Weird woody

There was this weird guy in the train this morning...

First I saw him on the platform.
A group of 6 or 7 male teenagers (In french I would have said "racaille" but, oh well, they were just teenagers in fact!) were talking loudly and moving about in a corner.
This man arrived and took a seat right in the middle of them... First I thought he was part of the group as he started talking to them. But the others didn't seem to care about the guy.
And when I had a closer look at him (I didn't have my glasses on and I'm shortshighted!), I could see he's an old man.

A weird Woody Allen look-alike actually, with grey hair, big glasses and wearing a raincoat
(just like Woody Allen I'm telling you - without the adoptive daughter/wife obviously.)

Anyway, back to the story. So the trains arrived, we got in and I heard this little man going like "I need a seat - please I need a seat - oh please a seat " etc etc just talking to himself and I thought "okay, keep cool, there are plenty of seats !"

And during the journey he acted so weird !
I took my Sophie Kinsella book out of my bag, started reading it and then I heard him starting talking - loudly enough for me to catch part of his conversation. So I thought okay he's with that woman next to him. But then, he addressed her as "vous", which meant they didn't know each other ! How weird..
He said : "You mustn't be scared of death. Blah blah...". I have no idea how he got onto this subject. Hopefully for him, the woman was talkative and friendly. She replied : "Well, this is easy to say - but it's hard to do."
Overall he was talking about spiritual topics - like death, sorrow, wisdom... like he had found the meaning of life or something. I think he just read too many of Paulo Coelho's books !!

So I was like "Who's this guy ?" Soooo weird.

But then I thought : Don't be too judgemental. He can talk about whatever he wants. Who am I to say he's weird ? After all, why not talking to strangers ?

Well, okay, but ... as long as he's not talking to me !

Actually I wonder... could it have been Woody Allen ???????
Maybe I've just made fun of a big star...

Guess what ?

Just got a new job ! ;-)))))
After 5 interviews in this company (...) I finally got the news this morning !
This is gonna be my first "real" job !

By real, I mean, this is an open-ended contract position + it is exactly the job I was looking for.
No CPE for me !
Hope you are having a great day too ! ;-)

Shopaholic Becky... hilarious !

Have you ever heard of Sophie Kinsella ?
She's the author of the Shopaholic Series - which are just hilarious !!!

I will be no good at telling you how excellent these novels are so follow this link to read an excerpt from Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - which I am currently reading. The main character, Rebecca Bloomwood is totally bonkers, she gets herself into such embarrassive situations... She's real fun, trust me ! Just the perfect book to read when on your way home after a long, exhausting day...

Typical - having diner at Bistro Romain

On Saturday night, we went to Bistro Romain (French chain of restaurants) to have dinner. When we got there, the place was full, so the waitress gave us complimentary “kirs” (aperitif made of blackcurrant liqueur and white wine) while waiting.
Wow, I like that ! Especially as we already had some vouchers to get 2 free meals !!! I love complimentary stuff…

So we finally got seated at a table and ordered – tantalizing starters and main courses which revealed to be very yummy!…

While Mr T. (my boyfriend) was going to the bathroom, I started glancing at a table of Japanese tourists nearby, a family of 5. They had just ordered desserts and they looked sated but still quite excited about the meal.
And then I caught sight of the daughter, quickly grabbing the neat, spotless red paper napkin provided by the restaurant, and carefully burying it into her handbag, as a treasured souvenir. I could clearly perceive the look of excitement and satisfaction on her face.

Then the waiter arrived at their table with their ice-cream desserts served in goblets. To the look on their faces, I could see how impressed they were by the look of the desserts, and how eager they were to taste these delicacies ! The waiter was barely gone when they started taking photos of their desserts…

I suppose everything in the restaurant looked typically European to them, as the ‘Bistro Romain’ chain of restaurants is all about Roman Antiquity : patterns with little angels/cherubs, pictures of famous Italian Renaissance paintings, white columns, etc.

It’s funny how some things can be commonplace and trivial to you, because You have always seen them and they’re part of your routine, whereas they will be special and unique to others.

PS : Just in case, I very much recommend the "Gratin d'aubergines" and the "Risotto à la Milanaise et saumon mi-cuit aux herbes"... So Yummy......

Frenchman speaks English : Chirac "shocked" ...

This is SO ridiculous!!!

Frenchman speaks English: Chirac 'shocked'

BRUSSELS, March 24, 2006 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac defended Friday his eye-brow-raising exit from an EU summit session, accusing the French head of Europe's employer union of piquing French pride by daring to speak in English.

