Frustrating

I've been in France for a few days spending time with my nieces and nephew. They are a bundle of energy as usual and it's interesting to see how they've developed in the last year. However, today's post is about my frustration in acquiring visas.

I've gone into Paris twice already. Twice to the China embassy and once to the Taiwan embassy-equivalent. The China one denied visa services to me because I don't have a French ID card. "Go back to the US. It's not our problem, it's your problem." Thanks. That's really helpful. Also really helpful are their office hours - only 2.5 hours in the morning.

The Taiwan office was much nicer. My not having a French ID card meant I wasn't eligible for the multi-entry visa. I could only get a single entry...which for the hefty 89 euro price, really isn't worth it. I could fly to the Philippines with that money and just do a visa run and combine a beach vacation into one.

The difference in the offices wasn't about what visa they could offer but in their method of communication. The China office was just plain rude. The Taiwan office was firm, but polite. It's another reminder about why I'm glad I live in Taiwan now.

I've been researching ways to get a China visa - my last one I got in Australia. Turns out I can't use France, Japan, or Taiwan. One option is Hong Kong, but their website says as an American, I have to go to my home country. So, I can definitely use the US, but even then the hassle of getting a flight ticket (why would I buy an expensive air ticket when I could just go in by ferry/bus/train from HK as I originally planned) and hotel bookings is enough to make me just want to go back to Taiwan early instead of heading into China. Plus there's no way I'm flying back to the US to get a visa...and I can't think of anyone unemployed in SF that could do me this favor.

Here's a blog all about the China Visa policy changes and the effect on business people. And another blog entry about how one guy fooled the system.

In case you need to go the Paris offices, here's the info...

France Consular Office for China
18-20, rue de Washington, 75008 Paris
2 min walk from the George V metro stop, off of Ave Champs Elysees across from Louis Vuitton
Visa hours: 9:30 am - noon M-F
On a Wed at 10:30 am I was behind 50 other people. There is a separate line for Olympics visas.
Services only available to those with French identification.

Bureau de Représentation de Taipei en France
78, rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris
Close to the Solferino metro and Musee d'Orsay RER stops
Visa hours: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm - 4pm M-F
The woman I talked to spoke Mandarin, French and English fluently. There are publications about Taiwan in English, French and Chinese that you can read while you're there or take away. There were 3 people in front of me and the office only had 4 desks and two chairs, so I don't expect it ever really gets all that busy.

Last day in France

I'm nearly all packed now with over 70 pounds of stuff to carry back with me to the States. I'm sad to be leaving the kids - I did a few last flips with Maddie, took a long nap with Wubby, and took a walk with Buggles (while he held onto a disc the whole time).

I'm heading to Berkeley to see friends, family and hopefully a little of the outdoors as well. I'm planning on catching an early morning train from Fontainebleau and hopefully arriving at Grr+KC's by midnight - traveling for 25 hours!

back to packing...

[PostEdit]
One of my last activities was to go through my sister's pictures of the kids. This one I copied - it cracks me up the way the two cubs sleep - they are completely out.

Return to Samois

I got back to Samois Saturday afternoon - I was happy to see everyone again. It felt like I hit reset on my patience meter and could handle being with the kids for extended periods of time again. I think knowing that I won't be seeing them so often makes me handle the tough spells better. It was fun to pick up the kids and swing them around again. Also incredibly tiring as I almost immediately broke into a sweat doing it.

Saturday night, I went out with my sister for dinner at a Chinese-Vietnamese-Thai restaurant in Fontainebleau. This is the first Chinese restaurant I've been to where the staff doesn't speak mandarin. Well, one guy did, but he seemed to run off - either because his Chinese wasn't that good or because he didn't know the answer to my sister's question about available vegetables. Usually at Chinese restaurants, there is more food in the back than is on the menu - especially to cater to Chinese clientèle - who tend to like more authentic food than the Americanized version (or in this case, the Frenchified version). My parents often order what's in season (veggies and seafood) by talking to the employees. This didn't seem to work here - our waiter went off and asked someone else to talk to us. My sister ended up talking to the new guy in English - which she later explained as a conscious choice to save face - his Chinese might have been so accented she wouldn't understand, or he might have spoken Cantonese - and since she knew he spoke English, she went with that as first choice. The concept of 'saving face' is something you read about a lot in prepping for travel in Asia - but something I don't think I've ever thought about so thoroughly and quickly as my sister in those 5 seconds.

