French gluttony hits the gut

Day 10 at the hotel and I have grown far too spoiled with all the pampering I have been getting from housekeeping. I want to defend myself by saying its all well deserved. I worked tirelessly for 2 months to help organize our move to France, sort out things in Canada and coordinate the sale our home in the US. Its big ! So whats a 10 day affair with housekeeping? Nothing to complain about is there?

Hotel and restaurant food over the past 10 days have definitely made its appearance around my mid-section. Even size 12 jeans have started to tighten. Until 2 days ago, I needed a belt to secure it around my waist. I am not exactly making a good progress. I also know exactly the kind of acerbic comment my sister would come up with, if she were reading this blog. She happens to be very lean and tall and extremely beauty conscious !

As much as I want to languish in self-pity (oh..am so fat and short and ugly), I must admit I truly have been savouring French cuisine. More so, I have fallen in love with yaourt (yogurt)...and specially the way these folks consume it. I wake up in the morning just to get my bowl of yaourt which I can sweeten with either honey, abricot, orange, berry or a selection of 10 others ! T loves his new selection of cereal.

I do miss my home made instant coffee though :( I can't seem to make ado with expresso. It's a shame ! Like T says, I have my mental blocks about many things. I may be missing out on several things....I still have time to convert !

So I'm temporarily a culinary connoiseur till I move to our apartment next week - all our bills are paid off until then ;) I am determined to get into shape in my mind. I have always had a weight problem as a child. It was my physician mom who always ensured that I stayed presentable in public (I miss her !)

Here in Avignon, there are very few overweight individuals around. Its true I have not travelled far and wide but I am sure I have observed correctly. My comparison is with North American states like Florida in the US, New Brunswick in Canada and a few other small states/provinces.

Another couple of days, before our first consignment of belongings arrive. Then it will be a new routine, same responsibilities in a new abode and many more.

I like it thus far and whats pending is that I just have to work on my gut from now on !

Une nouvelle coiffure

The image to your left shows a picture of me sporting a hairstyle that is 17 years old. I always believed long hair suited me mostly because of the constant rantings from my mother which went like "Perhaps that is the only feminine thing about you, so keep your crowing glory !" and so it was written in stone. Taken 2 days before our departure from United States, I thought this picture of me looked decent.

Once we reached France, we had a chance to relax and carefully examine what we missed out. And the obvious hit me - it has been atleast 4 months since I last colored my hair and all of a sudden my greys were more than just noticeable. So we discover this shopping mall called Auchan and I find two hair salons - Franck Provost and Interview Coiffure. I automatically lean towards I.C since it is 40 Euros cheaper for what I want to get done.

After a long wait, a session that consisted of "coupe, coleur, shampoo, conditionneur" all accomplished in nothing less than 3 heures and 70 Euros later....pretty alarming for a rather small head of hair (also the translation efforts took half the time), I waited for AJ to pick me up and hoped that my new looks would stir a comment - a compliment really !

But to my dismay, AJ walks past me and then turns around to look at me (as though he did not recognise me the first time!) and wrinkles his nose like i can't see...and says with bated breath "you look different". I am already in pain that my hairstylist nipped my tresses and so wished that would be wiped away with a nice remark. Alas, after much wait and careful examination he said "Nice !"

So relieved I was, considering I took this brave step to change styles after 17 years ! The last time I remember sporting a similar cut was when I was in grade 7 or something. But like anyone else I'm secretly telling myself - " it will grow back in a year, enough time before I visit Mom again !!"

Fights and bites

Its a misleading title - but I have a point to make....eventually.

2 days ago, T and I got into a serious argument. This was serious enough to sleep the night on separate beds ! And how foolish I was to think that I could have it my way or else would go separate ways ! Here I am in an alien land, sans speaking and driving skills and no where to go until for sometime. Who am I kidding? Well thats the practical side of my brain speaking.

For some background - I have been a fiercely independent woman for a good portion of my life. But things have changed in the last 2 yrs - I have come to depend on someone and though it seems easy, frankly its not enjoyable when your ego keeps interfering with your brain.

Excerpts of the argument went like this, " Who are you to ask? I will do as I please !" so on and so forth - this is so common that I will leave it to the readers to imagine the rest.