An ardent defender of the French tongue, Chirac said he had been "deeply shocked" to hear English on the lips of the Frenchman in a speech at the two-day European summit.

"I was deeply shocked that a Frenchman would speak at the council table in English," he told journalists, explaining for the first time his abrupt walkout when the summit opened on Thursday. "That's the reason why the French delegation and myself left so as not to have to listen to that," he added.

Chirac's surprise exit was one of the few incidents to spice up an otherwise staid summit focused on agreeing a joint EU energy strategy and reviving the bloc's economy.

When Ernest-Antoine Seillière, head of the UNICE employers federation, started his speech to the EU's 25 leaders, Chirac interrupted and asked why he was speaking in English, according to a French official. "I'm going to speak in English because that is the language of business," replied Seillière, former chief of the French employers' group MEDEF, which has been at odds with the government recently.

Raising eyebrows among his EU counterparts, Chirac stood up and left the session with Finance Minister Thierry Breton and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy in tow.
Chirac, 73, and his ministers returned only after Seillière finished his address.

Other European leaders shrugged off Chirac's attempt to defend French pride.

"Europe has other worries and it's a waste of time to have responded to such questions," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is usually a stout francophile.

Taking a shot at Seillière, he added: "I cannot cease to be amazed that while our French friends invite us to speak French many of their top officials not in government are more than happy to speak in approximative English".

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, claiming not to have noticed Chirac's departure, tried to strike a light note about the incident, saying with a smile: "People do get up and go for all sorts of reasons."

To the consternation of Paris, English has overtaken French as the European Union's lingua franca, especially since it welcomed 10 new member states, mostly former Soviet communist bloc states in eastern Europe, in May 2004.

French speakers regularly complain that official documents increasingly appear in English and only later in French, which is along with German an official language for EU institutions.

Although English, French and German are the official languages of the EU institutions, by tradition EU leaders speak in their own language at summits through simultaneous interpretation.

Rubbing salt into the wounds Seillière inflicted on French pride, the Brussels correspondent for Britain's eurosceptic Sun newspaper, Michael Lea, approached Chirac at the end of Friday's news conference with a small English-language phrase book for tourists.

"This is a present from your friends at The Sun," Lea told the French leader, who first looked puzzled, then smiled as he slipped the little tome into his pocket.

The tabloid waged a provocative campaign against Chirac in the run-up to the Iraq conflict in 2003, branding him "Le ver" or the worm.

Copyright AFP

Pregnant... not me!

I've just learnt of a co-worker's pregnancy. She's expecting her second child. I am so happy for her!!
That's funny how things move on quickly. I've only been working here for less than a year, and in the meantime I've witnessed the following changes :
- M. adopted her second child => left on "maternity" leave, and came back
- E. came back from maternity leave. Later on she got pregnant again, but unfortunately she lost her child
- S. came back from maternity leave
- T. got pregnant, left on maternity leave and hasn't come back yet
- I. now is pregnant. **And I wish her all the best!**
Amazing, huh ? And I'm just talking about people I know, because there are also many other women pregnant or on maternity leaves in other departments !

Have you ever had this feeling - like there suddenly are a lot of pregnant women out there ?
Every now and then, I notice lots of pregnant women. As if there was a sudden increase in pregnancies.

I don't know if it's just a wrong belief or if it's actually true.

I mean, these last years, I've certainly felt more concerned by this topic - as everyone settles in, finds their special someone and everything. So perhaps I've just been more aware of this than usual.

Or maybe this is just because France is experiencing a mini "baby boom" with more babies being born here than in any other country in the European Union. French women have on average 1.9 children each (compared to an average of 1.4 for European Union countries).

Anyway, I guess both explanations are plausible.

Often when I see a baby, I'm so soft-hearted, saying things like "Ohhhhhhh-he's-so-sweeeet!!!"
Once, a Mom was playing with her baby in the train, he was so sweet, smiling and laughing... Watching them bonding just made my day ;-)
But when I'm sitting in the train going back home and there's a baby crying loud all ride long (my train is always full of families coming back from a day in Disneyland Paris), I'm not touched at all. I'm just throwing glances at them thinking "Oh, Pleeeease, DO something !"
But I know being a Mom is not an easy job !!!! So congratulations to all Moms reading this post, I'm sure you're wonderful with your kids !
I hope I'll be a great Mom too !

BAAM!

