Have it your way

Train conversation today was about one of my favorite topics - FOOD ...  this started because the goal of the evening was for my girlfriend and I to indulge in some tasty Kentucky Fried goodness after work and it lead into other fast food conversations. The most interesting one being jingles. There is something just really great about singing the Big Mac song while waiting to head home after a long day in the office!!

The question is if
McDonalds has the Big Mac tune:



Burger King lets you Have it Your Way:



What does KFC do for you and was it ever put to music......



ok - It's pretty obvious as to why this one didn't catch on and as for our gourmet fried chicken dinner - its on hold for tomorrow and I won't lie ... I can't wait.

Trois Mois Déjà ! !

I honestly can't believe that 3 months have already passed since I stepped off the plane at CDG and began this wonderful little adventure I am caught up in. I have to admit I actually am starting to feel pretty at home here. Between

• work - which is challenging and exciting in so many ways
•  French lessons - still haven't got the male/female thing down or how they decide (did youknow a book is male and the pages are female??) 
• and Play- which entails everything from picnics in the park, a weekend trip to Amsterdam (an upcoming trip to SPAIN!! More on that one soon) shopping, eating and exploring..... 

I haven't had a chance to do much but love it here.  So in honor of this 3 month ( and 1 day if we are being official - I arrived May 28th) anniversary here are some of my favorite pictures of places I have seen and things I have done.

 

10 Things NOT to do in Paris

A friend (Thanks Nina!) passed this along and I think it is pretty interesting and for the most part - right on. I mostly agree with the Eifel Tower thing, but that is really only because going up that thing would probably cause me to pee my pants!!!!

10 Things Not to Do in Paris

And if you are wondering about following in the footsteps of the well-heeled locals - the Marais is quite lovely but I think I would need to take on a second and possibly third job in order to purchase anything bigger than a hand towel!!!! 

Black Socks and Sinking

I joined some of my coworkers outside today for a cup of coffee and a quick break from the computer     (the Jet Lag finally decided to kick in today) hoping the fresh air would wake me up a bit. While down there we began having a conversation about my blog and good things to make sure I capture on here- an example being- how some French find it ok to wear black socks with sneakers which then digressed into multiple other conversations including:

The Ten Year Rule
Apparently there is a ten year rule here in France. Everything that happens in the US happens approximately ten years later here. To tie this in with the sock - ankle socks are a new thing here only a few years old to be exact. Which I found just unreal. So once this "rule" was brought up I thought back long and hard and the first thing that came to mind was Ace of Base (so maybe that was more like 15 years ago but I wanted to see if this rule was right on). And to my surprise they started singing one of their songs, in case you were wondering, the song of choice was All That She Wants. This serenade in itself was enough for me to end my day with a smile.

After the sing along we got back on the topic of socks and that no matter what it is really not ok to be rocking block socks with sneakers. No it doesn't matter if the sneakers are black- black socks are just really not a good fashion statement (and I think we are in the fashion capitol here.....). So in order to stick up for their fellow black sock wearing French folk my friends immediately threw the Germans and their sock and sandal wearing antics out on the table. I could go on and on about how wrong wearing socks with sandals is but we digressed again. With the mention of German's a commercial about the German Navy Trainee and improving English skills was brought up.  Take a peek ......

The best part about the video is this kind of misinterpretation actually happens all the time between us at work.  Which is sometimes difficult but most of the time hysterical.

Thinking, Sinking, Ankle Socks, Black Socks, Ace of Base.... we all have so much to learn!!!

Oh Hello Monday!

I woke up this morning ready to rock and roll and get right back into the swing of things. I convinced myself that I really did relax and not run here there and everywhere during vacation and was fully rested to start the week back at work.  After 3 trips back up to my apartment (4th floor) to pick up essential things I had not remembered to put in my bag the first time around - Train pass, Alstom badge and Umbrella. I finally began the familiar walk down Rue Levi towards the Metro.  I got on the train and was soon greeted with the fresh smell of already hot and sweaty people on their way to start their day as well - that is one thing I did NOT miss while I was driving my car around everywhere at home. We are making our way along when an announcement comes across the loud speaker - I would LOVE to type it in here to share for all but unfortunately I turned my music up to drowned it out and well I still don't understand most of the French language so maybe next time. What I did not realize is the nice French lady was telling me the train was ending the line 3 stops early due to construction. LOVELY.  As I stood watching everyone else exit the train - I glanced around thinking "Wooohooooo - I'll have a seat the rest of the way to work" until I noticed the little light marking the stops didn't go past Porte Champeret where I was and that I was the only one still on the train. I took my cue and stepped out into a mass of people being herded to the stairs. I took this announcement as my first sign to jump back head first into my French lessons. But until then I decided I would just follow the crowd.  Once above ground it wasn't hard to notice it was pouring - yay for Mother Nature on a Monday morning - but at least it was cooler than the train at that point. There were people EVERYWHERE. After a frantic text telling my boss I was walking the rest of the way, he filled me in on the bus situation (Thanks again for that - I would have been MISERABLE walking in new shoes and the rain). Apparently the RATP had thought of everything - if we are going to stop the line early let's accommodate. Once I worked my way through the crowd and found what I thought was the line for the right bus,  in my best French - I asked one of the gentleman in a green coat - "I'm sorry I don't speak French very well, could you tell me if this is the line to Levallois??" Only the I'm sorry about speaking French part was actually in French but I thought it would be a good lead in with a nice smile.... It worked. He confirmed that the massive blob of people was indeed the line. That was the second sign that I REALLY needed to get right back into my French lessons and I emailed my teacher right then and there, as I waited for my turn to hop a bus.

