i'm fascinated by our washer/dryer combo...yes i am, thank you very much! i never had a front-loading machine at my house when i was growing up, so every since we got our own washer/dryer a few months ago, i sometimes find myself staring into the little window...because now i get to see how the inside of a washing machine operates!
i'm strange...i know...and i have waayy too much time on my hands sometimes...
on another note, can someone explain to me why all european washing machine cycles take an hour or more?? well, most of them that is...our machine has flash! 30 minute cycle...but our old one, took at least an hour and a half. do french people really think that a washing machine needs an hour to wash a small load of clothes (no jumbo XL loads here)...
that and why are dryers still super rare? well, i know the answer to that question...electricity is super expensive and most houses and apartments aren't equipped with proper vents and pumps...so most of the dryers here sort of "cook" the clothes...but at least its a dryer right? europeans prefer to line-dry all of their laundry (yes, its very eco-friendly), and then iron everything...which means that all the towels that the boy's family has are as rough as a porcupine (but my dad claims that at such rough towels can serve as an exfoliator as well....gotta love that!)...
but i've seen so many french families and couples hire housekeepers and cleaning ladies who spend most of their time ironing the laundry and linen....wouldn't all the money that these people spend on housekeepers who do all the ironing, be better spent on a dryer? and seriously, who has all this time to iron these days?? the boy's mom spent her entire life ironing everything until the boy and his brother bought her a dryer this year for christmas....needless to say, it changed her life and she loves having soft towels now... again, its one of those a-ha moments that i love categorizing under "french people entering the 21st century"..
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
why i'll never be 100% french
i went out today to the mall near my apartment to start my christmas shopping. well, actually just to finish it as we had bought all of our presents for family and friends during our last trip the U.S. and all i had left to do was the boy. so this year, we decided to keep things simple as we had moved to a bigger apartment this year (and consequently had to buy all of the furniture and appliances) and did a big trip to the U.S. in October....so the boy made a small list of some things he wanted: DVDs, books, computer games, and the ultimate Frenchy reading material...les bandes desinees...or the literal translation is : comic books. now we're not talking about the comic books we think such as marvel comics..but more so like japanese manga.
now i love French comics...especially Asterix and Tintin (which are supposed to be for kids, but have lots of inside jokes and stories for adults too), but the French definitely take their bandes desinees to another level where the adults follow very serious crime or sitcom-type story series and there are whole sections in bookstores dedicated to the bandes desinees and some of the earlier editions of longer series can fetch a pretty nice price (considering they are only about 8-10 euros each to begin with)...something i will never get and apparently, you had to be born French or had a French parent growing up in order to get it or even be into it...
so anyway..i went into auchan (a big super walmart type store) today to try to find a few of the bandes desinees that were on my honey's list...and needless to say, it was one of the few times in my life that i felt that i was completely 100% lost and on another planet....everything was categorized in a system that i, of course, didn't understand and of course, i felt like a complete idiot asking any salesperson (and lack thereof) for any help as i was sure that the series i was looking for are totally popular and common (sort of asking someone in a store where the bestsellers are located)...i spent about a half an hour reading all the price tickets on the shelves before i gave up....i think the boy will be getting underwear this year....blahhh
now i love French comics...especially Asterix and Tintin (which are supposed to be for kids, but have lots of inside jokes and stories for adults too), but the French definitely take their bandes desinees to another level where the adults follow very serious crime or sitcom-type story series and there are whole sections in bookstores dedicated to the bandes desinees and some of the earlier editions of longer series can fetch a pretty nice price (considering they are only about 8-10 euros each to begin with)...something i will never get and apparently, you had to be born French or had a French parent growing up in order to get it or even be into it...
so anyway..i went into auchan (a big super walmart type store) today to try to find a few of the bandes desinees that were on my honey's list...and needless to say, it was one of the few times in my life that i felt that i was completely 100% lost and on another planet....everything was categorized in a system that i, of course, didn't understand and of course, i felt like a complete idiot asking any salesperson (and lack thereof) for any help as i was sure that the series i was looking for are totally popular and common (sort of asking someone in a store where the bestsellers are located)...i spent about a half an hour reading all the price tickets on the shelves before i gave up....i think the boy will be getting underwear this year....blahhh
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Its official!
