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 

"It never snows in paris"-Julia, July 2008

It has snowed 10 or 11 (it has snowed so often that I have lost count) times this winter. Thankfully very seldom does the snow effect our lives as it does not stick to the roads.  Only one occurrence where about 2-3 inches fell and Julia's commute was 90 minutes and she had a number of near accidents actually had an effect on our lives.

Samuel and I are visiting my family in Denver from March 21st through March 27th.  We thought this was a good idea because Julia was scheduled to be in Geneva for 4 days of tax training so she would have been away from both of us anyway.  Unfortunately, Julia has been so effective in reducing costs that she has had to slash her own travel budget and she will now be in Paris for our entire time in Denver.  

If there is anyone out there who has been harboring thoughts of visiting us please consider coming during this time as it would ease my guilt immensely to know that Julia will not be alone for 6 days.  I know that I would not be able to handle 6 days without Samuel. 

-Dave

We have failed as parents.

Samuel has discovered the remote for the television.  He will pick up the remote, hold it in his hands, press the buttons and when he hears the sound of the power coming on he will turn his head toward the TV.  He even tries to turn on the TV with the telephone.

It is really quite amazing to see how Samuel reacts to the TV.  We try to keep him entertained or in his bouncy seat facing away from the TV when we do watch.

It has been a difficult week with all 3 of us being sick at one point.  Realized today that I have not been out of the apartment since Saturday afternoon.  Will take Samuel to the Carreau (indoor market) tomorrow in the stroller to get him some fresh(?) air.  I question the fresh air as the street we live on is one of the busiest in Europe and I am sure the air quality is matched by the sound level, which can be deafening when you walk out the front door.

We will take it easy and relax over the weekend and hope to resume normal activities, including solid food, starting on Monday.

-Dave

Recovery

Samuel was kind enough to share his gastroenteritis with his parents, so we are all now gradually recovering from the experience. It was definitely the right thing not to get on the plane on Saturday - we have all had quite a difficult few days and it would have been miserable with a long plane ride and then having to manage illness far from home.

Samuel is still not eating much and occasionally vomiting, but otherwise is generally his usual happy, active self. We took him back to the doctor again last night to check his weight, and he hasn't lost too much (a relief - he was in the 75th percentile of height and 15th percentile of weight at the last checkup a couple of weeks ago, so he's already pretty lean). There are some distinct advantages to having a doctor in the building - the trip to see him simply means we pick up Samuel and take the lift down to the 1st floor! We are now going to try and add some cereal to his formula to help settle his digestion and help add some more calories to his diet, since he's still only eating about half of his normal amount and this could last for a while longer.

After a couple of days at home, I have returned to work. The good news is that since I was supposed to be on vacation I have the luxury of a calendar almost entirely free of meetings, so I can catch up on my email and easily have time to deal with urgent matters. Today's main challenge is to try to reschedule our vacation for the week of 18-25 April: Samuel's first birthday will (hopefully!) be spent playing in the sand and sea of the Caribbean.

Julia

Vacation postponed due to projectile vomiting....

We were scheduled to leave for a week long vacation at the baby club med in the Dominican Republic(thank you, Claudia) on Saturday the 7th.  Julia woke Samuel at 0645 and his sheets were doused in vomit and his sleepsack was also wet with vomit.  However, he took his food and when we placed him on the floor he was active and happy crawling all over the place.  So we thought we would take our chances and head to the airport.

We arrived at the airport at 0800 and while standing in line to check-in Samuel vomited all over himself and my jacket.  We went to the airport pharmacy to see if we could purchase medication that would ease his discomfort.  We were told that they did not have anything but that there was an SOS medicin (emergency doctor) on the premises that we could meet with.  We stepped out of the pharmacy and decided to try and call our pediatrician to get his advice. While Julia was making the call Samuel again vomited all over both of us.  At this point we decided to cancel/postpone our vacation.

Luckily the cab service we had taken to the airport was still at the terminal having just picked up his next customer.  Thankfully his customer was an American who was more than amenable to sharing the taxi with us and our ill child.  The customer ended up being a very nice man from Texas who was in country for business.

We are beginning to see very good benefits about where we live.  As we were in the taxi on the way home Julia called the doctor in our building and we made an appointment for 1015.  Even though the doctor is not a pediatrician it is a wonderful benefit to have him in the building. He prescribed medications for diarrhea and gas and both seem to have had a good effect as Samuel has only vomited once since our return.  He offended Julia by asking if Samuel was "always this pale".  I replied that "He is half British."  The doctor understood.  Julia was able to immediately take the prescriptions to the pharmacy across the street and Samuel had his medications less than 30 minutes after his doctor appointment.  Samuel has slept quite a bit but he has been happy and smiling when he has been awake.

Luckily, both our airfare and the club med are fully credited and we are planning on completing the vacation in April.

Samuel speaks?

Julia and I were sitting on the couch with Samuel between us.  He was playing with the remotes.  He had managed to turn on the TV.  After he pressed a button, the TV screen popped up with "The function is not available."  Julia playfully turned to Samuel and said "Sorry, that function is not available."  Samuel, with a very serious look on his face said "Oh dear".  Or at least it sounded very much like "Oh dear."  

It also worries me that he said it in a very British way.