Yesterday night was our theatre performance.
It was scheduled at 8:30PM in a little theater in my town. I was supposed to meet the group at 7:30PM there, so I decided to go by bus, as my boyfriend needed the car to come to the performance later.
There were 4 different buse lines to go there, so I took the first bus coming and went in. My map indicated where to get off at and mentionned to walk for 5 minutes.

So here I was, in the bus, carefully counting the stops (Nota-Bene : I always get lost when I take a bus. It’s like a rule. I found it very risky to take a bus line I don’t know yet… Bus is tricky. I prefer taking metro or train, it's so much easier. Anyway...)
So I got off at presumably the right stop, according to the map.

Okay, so now, what shall I do ?… No idea. Let's try this way.
Shit. This street is not on my map. Still, let’s go this way and see.

So I head to a lane that gives onto another street.

Okay. What’s that road now? Not on my map either…
Okay there’s a big town plan over there… Let’s go and have a look.

But... it was a plan of… Clamart ! And the place I’m looking for is supposed to be in Issy ! My pocket map only detailed Issy, and the big town plan in front of me … roads of Clamart. Great. The place I was looking for probably was just a few inches out of the town limits, so the plan didn't show it. How lucky I am !

7:50PM. So here I was, calling my boyfriend, and leaving a message asking him to call me back as soon as possible to help me find my way in this crappy neighbourhood.

Another glance at the 2 maps. No idea where to go…
But wait… just in front of me is the Percy Hospital. Which is good news, if I trust my pocket map. Okay, so, let’s look for a clue near the building to locate myself on my map.

This proved not to be helpful either. And why was there nobody hanging around in this area ?
I mean, there really was nobody. Just cars. I wasn’t going to stop a car to ask directions ! What if the driver suggested to give me a lift ? No way. Not a good idea.
So I just started walking up the road to see how it was up there.
Walking alone in a deserted neighbourhood on a rainy night... How depressing.

A car passes by me and stops 15 meters further, warning lights blinking. I wonder if it stopped for me.. Yes, it could be someone from my theatre group who saw me all lost !!
When I come closer, I notice the car's license plate. Wait, I know this number… Hey!! this is our car ! This is my boyfriend stopping for me !

All excited and relieved, I hurry up to the car, open the front passenger door and BBAAAAAAAMMMM !!!

I just knocked myself right in the nose, with my glasses on.

Shocked, I start crying and touching my nose and glasses with my hands, while my boyfriend hurries out of the car. I can feel the shock reverberating inside my head. He checks if my nose was broken or bleeding (hopefully it wasn't) and helps me sit down in the car seat. I’m all tears, as the emotion rises :

1. First, I was lost,
2. then BAAAAMMM this did hurt, trust me,
3. last but not least : I am going to look like a freaky wrestler during our performance !!!

This is how lucky I am.
My nose was all swollen and started getting violet-blue when we got there.
Hopefully someone got me ice cubes and some arnica to heal my nose.

After a while it looked okay. Hopefully it did not turn blue and the performance went well.
People laughed and reacted to the scenes, which is positive. It means we managed to fuel emotions, even if we’re not Hollywood actors;-))

Since then, my nose hurts when I lower my head to put my shoes on, when I blow my nose or sneeze… but I’m feeling okay. I’m accident prone, so I’m used to these thing. A couple of months ago I got a tennis ball right on my nose. 10 days ago, I cut my thumb shucking apples. And the next day or so I burnt my finger with the flatiron.

It is quite scary how often these thing happen to me… Many of my girlfriends tell me stories alike. But rarely boys.
That leads me to three conclusions (Dunno if they're all true - I can only speak for myself!)

1. Women use cooking and household appliances more often so accidents affect her particularly (this isn’t true in my case – my guy is a great at housework and cooking ;-)
2. Boys just don’t admit or even talk about these things. They have to convey a strong image of themselves. They don’t wanna look wimp or delicate.
3. Girls are less dexterous than boys. (Speaking for myself, I have a bad sense of space – I think I evaluate distances badly, which is why I'm always hitting myself on doorframes or stuff like that. Just a theory - maybe my eyes do not function properly ?)

It does scare my boyfriend how I often hurt myself… Anyway, this is how I am, no matter how much I try, I can’t really change it.

Book review n°1 : The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh ****

The Glass Palace (Le Palais des Miroirs) is an excellent novel written by Amitav Ghosh.
It takes place in Asia - between Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia and India.
Since my trip to Thaïland a year ago (which was absolutely awesome by the way), I have read a couple of novels taking place in Burma - The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason (L'accordeur de piano) and La Vallée des Rubis by Joseph Kessel - and really enjoyed the atmosphere, the fiction, the history and the cultural background of these novels.

