Update-21 February

Forgot a few things on the last entry.

Samuel is beginning to try to pull himself up to standing.  He has not quite accomplished this milestone but he is trying.

A major treat.  The pool has vending machines, no groundbreaking news there. The vending machines carry Mikado.  One of Julia's favorite treats.  We can get them at any store but it is interesting to see them available in a vending machine.

Samuel is not quite crawling.  He motors quite quickly around the apartment on his elbows and legs.  Has not got the hang of getting to his hands and knees.  He may never get there as he is quite fast in his present mode.

-Dave

Another good day-21 February

Saturday-Samuel has his swimming lesson from 0915-0950.  However, the french school system is on holiday for the next 2 weeks so there was no class today.  But we did not know that so we arrived as usual at 0900 only to be told that class was not scheduled.  Since we were already at the pool we decided to go in anyway.  There were two other couples(both French) who also showed up so the 9 of us shared the baby pool.  Unfortunately since no class was scheduled the toys that are usually available were away in storage. We still managed to have fun.  We spent about 50 minutes in the water with Samuel.  We placed Samuel on our backs with him holding our hair and swam/walked the length of the pool with him on our backs. Samuel also had a great time splashing.  This was 2 consecutive weeks that Samuel really enjoyed his time in the water. Hopefully his enjoyment and improvement will continue. Discovered today that the baby pool is available during the week so for the near future Samuel and I will be going to the pool on Wednesdays to spend some quality time in the pool.

We plan on going to the Musee du Luxembourg to day to see a Miro/Warhol exhibit.  If you remember our posts from the summer there is a wonderful Italienne Glace shop near the Jardin du Luxembourg where the Musee is located.  Unfortunately the high today is only supposed to be 42(6) so they may not be open. Also the glace may not taste as good in cold weather. We have talked about stopping at a cafe on our way home and enjoying one of the benefits of living in Paris.  We have yet to sit at a cafe and have a coffee.  We did have a few beers in the summer when we in Montparnesse.

A good day- 20 February

Samuel has changed his sleep habits.  He now goes to bed much earlier 2100 or 2200.  He wakes sometime early morning, anywhere from 0200-0500 for a feed and then he, sometimes, goes back to sleep.

With Samuel now being awake earlier in the morning our schedule can adjust.  Today, Samuel and I walked Julia to her car and then we went to the butcher and the market.  The weather has improved so that we could do this.  High today almost 50(10 c).  It was good to see everyone and have them remember us.  We especially miss our produce people as we had not seen them since before Christmas.

Upon returning to our building, Beatrice, our gardienne, was in the hallway cleaning the mirrors. We did not have an intellectual discussion but I was able to comprehend what she was saying/asking and I was able to tell her that Samuel is feeling better. A small victory.

Had my first encounter with the French bureaucracy today.  I had to meet a consultant at the Nanterre prefecture to pick up my carte de sejour(residency card).  Julia being an EU citizen allows me to receive a cart de sejour that allows me to reside and work in France for 10 years. With the aid of the consultant I was able to receive my carte with ....update(not for the squeamish).....Samuel is on the floor under the desk and he has just been exposed to many germs as he just put two of my toes in his mouth.  Now he is crying...........very little heartache. The only obstacle is that the card was issued with our old address, so the consultant kept my carte as she was meeting with an official after our meeting who would be able to correct my address.  If all goes well she will courier my carte to me on Monday.

Did encounter some difficulty today.  To get to the nanterre prefecture I had to take the metro 1 to La Defense where I transferred to the RER A.  I had, what we call in America a brain fart. when I got off the metro I took the escalator the RER not realizing that the RER went in two directions and I was on the wrong platform.  My thought(?) process was that the metro line meets it terminus at La Defense and for reasons unknown I assumed that the RER line was the same.  It was not.  Fortunately I was able to call my non flustered wife and she listened to me patiently as I was able to determine what I needed to do.  We only had to take the RER 1 stop so when we got off(on the RER you need your ticket to exit, this is different than the metro where no ticket is needed to exit) when I tried to exit the turnstile would not accept my ticket.  I tried a few different turnstiles with the same result.  Fortunately there was port near the turnstiles that someone had just used and we were able to sneak through before it closed to exit the terminal.  As we returned to the terminal to begin our journey home the turnstile again refused my ticket.  Again, my lovely wife came to the rescue as she determined that I had crossed zones and needed to purchase a different ticket to access the RER.  The remainder of the trip home was uneventful.