On Sunday, I went to Maddie's pony club for the first time. I took a lot of pictures and videos because Brianne seemed so excited about it during her visit, but didn't actually get to see it. We started out by watching the bigger kids finishing their lesson. Then Maddie found out her pony assignment (Caramel), saddled up and got on in the covered area (it had been raining in the morning, hence an indoor lesson). They proceeded to warm up by walking around the ground slowly and eventually gaining speed. They even did a trick where they turned around on the saddle while the pony was walking. I was impressed. Unfortunately, Caramel was acting up, and Maddie got flung off at a failed turn - she was just like a rag doll flying through the air until her helmeted head hit a wall. Scary stuff, but she got right up and back on - somewhat shaken but otherwise unscathed.



Monday's highlight was a quick bike ride to the Base de Loisirs in Bois-le-roi. This time I biked all around the park, past the Equestrian and tennis courts. I even ventured down a path into the Fontainebleau forest before turning back b/c the grounds were too muddy. It was a quick 45 minute get away, in beautiful weather, while the kids were napping. I came back covered in flies - my shirt looked like the Mavis Beacon typing car race window - where for every mistake you get a dead fly on the screen.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the morning. Laura and I were sitting at the dining table, facing my sister when her eyes seemed to just pop out of her head. I turned around and saw something flying all over the place - bat or bird? Definitely a bat (maybe a birdy bat at best). My sister was in shock wondering where it came from, as it appeared suddenly. We opened the windows and doors to encourage it to go out - but it flew around missing the exits and then landed behind the stereo where I took a picture of it, looking much smaller with wings not at full span. Taking a picture of it flying around the kitchen ceiling, while also holding an umbrella (to both help shoo it away and prevent it from flying into our faces), proved a difficult task. I came out with just one blurry photo that doesn't do it justice. I should have used video.

I have 2 more full days here - since returning I've been trying to get ready for departure - doing a dry run in packing (looks like I'll be able to take most everything home), looking up prices (to figure out what I'll be doing after CA), and researching places to go. If anyone has any advice on travel within the US - preferably the western third, do let me know. Right now, I'm thinking about the Grand Canyon, Glacier Nat'l Park, Yosemite, Bryce/Zion, Colorado, and other CA locations. I'll have 2 sets of about 10 days each in which to visit some of these locations. All advice appreciated (comment or email).

In my belly

I went to Paris Chinatown on Thursday with my sister, Charlotte, Hugh and Laura. We went crazy with the mangoes and ended up picking up a few varieties...including some from India! They weren't labeled with a specific name, so I'm not sure if they are the hyped up Alphonso or something else. I tried one with the girls after I picked up Maddie from school. It was deliciously sweet. My only concern is that Edo will eat them all before I return. In fact, I'm pretty sure they'll be gone as there are only 2 left. However, I also picked up a package of 8 baby mangoes. They are ridiculously cute, small and quite fragrant. But I'm hoping at least one will be left by the time I get back - they seem quite hard now despite the ripe smell.

We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant above one of the Tang Frere's. I had a spicy pho done central style along with some iced do-jyong (soy milk). The owner was really friendly and kept giving Wubby some treats - but she was too shy to say Thank you to him - until I said she couldn't eat the lollipop until she said something to him - she ended up saying bye ever so quietly. Both girls are really hesitant to say anything to strangers - and it makes me a bit sad. In my time off, it's the strangers who have taken time to talk to me that make much of my time so memorable.

Tonight I went to a school play with Laura, Gordon and Jupiter. It was the first time I met Jup - he was quite friendly, enjoyed talking and seemed curious. He told me there were only 6 people in the world with his name, including him. Thurstan was one of the stars, as Bad Bart, in the Wild Wild West. The play was done in English so easy for us Americans to follow.



I've only just finished packing for my upcoming trip to Belgium and the Netherlands. I leave in the morning, so probably not a peep from me for a while. If any one has any advice for me, do leave a comment or drop me an email. I'll be in Bruges, Gent and Amsterdam.