Ok... this wasn't my bus but I bet this is what it looked like from the outside!!! Hahaha.

Eventually I made it to the office.... so what if I was about an hour late and I had just been sardined on a bus in closer contact with strangers than I would be with even my closest friends?!

Two good things came of this:
1. I have a French lesson scheduled for Thursday
2. Starting a Monday like that means your week can ONLY get better : )

Holidays......

Ahhhh:: just returned from back home in good old New England. It was AMAZING to be there. But to be honest the 10 days I was there was not even close to long enough. It did give me lots of time to come up with great blog ideas and notice all the subtle differences between here and there. The flights back were ok. I had a connection in Amsterdam - where I wish I would have had time to go explore again. The short trip between Amsterdam and Paris was not overly smooth. It actually had me gripping the arms of my seat a few times so landing in Paris became even more comforting than normal. I don't normally scare easily on planes but from take off to landing this one was just not good.  So now that I am back to my new "home" I have to seriously focus on unpacking or else I will live out of my suitcase for the next week. Plus I brought so many things back with me that it's like a refreshed wardrobe just waiting for me to dig in. For proof that I brought too much with me ask the lady at the Delta ticket counter in Boston who made me unload pounds from my checked bag to avoid the $150 excess baggage rule. The people behind me loved that, hahah. NOT!!

So once the unpacking is done and I get some sleep. The stories will all be shared and I will be updating o a much more regular basis again. So stay tuned.

Crunchy Rice

Now I am sure this post will surprise (insert sarcasm here) anyone who has ever crossed my path - it is ALL ABOUT FOOD ; )  This past weekend I was introduced to traditional Vietnamese and Louse( I think that is how to spell it). Saturday after a relaxing day of walking and shopping I met up with some friends for dinner. We ventured into a district I had never even stepped foot into, there are many of those for me to still discover though. I think it is safe to say the majority of the population in this area is Asian. I have actually never seen so many Asian themed restaurants in one location - Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese - you name it they had a restaurant. After passing by about 50 places we stumbled up to one that had a line out the door and around the corner - at this point not only was I starving but I was convinced with that many options around this place HAD TO BE GOOD.  My girlfriend has been coming here for years (She is Vietnamese) and knows the owner, so we were greeted with a smile, but the only way to not wait in line was to sit on the terrace.Now normally I would prefer to be here but this day in Paris had been gray and going back and forth between warm and cold and rainy and dry..... after debating all pros and cons the 5 of us decided it would be worth the risk and if it was going to rain it would have started by then. We ordered drinks and our hostess ordered the starters for us - since she is an expert int he cuisine. About 30 seconds after our drinks - yup you guessed it .. enter rain. After rearranging the table, getting umbrellas set up and managing to keep the rain from dripping off the umbrella onto us - we were all soggy but hysterically laughing.  When all was said and done, the rain reflecting from the neon lights of all the restaurants made it feel like we weren't even in Paris anymore but sitting outside in some other country at some other time... we tried everything from Crunchy rice salad with pork you wrap in lettuce leaves, some Vietnamese egg roll type wrap thing with shrimp and bean sprouts and fresh mint, Vietnamese raviolis with I am not actually sure what was in it or on it but the sauce was delectable and all sorts or sticky rice and rice noodles and curries and vegetables for the meal.  It was honestly amazing - I know I say that a lot about food, but this was really unbelievable.

Coton Doux

This past weekend I was introduced to a fantastic little store.  They specialize in 100% cotton shirts. Not just  any old tshirt but nice button down shirts. Your choice of cuff, collar and fit. And boooooy oh boy do they fit nice!! Aside from being a really nice quality there are tons of choices for colors and patterns. That's right I said patterns, polka dots, elephants, checkered, stripes - big ones, skinny ones all sorts of everything. The coolest part is each shirt has coordinated buttons and different material on the inside of the cuff and color. So your plain white button down - could now have pink buttons, purple sticking and purple and gray flowers on the inside of the cuffs and collars. I may have just described one of the three new and very nice fitting shirts I purchased. They ship to the US so I highly recommend checking it out:

COTON DOUX

Just click on ENGLISH VERSION at the top of the page. They also have super cute pj's and scarves!!

Things I discovered this week...

1. When you kiss your greeting hello in Paris - it is two kisses starting on the left.
2. When you kiss your greeting hello in the South of France it is 3 kisses starting on the right. (I was let in to these first two tid bits over drinks and I met someone new and had no idea whether to shake hands or kiss their cheeks. So keep this in my mind if you come to France as a female- unless at a place of business you always kiss cheeks.)
3. Never eat anything with poppy seeds unless you have good company or a mirror handy.
4. Never wait until the last day of the month to recharge your Navigo (metro pass) the line is ridiculous and it will not help you be on time to where you are going. 
5. Forgetting anything when you live on the 4th floor (approx 72) stairs can be considered a work out in 3 inch heels. 
6. Learning what is feminine and masculine in this language has absolutely no rhyme or reason.
7. The word exciting here doesn't typically mean woohooo that was great, it has a much more sexual connotation. (This one was brought to my attention when I said how exciting the new project I am working on it, during a meeting with an agency we might work with, my cheeks turned a few shades of rouge- thats red, don't ask if it's male or female.)