Random Ramblings

Just some thoughts have had over this past week. Being in France seems so normal now, just a part of everyday life. I was realizing how strange/ new / shocking things were when I first arrived. Matt had a phone interview with a local newspaper in Chatam and I ended up having to talk to him for a little bit. He was wondering what the toughest thing is and all that. Looking back EVERYTHING was difficult. Everything was confusing. I had trouble answering some of his questions just because it all feels so normal now.

This of course led me to think about reverse culture shock and what I'm going to have to do when I get back. I can't believe there's only 3 months left.

Ok so I haven't been able to watch any college basketball until now, the tournament. I get to see some games. Thanks to French TV, I also don't get commercials, so I get to see President Obama say that March Madness is the most exciting sporting event, nearly every 10 minutes. That as well as seeing his Oval office picks. Kind of funny watching the commander in chief picking his bracket.

One thing I've recently paid more attention to is that Parisiens are not afraid to use their car horn. I mean we will be sitting at a red light and the second it turns green people from the back of the line are quickly laying on the horn. I mean come on atleast give them a couple seconds to respond. Just a little difference that I've noticed.

I went to the top of Montparnasse tower in the South part of Paris the other day with Matt, Kristin and Hannah. I was afraid the bad weather would keep us from seeing the view. It was wet and rainy... we went to the top of the skyscraper. 56 floors up around 210 meters or so. The views where ridiculous. It was like seeing the world living below you. You could see all the way out to Cergy, the entire layout of Paris and the suburbs. It was really cool. The weather also was incredible. First it was overcast, especially over La Defense, the business quarter. I thought that to be a bit symbolic of the times. Then it started to hail. Which was so funny because apparently we all had been told at lunch by differernt people the french word for hail and that it was normal for this time of the year to have rain or hail and then good sunny weather.

Almost on cue after the hail, the sun opened up and God showed up. Well that's what it looked like to me... somebody else thought it looked like an alien ubduction. You can make your own decision. The coolest part though was actually going on the roof top of the building. I've never been on the absolute rooftop of a skyscraper, but they let you meander on the top next to the helipad and everything. Of course there was a security guard, sharp metal bars to keep you back from the edge, and a security guard. I thought about what would happen if a gust of wind knocked something out of your hand and it fell to the ground. More so likely if a young child threw something off the edge. Potentially that could kill somebody with the whole gravity and 9.81 m/s. I mean I'm not positive, but I'm sure it would suck.

I have found a good chinese food place close to Paris. Actually Will took us there. It's location.... Chinatown. It is awesome. The soup they have with noodles, shrimp ravioli's, vegetables, and all other sorts of deliciousness is quiet amazing. How can you not be a fan of such authenticity. The menu is in chinese with some french subtitles. I definitely trust a place where the language spoken matches the food. You can tell this is where the real Chinese go to eat good food. It's fun.

We have a big game coming up this week against the Flash. I'm looking forward to that one. Also we planned another trip to go see Barcelona. I love having the opportunity to just travel to a completely different country and culture so close. Can't wait to see some spanish shoreline and good spanish food.

We went to a little house party the other night to with a bunch of French guys that we have made friends with. They are fun and a good group of guys. It really is hard sometimes to muster up the courage to try and communicate in French. Once you start though it really isn't so bad. The most difficult part for me is not having any vocabulary knowledge or prior teaching. The team actually tried French night and just speaking in French. That's tough, I realize how easy I've had it. It's frustrating not knowing what's going on.

Oh also the food we've had in Paris is pretty amazing. I know I talked a lot about it in earlier posts, but I figured I'd make a quick video so I could show you exactly what I meant. This is from one night at a restaurant with Matt's parents, coach, and one of Matt's friends from home.