The Race Is On...Christmas Is Coming

I love the Christmas season.

It is more Christmas-y in Paris than in California, but I enjoy the season no matter where I am.

As an American, I always thought of the day after Thanksgiving as the official start of the Christmas season.

Since there is no Thanksgiving in France (except at our house) all bets are off -- I saw Christmas displays in stores before Halloween.

However, it's really started now. The store windows are decorated for Christmas not for fall. There are many promotions advertising in the name of "Noel".

The stores don't seem busier though. There's time.

While in the US, everyone has a day off on the day after Thanksgiving and the stores have sales, so it's the time to start shopping.

Personal decorating has been put off in our house. I don't think I'm ready yet. I'm not ready to have every spare surface covered with little snowmen, reindeer and Santas. I'm not ready for pine in the house either. The smell is great but the falling needles leave something to be desired.

I've got flowers in the house and all is well. There's Christmas music playing through my iPOD, all is well.

The Pumpkin Pie

After standing in the pie crust aisle at both Franprix and Monprix, I found the proper thing to line the pan for the pie. All the pie crusts are in rolls in France. They're in pie shaped metal tins in the US.

I brought the crust makings home and tried to read the directions. I even got Terry to translate. But, we couldn't figure out if the paper is supposed to be UNDER the crust or OVER the crust but under the beans or rice that are used to weight down the crust while it cooks. No idea. So, we put it OVER and cooked the crust. It didn't seem to be wrecked, so I added the pumpkin pie filling.

The filing was also somewhat challenging. The recipe was partially in grams but then deferred at the end to 1/2 pint of milk. So, I had to recite the childhood rhyme, "A pint, a pound, the world around". So, a pound is 16 oz., so a half pint is a half pound or 8 oz. It all seems to have worked out.

I didn't have all the spices called for, but I think it will taste good anyway.

The leftover crust allowed me to make a little art project for my pie. I cut a small pumpkin, some leaves and also put some cloves on top of the pumpkin pie for the fall-like effect shown above.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Carte de Sejour, 2009

Friday afternoon, I was at the local copier place, making copies of three (3) months worth of financial documents, our tax receipts, and our newly-translated medical insurance policy. I made over 400 copies. I made so many that the owner gave me the student price of 6 cents a copy. She probably just wanted to get rid of me. She doesn't take credit cards, and I hadn't been to the bank recently.

I then collated them all into three stacks. One for us and two for the fonctionnaire at the Prefecture at Cite.

We analyzed and rehearsed our positions. We weren't going away empty-handed again.

This morning, we got up early, had our coffee, showered, got dressed and hit the metro. The paperwork mandated during our previous meeting, fit nicely in one of our flight carry-on suitcases, the stack was too heavy and cumbersome to carry, even in a briefcase.

As usual, we got there too early. We tried to spot the fonctionnaire who had been so brutal with us the last time. She was there again, same guichet, #3. We kept our fingers crossed, breathing little prayers. Go on a break, go to the bathroom, take a long time with the people you're with so someone else will call our number. Our prayers were answered. After waiting for more than an hour, another woman called our number. We approached, gave her the enormous stack of papers, explained them a bit.

She told us to wait (again). More than an hour later, our number was called again. She gave us the approval, without explanation. We packed it all back into the suitcase and hit the metro. A mere three hours at the Prefecutre this morning.

France Telecom

France Telecom is a confusing conglomerate of companies. We use them, under a variety of names for our telephone, internet and television connection. They go by the names France Telecom, Orange and Wanadoo.

During 2009, there have been more than 20 suicides by employees of this company. Job stress, lack of security, and a company that is partially private and partially public, are to blame, according to the press.

What about the customers? While I haven't considered suicide, France Telecom has given me a few more grey hairs on my head.

Yesterday's example is pretty harmless, but still it took an hour of my time to figure it out and fix it.

We had a power outage while we were out in the afternoon. We turned the power back on and didn't think too much about it, until I decided to watch the evening news last night. We have power outages quite often. I normally just re-set the decoder box for the TV or the Livebox (like a modem) or both. But, last night, nothing worked. A new screen, one that I've never seen before, popped up. It said to put in my 10-digit customer number and push OK.

We've had the France Telecom system for four years. I've never been asked for my customer number before. Into the files I went, found a very thick file (as you can imagine) and went through it. I tried every number I could find, pushed them all in, nothing. Finally a screen came up on the TV that said I had to go to the Orange.fr website to find out what to do. Luckily the internet worked! I did this and it told me that the customer number I was looking for was on my "welcome" letter when I signed up for the service. I found it and pushed it in, voila, another screen came up, asking for my password. Yikes. I put in all the normal passwords that I might use, nothing.

Back to the internet. The password should be with the customer number. Yes, it was, in it went, OK. Turned off the decoder and the TV. Turned it back on. It worked. But, all my settings for English, sub-titles, etc. were lost along the way. Back to the buttons, another 15 minutes later, the TV was restored.