The Glass Palace begins in 1885 with the British invasion of Mandalay and the capture of the Burmese king and queen. The novel first follows two characters : Rajkumar, a young Indian boy aged 11 who happened to be in Mandalay at that time - and Dolly, young maid of the Burmese royal family. As the years go by, this saga stretches through 3 generations and at least 3 countries that are undergoing major changes in politics and culture. It ends in 1996 with Aung San Suu Kyi, charismatic figure of the democratic opposition in Myanmar.

The novel is full of descriptions of life and customs at this time, which are fascinating. I learned so much about Burma and India. It is full of both history and fiction which transported me to places I have never been. I could feel time passing by as I read and the novel gave me a great insight of South West Asia at different times.

To put it in a nutshell, this is a fascinating novel.
If you are curious about Asian cultures, if you're interested in History and Politics, or if you like reading sagas, I definitely recommend this book !

More about the author : http://www.amitavghosh.com/

Common misfortune

I came back from a four-day weekend in the Alps yesterday night, feeling like I had left for a week. Forgot all about my daily routine...

But I got a rude awakening this morning, as the traffic got interrupted on my railroad.
Ok, i'm used to it.
But this lasted for an hour and a half. Not a single train for an hour and a half. Lov' it.

As I was waiting on the platform, alone although surrounded with people, I felt tears running down my cheeks. That was the last straw. I'm a patient person, but I can't bear it anymore.
I am so fed up with commuting so far away from home.
I mean, it took me 3 hours to go to work this morning !
I just wish teleporation was my natural gift.

Anyway, my current job will be over in 6 weeks. And I am definitely planning not to apply to jobs miles away anymore. I don't wanna spend my life in transit.

My hair just looks terrible !

Yesterday night I went to my weekly theatre classes. We're performing a little show next Wednesday, not a big thing - we're all beginners and the audience will basically be friends and relatives, so it's really no big deal, just fun !

We're a group of 10 girls + a teacher and every Friday night we have a great time. These classes are just a perfect outlet to release energy and emotion. I'm so relaxed when I come home afterwards. We do theatre games, we improvise, we laugh.. It's like yoga, but noisier I guess !

Anyway as we are just a bunch of girls, we also need to play male characters from time to time. So after rehearsing yesterday, the teacher asked us to have our hair loose on Wednesday when playing female characters. So we looked had each other and two girls had their hair tied back.

The first one, Carine, had her hair rolled up and tied back with a barrette. The teacher asked her if she would loose her hair. That's when I realized she always had her hair tied back that way. She was groping but still she loosed her hair and, in a shampoo-commercial-way, revealed long, thick, blonde hair. She did not seem very happy with her hair like that, but I thought it was a shame she never looses it.

The other girl, Catherine, had shoulder length hair put into a bun. Obviously she looked horrified at the idea of undoing her hair.We were cheering on : "Come on!"And she was like : "But it really looks dreadful !"
"Oh yes, sure ... Com'on !"
With bad will and a truly miserable face she started undoing her hair, as if meaning "I've warned you - it really looks terrible - be prepared"
and when it was loose it was just.... how shall I put it....well... it was ... normal !!!
So we were like, ironically : "Bahhhhhhhh!!!" which is what French children say when they are forced to eat Brussels sprouts !

It's funny how girls are obsessed with hair. I am one of them.We believe there is something wrong with our hair, but nobody will notice it except us.I remember a conversation with my ex-roommate :
Her : "You're so obsessed with your hair."
I : "Well, of course, I have such tousled hair. Not like yours. Yours is straight and nice."
Her : "Are you kidding me ? Yours have volume, whereas mine is fine and thin..."
In fact I remember loads of conversations alike with girlfriends.
We're just never happy with our hair !

Book covers

Reading is one of my hobbies. I read fiction, crime, thrillers, fantasy... all kinds of books. I read French authors and foreign authors, and I try to follow this rule : when the book was originally written in English, I read it in English.
So I do read in English the Harry Potter series, girly novels like Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones or Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series, Douglas Kennedy's novels, etc.
But there are exceptions, such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
I didn’t want to read it in English first because the trilogy is quite long ; but also because Fantasy implies :
1) an intricate story
2) many many many characters
3) comprehensive descriptions of scenery and battles.
So I felt I would be more comfortable reading it in French... And I was right, because even in French I didn’t finish the 3rd book. Sam & Frodo were walking, walking and walking endlessly in Mordor and the novel wasn’t gripping enough for me.
Anyway that is not what I wanted to talk about.
I want to talk about book covers.

