we have a grève générale* tomorrow?

photo from le monde website today - - posters for the strike

so as some of you may or may not know, france is well known for it's grèves (strikes).

so far since my arrival in december, my only run-in with french labor strikes was a 4 or 5 day train strike at the end of december - - but personally, i wasn't much affected. i didn't really have anywhere to go.......

tomorrow, however, marks a much anticipated grève générale called by 8 major workers unions in france, and the people working in most all public and even private sectors of the country. it's an outright protest aimed to the attention of nicolas sarkozy, the french president.

this strike is so big and so important that tomorrow is being deemed: "jeudi noir" (black thursday). this strike even has it's own webpage with a google.maps interface showing all of the major manifestations (rallies).

a few excerpts from news articles i found today:

"France’s rail network, airports, public schools and government offices face work stoppages tomorrow, after the country’s eight biggest labor unions called for a one-day general strike"

- bloomberg news : click here to view article

"Nicolas Sarkozy this week faces the first mass-protests over his handling of the financial crisis as unions prepare to paralyse France in a general strike uniting train-drivers, air traffic controllers, journalists, bank staff and even ski-lift operators...."

"The strike will unite private and public sector workers from schools, hospitals national TV and radio to postal services, bank clerks and supermarket employees. Even helicopter pilots and staff from the company that operates the French stock exchange are taking part. High school pupils, university lecturers, lawyers and magistrates will also protest a raft of Sarkozy's reforms and planned job cuts."

"Despite the predicted chaos, one poll found that 70% of French people either support or sympathise with the strikes."

- guardian, uk: click here to view article

so as you can all imagine, tomorrow will be strange, hard to get anything done and a fully new experience for me.....(alas, i really don't have anywhere to go tomorrow anyway. figures.)

i'll try to post a follow-up or at least some photos and further news soon. i have no idea what to expect......

(oh, and to make the situation more ironic, our building will not have running water from 8:30am until noon tomorrow. scheduled maintenance. so the sign says.

my question is.....who the hell is going to be working tomorrow to fix whatever is broken with the water in our building? (our water is broken? i didn't even know?!?)......we bought 6 liters of water just in case (ok, so that's only like 1.5 gallons, sounds like a lot, but it really isn't).....and filled 2 huge pots and pans with fresh water too.....just in case...

you never, ever know,right? haa haa!!)

only in france, my friends, only in france.......gotta love it!

* grève générale = general strike

les beaux bateaux

david and i walked around for hours today (partially to walk off our big lunch and partially because it's fun to do on a sunday afternoon!) and i just wanted to share some photos i took.

there are several ports here in cannes like the vieux port, port canto and some others but i don't know all of their names.... some house multi-million dollar luxury yachts and exquisite sailboats and some house small modest fishermen boats. both beautiful in their own uniqueness.

i'm sure that many people think that the boats belong to people that live in cannes, however, that is not really how it works. these boats are owned by the richest of the rich, company presidents, ceo's, multi-millionaries and i'm sure some royalty and plenty of movie stars fit in there somewhere too. perhaps these people have apartments or homes here, but they surely don't live here year round. well, at least they leave their boats here for all of us to look at!! it surely isn't hard on the eyes......

vieux port sailboats, beautiful

(the smaller boats, not belonging to celebrities and the rich and famous)
these are docked near the palm beach

it is really calming though, to just walk around for hours......and all of the ports are open to the public; so you can walk on any of the docks right up next to people's boats. you can go as far into the labyrinth of each series of docks as far as you like until it ends.....and just look around and imagine, and dream.....

i love to imagine though what type of people own each boat, wonder how they came up with their boat names, what they do in life and where they are from. it's interesting, and there are hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes and from as far away as new zealand and australia. perhaps they had their boats delivered......

maybe one day david and i can buy our own boat....small of course - - but it's definitely fun to dream about it and imagine that one belongs to us!!

ahhhh, a day in the hard life, right?

viva italia!!

here in cannes, we don't live too far from the italian border, about an hour or less if driving.

however, since we can't go to the markets there every week - - we'll go to our local italian store here! so i thought i would share some photos today of our italian gem.

gusti italiani is actually very close to where we are living, only a few streets over. it is owned by italians - - super, super nice and really helpful. it makes you want to go back again and again.

they have amazing fresh italian cold meats - cured meat hanging from the ceiling, cheese, pasta of course, limoncella, wines, conserved veggies and everything is sooo tasty!

here are a few pics that i snapped today (i had to take them quickly and discreetly as to not look like a complete tourist...so please look past the quality of the images)

and in their shop window, they have tons and tons of fresh handmade pasta. any type of ravioli and tons of gnocci and oh, wow. delicious!!!

we didn't buy a lot today, just some sausage for pasta we are making tonight, cheese and a few slices of mortadella. yuuummmmy!