Before I go to sleep, I leave you with the 5 stages of Buggles Falling Asleep in the Car...

Awake

Droopy Eyes

Yawning

Rubbing Eyes

Asleep

Night time reading

Tonight I read the girls some books at bed time. They chose a mix of English and French. One was just a small French activity book that had illustrations and questions. One of them had a picture of a girl at a computer and the question was something like "What is the girl typing on?" I read it out in French, and Maddie said she was typing, clearly not understanding the question. I translated the question to English and she said, "On Skype." Kids are so modern these days. I was expecting her to say 'keyboard' or 'computer'.

Yesterday was the town annual tag sale (brocante). Maddie was allowed to spend 2 euros and she came back with a few things. One of them was a book, Cendrillon, aka Cinderella. I read it to her in French first, and then later that night had to read it again in English. These on the fly translations are tough - I've found that I can't go word by word as I end up sounding too choppy - what with the word order being different and my French vocab not being that great. It's best to read sentence by sentence or even by paragraph to get the main ideas across. It's easier with a story like Cinderella when I already know what happens. But sometimes there are keywords that snag me like "les trois harpies". I ended up just saying Cinderella never had to see the 3 mean women again (referring to her step mother and 2 step sisters). I didn't realize it was the same word in English. Later Brianne informed me that harpies are demonic, winged, female monsters. Whoah.

The other frustrating book to translate is a Smurf book they have. In French, it's Les Schtroumpfs, and as in the American version, 'schtroumpf' is used as a base for different verbs and nouns in regular conversation amongst the little blue creatures. For some reason I find this incredibly difficult - possibly because there isn't a lot of context, it just forces me to conjugate my verbs correctly, and because it ends up making little sense to me.

Another challenging but fun one to read is Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein (Sel Shilverstein?). This one's in English but because of the swapping of word beginnings and the desire for 3 year olds to hear it correctly means you have to be one quick flipper.

Indian Mangoes are Coming!

My friend Dave just told me about this article on mangoes coming in from India. 150 boxes cleared to go to NY. I am so excited - I had heard that the import rules might be changed after Bush's visit last year, but never heard confirmation until now. I hope they ship all over the states and I can get my hands on some - I wonder what the prices will be. I've never had an alphonso mango, but if they are as good as all my former co-workers say they are, I think the Hsu family could probably single handedly keep the mango export in business. I hope there are still some left when I get back in May - I'm keen to try the Banganpalli and Kesar varieties as well.

Brianne and I spent the last two days in Paris and just got back tonight. Yesterday we went to the Bastille street market (11th), Clignancourt to the antique market (18th), south to Sacre Coeur (18th), and then to our hotel near Charonne (Hotel Belfort) (11th). After sharing a bottle of wine in the room, and hearing the election results we decided to make our way to Place de la Concorde in the 8th to join the party. We tried to blend in (not stand out as Americans nor as non-Sarkozy supporters). We got crowd molested by a few more people than we would have liked during the random stage entertainment section, but made it out unscathed. Sarkozy came on stage to celebrate and it slowly morphed into random singers coming onto stage and then a DJ mixing cds with dancers. I recorded a sound memo, but missed some of the best parts - like the whole crowd singing the national anthem. One of the weirdest parts was them singing Happy Day and wanting to celebrate the day Sarkozy was born. It seemed a bit overboard. Listen to it here: Sarkozy Crowd Sound Clips



Then we walked to l'Arc de Triomphe and followed in another guy's footsteps to cross the roundabout since the underground entrance was closed. One of the guards noticed us there and told us we weren't supposed to be there since it was closed - oops! Since the metro and night buses stop running (but apparently there are some that run all night, according to my sister, but we didn't see any, and it was impossible to get a taxi), we walked back home. On the way we went through Bastille and noticed all the police cars and tons of broken glass on the streets. Apparently we missed the rioting where more than 700 cars were lit on fire and nearly 600 people arrested. Reading the news today, we're a little disappointed that we missed the excitement. On the other hand, we're probably better off having missed the tear gas and water cannons, instead only seeing the aftermath at 3 in the morning.

