I suck for not posting the pictures yet. I will get around to it. I have been quite busy with work and I am now, seriously, learning French. I started the RosettaStone CD Roms -- they are quite nice. The first lesson is somewhat easy as I know most of the words, which is nice. I'm sure it will get REALLY hard REALLY fast.

Best Buy just sent me five $5 coupons -- woo-hoo!!! This Reward Zone card is the best thing ever. Well, it's one of the best things, I don't think it deserves sole credit as the best thing ever ;-)

24 Season Two comes out on DVD September 9th. This means I have to get a lot done before then, because I am going to need a few nights (3 or 4) to get through that show. 24 Season One rocked, and I guess season two is damn good too. :)

So I am back home, whether I want to be or not. Don't get me wrong, I like home, but I really enjoyed France. It sucks being away from AnneJulie. Blah.

Jet lag is currently starting to beat me down, so I think I will go rest and deal with the rest of the pictures that I have to post later.

Quick Update... I went to an island named "Belle-ile en mer" (Pretty island in the sea is the translation) today with AnneJulie. It was super nice and really frikkin' hot. We rode bicycles around and it was damn hot. Did I mention it was hot??? Anyways, I took lots of pics (237 megs worth), and I will sort them when I get back to the US. I leave tomorrow so I have a LONG day ahead of me (I leave at 11 am France time, and arrive at 7 pm LA time -- which is 4 am France time). Ugh. I am not looking forward to coming back, it's really nice here, and my French is actually improving... I ordered some CD-Roms from Rosetta Stone so I can continue my French "growth". The CDs were super expensive so I will make myself do them, regardless. I figure it is like working out... it sucks at times, but if you stick with it, improvement will happen.

Stores are open weird times here. A lot of stores are open Tuesday-Saturday, with Saturday & Sunday off. And, in small cities such as this one, many have 2.5 hour lunch breaks, and then close at 6 pm. The customer service sucks here compared to the US -- but it's part of the culture to not have happy people working I guess. It still trips me out.

Oh yeah, and everything shuts down in August. August is "vacation month" so many employees have the whole month off. You cannot do construction in August because everyone is on vacation and it makes too much noise. I guess not as many people take all August off as they did in the past, as France now has a 35 hour work week and people take more long-weekend style vacations then a whole months worth of vacation at once.

So I've decided I want one of these. This is at the top of the "materialistic" goals.

So I tried to add some comments to my blog, but the first thing I tried did not say how many comments existed, so that sucked. The second one seemed like it was going to work until, for some reason, it would not execute the function in an ASP page. I think it has something to do with access privileges, but I am not sure. I will still work on it occasionally, and maybe I'll get it... I may end up using Steve's weblog code that he wrote. My only reason not to use it is laziness -- it's hard enough to get me to want to update my blog, let alone have to setup a template again, etc.

A couple of thoughts about what is weird in Europe:
1) It's weird how the windows do not have screens on them. Bugs can just get into the house easily. At night, AnneJulie will plug in a "bug killer" type of object into the wall, which will release an odor that humans do not smell but it will kill the bugs. It's strange. In a lot of the rooms, at night, you use metal or wooden covers that go over the windows. It basically "seals up" the house. I definitely prefer the style of the US on this...

2) When you build a house, you cannot have windows on the side of the house if you have a neighbor next door. This "invades the privacy of your next door neighbor". I guess if you design a house that has windows on the side, the project will simply get rejected.

So Brian says that Vanilla Coke is better than Pepsi Vanilla. It cost me $1.00 for me to find this out, so it have to take what he said very seriously. I am somewhat disappointed. Perhaps he got a bad bottle. I'm still holding onto the hope it is better, because I have always liked Pepsi better than Coke...

Wow. That is too funny.

Everyone smokes here it seems. It's amazing how a 14 year old can walk into the store and by a pack of smokes. It's disturbing. I'm sure it is a contributing reason to why Europeans are skinnier than Americans. Not the sole reason, but a valid reason.

Saturday was rather uneventful. I worked the majority of the day because AnneJulie had to work on her memorie. To apply (not even to get in, just to APPLY) to a school in Paris, she has to write a 25 page paper on the WTO and if the same thing will happen in Cancun as it did in Seattle a few years ago. It’s a really good school so hopefully she gets in – they are taking around 20 people (yes, TWENTY).