If we had to call France Telecom, we would have been charged, by the minute, for the call. If they had to come to our apartment, they charge a minimum of Euro 77.

Compare this with our US system, Time Warner. When we have a problem, we call. They try to fix it over the phone. No charge, of course. If that doesn't work, they come out to the house, replace whatever needs to be fixed, no charge.

More On Thanksgiving

I just realized a few days ago that my meal accessories are more suited to serving a french-style meal than an American meal.

I have enough plates, forks, and spoons for lots of little courses.

Thanksgiving is one big meal. All the dishes are served at once. OMG. I need a lot of serving bowls, right away.

This morning I calculated all the items on the menu and what sort of serving dish they'd need. Then I checked my inventory. Sorely lacking.

Off to the stores. It's never easy, but it's especially hard if I have to walk everywhere or take the metro or bus.

The first few stores I hit didn't seem right so I pressed on. It's Saturday and the buses don't run as often as during the week.

I've just gotten home with a bag of stuff. It's 3 PM and I've been out since about 10:30 AM. But, I think I have everything for Thanksgiving dinner except the fresh foods and the wine (that's going to be hard). I got a muffin tin (now silicon), hopefully it won't melt, several serving dishes and assorted other fun things.

So, the meal is organized. I wish I could say the same for the new stuff. I'm out of room in my kitchen to store these new additions. The cave is not that easy to store things in, but I won't need any of this until the next meal I prepare that has 7 or 8 items served simultaneously.

Thanksgiving To The Rescue

Thanksgiving is a week and two days from today. I've ordered the turkey, it will be great, since everything we buy from our local butcher is tasty, fresh, and top quality.

This morning, I decided that it was time to start accumulating the other components of the dinner. We've never made a true Thanksgiving dinner before in Paris. I made a list of all the things I needed, including a pan that is small enough to fit in the oven but large enough to hold the turkey.

Mid-morning, I hit the Epicerie at Le Bon Marche, thinking that I would be able to find everything in my own neighborhood. I got a cart at the door I was so sure it would be filled to the brim. As I made my way up and down the aisles, I couldn't find one thing needed for the meal. No stuffing mix, no cranberries, no pumpkin in a can to make the pies. I went through the whole store twice, thinking that I wasn't being open-minded. I left empty-handed.

I came home, had lunch and hatched a new plan. There are several stores in Paris that sell Anglophone food products. I've been to one, "The Real McCoy" on rue Grenelle and it wasn't very good. But, there is another store called, yes, "Thanksgiving" in the Marais. It's a little bit out of my normal route, but I was getting desperate. I checked the map, grabbed my cart and Terry and we hit the Marais. We found the store in an area called, Village St Paul, a charming corner near Il St Louis. The store was incredible, a veritable Thanksgiving cornucopia. I found everything I needed and more. Yes, it was expensive, but it is worth every centime.

Next stop, BHV, a short but crowded bus ride away. I found the roasting pan and it even had a rack in it.

So I'm set for Thanksgiving in Paris.

Carte de Sejour Hell

We are law-abiding citizens. We try to follow the rules, really.

We've had our "carte de sejour" (french resident permit) for a little over one year. We had difficulty getting it the first time, but that was partially our fault.

This last go-around, which started in September, has been even more taxing than normal. We can't even really complain to our friends because they think we're crazy or incompetent. Why should this be so hard? We're just renewing an existing card. They've already let us in the country for a year and nothing bad has happened.

For this year's renewal, we got an appointment, well before the expiration date of the carte. We got the letter from the Prefecture de Police with all the things we have to bring. We followed it to the letter. But, in a little box at the bottom of the page that outlines what we need to bring there's a note that says that the "fonctionnaire" (civil servant) that handles our case has authority to demand more things than the items listed on the form.

We got to our meeting, nicely dressed and early. The receptionist handed us two folders, one for each of us. We were given instructions to put copies of all relevant documents into each folder. It's kind of a stressful moment because you don't know if you have five minutes or half an hour to complete this and it requires shuffling through all the paperwork that you've brought.

We filled our folders and waited. Eventually our number came up on the screen. The screen is a digital thing in the waiting room that dings when it changes so that you look at it and then it has two sets of numbers, your "ticket" number and the cubicle number that you should go to. We went to the cubicle noted on the screen and I immediately realized that the woman fonctionnaire who had put a note in our file that caused us a lot of trouble at the border earlier this year, was going to handle our case. We are finished. She is horrible.

Needless to say, she tortured us for about 30 minutes. We retorted to the best of our abilities but finally she sent us packing with an extension on our cartes and a huge list of things that we needed to produce the next go-around. We actually had to negotiate several points, at first she asked for six (6) months of financial statements, plus 2 copies each (4 total copies). The original statements for six months are probably four inches high. It would have been impossible. We negotiated her down to three months and felt lucky to get out the door.

