Money: some have it and some have A LOT OF IT!!!

Last night was the American School of Paris Gala. A time to come together, have fun and celebrate the school. It is also a time to raise a little money through an online auction, silent auction and a live auction. Lots of cool stuff to bid on at the online auction which closed the night before the Gala. At the Gala, some of the silent auction items were a Louis Vuitton speedy bag with some LV accessories (I lost the bid on that one). But the fun of the night was watching the high rollers go at it. I must be naive about people and money, because when the Live Auction got started, it got INSANE!

I watched as 2 men went head to head on a dinner that was being auctioned off. It started off at 500 Euros and within minutes climbed to 9000 Euros. The auctioneer was clever and had the chefs who were going to be doing the cooking at the auction, talked them into doing 2 dinners and that one item brought in 18,000 Euros. What kind of crazy money do you have to have to just give 9000 Euros for a 10 course dinner? Oh, it was for 10 people, but 900 Euro dinner per person? that was just for the 1 dinner, they agreed to do 2, so each man bidding against each other got a 10 course 12 person dinner for 9000 Euros. That was just the beginning of watch thousands of Euros get bid on items that night.

Now, I know that this night was about raising money, so logic in what you spend goes out the window cause it is for a good cause (the school your kids go to) and is tax deductible. So you might ask what the point of the story is....I don't know other than, my naivety is gone and I rejoiced in everyone else's wins. It was a fun.

So when I didn't think the evening could get anymore interesting, on the way home, we drove by a huge park called the Bois de Boulogne. On one side of the park, is about a 2 mile long street. As we travelled down this street, it became clear that this was Hooker alley. Hoochie mommas all until we started seeing women standing on the side of the road with no tops on (nothing on top) and then 1 who was stark naked wearing only a fur coat that she didn't keep closed. Again, I am naive when it come to this and that it actually occurs, but here it was on the side of the road, made us sad.

My eyes are even more wide open than they were 24 hours ago and I am more cognizant of the world around me.

My Open Market - A Paris Experience

I think about what will I miss once we leave Paris and transition back to the U.S. Some people will say that I haven't been here long enough to answer that question. But this I do know. I am going to miss my market. Every sunday morning I go down to my open market in Garches and visit the local vendors. I have been very fortunate, when I first started visiting the market, I found at least one person at each vendor who after letting me butcher their language let me off the hook and wanted to speak english.

My first stop is to the flower vendor. I get fresh flowers at least once a week if not twice a week from the local markets (which there are 4 during the week between Garches and St. Cloud). When Liz arrived home from houston, I got 2 dozen roses for 10 euros. Flowers here are very cheap and very beautiful and I will miss that.

My second stop is to the produce vendor. Rows and rows of great farm fresh fruits and veggies. My ususal is fingerling potatoes, brussel sprouts, red leaf lettuce, baby romaine, fresh mushrooms (with the dirt still on bottom of stems), beautiful strawberries, raspberries, bananas, apples and pineapple. The man who helps me also is teaching me the french word for what I want to buy which is great.

My last stop is to the meat monger. Here is my favorite place. They have at each corner of their booth is huge paella type pans, 1 with gratin dauphinois (potatoes au gratin), and in the other small pan roasted potatoes. I get a container of each, then they rotisserie everything. One of my favorites is Roti de Dinde which is roast turkey. Now sometimes they will stuff them with different things; they can have bacon and cheese, they can have chestnut, apricot but a funky one is a turkey breast stuffed with Lapin (Rabbit). You can also get fresh rotisserie chickens. Here you have a choice of free range and cage. You have to pay attention because one is 25 euros apiece and one is 5 euros a piece. They also do a beef rib which is a very thick cut rib which runs high and not what you would think of as a beef rib but good. One of the last things I have not tried yet (expensive) is the rotisserie leg of lamb, but one day i will.

So my goal in coming back is to find an open market, probably hit some of the hispanic markets for fresh food and visiting Central Market just a little bit more.

Nudity: US Goody Two-shoes or European Tolerance

So, I was just coming to grips with the european "shared" bathroom for men and women when I came face to face (or face to....well read on) with another redneck moment. Last weekend, we were at Katherine's 3rd swim meet, quietly sitting in the stands awaiting the start of the competition when IT happened. Now most people know that swim meets have judges who make sure that swimmers are two hand touching, doing the right strokes etc. So, 2 rows down from me a man begins to undress right there in front of everyone. Off comes the shirt, I didn't think anything of it at that point, I mean men change shirts all the time. But then off come his trousers and he was standing there in his tiny underwear.

COME ON!!!! No one wants to see you standing there with your "bits" staring them in the face. Really, there was a locker room 200 feet from where he was. Couldn't he just walk a few feet and change there? No one else around seemed to care, actually, he was carrying on a conversation with others around them. Then not long after that, a young man (probably around 10-11) who was a swimmer decided to completely get undressed and into his speedo for the swim meet. As this was going on, Liz told me that it had happened at the meet prior that I wasn't at. So is this just a regular normal thing?

I didn't see any women doing this? Was it just a man/boy thing? Was this just a European thing? It seems the country is tolerant of many things related to men and women (such as the communal bathrooms) and now, undressing in public. I wonder......Would I be looked at strangely if I went to the community pool, undressed in public and put on my speedo, would anyone care? Would anyone notice? Would I be seen as just another European?

Join us next time for the in depth investigation as I test this theory of the European changing station.

Voici à votre bonne santé et de la nudité

Boomer Sooner.........observations from across the pond

Congrats to the Aggies. From across the pond, I have tried as best possible to watch the games via livestreaming. It has been tough, because a lot our games have been late games which puts the games on here around midnight and later.