here's a pic of the (chunk) of cheese we got - deeeeelish!

keep on runnin'

i love to run.

i'm not particularly good at it, but i'm not horrible either, i'm not an uber health-freak or skinny or run obsessively - - but over the past year it has become a big part of my life.

i run to clear my head, to stay in shape, to gain courage and strength - both mind and body - and it often helps me see things in a way that i wouldn't otherwise. i'm in my own world when i run and i love every moment.

taken on one of my routes

on my run today i was thinking about the past week. i thought about my weird and somewhat horrifying interview i had on monday (that i have failed to mention until now, i know, i'll get to that another time), how it affected me and what i need to do to have more courage when speaking in french.

sometimes when i speak in french i really feel bad for the person listening to me. i mush things up....and say things backwards, but generally, most people get my drift. it's not that people don't understand me, it's that not everyone is empathetic.

here in france, when it comes to how people communicate with 'étrangers' (foreigners like me), i have so far met two distinct types of people:

- those who understand i'm trying, patiently wait for me to finish, are genuinely nice and almost help me along with what i am saying (and smile!)

and

- those who practically roll their eyes at me, see me as a 'tourist', pretend that i am not making sense and then answer me in english (and grimace)

i'm not sure why, yet......but perhaps this mystery will unfold as time passes. i do, however, know that i need to be confident when i speak. i will most likely always make mistakes. perhaps no matter what i say or what i do these people will always be there to try to make me feel bad?

perhaps.......

but at the end of the day, even if someone makes me feel horrible or treats me as though i was a complete idiot, i'll go running.

i'll run to clear my head, to put my mind at ease and to take in the beauty that surrounds me.

and maybe it will give me some added strength, and a little extra courage........

some of the sights i see on my runs

pneu crevé, part deux.......

our entire day today has been consumed by taking care of our silly twingo.

poor thing, she's trying to hang in there (and so are we!!). but the parody continues.......

so let me back-track a little bit about the car. you are all probably thinking by now i'm sure, 'why did you and david even buy this car? what were you thinking?". well, it was cheap, it passed it's "contrôle technique" in october and we can't otherwise buy/lease a new car yet. so the red twingo seemed to meet our needs, dented up or not, we signed on the dotted line. we took the risk and knew at the time that it was a big risk indeed.

in france, all cars that are more 4 years old have to pass a "contrôle technique" every two years as a 'compulsory roadworthiness test'. if you pass the test, based on various car metrics like brakes and brake pads, emissions, tires, transmission, etc, you will receive a stamp that you must display on your windshield (next to the your insurance sticker that is also mandatory to display on your windshield). if your car does not pass the test you are given 2 months to get everything fixed, bring back your car and try to pass a second time. if it doesn't pass and you do not have a current stamp, you risk heavy fines from the police if you are caught (or if you get stopped for whatever reason, accident, etc). so basically everyone gets the test done and thankfully it isn't expensive.

our twingo passed the test in october so we thought at least we could use it until we have full-time jobs when we can buy or lease a new car. well, the future isn't looking so bright for her.

so today, (you all already know the story about the tires and keys), we went to the renault dealership. we told him the story about the keys and he said that it often happens to the older cars and they can try to re-program the keys. try being the essential word, and guess how long we have to wait? he can fit us in on friday. oh, that's just dandy.

so until friday, everytime we need to start the car we have to click in the secret code with it's series of flashing lights and clicks (it takes a few minutes too, and it's super easy to screw up - - it's hilarious, really).

we then asked about the tire and of course, our luck, they were out. well, so were we. off to massa autopneu.

massa autopneu is a chain like speedy, so we were hoping that they not only had our tire in stock but that we could find it cheaper. thankfully we did on both counts. (and they thought our story about the key was cute. yeah, sure. until we need to move our car out of your shop and it doesn't start!! ha!)

but when the guy was changing our tire, he flagged us back over to the car and was like "i would really like to advise you that your brake discs are as thin as cigarette papers". he literally said that.

you have got to be kidding me?!? like i said.....one thing after another.

david and i, not knowing a whole lot about cars or how things should really look, were like - - ok, so how bad is bad? like.....we can wait 2 months bad or change it now bad....? he said that we don't have to change it today but as soon as we hear grinding, bring your car into a shop immediately.

grinding?!?
we are talking about a 12 yr old car here.
we asked him to order the discs and he told us it would be there in a hour. we'll be back.

so after the shop re-opened at 2pm from lunch break we left our apartment to head back.

secret code doesn't work...
secret code doesn't work again...
still doesn't work...

we wait and wait for 15 mins for the damn thing to re-set.

during these 15 minutes david and i had a few laughs trying to think up different things that one could be required to do in order to start the car (instead of the secret-code-light-thingy when your keys are broken):

