intern

So we have an intern in our office and in typical French fashion it's not really clear why he's here and what he's suppose to be doing.  I caught him sleeping at his desk after lunch. 

I had some free time so I asked if he wanted to come with me and discuss a little about what it is that I do. 

Me:  So what's the objective of your internship?
Him:  I need two internships to validate my diploma. 
Me:  Ok, so do you have a personal objective?
Him: [blank stare]  Not really.
Me:  Ok so what have you seen so far?
Him:  I dunno.  Stuff.
Me:  ... [Mind wonders back to a lunch conversation I had with a co worker that spent some time with him.  It's complicated he told me.  He lacks... the basics]

So I started talking about things like sales and marketing and turnover and margin.  His eyes glaze over.

Did I mention he's 15?  I can't remember the last time I interacted with a 15 year old; I think it was in Japan when I taught Japanese kids how to say "banana".

Me:  [Lightbulb]  So do you learn English at school?
Him:   Yes but the level isn't that good.
Me:  Well here's your chance to practice.
Him: [Big nervous smile and even a little giggle a sign of at least a little interest?] Ok.

I'll have to give it to the kid he wasn't afraid to try.  He reminded me of my Japanese students, the bad ones that aren't afraid either unlike their smart counterparts who are afraid, afraid of failure because they don't know it.  The bad students are the ones who know failure so they don't fear it.

Turns out he's a bad student as well and is on a path to learn a professional skill (and not say, higher education).  Sucks when this is determined at the age of 14 and you can tell the "bad" label sticks with him as he brought it up often. Which is a shame as people can change, especially young ones.

Thank you for your time he said at the end in English.  Fearlessness and polite.  He'll be alright.

iwd

So I didn't know that today is International Women's Day and it got me wondering, how many other important awareness days am I unaware of?  223 according to Wikipedia, I was surprised to learn.  Which means that in a 365 days year when I woke in the morning I should be aware of something 61% of the time, or rather more than once every other day.

But International Women's Day is recognized by the UN one might say.  Ok so if consider awareness days that are recognized by some legitimate governing body (say UN, WHO, UNESCO, etc.) the number is more like 127 or 34% of the year (sorry unrecognized International Men's Day - November 19). 

I say more like 127 because April 20th is listed as recognized by the 'Global cannabis culture' so one could argue which days are legitimate or not.

And one could even argue days recognized by legitimate governing parties.  Example the UN recognizes 'World Television Day' on November 21st commemorating the date on which the first World Television Forum was held in 1996 (Germany opposed it citing that there were already three United Nations days encompassing similar subjects: World Press Freedom Day; World Telecommunication Day; and World Development Information Day).  But nobody recognizes days like 'World Stroke Day' (October 29th) or 'World Obesity Day' (October 11th). 

Side note: The UN seems to be behind the most awareness days and there are 4 awareness days with the word 'UN' in it. 

United Nations Day (of course) - October 24th
International Day of UN Peacekeepers - May 29th
United Nations international day in support of Victims of Torture - June 26th
And my personal favorite: United Nations International Asteroid Day raises public awareness of the asteroid impact hazard - June 30th

They also recognize 'International Day of Nowruz' on March 21st.  Do you know what Nowruz is?  It's the name of the Iranian New Year.  I'm not so sure why the UN thinks I should be aware of that other than for my general cultural knowledge but why isn't there a day for Lunar New Year or regular New Year (or is it Gregorian New Year?  See? Perhaps I do need more awareness of this day!). 

Maybe the UN is aware that perhaps on March 21st people want choice so there are 4 other UN recognized awareness days to choose from:

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
World Poetry Day
World Down Syndrome Day
International Day of Forests

And if you're not interested in any of the above days recognized by the UN know that the UN doesn't have an awareness day monopoly on March 21st as there is 'World Puppetry Day' which is recognized by the International Puppetry Association.

So yeah when my coworker asked me how I felt on International Women's Day I think it's great.  On the other hand when you look at all the awareness days out there it starts to look like a politically touchy subject that nobody can solve so they give it a day to say 'We haven't forgotten this is a problem and we're on it, but not right now' (kind of like a 'VP' slapped on your job title because your boss doesn't want to give you a raise - because you're a woman, haha). 

But in all seriousness really what has been done?  It's great to have a day but we need more.  

exceptional

So the morning after it snowed between 15cms in Paris, I, along with most people who had to go outside that day, dug in the back of our closets for something to afront the "exceptional" (the ministor of interior's words, not mine) weather conditions.

Luckily I had somehow with me old hiking boots from when I lived in Sapporo, Japan where the first snowfall can be as early as October and not exceptional for the average annual snow accumulation to be 600cms. Indeed, 15cms of snow in Sapporo in February would also be considered exceptional.

As exceptional weather conditions calls from exceptional weather attire, I strapped on my boots, put on my giant black downfeather coat that my husband says makes me look like a homeless person, and finished off by wrapping a giant scarf made of Icelandic wool around my neck.  I was ready. 