I am a now an official full-fledged member of the AAWE (Association of American Wives of Europeans). never thought that i would be part of a wives' club...but legally, i am considered a spouse of a Frenchman....we even had our annual Christmas bazaar last week and i baked cupcakes! tell me that i am so 27 going on 45....
Monday, December 10, 2007
why my honey deserves to win a Nobel Prize
1) he didn't get all angry and huffy when i broke his expensive external hard-drive that had all of his music, our photos, and all of the movies and tv shows that he downloads for me (luckily his music and our photos were backed-up on DVDs) and all of his historical documentaries that he likes
2) he actually downloads all of my favorite tv shows that i miss while we are in France (especially since all of the websites to NBC and ABC are blocked)
3) unlike other guys, i can peel him away from a football match (and real football, not American football) if i really need his attention. this is especially impressive since he can't even peel me away from a dubbed episode of Friends
4) when i am working, he does a lot of the grocery shopping since he works different shifts each week and he knows how much i hate going to the supermarket on saturdays (everything is closed on sundays which means the stores are super crowded on saturdays)
5) he takes care of all american guests who stay with us...including driving them around (without the directions that i forgot to print out) far away to see famous chateaus
6) he comes with me to the doctor's office since he knows i have problems communicating what is actually wrong with me (this is so true even though i speak French pretty fluently...its start hard to describe certain ailments)
7) he actually eats everything i cook for him...which is bad because i can never tell if something i made could be tweaked. but basically he eats practically everything that is put in front of him (within reason...he is French after all!) and is not picky at all (totally unlike me) and i know thats gonna fly real well with my family
8) he reads my mind pretty well...i dont know if thats cause we've been living together for so long or b/c he's just sensitive and knows me too well
9) strangely enough, he is a lot neater than i am and tries his best to ignore the fact that my crap is everywhere...and it is everywhere, my cousins and i have confirmed that its a genetic disorder...that and having the sudden urge to clean at 1am in the morning..
10) he's a self-taught computer geek and reads non-fiction history for fun...both of which make him a super interesting guy and has totally expanded my horizons.
2) he actually downloads all of my favorite tv shows that i miss while we are in France (especially since all of the websites to NBC and ABC are blocked)
3) unlike other guys, i can peel him away from a football match (and real football, not American football) if i really need his attention. this is especially impressive since he can't even peel me away from a dubbed episode of Friends
4) when i am working, he does a lot of the grocery shopping since he works different shifts each week and he knows how much i hate going to the supermarket on saturdays (everything is closed on sundays which means the stores are super crowded on saturdays)
5) he takes care of all american guests who stay with us...including driving them around (without the directions that i forgot to print out) far away to see famous chateaus
6) he comes with me to the doctor's office since he knows i have problems communicating what is actually wrong with me (this is so true even though i speak French pretty fluently...its start hard to describe certain ailments)
7) he actually eats everything i cook for him...which is bad because i can never tell if something i made could be tweaked. but basically he eats practically everything that is put in front of him (within reason...he is French after all!) and is not picky at all (totally unlike me) and i know thats gonna fly real well with my family
8) he reads my mind pretty well...i dont know if thats cause we've been living together for so long or b/c he's just sensitive and knows me too well
9) strangely enough, he is a lot neater than i am and tries his best to ignore the fact that my crap is everywhere...and it is everywhere, my cousins and i have confirmed that its a genetic disorder...that and having the sudden urge to clean at 1am in the morning..
10) he's a self-taught computer geek and reads non-fiction history for fun...both of which make him a super interesting guy and has totally expanded my horizons.
The art of gift-giving
i dont know about you, but for me (and maybe its cause i was raised asian...with very highly japanese-influenced parents), but i love giving presents. its an art...it really is. its much more of a joy for me to go out and pick out the perfect present for someone and wrap it all up in pretty paper with a big ribbon on it and present it to them than it is to really receive presents for myself.