• honk the horn 17 times, get out, run around the car 5 times then blink twice - jump back in car
• open the door and shut the door 7 times, turn the left blinker on for 10 flashes, wash the windsheild front and back, twice
• put all the windows down, open the trunk and close the trunk, kick the bumper three times and wait for a bird to poo on your windsheild

all of these seem totally plausible, right? i mean, at this point we can only laugh.

we did get the car started after all and made it back to the shop, paid our way out and headed home. fingers crossed we can go another few weeks/months until something else happens!

all in all, the past 3 days have been a compete comedy of errors.

thank you to the people who have told me it'll all be okay and to hang in there. i need to hear that. david and i are at least trying to laugh our way through what seems to be one difficult thing after another........

but in the end, it's all worth the hassle ;-)

pneu crevé*

so let me tell you a funny story.

so david and i went to nice on saturday to hang out with a friend of ours. we were out pretty late. too late (way, way too late). we weren't exactly in the best form sunday morning.

so we get ready to leave his friends apt in the afternoon (we spent the night there and sort of slept in late) and get to the car, just happy it is still there and not towed as we didn't have a great parking spot.....

"click-click" nothing.
"click-click" nothing.
?!?!

the auto-unlock key isn't unlocking the car. key battery dead? (i mean, it's a really old car)
so we are like, ok whatever, open the doors old-school style, using the actual key (funny to think that not many people actually use the metal key in the keyhole to open their car anymore).

no need for the "click-click" open, right? we're in!!

we get into the car and the car won't start. it revs, but won't catch to start.

we then remember something that the guy we bought the car from said:
'the car has a safety measure put on it that you can't start the car until the alarm system is deactivated. the only way to deactivate the alarm is using the auto-unlock key'

"click-click" nothing. still doesn't work.

we find the twingo manual from the year 1901 and search through to see what we need to do. (remember, we were up pretty late and not feeling so hot)

david finds the page on the key de-activating thing. we have to do this weird sequence of pushing a button, watching a flashing light and repeating as you have to do it all to a secret code (which we did have, thankfully - - the last owner of the car wrote it out on the sun visor, smart guy - - makes you think this has happened before....) - - but we screwed it up. go figure.

we then had to wait 15 minutes because the 2nd measure of rock solid security was now in effect for the twingo:
' if you don't sequence your secret code correctly, you will have to wait 15mins for the security system to re-set itself'

you have got to be kidding me?!?!?! who in the hell would ever even steal this car - - you have all seen pics of the car, and know what i mean, right?

so finally, after beeping, pushing and secret-coding our way through....we made it.

the red light goes off.
we're FREE!!!
the car starts.

yea!! we pull out onto the road.....

"what's that weird noise?" david says, "the tires don't feel right or something"
"oh, shit, i totally hear that, pull over" i say

we have a flat tire.

seriously, at this point it turns almost comical.





we need to change the tire. so we totally cross our fingers and start digging in the back trunk hoping, hoping, that we have the essentials of changing a tire: donut tire, jack and tire iron.

yes!! everything is there.

we go ahead, on the side of the street - - me in high heeled boots from the day before, go figure, get the tiny tire changed. we let the jack down and look at the donut tire (although it really isn't much a a donut tire because it's pretty much the same size as the normal tires - - they already look like toy tires...)

it needs air. some serious air. it was a flat spare tire.

in between giggles of disbelief, we slowly, very slowly drive down the street to where i remember seeing a gas station the night before when we got to his friends house. we fill up the tire, no problem.

we finally got home, slowly - and on the smallest, tiniest roads humanly possible......

and took a huge nap.
all of the rest of the afternoon.

whew, what a day.

*pneu crevé = flat tire

i don't see it that way.......

cannes is a beautiful place. if you look past the little old ladies in their full length fur coats walking their tiny dogs along the croisette, you can find endless beauty in this city. yes, it is a seaside tourist resort town for the most part and home to the famous 'cannes film festival'. yes, it is expensive because of that, and most anywhere you go you will pay for it. (like along the croisette i saw a cafe charging 10 euros for a coffee, croissant and orange juice - are you kidding me? are they growing their own coffee beans back there?)

but it is necessary to let that become muffled into the background. you almost have to in order to enjoy life here as a resident.

so if you take a step back, go a street over and push your way past louis vuitton and chanel, you will find beauty at ever turn.....(sans tourists)

i took all of these photos today

i walked around the city for hours just enjoying the sunshine

there's a first for everything

my dear friends and family, welcome to my blog!

i invite you to travel alongside me on the many adventures i will take here in my new home in the south of france. don't expect exquisite writing or poetry and prose....as i'm new to blogging (and also to sharing my life with the world) - so in advance, i apologize for any mistakes or sillyness....

feel free to leave comments about my posts, photos or just if you want to say hello!

with that said, check back with me now and again - - i may not post everyday but i can promise that i'll post often.

sending hugs and kisses back to you all in the states,
xoxo
c