Although angry as I was the night of the fight, I woke up with hardly any memory of it at all. But I had to put on a show. Come evening, I am trying hard to put on a show......but I love him too much to act any longer. Well I realize that this is what love does to you. It weakens you. Good heavens ! I almost sound like Suzanne Enoch.....the incurable romantic

So here we are after a bitter evening of fights and another evening belabored with bites. Ah ! the delight that follows a little despair

Andouillette

What was perceived to be bacon wrapped sausage turned out to be beef tripe and pork. This I consumed with semi-displeasure on a Monday afternoon, at Courtepaille (a grill restaurant, 5 mins away from Best Western Paradou) after being told that the kitchen @ Paradou was closed until 7.30 pm. Well, I took it for granted that it would be open 24 hours....my bad!

Anyways, this would be disappointment no.2. Day 2 of my arrival, I met with disappointment no.1 when I had lunch consisting of duck terrine avec figs et tender bouef et polente frite. Its seems that this may be the way to get a feel for the cuisine.....face your fears head on.

Regardless, I am determined to move forward, inspite of my sensitive palate.

I was educating T that it might be best to steer clear from fois gras atleast initially till our palates acclimatize to all the new tastes.

"Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."[courtesy- Wikipedia]

After a week on the french soil, my confidence is gradually being restored. Despite my pathetic French speaking skills, I have mustered courage to place an order at a stall or at a restaurant without worrying about feeling embarrassed. I have resigned to the fact that there aren't going to be a lot of people who will volunteer to help you. So make a dash anyways !

Bienvenue à Auchan

So I spent an entire afternoon of April 26, 2010 and a good part of the evening (until my husband came to pick me up) at Auchan. Auchan is this humongous hypermarket (a french enterprise originally, controlled by the Mulliez family - a wealthy French family) with a range of services and goods that is mindblowing. For those of us only accustomed to Walmart and its size, I must inform you, this is sensational. In laymans terms, consider having two aisles just for cheese or better still four aisles for meats! My amazement does not stop there. One can behold an extensive variety in the categories of lait, fromage, pasta, pain, dessert, de glace, poisson, viande.....so on and so forth.

The term kaleidoscope comes to mind, when I think Auchan - or perhaps its a reaction from a naive foreigner ! But take a look at the official English site, if you are the curious kind !

http://www.groupe-auchan.com/activites/Organisation.html

The expanse of Auchan is largely European with its extensions into Asia and the Middle East. Regardless, first impression is truly global ! The exception however is that it does not have any presence in the United States - actually North America. Why? Je nais se pas ! I am yet to research into that subject. I cannot help but make the connection between this fact and that the French have low tolerance towards English and Anglophones. Ce'st possible !!

See below for some key dates that i pulled out from the site itself.

Key dates
1967 Six years after Gérard Mulliez opened the first store, the first Auchan hypermarket was opened in Roncq, in Northern France.
1981 Alcampo is created in Spain.
1989 First Auchan in Italy.
1996-1999 Acceleration of growth: acquisition of the Docks de France group (France, Spain) and the Spanish and Portuguese activities of Pao de Açucar. Partnership with the Rinascente group in Italy, first Auchan hypermarkets in Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary and China.
2001 Alliance with Mart in China. Acqusition of RT Mart hypermarkets in Taiwan.
2002 First Auchan hypermarkets in Russia.
2004 In Italy, acquisition of the totality of La Rinascente food business.
2006 First Auchan hypermarket in Bucharest (Romania), opened in partnership with MGV Distri-Hiper.
2007 Auchan signed a agreement with Az SpA, to operate franchised hypermarkets in the Calabria region. Partnership agreement signed with the Furshet Group in Ukraine.
Agreement with Enka Group in Russia for the operation of 13 hypermarkets.
2008 Auchan opens it's first hypermarket in Kiev (Ukraine).
Agreement with Dubai World in Dubai to develop the Auchan banner.
2009 Acquisition of 100% of the capital in Romania (6 hypermarkets).
First Auchan opening in Dubai, in partnership with Dubai World.

I have not figured out today's agenda, except get translations for a 1000 labels that I penned down at Auchan ( mind you, most of the labels are in French or German....very rarely in English).

Bonne étude!!

Is “wise” or “informative” better?

To put it simply

Wise = gained over long term;

Information = can be gained over a short term.

So where does knowledge stand? Is it a combination of the two?