that being said...i miss gift wrapping here...most shops in France will gift wrap your purchase for free....which is nice and they do a pretty good job of making it look pretty nice (sephora does a phenomenal job). and plus it avoids any male attempts at wrapping a present....but i myself loooove to wrap presents and my sister loves it too. it was one of our favorite things to do when we were little....every time my mom would announce that she needed to wrap either bottle of wine or box of chocolates for so-and-so, we would clamor over who got to wrap it. and i remember our mom teaching us how to perfectly wrap a present and how to cut and fold the paper just so....it brought such wonderful childhood memories for us. and we loved it so much that being a professional gift-wrapper is one of my sister's alternate career choices in case med school doesnt work out (though she is in the middle of her fourth year of med school, so i guess we wont be seeing her in her dream job after all!).
anyway, since gift-wrapping is free here, you dont see many people going out to buy multi-packs of wrapping paper rolls and yards and yards of ribbon. its just not the culture and as a result, you can tell where the giver got the present when you receive it (usually the name of the store is stamped all over the paper) and for me, you just dont see the love that the person put into making the package look pretty. i remember giving sweaters and shirts to both the boy and his brother last christmas and i put all of it in nice shirt boxes (again, they dont give out shirt boxes here....even for a present..unless its a really really fancy shmancy store) with cute christmasy tissue paper before wrapping it all up. and the wrapping and the tissue paper surprised them more than the presents themselves....its just not the culture...even the boy's mom herself doesnt see the point in buying nice wrapping paper for the holidays...she prefers to use the free paper they give out from the supermarket (and yes, i've received presents the said free supermarket gift wrap). yes, its free and yes, buying wrapping paper isnt very ecological...but its the holidays!!!!
that being said...i miss gift wrapping here...most shops in France will gift wrap your purchase for free....which is nice and they do a pretty good job of making it look pretty nice (sephora does a phenomenal job). and plus it avoids any male attempts at wrapping a present....but i myself loooove to wrap presents and my sister loves it too. it was one of our favorite things to do when we were little....every time my mom would announce that she needed to wrap either bottle of wine or box of chocolates for so-and-so, we would clamor over who got to wrap it. and i remember our mom teaching us how to perfectly wrap a present and how to cut and fold the paper just so....it brought such wonderful childhood memories for us. and we loved it so much that being a professional gift-wrapper is one of my sister's alternate career choices in case med school doesnt work out (though she is in the middle of her fourth year of med school, so i guess we wont be seeing her in her dream job after all!).
anyway, since gift-wrapping is free here, you dont see many people going out to buy multi-packs of wrapping paper rolls and yards and yards of ribbon. its just not the culture and as a result, you can tell where the giver got the present when you receive it (usually the name of the store is stamped all over the paper) and for me, you just dont see the love that the person put into making the package look pretty. i remember giving sweaters and shirts to both the boy and his brother last christmas and i put all of it in nice shirt boxes (again, they dont give out shirt boxes here....even for a present..unless its a really really fancy shmancy store) with cute christmasy tissue paper before wrapping it all up. and the wrapping and the tissue paper surprised them more than the presents themselves....its just not the culture...even the boy's mom herself doesnt see the point in buying nice wrapping paper for the holidays...she prefers to use the free paper they give out from the supermarket (and yes, i've received presents the said free supermarket gift wrap). yes, its free and yes, buying wrapping paper isnt very ecological...but its the holidays!!!!
The holidays in France
ahh its that time of the time of the year again and i have to say that i love december and the holidays. i used to keep a countdown of "how many days until Christmas" starting from around September...but then it got too hard to remember how many actual days there were....
anyway, since i've been in france, december has always brought about a mixed bag of feelings....i'm really happy to be far away from all of the crowds, the malls, and ridiculous decorations that start appearing in october no less and just the sheer over-commercialization of the holiday spirit (and my wallet is super happy too). but at the same time, i really miss it too...i miss Black Friday (yes, i'm nuts...but i used to work at Bath and Body Works as a holiday worker and i got a real rush from it...plus, it makes you realize that there really is "one born every minute"...) and the over-commercialization, the fun sappy christmas music everywhere, stores open until midnight...