-Dave

Samuel update-19 February

Samuel is growing too fast.  When I try to put him on the floor in a sitting position he now refuses to bend his legs and he remains in a standing position.  Have had to resort to grabbing his knees and bending them so that he will move into a sitting position.  The entire time I am doing this he is laughing at me.

Samuel had his first negative encounter with Molson today. Back story-I had a hot turkey sandwich for lunch today utilizing the remaining Turkey & gravy from thanksgiving.  There was an abundance of turkey so I gave some to Molson.  When I returned from picking up Samuel at the halte garderie I gave Molson the rest of the turkey in his food bowl.  Samuel, who had been in the living room, had made his way into the kitchen and he decided that Molson wanted to be petted while he was eating turkey.  Unfortunately, Molson did not want to be petted.  Samuel's idea of petting is to grab and hold until he pulls Molson's hair out.  Molson did not appreciate this while he was eating and he hissed at Samuel for the first time.  Samuel did not flinch and continued to grasp Molson by the hair until he left his food bowl and the kitchen.

Went to quatre temps(shopping mall) today to purchase baby gates and toys while Samuel was in the halte garderie.  I detest going to Parisian malls as much I hated going to American malls. Only purchased one toy but Samuel now has an ABC piano that is in both French and English.  I should admit that I will also use the French ABC to practice my pronunciation

Working ... or not... in France

Yet another new Parisian experience. As I left our apartment this morning, I noticed traffic on the major road outside was blocked and there were a lot of police around. I heard the faint rumbling sound of a shouting crowd in the distance. A bit puzzled, I continued on my way to get the car & head to work. A few minutes later, I found myself face to face with a shouting mob of striking demonstrators... as I crossed the major street just in front of them (now blocked off for them to walk down) . There were at least 20 policemen and 10 vehicles blocking off the busiest street in Europe during rush hour for a crowd of some 200-300 demonstrators. The demonstrators were cheerfully marching, shouting and brandishing their signs. All really just another day in France...

I went to work :-)

The working culture is very different in France than in the US. In the US, people work for companies 'at will' - they can resign or be fired with a couple of weeks notice. People see that they need to perform to earn, and keep, their job - and the employer has the right to fire/hire.

In France, there is a strong sense that working life is managed by a triumverate of workers, employers and the government. Workers are represented in this not only by unions but also by elected worker representatives. Employees are proud of the fact that they have rights and strongly feel that they need to exercise them and that employers should not be allowed to make decisions unilaterally. For example, to make any change in headcount/staffing numbers, I have to run the proposal by the committee of employee representatives for 'consultation' (we can agree to disagree, so I can still do it, but this process is very time-consuming and costly). If I want to cut more than 10 positions in a year, I will need to write up a full, detailed proposal that will need to go to the government for approval. Even better... if you fire someone because they are a poor performer, you still have to give them a severance package based on their years of service.

This is indeed a very different world.

A very difficult day.......

For Valentine's day, which we do not celebrate, as Julia thinks it is just a hallmark holiday, we went to our favorite restaurant, La Village de Neuilly.  Julia changed her main course from the entrecote to the pave while I had the avocado and shrimp entree for the first time. 

I am only mentioning the previous evening as we ate more that evening then we had the entire week preceding.  Julia had the profiteroles for dessert and I had the molten lava cake.  Julia was unable to finish her profiteroles and I, being a gentlemen, finished them for her as it is considered rude in French culture to not clear one's plate.

Woke up on Sunday not feeling well, hopefully due to the amount that I ate and drank as we shared a full bottle of Lalande de Pomerol.

For the last 90 minutes Julia has been laying on the couch, Samuel asleep on her chest, reading the latest by Henning Mankell. I have been laying on the bed, with Molson sprawled across my lap, enjoying a Michael Chabon novel.   Very difficult day.

Hopefully, Samuel will awake soon so that he can eat, so that we can eat and then we can enjoy the nice weather and go for a walk in the park before it gets dark.

_Dave