Sunday, AnneJulie worked more but I went and wondered around the coast of Britanny (it’s a region in France, La Baule is in Brittany) with AnneJulie’s dad, which was a lot of fun. We spent about 3 hours walking about the ocean, climbing over various rocks. He is full interesting information. The ocean was at low tide at the time, which did matter. There was at least a 15 foot difference between low tide and high tide. It’s really amazing. I have not seen a tide difference that big before. Pictures can be found here.

Also, here are some more pictures of La Baule.

I made these pages with the HTML Slide Show Wizard, which is a Microsoft’s PowerTools for Windows XP. I am curious on how it comes out. It seems to not want to view correctly (the slide show is not automatic) in Mozilla Firebird, but it works well in Internet Explorer, of course. The jury is still out on the slide show wizard, but it seems pretty nice. It’s better than having to constantly click on every image.

The worst part of programming is User-Interface (UI) design. It just takes forever, and it sucks. Designing forms with text boxes in just the right place takes an incredibly amount of time, and it is hard to get it “just right”. Especially when I am trying to improve on an interface that I feel is decent. I just hate it.

So Thursday night had to be one of the most boring nights in my life. I really can’t think of a time when I felt more bored and more out of place. Being bored is one thing, but feeling out of place on top if it makes it unbearable.

AnneJulie’s parents had old family friends over – a husband and wife along with their two children, who were somewhere around my age. I was told that they speak English so it won’t be a problem and it would be ok. However, I was skeptical, based on my previous “they speak English, it will be ok” encounters. Before they arrived, I got some good news from AnneJulie’s dad, who is incredibly nice. He said I can leave at any point if I am uncomfortable, because he understands what it is like not to understand anything. So that was a nice sign of relief – but I told him I would try to stick with it for as long as I could.

So they arrived and, of course, no English. They arrived around 8:00 PM and introductions were made. We then went inside to the living room around 8:20 and drank a very strong “rum-like” alcohol that is from Rio combined with sugar and limes. It was strong but good, and got me fairly tanked since I had not eaten anything. So I sat there for about 40 minutes, bored, not understanding about 99.8% of it. At one point, I went upstairs to get her brother, Antoine, who was not down there yet. I told him, “There are two reasons why you need to come downstairs. #1: There is alcohol. #2: If I have to suffer through this, so do you.” He laughed, and came down a few moments later. It was a good thing he came down because he, like any normal young male, is bored stiff at this type of thing. He kept me entertained by telling me what was going on, what he predicted they would talk about next, etc.

About 9:00, we went into the kitchen to eat. Squid. Woo-hoo. And rice, with white wine. The squid is basically just like meat with a sauce. It doesn’t have tentacles or anything like that. So I tried two pieces. Eh, well, it wasn’t the worst thing ever. Foiegras (duck liver) is worse. So is the weird goat cheese I’ve tried. But still. I am branching out on my food (I actually had salmon the other day – and enjoyed it somewhat), but this was just too weird. The idea of it was what killed it.

So the dinner went on and on and on, all in French of course. I joked with Antoine about crap since we were sitting together (AnneJulie was on my other side, but she was, for some odd reason, enjoying the evening…). We had dessert, which was vanilla ice cream, some caramel and almonds, grapes dipped in alcohol, a sauce with alcohol. It was pretty good, but I did not like the grapes much. AnneJulie says I am spoiled in California with grapes – I guess they are really good in Cali. I am just used to them, so didn’t think of them as being special.

About 10:15, Antoine had to go shower to get ready to go out and party, so he excused himself. Seizing the opportunity, I took the blue pill and ended my boring lesson of French culture.

--

So why was it so boring? Basically it comes down to one thing: understanding. If you don’t know what is going on, it’s hard to have any fun whatsoever. It’s amazing how you can guess what they are talking, in a super general way, just by their hand movements, tone, and hearing one or two words. But other than that, it was horrible. I do not wish this experience on anyone, and that is fo’sho.

So I am going to have to learn French faster. It is the only viable solution. Otherwise, I will dread all family events with AnneJulie’s non-immediate family, because one can only expect that I will suffer the same boredom. Her immediate family is great and has done everything they can to make me comfortable, and I appreciate it tremendously. But this stuff is going to continue no matter what, until I learn more French and can understand. I don’t want to be fluent – I would like to but that isn’t the goal – I just want to have a general idea what is going on more than 0.2% of the time.

Yesterday, AnneJulie and I took her parents car and drove around for a while. We first drove on the road that parallels the beach and took some pictures from where a lot of the boats are docked.

