First Frenchie Haircut

Before:
Yep, Fabio Salsa. Pretty Sweet. On a Tuesday because it's a couple euros cheaper on Tuesdays.

During:
Complete with lemon tea, friendly conversation, and smiles.

After:
Not bad, eh?

Les Baguettes

French bread, ah! How I love the baguette. It’s one of the things I was most excited about in coming to France, and it’s not disappointed.

Before coming here, we’d heard that the French were so obsessed with their bread that they bought a new loaf everyday. Seemed absurd to us. In college we’d often go to Jimmy John’s and buy a loaf of the day-old bread, still soft and incredibly tasty! But I said it seemed absurd. We totally get it now. We bought a couple loaves and enjoyed the tasty goodness for both lunch and dinner. Then the next day we broke out the remainder for an addition to our meal, but quickly realized that it would be good for little more than breaking teeth. The thing was as hard as a rock. It really is only good for one day! Maybe less preservatives? Not sure...

It’s pretty funny to see people everywhere at all hours of the day walking down the streets with long baguettes in hand.

Saving the planet or saving money?

France is much greener than the US. Not green like Yellowstone National Park, but green like a commune of hippies trying to save the planet. Every day we pass people on the road walking with empty shopping bags and/or a large sac on wheels. Groceries and shops here typically don’t even ask the question “paper or plastic?”, they simply expect you to bring your own. And so everyone has their own reusable bags that make the trip with them to buy just about anything.

Another ‘green’ aspect of this country is the lights. Almost all communal space (hallways, bathrooms, staircases, shared rooms, foyers) will be dark upon entry if you’re the first person in over a few minutes. Either a motion sensor will activate the lights or there will be a button glowing in the dark somewhere that you press and get 30 seconds to 5 minutes of light. Then the lights go back off and never risk being left on.

I’m guessing lights here didn’t always have timers and motion-detectors, and people may have once used disposable bags. So what brought about the change? Was it an inward desire to make changes that save the environment? Difficult, as portrayed in movies like ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and as it continues to be a hot topic of discussion in the US with concerts and hip celebrity appeal, but little real change. Or was it simple economics? Supply was decreasing rapidly as resources disappeared, demand increasing, and thus prices went so high people had no choice but to institute changes? I really have no idea. Maybe when we get our first electricity bill in a month, I’ll have a clue...

Blades Everywhere!

There are rollerbladers all over the place here. In places you wouldn’t expect. “But wait,” you may be thinking, “isn’t it cold outside with snow and slush covering the ground?” Yes. It is. And so they skate through malls, subways, a rare patch of cleared ground in the city, just about anywhere that the ground isn’t terrain better-suited for alaskan huskies. It’s weird to be standing in the cereal aisle and have someone zip by, gliding on their 8 wheels. I’m sorry, it just is. Don’t they realize that rollerblading was a fad in the US that went out with neon colors, Alf, and the word “NOT!”?

I’d read in a magazine before coming here that the sport or rollerblading had lived on in Paris after it disappeared in the US. So much so that there are races, clubs, and underground posses... even police who train and work daily on wheels to keep up with the civil skaters. I’m here to tell you that it at least appears to be true.

I think some of the skaters down at our super-shopping center are actually employees. It kind of makes sense to send someone on wheels down to aisle 27 for a price check, I guess? Still, I look up every time and shake my head just a bit.