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?

Tout le monde a la defense!

We made it out to La Défense on Sunday. This is an usual part of Paris: a modern business district. In fact, the literature suggests it's the largest business district of this type in Europe. It's actually not in Paris. Rather it's a suburb.

I was really blown away. I had no idea how big it really was. It is like a very well designed U.S. downtown. In fact, it is a LOT like a U.S. city: modern, sterile with huge spaces. We visited Les Quatre Temps center and discovered a shopping mall that reminded us of Roseville Mall. Ewww.

This isn't my favorite place in France but I was, nonetheless, impressed.

La Grande Arche:

View of the La Défense

French class

I (Jim) decided to take a french course here in Paris to continue my education. Of course I picked L'Alliance Française because all of my education in the U.S. was with them. So far I am really enjoying the class. It is mostly a review for me but I was expecting that. And the review is necessary....my grammaire is quite rusty.

The other students are quite interesting and really nice. There are 12 of us in the class: 2 Russians, 2 Italians, 1 Brazilian, 2 Brits, 1 Chinese, 1 Canadian, 1 Syrian, 1 Columbian and myself. Very cool. The conversations are amazing but my reaction is a little bit like the technical conference last year in Paris: everybody is alike. I always expect people to more exotic. In the end we mostly see things the same. What is challenging is the accents. It's hard enough to understand an american accent. Try understanding an italian accent in French!!! Surprisingly, the easiest accent to understand is Russian. Perhaps it's probably the most similar language in terms of sounds.

The teacher related an interesting perspective yesterday. She's been teaching for many years and she said she has really seen a change in how prevalent english has become. Fifteen years ago all of the students in our class would have needed to speak to each other in French because it was the only common language. Now, all of the students speak English. Some of them actually learn French by translating to English instead of their mother tongue (even, she said, speakers of other latin languages).

velo, velo partout

I don't know which is scarier: trying to signup for a special iphone deal in french or negotiating the streets of Paris on a bike. On the other hand the former is just embarrassing. The latter could turn me into a flesh pancake. I suppose it is true in every monster city like New York or Paris: competing with cars for the road is a losing proposition. Paris, on the other hand is truly insane. Roads become one-way without any clear reason and then change to one-way the OTHER direction. The names change regularly (it's rare to find a street that doesn't change names within a few blocks). And then there are the motos. These lunatics (motorcycles, scooters) are truly the most dangerous thing on the streets. They dart in an out of traffic without any regard for the rules. It reminds me of driving in India: chaos...except only the moto drivers think they are in India. At least every few blocks a moto driver passes within inches of my handlebars. Lord help me should I happen to turn slightly at one of those moments.

I'm still trying to get all away to Versailles from our apartment. In St. Paul this would be a pretty easy ride (35 miles round trip) but in Paris it starts with a 45 minute nightmare getting out of town far enough to start actually riding. Gratefully on the way there today I found a group of guys who ride constantly (literally) around the Hippodrome (an equestrian field and stadium). It's like a perpetual criterium. There are ALWAYS guys riding the circuit. You can join the peloton and try and hang in there...or drop off when you've had enough. Kind of cool.

In spite of the hazards Paris has an incredible bike-loan program called Velib. It's almost free (5 euros for 7 days). You pick up a bike in one place and drop it off in another. There are literally hundreds of Velib stations around Paris so you are never far from a bike. The bikes are simple but very well maintained. It's hugely popular. And of course "there's an app for that" (an iPhone app that shows me the nearest Velib station).