We then drove back through the beach area of La Baule, and drove through its neighboring town. The driving is quite different, and I can finally say I am used to it. The roads are incredibly narrow and there are rarely stop lights – roundabouts, including multiple lane roundabouts, dominate the roads. We then stopped a few times to look at the “Savage Coast”, which has a lot of beautiful cliffs. It was still very hot so it was nice to get out of the car and take some pictures and get some air.

We then drove to a fortified city called Guerande. The drive to this city was interesting as we drove on this very narrow two-way road that had salt fields on both sides of the road. The salt fields were very interesting to see – they have been there for a long time – since people started to use salt to preserve their food.

We then walked around the fortified city and took a lot of pictures. We then went to a nice restaurant, which took us forever to get seated. Nobody told us “oh, it will be x minutes”. We just stood there with other people and waited. Finally, we got seated, in the same seats that had been empty the whole time we were waiting. I had a “Cowzone” pizza and then a crepe that had sugar and butter for dessert. The whole experience took about two hours – it’s amazing how French restaurants take forever. And this wasn’t a SUPER classy restaurant. It was very nice, but it wasn’t a “get completely dressed up for” type of restaurant. We ate outside, as it was still very warm. Overall the food was very good. We then drove home and that concluded the nice day out.

Pictures of our trip can be found here.

This is great.

Update on my vacation in France. AnneJulie and myself went all over the nearby coast. Tomorrow I will post pictures and a more detailed post with my thoughts.

Another good Arnold article :)

Damn, it's hot. I am inside right now because AnneJulie is at driving lessons (getting a French license is a billion times more complicated than it is in the U.S.), and I am baking. It is REALLY hot and humid outside right now. It's about 86 IN THE HOUSE right now. At least I am going to the beach later tonight, probably from 6-8 pm. It's dark late here and that seems to be the best time to go.

One reason why I like the beach so much here is that after going in the ocean, I do not smell like the ocean. When going in the water at Pismo, the smell seems to stick with me a lot more, and it's a smell I do not like. Even while in the water, the ocean smell is not nearly as strong.

Wow. I wonder if Buddy is this smart :)

This is an interesting article about Arnold Schwarzenegger (the "Governator"), who is running for Gov. of Cali

I have a lot to mention here, so I’ll just dive into it. Sorry if it is somewhat random and does not make much sense – proofreading a blog is just not something I want to do:

** 1. French meals / language issues.
I really enjoy the idea of meals being more social. The fact that we eat lunch at 1:00 pm every day is really nice. We usually spend around an hour talking about various things.

The problem is that I have no idea what is going on. AJ will translate some things for me, and I understand a little, but for the most part, I am completely lost. I sometimes wonder if it is better to know what is being discussed but be bored, or have no idea and be bored. Personally, I would rather know what is going on, but be bored, because not knowing is incredibly frustrating. It is a new feeling I have experienced. The frustration is new – not having the slightest clue really sucks. At some meals, it does not bother me at all, but at other times it does. I guess it depends how much is translated for me – if I have a slight idea of what is going on, it is ok. But if I am getting no translation, I just sit there like an idiot, bored. This is no fun.

That being said, I am learning some more French. Very slowly, of course. I can see how people who come to a foreign country for a year or so get good at languages. Ideally, I wouldn’t mind living in France for a year to get better at the language. But this is not an ideal situation, as there are other issues – work, food, culture – that would prevent this. Perhaps someday I will buy a house here and use it as a summer house. That would be nice. I would have to know more French to take advantage of this – but I guess it is a goal I will work towards.

** 2. Driving
So I have now driven in France. Not just around the block, either. I drove to Nantes, which is about an hour away. AnneJulie, her mom, and myself went to pick her dad up at the airport. Driving is not that different, but there are a few differences that should be noted:

- Roundabouts: They are everywhere. And they are bigger and more advanced than the “Best Buy” ones in Santa Maria. If you are going on the roundabout for half of it, you would start in the middle and basically slowly merge to your right. If you are going to the first exit, you would just stay to the right the whole time. It’s simple, but it’s just different because there are multiple lanes in the roundabout, whereas those Santa Maria style ones are just one car wide.
- Passing on the freeway: It is recommended that if you are passing a car, you keep your left blinker on. This way the cars behind you know that you do not intend to stay in the fast lane.
- Freeway driving: People drive on your butt and flash their high beams if you are in the fast lane and do not get over. Passing on the right is “forbidden”. People approach you from behind quickly and it does not seem like they want to slow down. From what I have heard in the past, it seems like French and German drivers are somewhat the same. Basically, “get out of the fast lane”. I had no problem with this because I constantly watch the rear view mirror anyways. It was rather strange, and it hurts my ego slightly, to see these little cars passing me going so fast. I was driving 120. Kilometers, of course. AnneJulie’s family has a 10+ year old Ford (something); I can’t remember the name of it. It is not a car that is in the United States.