As I read both French and Anglo/American books, I have noticed book covers are particularly different:
English books often have a fancy cover, with an embossed title, cute templates, nice colors and many critics and reviews mentioned on the back cover. Below are a few examples :

Now compare them to French book covers :

Don't you think the French covers are more common and ordinary? Less artistic ? I guess this is because in France books are being considered as “cultural goods” and not as a common product to sell, to market. Indeed the retail book market is particular in France. Book prices are regulated by the law of 10th August 1981 which states that publishers and importers are required to fix retail prices for the books which they publish or import. Retailers must charge an actual retail price between, 95 and 100% of that price. Paperback books ("livres de poche") are quite cheap in France : for instance, the books above cost 5-6 euros.

Above all I love the Harry Potter books : okay, the last ones are so big and heavy you feel like reading a dictionnary, but the covers are gorgeous... I am a fan !

Isn't she lovely ?!

This is a photo my boyfriend took of my beloved cat :-)
He keeps saying he doesn't like cats, but I can't believe that : how could he have taken such a lovely picture then ? I know he's a cat lover too ... but he won't admit it, because of his manliness ;->

Beautiful weather !!!

I am so thankful ! The weather is bright and sunny out there and it really cheered me up this morning !
My day had started badly :
1) it's Monday...
2) my train station was closed so I had to walk to the next station to get my train
3) I missed my connection and had to wait for an awfully long time
4) it finally took me 1 hour45 to get to work instead of 1:20 (which is already quite a long run!)
In these circumstances, I really appreciated the sun to be shining this morning !!

Thanks to the weather, I was able to have my sandwich under the sun at lunchtime, close by the lake (which looks more like a pond by the way).

I'm tellin' ya, Spring is coming !!!

Typical English weather

On Friday I experienced the most typical English weather : an alternation of pouring rain/wind and sunshine.

It went like this :
8:00AM - in the train, going to work : Sunshine.
11:00AM - in the office : Raining. "Damn it I wanted to go out during lunchbreak..."
12:15AM - hungry, in the office : Sunshine. "Great! Let's go after all!"
1:45PM - outside, on my way back to work : Hailstorm... - No comment -
6:00 PM - leaving the office and waiting on the platform train : Pouring rain and wind.
6:15 PM - in the train, rain-soaked but at least in shelter : The sunny blue sky is back again....
Okay - is the weatherman just playing with my nerves ???!!!

You know, this kind of annoying shitty weather is not new to me. I've had it for 7 months in Oxford and many times when I used to go on holiday to Cornwall and Devon to see my family.
It's not just that it rains a lot : in Oxford, it was raining almost every single day. Not always pouring rain, but at least a little shower. So annoying...
Moreover, it was so windy there that my umbrella proved to be completely useless. It did not protect me from the rain, as it never stayed still over my head. The wind would come from all directions, pull the umbrella in the air, and after a little struggle finally invert it.

In Cornwall, the weather changes so quickly. In summer, you expect a little sunshine, so you can go out to the beach or enjoy a nice barbecue. But you should always have a Plan B...

The weather has been a bit better today. Still cloudy and dark, but at least dry.. I am so looking forward to the Summer !!!

I'm new !!

Hey !

I’m a new blogger. I have been reading a couple of blogs lately and it sounds good fun to me… Writing my blog and reading others’, and getting to know people that way.

When I was younger, when Internet did not exist yet (in days of yore!), I used to have so many penfriends from France and around the world (from Norway, the UK, the US, Greece, Spain, Italy…). I really enjoyed sharing views and stories with people living far away, and practising my English.
Of course, as time went by, some of these pen-friendships declined – but some did not, as I am still in touch with several penfriends and even got the opportunity to meet two of them ;-))
As I grew up I found myself having less and less time to write letters and everything.
So I think a blog would be perfect to keep in touch with friends from around the world, and of course, to get to know new people.
So, for those of you who do not know me yet, below is a quick resume of myself. Please feel free to add comments and correct my English !

Age : 25
I currently live in Issy, a border suburb of Paris in France.
Distinctive feature : My Dad is British and my mother French. I spent my childhood in France but I’ve always had the will to travel and “deepen” this English part of myself. I spent two years abroad for my studies (in the UK and Spain).
Hobbies : Talking, Travelling, Playing the piano, Watching series and movies, Reading, Amateur Theatre Group, Tennis, Biking, Cycling in the countryside in summer, and lots more…

Looking forward to reading and knowing you ;->>