I decided that in honor of my Aggie friends at UBC, and me not being there to go to the game, that I would join in and watch. I have always told my aggie friends, and for that matter any of my college football friends, that I am proud of OU but it is always a reality that anyone can and will get beat.

I have decided that a good coach recognizes that the quarterback is no longer performing, a great coach actually pulls them out. It is time for Stoops to realize that Jones is not the answer. In baseball if the pitcher isn't hacking it, they pull them and may do that 3 or 4 times in a game. It was clear last year that Jones was probably not what was needed. It is time for this program to realize that it has been in 4 National Championship positions (winning 1) in the last 10 years. To most programs, that is great; OU has a more of a tradition of winning championships, not coming up short.

To me, I love watching football, but I don't get emotional. Now when I say emotional, I don't stomp and scream and call for the head of the coach on a silver platter. Do I sometimes yell at the TV or the game; yes, that is a natural progression of watching college football. So taking the emotion out and viewing college football and seeing it for what it is, a business. Now at OU, football is not all it is famous for; with the incredible leadership of President Boren, it is the go to university of academics. It has world class facilities; Journalism, Meteorology, Law, Music, Medical, Engineering and one of the largest collection of Natural Science Museums. But football gets your university on TV and in the spotlight for recruiting both for sports and academics.

So, let's do the right thing, enjoy the game, but it's time for a change; bring in the relief quarterback.

Paris.....The 2 Hour Lunch

Now, this has 2 different meanings. Here in Paris, most working people come to work around 9-10am and then leave around 7-8pm Some would say, "but I thought the french take it easy." Well, after coming to work, they will take 3-4 coffee breaks and then they will take a 2 hour lunch. Some in the US would say that 2 hours lunches aren't uncommon, but they are for 95% of americans which is the opposite here in Paris. Parisians work hard, but they also take their time in leisure during the day. Stereotypes run amuck? Not trying to stereotype, but point out observation. Now this is not what the focus of my ramblings.

While the working world is taking their 2 hour lunch, the rest of us try and get things done, grocery shop, cleaners, shopping, going to Nicolas (http://www.nicolas.com/index.php/en/178.htm) for your daily selection. This is where cultural difference become evidently clear. It seems from the observer that the french culture works just hard enough to eek out a living and capitalism or entrepreneurialism (is that even a word). They have no need for amassing large amounts of money. It is for that reason that most of the shops close from 1pm-3pm. If you want to shop for a purse, not now; if you want to get some wine, not then either; how about plan a vacation with a travel agent...no way. So for those of us not working we must take a forced nap everyday and wait for the shops to open back up in order to complete the day.

I am not one to complain about a forced nap everyday, but 2 hours? Can't we at least do an hour? Well, for 10 hours a week, I must find something else to do other than take care of the business I need to conduct. Maybe I will take up crocheting, basket weaving or maybe I will learn to drink coffee or espresso.

See you later (just not from 1pm-3pm)

More water Por Favor!!!

I lived in Houston for 18 years. In 7th grade I took French class and then only thing I remember is how to count to 10. But amazingly once I arrive here it is though I have mastered the art of Spanish (which is crazy considering I never took a Spanish class). Now wherever I go here in Paris, I seem to only be able to speak spanish.

We found a mexican restaurant here in Paris (good if you are desperate for mexican) and the waiter asked what I wanted to drink. Now my mind knew I had to answer in a language other than english, so I answered, "una cerveza por favor!" The waiter just looked at me, my wife starred with this, "did you really just say that?" look on her face, but I didn't realize what I had said until he said, "Pardon?" At that time, I realized that living in Houston for 18 years, I picked up way more Spanish than I had intended purposely.

Now, you would think that this would have been a 1 time incident, but NOOOOO!!! I do that everywhere. I flip on the Spanish like I am Ricky Ricardo (babaloo). Frequently when asked if I would like anything else, I respond, "Si!" If I didn't already get strange looks for speaking english, I up the ante by responding to people in Spanish which would be okay if we weren't in a country that spoke French.

Con el fin de que termine este blog, es lógico que terminan en un idioma que yo no sabía que yo sabía realmente. Mais aussi je pouvais y mettre un terme à une fin surprenante de dire au revoir et bonne nuit en français

bonne journee

I want a big one....yes, I have Scooter envy!

I told myself I would only blog once a week, but this week I just have to have 2. One of the most common forms of transportation is a 2 wheeled device. They can range from a little electric bike up to a large Harley or Rice Rocket. Somewhere in between are different sizes of scooters. My favorite (which I will desperately try to get if we ever start seeing some income) is the BMW Executive C-1. It really is a cool, awesome scooter. It's not that I care that it is a BMW (cause if someone else made it I would still want it). It's like a little one seater Jeep, you know the kind everyone unzips the doors or takes them off.

Now, I am not sure I will drive it like Parisians do. Of course if I lived in California or New York, maybe I would. See here they drive between vehicles no matter what the size. You will see these little scooters come flying by (on highways and city streets) and you are just supposed to know they are there. These flying Wallenda's have no fear. They have no care of getting hurt or dying. The little devil-may-cares just go where they want. I saw a scooter squeeze by a truck and car by going around the mirrors of the vehicles just to get up to the stop light. They fear no death. No, after not just driving in Houston and in Paris, I would just do what a car does, wait my turn and not push the timeline of me meeting Jesus.

Maybe I will start a Scooters for Jesus club. Maybe then they will take driving aimlessly and erratically more seriously and wait to meet Jesus another day. Until then, I will only dream of my scooter and the scooters for Jesus club and continue to walk, take the bus and the Metro. I will have to wait to have a Big One!