KNOWLEDGE applies to facts or ideas acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience . LEARNING applies to knowledge acquired especially through formal, often advanced, schooling <>. ERUDITION strongly implies the acquiring of profound, recondite, or bookish learning <>.

(Courtesy-Websters Online Dictionary)

Moral: One must learn with a desire to become knowledgeable and therefore be able to make wise choices and decisions

I know I know , it sounds very first grade….but I needed to put that down rather simply – for my own sake…… my comprehension has muddled up so much over the years. Sigh!

Minimum Education

Over the past 27 years, I have had the good fortune of witnessing the ever changing requirement - minimum education. Being familiar to an Indian School system for the major part of my life, I was always accustomed to Grade 10 as being the minimum required education for anyone. Even to this day, Grade 10 continues to be required minimum as per national educational guidelines. But really, is that enough???

In this new day and age, where communication methods have elevated from merely a telephone conversation to e-mails, phone textings, blogs and twitters, there seems to be a big gap between the demands of the job market and what government stipulates as enough ! and what a large gap indeed !!!

Personally, I thought I would be at par with the day and age with just an M.S. But after 2 yrs of the program and another 4 years at work - I dont seem to have gotten anywhere ! So here I am again, with my books, through with a GMAT exam and pondering over a program in business - in the hopes of becoming marketable or better still...indispensable ! will this tiring journey ever end?

Information Overload

Its day 6, monday morning....actually 11.02 am; Venue - Best Western Hotel Paradou. Had a weekend packed with activities (none of leisure), all geared towards settling down in our apartment in the city centre of Avignon (centreville !) We thought it a simple task (atleast in our minds) to find our way into our new home....but alas it was not so.

2 hours and 15 mins later, after battling one way streets, unfamiliar signs, taking helpful directions from senior citizens (who barely said a word in Anglaise) and several others via blackberry and telephone, voila ! we got in. We realized one thing or it may be just a one time incident - that atleast for us, nothing came easy. Although we enquired, we were not given directions or pointers. As exasperating as it was, it seems to be making us stronger. We painfully realized that our brains (wired in English) needed a RAM upgrade to process all the information (in Francaise, of course) ...fast !

So here we are, into semaine numero deux.

Did I mention, that the closest English church is located in Montpellier, an hour and 15mins away? ....oh mother of pearl !

April 25, 2010 - Avignon, France

I tossed and turned all night trying to figure out details about our house sale, which obviously kept me awake until the wee hours of Sunday morning. So I thought, lets find a church. We are determined not to wait an entire year without going to a church, for the simple excuse of not knowing French.

After a quick breakfast at Best Western Paradou, off we were to Eglise Evangelique Libre, at 1240 Chemin de Massillargues, 84000 Avignon, with a little help from the front desk. Our acquaintances in Florida had already explained to us that this was a free church that welcomed all denominations of Christians and which would suit us well in our initial months. What they forgot to tell us was that the service was only available in French !!!!

We waited patiently outside the church doors to befriend the pastor and few other who might guide us to English churches. We were able to converse with a few English speaking Frenchmen, who turned out to be English teachers at a school and another at the University D'Avignon. They were Christelle and Christian. From the brief chat, we came to understand that the closest English church might possible be located atleast 1-2 hours away from Avignon. Now what ?????

We came back to the hotel disappointed but with a new resolve. There seems no way around learning French it seems. So off we put aside our customary " Je ne parle pas Francais" and kick start with "Bon jour, je m'appele A et T et je suis indien" .....we hope to get better by the end of the week !

A Fresh Start in France

Bonjour tout le monde !

So after several months of contemplation, planning and coordinating, we have finally reached Avignon, France to begin yet again another phase of life together. Its amazing how we got past the volcanic disruptions and reached on time. Everything went according to clockwork.

Of course we are struggling with the language - who doesn't for the first time?

Landed on 21st, paid a visit to T's company, said hello to a few, had dinner at Best Western (menu - carpaccio salmon et lentils, tout verte salade, grillade bouef, lamb steak and greens, champagne)

Opened a bank account on 22d, skipped breakfast, had a bagnat for lunch and went over to our hotel - slept ! For dinner @ Buffet Wok - familiar tastes, it was very satisfying.

Started 23rd, another day - trying to figure out how to enroll for French classes.