** 3. Crepes
We went to a crepes restaurant for dinner last night. It was really good. I had two crepes: one with egg, cheese and bacon, and the second one had sausage and cheese. Bacon was actually ham, which made me ask what ham was then. Somebody at our table had a ham crepe, and I could not figure out the difference. Oh well. We had a lot of alcoholic cider, and that was good too. I have probably had more alcohol since I’ve been in France then I have had in the last year in the US, which says nothing, but still. It’s interesting how alcohol is more a part of the culture here.

**4. Greek food
I love Greek food. I had a chicken pita, which has lettuce and this cucumber sauce – which is white and I find it to have an interesting taste – in it. They then put some fries at the top of it, which you eat before the rest of the pita. It’s SOOO good. I guess it’s called Greek “gyro” food. I have been searching the Internet for recipes for this – and will have to experiment when I get home. I am hoping Santa Barbara (or maybe even SLO??) has a Greek/Mediterranean “Gyro” type of place to eat. That would be great.

**5. Cell phones
The United States sucks with their cell phones. It’s amazing how we have technology sooner in basically everything, except this. I realize there are plenty of valid reasons for this (US is slow to adapt due to having a better local calling system (free local calls), Europe is more tight for space for landlines, etc.), but still. Pathetic.

**6. The Beach (La Plage)
I have always disliked the beach growing up. I don’t know if it was just the salt water or the smell or what, but I never liked it. But here the beach is super nice. The temperature is really nice, there is usually a slight warm breeze, and it’s just so relaxing. The water is cold, but not as cold as the Pacific. I am slowly working on my tan – I hopefully will be tan when I get back.

Some pictures can now be found here.
http://www.cyberbaal.com/randomville/europe/labaule/labaule_01.html

So I am in La Baule, France right now visiting AnneJulie. For the ignorant (ok, I didn’t know for a while either…), La Baule is in the western part of France, and is on the Atlantic Ocean. I really like this town. It is, and I use this term loosely, a European Santa Barbara. I will be taking some pictures soon and will post them online. It is hard to explain exactly what this place is like until I get some pictures up. I have taken a few but they were at night and I do not feel they capture what this town is really like.

Saturday and Sunday, AnneJulie and I went to the beech. It is very nice. The water is warmer than the Pacific and the beach just smells nicer. The beach was packed both days we went.

To walk to the beach, we walked through the main street, which is similar to State Street in Santa Barbara. Once you finish walking through the street, you cross a 2 lane road that parallels the beach. There are a lot of apartments and buildings overlooking the beach, which is amazing. It reminds me of pictures that I have seen of Rio de Janeiro, just on a smaller scale.

There are a lot of American tourists here, according to AnneJulie’s brother. I haven’t seen many as it hard to really tell who is who. Her brother, Antoine, would know because he sells ice cream on the beach.

The language makes things difficult, but I am definitely getting better (the only way I can go is up, lol) at French. Of course, I still completely suck, but at this rate, I could be fluent in, oh, 200 years. The food has been really good so far. We always eat outside in the backyard since the weather is so nice. For those who are curious, they DO have Vanilla Coke here (Coca-Cola Vanille), and it tastes the exact same (Pepsi tastes slightly different). I love the bread here. It’s funny because in America, I don’t like a lot of the bread – I hate white and sourdough, which a lot of things are. Here, there hasn’t been a type of bread that I have tried that I did not like.

I am driving tomorrow, which will be interesting. AnneJulie’s mom broke three ribs (ouch!!!) so it is difficult for her to drive. We checked into it and my California Drivers License is good enough. The car covers me on the insurance, minus a deduction, if there is any accidents. I am not too worried about driving: things are different, but it’s not that different. I’ll just be more cautious. And NO, Europeans do NOT drive on the “opposite” side of the road. It is just like in the US. England is the only country that is opposite – and some former British colonies. If it were the opposite side of the road there would be NO WAY I would drive. That is just too weird for me.