We staggered home, ready to sell our apartment and move to Italy. I'm sure they wouldn't hassle us this much.

So, now the appointment is next month. It took us two months to get an appointment. We're about to leave for Christmas.

Tomorrow, I'll head to the copier place to make all the copies. I hope to make one "master" and then put the "master" through the machine so that I don't have to collate them all by hand. Then, when I get home, I'll have to put all the originals into a separate place for safekeeping. I am very afraid to lose things like my birth certificate, which can't be replaced.

Then after the meeting, we'll have to re-file all the originals and put the extra copies in a safe place for next year's meeting.

Is it all worth it? At this point, we're not sure, we're very close to telling them to keep their "carte de sejour", we'll pay taxes and buy stuff in another country, a country that wants us.

Thanksgiving In Paris

November is full of Fall activities. Even though it's not on the French calendar, my favorite day in November is still Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November, the date moves with the calendar.

It is actually more fun in France because no one else knows about it. So, the grocery stores are not packed with last-minute shoppers and the newspaper is not filled with ads for discounts on food. In the US, Thanksgiving marks the start of the "holiday" season. Everyone starts to buy more, eat more and work less it seems.

Thanksgiving is a fun holiday in France, but I have to work a little harder to celebrate. I'm not sure if a whole turkey will fit in my oven. And, if it does, I don't have a big enough pan. So, typically, I buy a couple of turkey leg/thighs and roast them.

Cranberries don't exist here in the same form and quantity as in the US. So, last year, we used Odile's apple compote as a delicious substitute. I can make some this year and I probably will. There's no stuffing for the turkey, of course. To help things a bit, I usually substitute a little pate for some of the other delicious things that we used to eat. Champagne helps, too.

So, our Thanksgiving here is a nice meal. The only thing missing is family and friends. We typically don't invite anyone over, we would have to relive the whole Pilgrim/Indian story.

The other fun activity, centered around the bountiful fall harvest happens on the third Thursday in November-- the Beaujolais Nouveau. It marks the release of the young 2009 red wine. Even though it seems that no one really likes the taste of this wine very much, it's a tradition which is marked with dinners to honor the day.



We try to buy a bottle and to celebrate with a fun activity of some kind. Last year we went to our tennis club with friends for dinner. It was fun, but neither the wine nor the dinner were memorable, so we'll have to find something else to do.

Countdown....

10,9,8,7,6..

It's one month until we leave Paris. We might be gone for awhile, that's unusual. We're not happy.

So, we now have one month to do all the things that we know/want to do/are on the plan, but haven't done.

This includes:

Entertain friends
See all temporary museum expositions
Clean the apartment thoroughly (ICK)
Visit all the restaurants that we have on our list (impossible)
Take advantage of various tours, exhibits, etc.

Oh My!

We will pack more into one month than you can imagine. With a smile on our faces!

Fall is Fabulous

Before all the leaves are gone, I had to shoot some photos today. I can see every color that nature provides, sometimes all on the same tree.



I don't know if it's the color or the cold air, but it takes my breath away. Enjoy them while they're here.

My Day...

It's been both a good and a difficult day, a normal day in Paris.

I had a great walk in the Luxembourg with sunny skies and cold, brisk air. All the leaves have gotten the message and are falling. The gardeners can't keep up. And it rained all day yesterday so a lot of the leaves are crushed and wet. Slippery!

Next I had chores to do.

Xeroxing for WICE involves dealing with the local copier place. I've always had good luck there until today. But today, the machine kept jamming. I didn't know the word for jammed!!! My papers were stuck in the machine, so there was no way out. In my favor, the machine had a little screen that said, "papier coincé", Ah Ha! I can figure this out. I told the woman who works there, she ignored me. Not a big surprise.

So, I continued to break into her conversation with another woman, telling her I was in a hurry, her machine was broken and my papers were inside! It's her fault. Really!!!?? Not in her world. Eventually she came over and unjammed it. But, the next copy caused another jam. So, I told her to get my original out, I was changing machines.

It goes on from here but suffice it to say, we had words when she tried to charge me for all the jammed up pages as well as someone else's copies that she made during the chaos.

My next stop (I AM BRAVE, aren't I?) was the bank. I needed cash, put my card in the machine, asked for the amount I wanted and out came only Euro 50 notes!!! This is about US $75 in each note, not exactly easy for my small purchases in cash. So, inside the bank I went, demanding 20 notes. I was given 2 20's and 1 10 and the rest of my 50's back. Oh well. Why would I expect that the cash machine would give me 20's after getting only 20's in the US with no hope of any other denomination.

After all this, my day ended on a good note, at Odile's apartment. She is always happy and energetic and today was no exception. She was in the middle of making crepes for Terry using her new pan. Of course, I had to have one! We talked, she cooked, the apartment was warm, the sun came out. She gave me a bunch of crepes to take home to Terry. He loves her crepes.

So, all in all, a good day, a normal day in Paris.