but most of all, i miss the general holiday spirit that americans do well. i miss seeing the salvation army santa and the various charities (toys for tots and adopting a family...stuff that i used to participate in when i worked in the U.S.). charity is just such a different thing here....good and bad i guess. most French people (unless they are part of a catholic church of some sort) just dont do charity (aside from donating used clothing). part of the reason is that the French (and other europeans) already pay very high income taxes and ridiculous VAT (value-added tax) on everything they buy compared to americans. all of this tax money goes towards paying for basic health care (for EVERYONE!), generous generous unemployment coverage, schools, roads, public housing....and (not to get too politically charged here) it also pays for basic costs for the thousands of immigrants who decide to claim asylum in France and the French government in turn opens its wallet and finds them housing, etc. etc. so from a French standpoint, they feel that they already give plenty...and probably too much which i can totally understand. but still, i would love to see more of the volunteering efforts that i loved seeing in the U.S. on another hand, at least the charities here are not overrun with numerous black tie functions and galas where in which the money spent for such black tie galas could be going straight to the charities themselves. but again, thats just my point of view...
anyway, since i've been in france, december has always brought about a mixed bag of feelings....i'm really happy to be far away from all of the crowds, the malls, and ridiculous decorations that start appearing in october no less and just the sheer over-commercialization of the holiday spirit (and my wallet is super happy too). but at the same time, i really miss it too...i miss Black Friday (yes, i'm nuts...but i used to work at Bath and Body Works as a holiday worker and i got a real rush from it...plus, it makes you realize that there really is "one born every minute"...) and the over-commercialization, the fun sappy christmas music everywhere, stores open until midnight...
but most of all, i miss the general holiday spirit that americans do well. i miss seeing the salvation army santa and the various charities (toys for tots and adopting a family...stuff that i used to participate in when i worked in the U.S.). charity is just such a different thing here....good and bad i guess. most French people (unless they are part of a catholic church of some sort) just dont do charity (aside from donating used clothing). part of the reason is that the French (and other europeans) already pay very high income taxes and ridiculous VAT (value-added tax) on everything they buy compared to americans. all of this tax money goes towards paying for basic health care (for EVERYONE!), generous generous unemployment coverage, schools, roads, public housing....and (not to get too politically charged here) it also pays for basic costs for the thousands of immigrants who decide to claim asylum in France and the French government in turn opens its wallet and finds them housing, etc. etc. so from a French standpoint, they feel that they already give plenty...and probably too much which i can totally understand. but still, i would love to see more of the volunteering efforts that i loved seeing in the U.S. on another hand, at least the charities here are not overrun with numerous black tie functions and galas where in which the money spent for such black tie galas could be going straight to the charities themselves. but again, thats just my point of view...
excuses excuses...
i thought i wasnt going to be such a bad blogger....again, life happened and got busy and for several reasons:
1) i am studying my ass off for the GMATs in January (well i should be) and man, its really hard to remember high school algebra and geometry...and remember well enough to take the test too!
2) i am seriously contemplating which b-schools i would like to apply to and yet doing the merry-go-round in my head of whether i am actually read to go to b-school yet...which isnt helping as the deadlines are coming up...big big big decision...plus the decision of whether i am ready or not also coincides with "am i really ready to take out $100,000 in loans now??)
3) i'm planning a big holiday party for this weekend...its supposed to our holiday/belated housewarming party (we moved a few months ago) and i'm going all rachael ray on myself
4) all of the above is happening all at the same time...
i love my life right now
but i will redeem myself....our external hard drive nearly fell to the floor which then pretty much killed the entire thing....which means that all of the tv shows and movies that were on said hard drive are no longer an easy distraction for me...for the moment...unless we decide to pay an exorbitant amount of money for data recovery....i am such a klutz.....
1) i am studying my ass off for the GMATs in January (well i should be) and man, its really hard to remember high school algebra and geometry...and remember well enough to take the test too!
2) i am seriously contemplating which b-schools i would like to apply to and yet doing the merry-go-round in my head of whether i am actually read to go to b-school yet...which isnt helping as the deadlines are coming up...big big big decision...plus the decision of whether i am ready or not also coincides with "am i really ready to take out $100,000 in loans now??)
3) i'm planning a big holiday party for this weekend...its supposed to our holiday/belated housewarming party (we moved a few months ago) and i'm going all rachael ray on myself
4) all of the above is happening all at the same time...
i love my life right now
but i will redeem myself....our external hard drive nearly fell to the floor which then pretty much killed the entire thing....which means that all of the tv shows and movies that were on said hard drive are no longer an easy distraction for me...for the moment...unless we decide to pay an exorbitant amount of money for data recovery....i am such a klutz.....
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