Having gotten in so late, we slept in until check out time (11 am). Afterwards, we got some pastries (pain aux raisins and pain au chocolat) and then enjoyed conversation at a creperie. We walked to Notre Dame and went inside this time - the high arches and stained glass are absolutely amazing - the last time I was inside was 10 years ago - and I forgot how impressive it is. Afterwards we did some shopping in the gayborhood in the 3rd, and then enjoyed an assortment of cheeses with white wine sitting at a table outside of a cafe.


We missed our train home, so fortunately, my sister picked us up at the station.

Adventures with Brianne

Since returning from our family trip, Brianne and I have been spending a little more time doing some solo activities. On Wednesday, we went into Fontainebleau again and attended a book reading. It was an interesting experience, watching the quirky bookstore hostess interact with the author, my friend, Laura. They weren't sure how many attendees to expect - maybe 10 or so, but the small room soon filled out with what I would guess at least double that. It was mostly middle aged multilingual French women, with a few foreigners, including an inquisitive American during Q&A. Laura made an American blueberry cake and the most outstanding Vietnamese banana cake. I learned more about Laura's life after leaving Vietnam and even helped to read a couple short passages from the book (which made me a bit nervous at first, but I got through it ok).

Afterwards, we walked around town a bit killing time. We stopped in a garden near the Chateau, admired a statue of Diane, saw a few fat peacocks wandering around, and then inadvertently misdirected a Chinese couple on how to get to the chateau. In my defense, the directions I gave them would get them there eventually - however, if they had taken a left turn from where we were they would have gotten there almost immediately. Also, that's what you get when you ask a foreigner for directions!

On Thursday, since Edo didn't use one of the mountain bikes to get to work, we set off around town. I was hoping for a nice, long, yet leisurely bike ride through the forest, but the bikes are quite old and we had some problems with the chains falling off or misbehaving the whole time. I also didn't realize how nervous Brianne was on the road - apparently she has too many friends who've been telling her bike accident horror stories. We cut the route a bit short and headed back into Samois, which ended up being nicer. Biking on smaller roads, we passed by Maddie's pony club, some paths into the forest, and then we checked on the swan by the river (aka duck pond) - who is still nesting and started hissing when a dog got near.


Today we got up hella early and just caught the bus into Fonti to catch a train into Paris. We walked from Gare de Lyon to the Eiffel Tower, by way of criss-crossing most of the bridges on the Seine (including Pont Neuf), admiring the outside of Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Military school and its "pony club", and many other monuments and buildings, sidetracking south for lunch (baguettes and snacks from a bakery) in a small park. We were a little sore to hear American Christian music and preaching blasting from some speakers on the green in front of the tower. There didn't seem to be any major event or group supporting the music - we didn't really understand why it was happening. We couldn't enjoy the grass as long as the French people around us who seemed to be able to tune out the words better than we could.

We moved to rest close to a carousel on the other side. I felt guilty lying to a beggar who asked us "Do you speak English?". We both individually shook our heads no. On our way out of the Jardin des Tuileries we had been asked the same thing, and in answering yes, were followed for a short while by the stranger. It seems selfish at times, but we were both just wanting to have some peace and quiet.

We bought tickets for the stairs for 4 euros each to get to the 2eme floor. The stairs seemed a lot easier this time than 2.5 years ago when Theresa and I did it (1st to 2nd set only). I didn't realize Brianne was afraid of heights - she seemed to be gripping the railing the whole way going up. I remember being quite nervous my first time as well - but this time it felt completely safe. At the second floor we bought elevator tickets to the 3rd floor (3.70 euros each) - my first time to that level. It was quite a view - but incredibly crowded with asian tourists all wanting posed pictures at every corner. By the time we came down it was looking very gray and within 10 minutes it started raining - nothing too bad, but enough to make us want to take public transportation back to Gare de Lyon. My credit card doesn't seem to work in the ticket machines,which is a real pain since it's my only source of money right now - I still don't have a replacement ATM card. Grrr.

Return from Dordogne

We just returned from a long weekend trip to the south of France. Saturday morning, the family, Brianne and I piled into a van to get to the local train station (Fontainebleau), to get to Gare de Lyon, then on to a bus to Montparnasse (where we met Bob), to catch our TGV to Bordeaux, where we picked up an upgraded rental car, and drove to Montazeau to our converted barn rental. It was a long train ride with the kids, especially since Tao and Edo were deep in conversation with Bob (who came from Shanghai for business). We arrived to find beautiful weather for the weekend, despite forecasts of rain. The kids immediately stripped and jumped in the pool.

