A different perspective....

After further review, I do not hate the French.  Only Parisians.

I have come to realize that it is simply a battle over space.  The times that are challenging here are walking on the sidewalks, shopping in the narrow(compared to the US) aisles of the supermarket, getting on/of the trains.

I have to remember that the behavior is not directed towards me or Samuel.  I have seen young Parisian males rush past old women on the train to beat them to seats.  I have to take the time to remember that this is the first time I have lived in the big city.  When you are visiting as a tourist such behavior is often quite quickly forgotten when overwhelmed with the beauty and newness of the city.  When you are living here the daily battles become exaggerated and can be overwhelming if one lets them.  It is easy to become a prisoner in one's home.  I must get out every day.  That is why it is wonderful to have the park so near because as soon as we turn the corner towards the park the sounds of the avenue Charles de Gaulle fade away.  The pedestrian traffic is greatly reduced and we can leisurely stroll to the park and find a bench on the edge of a lake and enjoy the dogs, birds and couples strolling around the lake.

That is why I always try to remind myself whenever we see a tourist destination that we are living in Paris.  Samuel is almost always in the baby bjorn and I will try to grab his arms and throw them up in the air in celebration and say into his ear "We live in Paris!".

-Dave

Samuel is too smart for us.

Now that we have received our sea shipment we have moved Samuel from his bassinet to a crib.  The bassinet was getting ridiculously small as Samuel barely fit from head to toe.  Now that he is in his crib he has plenty of room.  even so that he was able to roll over on to his stomach the other night.  I was only slightly disturbed when I went to wake him up and he was on his belly.

When Samuel was in his bassinet he was able to kick a musical aquarium(thank you, Jencie and Antonio) to advise us that he was awake and wishing to get up.  Now that he is in his crib the aquarium is harder to get to.  So today he decided to roll over to the edge of the crib and turn on his overhead mobile.  We have to figure out how to download from our video camera so that we can make a movie of Samuel waking up as he always wakes up with a smile and a tremendous desire to get his day started.

Had another good day today.  Samuel and I went to the market this morning and i was able to ask the cheese shop if they have ricotta.  Unfortunately they do not but I was able to communicate.  Progress is being made.

Samuel and I then went for a 2 hour walk in the bois de bolougne.  We found the playground again so that anyone who visits that has kids who need to burn of energy have a playground available.  Found a lake that has a rowboat rental; as Samuel was asleep I sat on a  bench and watched a father try to teach his young daughter how to row a boat.  Paid attention as this is something I will be undertaking in a few years.

Dave-

More pictures and life in Paris is good(at least for today).

Samuel in his halloween costume.
Samuel in a full body shot(except you can't see his orange feet) of his halloween costume.

First the good news.  I received my absentee ballot today.  It is a good feeling to feel connected to the homeland.  Unfortunately there are no candidates worthy of the office but I have to vote in spite of the dearth of qualified candidates.  Political rant off.

We will be able to celebrate halloween in Paris.  There is an english speaking mothers group that hosts a party in the Parc Monceau that we will be attending on the 31st. Julia will take time off from work so that we can enjoy the day as a family.

Pictures

Even I have to admit that Samuel is not always the perfect child.
This is Samuel just after he was cleaned.
The view form the window in our entryway.  Not the best view of the tower but it is a good reminder that we are living in Paris
Three generations of Denman's.

I don't want to be French......

Just made my first foray to our new monoprix and used the livraison domicile(home delivery) for the first time.  Actually, using the delivery was the easiest part of the journey(as Julia had set up the details on Saturday).  However, i do not think I will ever adjust to the rudeness and selfishness of the French.  I lost count of the number of times that people left their carts in the middle of the aisle or walked out from an aisle without looking.  One incident was hilarious.  I turned the corner into an aiisle and a women was looking at the produce but she had taken her basket and placed it on the floor behind her, effectively blocking the entire aisle.  there was another woman pushing a cart on the other side of the aisle.  While my response would have been to say pardon and hope she would move the basket, this woman ran into the basket with her cart and moved it 20 feet down the aisle before it moved from in front of the cart.  Hilarious and very enjoyable but I hope that in my time here that I do not become such a person.  Either of them, actually. Both women displayed disgusting social mores.

I have to admit that i was french yesterday(but entirely by mistake).  I was at the outdoor market, which is very nice, even by french standards, looking at the fish and one of the workers asked me what i wanted and I requested some salmon.  Only after finishing the order and turning to walk away did I notice a que(line) at the other end of the kiosk waiting for service from the fish monger.  I felt bad and ashamed but also quite french.  But I hope to not do that again.

I attended the bloom where you're planted seminar at the american church on Monday and Tuesday this week.  I had lunch on tuesday with some very interesting women.  One of who had married a frenchmen 2 months ago and moved to Paris, giving up her career and placing her life on hold for him.  She was obviously very frustrated but our conversation moved toward the attitudes of the french and how she also hoped that she would not become french but that it was hard to be nice when the people you are being nice to are so selfish and socially unaware.  Good to know that I am not alone.

I will say that I am generalizing and should not.  When I am on the metro with Samuel in his baby bjorn I have almost always had someone offer me their seat.

Rant over.  Thanks for listening.

Molson tells us how he feels about moving.....

We went to the old apartment today to pick up the cats. We had left them at the old aprtment to aviod the stress of being in the new place while we were moving in. We also needed to move the car as Julia had signed the new lease for a parking place on Friday.

We picked up the cats. We placed Preacher in a cat carrier and carried Molson to the car. Julia was holding Molson while riding down in the lift. Unfortunately at this time Molson chose to releive his bladder. Julia was not happy. While we were driving to the new place I was holding Molson in my lap. I had my hand saound his stomach. As the car was moving I noticed some tightining in his stomach. I picked up Molson and placed him on the seat between my legs. As we noticed a very strong odor I picked up Molson and there was a solid pooh on the seat(and some on my pants). It could have been worse as the poh was solid and diarrhea. There is always a bright side. We drove the rest of the way with the windows down.

The cats were very strange in adjusting. Preacher actually spent part of the evening in our bed. Something she has never done before.