It was eerily quite outside except for the "crunch crunch" sound of people who are not used to walking in snow, walking in snow.  Nobody made eye contact since their head were down and although this is not exceptional what was that they were concentrated on their feet and not their smartphones.

That evening I wrapped up my kids as warm as I could tucked them into the double stroller and slowly made it to the bus stop in the hopes that there would be a bus.  There was exceptionally, no bus, so I would have to push them back to the apartment through unpaved sidewalks. 

It exceptionally took me took me 40 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes to get back.  I could have done it in 30 minutes had my daughter not exceptionally drop Kiki her adorable bottle sucking monkey. Devestated she tried to leave the stroller screaming "Kiki!  We have to go back for Kiki! She'll be cold, Mom, we have to go back! Kiki!!!!!".

Undeterred I plowed the rest of the way home by reassuring my daughter that Kiki was fine and that we'll find her, only later. 

So I lied (sorry Kiki), but it was under exceptional circumstances. 

le bus

So the bus I take to pick up my kids at the day care center is a bus that is paid for by companies to haul their workers from public transport to the office.  The bus starts from the metro at one end and goes to the RER at the other end, between the two is a distance of 2 kilometers with passages through mainly industrial zones.

I try to be on best behavior with the busdrivers since they literally go around in a small circles which makes them kind of grumpy.  Or so I thought when sometimes they would drive right by without picking up passengers.  And then I realized that maybe they don't know they have passengers. 

Why?  Firstly since the bus runs mostly in the mornings and evenings other buses use the bus stop for parking so usually view of the bus stop is blocked by another giant bus.

Secondly the bustop is almost always full of people only these people are not waiting for the bus. They are just a group of older maghreban gentlemen sitting around taking advantage of the free seats and chatting.  Seriously I've taken the bus in the morning and in the evenings it's always the same group. 

The other day I got to the bus stop and to my surprise the older gentlemen were not there.  This was because an homeless guy had moved in. 

So from the busdriver's perspective he is on a route that goes in small circles and sometimes he can't see the bustop because it's being blocked by a giant bus or if he can see the bustop it's either filled with people who don't want to take the bus or if it's empty it's because the people who want to take the bus are hiding counter wind to avoid the bad smell coming from the homeless guy and appear at the last minute frantically waving their arms as if for rescue.

Not the best bus route I admit but maybe not so dull.  

2018

So right after the holidays my daugther came down with the flu.  Delirious with fever she would wake up crying.  Convinced that it was her surrounding that was the source of her discomfort, she first threw off her covers.  Five minutes later she cried that she had no covers so I put them back on.  When this didn't work she tossed and turned with fustration until she fell off the bed.  She cried, wouldn't let me touch her, and then fell asleep on the floor.  Apparently this was an improvement.

I went back to bed and just as I begin to fall asleep I heard the sound of her footsteps fast approaching our bedroom.  She let out a yell at the door and then proceeded to wedge her way in between my husband and I. Apparently it was her bedroom that was the problem.

Edged out and exhausted I went to sleep in her bed.  Just as I was about drift asleep I again heard the sound of my daughter's footsteps approaching as if she was some kind of 30 second delay shadow of mine. I put her back in her bed, tucked her in and went back to bed.

I actually fell asleep this time only to be awakened by her yelling about how a wolf ate all her pasta.  I went to reassure her but to no avail.  The only way to calm her down was the physically show her a plate of pasta as proof that 1.  there was no wolf.  and 2. even if there was a wolf her pasta was safe.

This did calm her down down until she greedily begin eating the pasta until she almost choked.

I took her to the pediatrician the next day and empathesized the delirum and lack of sleep (mine as well).  We left with a prescription for acetaminophen and strong acting cough medicine.

Two weeks later my son caught a nasty stomach bug and rapidly lost liquids from almost every orifice of his body, sometimes three at the same time (vomit, diarreha, tears).  Seeing your baby hungry but unable to nourish himself is a sad and alarming sight.  I went back to the pediatrician and left with a long list of perscriptions and a heartwarm french "courage" as I left.  It means energy, strength, heart.  I would need it.

Just as he was getting better, I caught his stomach bug.

In France throughout the month of January there is a tradition of eating epiphany cake embedded with a charm inside.  It's considered lucky if you get a piece with the charm in it.  You also get to wear a paper crown.   Not sure if it's due to the paper crown or the fact that French aren't optimistic enough to believe in good luck, but for some reason everyone wants to avoid getting the charm.  This means of course when my co workers saw the charm poking out the side of a piece, that piece went to me.

Switch it with the guy next to you whispered the guy on the other side of me.  I tried but the guy never took his eye off his piece probably because he's aware of such trickery.  It didn't matter anyways since turns out that his piece had a charm in it, too.

Sitting side by side with crowns in our heads, I noticed that although we both got King Louis as our charms his had long hair and mine didn't.  Oh mine's the 14th and yours is the 16th he explained.  Then he added, yours lost his head.

...

I hope this is not an indication of how 2018 will be.