inconsistent street system you can imagine.
2.) Paris Metro map.  This app tells me how to get from where I am to where I want to go and what time the next train arrives.
3.) Paris Velib locations.  This app tells me where I find the closest Velib (bike kiosk) for getting and returning our bikes.  Just click a button and it pulls up the map with the closest stations.
4.) Metric to U.S. unit conversions.
5.) French Language translators: phrases, words, conjugations, and pronunciations.
6.) Skype for making international calls.
7.) Camera for capturing the wine bottle label so I can find it later
8.) MapMyRide which has maps of bike rides in Paris so I can find my way out and back.
9.) Secure ID vault (passport, pins, credit card info etc....i.e., everything I would know if I were in St. Paul)

Oh yea...it has a phone too.

It was easier than expected to hook up here.  I had to jailbreak my phone but that was very easy for the release of my phone (3GS, 4.01).  The rest was simply popping a card in from Orange.  Orange has a "as you go" plan (no contract) which was good for me because I'm not making a lot of calls from the phone.  They also had unlimited internet access for 7euros/week with no contract.  This was a little dicey because it meant I couldn't use the iPhone's native e-mail/calendaring interface.  However, it wasn't much of a compromise to just use gmail and google calendar directly.

The iPad has also been wonderful.  We're only using it in the apartment so far so I haven't bothered to get 3G service for it like I had in the U.S.  However, it works great as an additional web appliance for e-mail and browsing.

Phone for Jane:
Bought an inexpensive plan from Orange for Jane with an "as you go" plan for her as well.

Calling home:
Skype is my solution for international calling.   Of course, I can call home to somebody's computer for free.  However, I can also call to somebody's phone for only $.02/minute.  Almost free!

Our old home number:
I've mentioned in an earlier post that I ported our old home phone number to 3jam.  It's very cheap.  Now all calls to home go to voicemail and I get an e-mail with the voicemail.  Folks can also SMS me at that number and they get sent to me as e-mail.

Getting called in France:
Folks can call me or Jane direct on our french cell phones then we call them back with Skype.

Computers:
I dragged my iMac and a work computer with me from the states.  Connectivity has not been a problem.  France has very good internet infrastucture.  They even have fiber to homes in Paris (although my landlord doesn't subscribe to that level).  So my performance is generally good.  The surprise was the number of internet sites that block traffic from France.  For instance, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon On-Demand, and Google Voice do not allow european IP addresses.  Of course there are some proxy services that make you look like a U.S. IP.  I might give one a try if my hunger for U.S. apps pushes me there.

toujours les cigarettes

There is SO much that I love about Paris but the smoking here is completely insane.  I had hoped things would have improved over the last 10 years with all of the information on the health risks.  It seems sometimes like EVERYBODY* smokes.  We can't sit at an outdoor cafe very long without smoke wafting over us.  For the last few weeks I keep asking myself "how do these folks rationalize this?!?".  This a health epidemic! The answer seems to be more about the french culture than about health.  Many french seem to believe that the smoking is necessary for socializing: sitting for long hours chatting would not be possible without the cigarette.  In an article I read one woman claimed that smokers are deeper thinkers.  Absurd, of course, but it reflects a deep-seated feeling that smoking has some actual value in french society.

The French now have laws that prohibit smoking in public places so it's a lot easier to escape the fumes.  However, it's amazing how much it is still in your face when you walk down the street.  Not only that, the cigarette butts are everywhere.

*I'm trying to reconcile my experience with the statistics.  When I google the statistics it would appear that 20% of american adults smoke and 30% of french adults smoke. 20% american vs. 30% french.  Doesn't seem that different.  Perhaps the american approach of treating smokers like pariahs makes them less visible?