We took a day to see the Chateau de Montaigne, including his bedroom and work area where he wrote a lot of his essays. Montaigne is basically famous for popularizing the modern essay. You can read his work online through the Gutenberg Project. I think Bob really enjoyed this part of the trip - as we could tell as he waved from the window with a huge smile on his face. But the wine tastings were a close second. The chateau really did look like a place a princess would live - it just seemed to pop out of a fairy tale book. We kept our eyes open, but only spotted an old woman walking her dog and our guess of the gatekeeper's daughter playing with the cat.

We also enjoyed the greenery, had a 2.5 hour multi-course lunch, and enjoyed some casual badminton in the yard. Brianne and I spent a lot of time talking about high school and rehashing old memories. I don't often think about high school, but there's something about being unemployed and having a lot of free time that lets you google random people every so often. It's funny who you can find a profile for (MySpace, Friendster, Classmates, etc) and who you can't. I can remember my elementary school teachers names, but as time goes on, I realize I can't remember my classmates' names or even picture their faces - people from college and post-college life tend to blur in. The name that just popped up in my head is JoMal. Whatever happened to JoMal? Bri tells me he's now a chef in New York, for his own restaurant, specializing in a trademarked burger of sorts. How random is that? [post-edit]

But back to the trip -- we had 4 bedrooms in the house, which had other rooms where the owners, Peter and Tracey lived. They were happy to see us, gave us wine and bread, and told us a bit about the area. They're Irish but sounded British - he used to live in Boston and worked as a hairdresser - my sister even got a complimentary cut. We had lunches out and dinners at home - and enjoyed entirely too much bread, cheese and wine.

Brianne being a princess in our shared bedroom. The rooms were all very nicely decorated, and her bed looked incredibly plush and fit for a...

This was the sound chamber Montaigne had built so he could hear the sermon without going down stairs because of his kidney stones.

Pancakes for Breakfast

I just read another great book tonight - Pancakes for Breakfast. We didn't so much read it as look at the pictures and discuss it with the kids at bed time. Highly recommended. (See more wordless books here. I also like Zoom.) I also happened to make a batch of banana pancakes this morning to celebrate the arrival of Brianne, one of my favorite people in the world. They were gobbled up for lunch, as she was quite jet lagged from the 6 hour difference (and getting only 2 hours sleep on her flights here).

It's late, I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures do the rest...




(We enjoyed two walks today and saw lots of animals. Bri has more pictures that she's uploading now.)

Probability

My First E-Book
I just finished reading God's Debris by Scott Adams. He originally wrote this as a free e-book, so I downloaded the pdf a few days ago and read it in two sittings. It's a quick read, though you could spend more time pondering the ideas in it. Maddie often has questions and we provide answers as best we can...and sometimes she responds, "But why?" All I could think last time was, "Probability" but it didn't seem an appropriate answer that I would be able to explain to a 5-year old. (Get more free e-books from Project Gutenberg)

My First Attached Tic
I found this on the back of my thigh Saturday morning. I looked down and saw this black thing. At first, I thought it was one of those skin growths - and I was hugely disappointed, having one in such an awkward spot and black! I tried pulling on it to be sure, thinking maybe I just sat on something, but it was clearly stuck to me. I tried to think about if I yanked really hard if it would hurt. With a little more time I realized there wasn't a reason for me to have a black skin growth on the back of my leg - on closer inspection I realized it was a tic! What a relief. Hopefully I didn't catch anything. I feel ok now - we kept the tic in a jar just in case.

(Note: I make the distinction of an attached tic because I once found a tic in my ear when I was a kid at camp - but it hadn't bitten me yet, so was easy to remove.)

My First Sticky Rice with Corn
A friend dropped by to give us some sticky rice and corn that his wife had just made. It was still warm in the bowl and smelled absolutely delicious. I've never been a huge fan of corn mixed in with other things, like soup or those awful vegetarian kosher "oriental dumplings" at my old college dining hall. I like my corn fresh, on the cob. However, this turned out to be a really great combination - the corn was sweet and enhanced by coconut milk and the wonderful stickiness of glutinous rice.