France
it's been a while since i posted a blog. i debated whether or not to even mention that since it seems pretty obvious, but i feel like some sort of link needs to be made after 8 months of silence. so that's my link. don't expect any more of them.
While France doesn't exactly lend itself to "monkey-related content," there are some random things I can say. For example, I have a hard time typing on my own keyboard these days because the a, q, w, z, and m always seem awkwardly placed, much like the word awkward itself. What a great word.
At the moment I'm in the only wireless cafe I know in Caen. I come here so much the servers know me. It's great being a regular. Today I got free peanuts. Usually nobody is here. It's kind of a quiet neighborhood, and the French in general haven't really discovered the joys of wireless internet. However tonight there seem to be quite a few people milling around. One guy at the bar looks like an American biker. He's got a big tattoo on his right calf and he's rather large. Then we've got the usual group of French men talking about who-knows-what in the corner. If it were 4PM I'd think they were having an after work drink, but it's nearly 8. Perhaps it's an aperitif.
Caen is a small city. Sometimes I feel like I'm in Taiwan again given the impossibility of finding certain hair products or foods I used to love. I actually had a dream about spray butter the other day. An English friend of mine has spent months scouring the grocery stores looking for Ribena, which is apparently a cassis (black currrant) sirop that you mix with water and drink like juice. The obsession for the things you can't have can be all-consuming. Luckily they have Coca Lite, here, which is more or less Diet Coke. Otherwise I'd die.
Speaking of Taiwan, I've had strange nostolgic longings for the place. Things like papaya milk and taro root became oddly integral after 13 months. I had no idea I would even miss them. As far as serving utensils, I have only one fork but I have about 8 pairs of chopsticks. I don't even own a spoon. I wonder what I'll miss when I leave France. For instance, I've become quite fond of cheese here, and I know that while I'll always be able to find cheese, I won't be able to find the kinds that I have come to enjoy. I suppose I'll also miss only working 12 hours a week, but that would have never lasted. It's actually pretty amazing how little people work here. I feel like I sleep a lot. Other than that I read a lot of books, French and English, and drink a lot of wine.
I could say a million things about how living in France requires mountains of paperwork, or how I can't stand that the only American wine you can find is of the Ernest and Julio Gallo variety (gallo means rooster in Spanish), but it seems redundant. Doesn't everyone say those things about France? I think the packs of tiny birds that you see at dusk are more interesting. They fly together, and if you are very unlucky, they poop together. I remember seeing them in Rome, too, but I was never unlucky enough to notice the pooping phenomenon. So anway, there are no monkeys here. I haven't nearly been hit by lightning. But I did get shit upon by a pack of birds. Ca c'est la France.
While France doesn't exactly lend itself to "monkey-related content," there are some random things I can say. For example, I have a hard time typing on my own keyboard these days because the a, q, w, z, and m always seem awkwardly placed, much like the word awkward itself. What a great word.
At the moment I'm in the only wireless cafe I know in Caen. I come here so much the servers know me. It's great being a regular. Today I got free peanuts. Usually nobody is here. It's kind of a quiet neighborhood, and the French in general haven't really discovered the joys of wireless internet. However tonight there seem to be quite a few people milling around. One guy at the bar looks like an American biker. He's got a big tattoo on his right calf and he's rather large. Then we've got the usual group of French men talking about who-knows-what in the corner. If it were 4PM I'd think they were having an after work drink, but it's nearly 8. Perhaps it's an aperitif.
Caen is a small city. Sometimes I feel like I'm in Taiwan again given the impossibility of finding certain hair products or foods I used to love. I actually had a dream about spray butter the other day. An English friend of mine has spent months scouring the grocery stores looking for Ribena, which is apparently a cassis (black currrant) sirop that you mix with water and drink like juice. The obsession for the things you can't have can be all-consuming. Luckily they have Coca Lite, here, which is more or less Diet Coke. Otherwise I'd die.
Speaking of Taiwan, I've had strange nostolgic longings for the place. Things like papaya milk and taro root became oddly integral after 13 months. I had no idea I would even miss them. As far as serving utensils, I have only one fork but I have about 8 pairs of chopsticks. I don't even own a spoon. I wonder what I'll miss when I leave France. For instance, I've become quite fond of cheese here, and I know that while I'll always be able to find cheese, I won't be able to find the kinds that I have come to enjoy. I suppose I'll also miss only working 12 hours a week, but that would have never lasted. It's actually pretty amazing how little people work here. I feel like I sleep a lot. Other than that I read a lot of books, French and English, and drink a lot of wine.
I could say a million things about how living in France requires mountains of paperwork, or how I can't stand that the only American wine you can find is of the Ernest and Julio Gallo variety (gallo means rooster in Spanish), but it seems redundant. Doesn't everyone say those things about France? I think the packs of tiny birds that you see at dusk are more interesting. They fly together, and if you are very unlucky, they poop together. I remember seeing them in Rome, too, but I was never unlucky enough to notice the pooping phenomenon. So anway, there are no monkeys here. I haven't nearly been hit by lightning. But I did get shit upon by a pack of birds. Ca c'est la France.
posted by bethany at 13:45
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