The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Turkeys everywhere breathe easier today. It's over. For now.

Claude Monet, "Les Dindons" (1877), Musée d'Orsay Read more →

Gratitude Haiku

Feeling so grateful For love, health, friends, abundance. I am truly blessed. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Read more →

An étrangère in a strange land

Although it's Thanksgiving in the U.S., here in France it's just another working day. And it seems the editors at BonjourParis aren't taking time off for good behavior, because my latest article was posted right on time! Yesterday, I was walking up the Champs Elysées where I saw an ad that showed a picture of a purple alien, with the following caption: “Seul dans l’Univers?” (Translation: “Alone in the Universe?”) It was the perfect representation of what it feels like to move to a foreign country—even when you speak some of the language and know a little about the culture. It’s very different—and I knew it would be—trying to be a resident here, rather than a tourist. When you’re a tourist, you don’t care much about assimilating. You know, and so do the locals, that you’re a tourist and therefore people will overlook your errors, your stupidity and even your unintentional rudeness. You go out and see the local sights, eat in restaurants, and shop a lot for things you don’t need but want. But when you’re trying to ease your way into daily life, doing even the simplest things can take longer and be more crazy-making than you ever... Read more →

Thanksgiving 101: A Refresher Course for avoiding family dysfunction at the holidays

The New York Times came out with this very timely article today about how Americans have lost touch with the idea of the family meal and how holidays like Thanksgiving can often bring out the worst in you and your relatives, rather than the best. Americans: take note before you sit down to your turkey feast tomorrow! And remember this again next month over the Christmas/Hanukah holidays, too. We're now officially entering the Holiday Zone, and it's often a very difficult time for a lot of people. Old grudges and differences of opinion often die hard, and once the distraction of the food has passed, people might be tempted to argue rather than converse around the table. Tips from this article I particularly liked: Family holiday dinners are a good time to dust off your manners. Although in some families it's possible that etiquette wasn't emphasized, all etiquette really is, is the ability to make others feel comfortable, to apply consideration and respect in your dealings with others. It's not about being snobby or putting on airs to be someone you're not; it's about ensuring that your guests feel safe and taken care of while they're in your home. To... Read more →

Evenings in English

Immersed as I am in French right now, I actually managed to plan a few evenings in English this week. The first was last evening when I did some English tutoring as a "sub" with one of P's clients. Given that he was French, it might have been a good opportunity for me to improve my French skills, but that's not why we were there. It was enjoyable, helping him by reviewing and editing some cover letters he'd written himself (he's trying to get a job over in London), which he actually did a very good job writing; and then simply engaging in some general conversation about things here, things in the U.S. (he has been invited by a friend to visit New York, so we talked about things he wants to do there) and some current events. What is interesting and challenging to me about helping someone else learn or improve their English skills is realizing, in the course of trying to have a normal conversation, how much of my English is slang or idiomatic speech -- and how hard it can be to come up with a plausible translation for some of the terminology. And the French-English dictionary... Read more →

Going "postale"

I had my first successful solo trip to the post office today. Before she left for the States, P very kindly took me with her to the local post office to show me how things are done, so I was less confused today than I might have been otherwise. I don't know if other post offices in France are run in exactly the same way as the one here in Vincennes, but basically you go in, take a number, and wait, much like you'd do at the deli counter in the U.S. When your number appears on the digital screen, the screen also directs you to which counter is free. There appears to be a special counter for business customers where they can just queue right up without a ticket, too; I assume you need to register for that service. The wait can be considerable; on the day P and I went together, after we got our ticket there were about 30 people ahead of us, so we went shopping in some other stores and kept coming back to see how far the "now serving" sign had gotten. All in all it took about an hour that day. Today, it... Read more →

Loud in any language

Middle schoolers at lunch recess in the school yard just to the left of my apartment. There's also what we'd call an elementary school across the street from this building. Pre-teens and teens are as deafeningly shrill and loud here in France as they are in America. Oh, thank God... the school bell is ringing to herd them back in to classes. Now I can enjoy my lunch in peace and quiet. Read more →

Back to realité

Just another manic Monday... My "transition" week is at an end. It's Monday and time for me to start getting back into some kind of work routine again... gotta make sure I continue my income stream so I can stay here in beautiful (albeit cloudy and gray again today) Paris. I've got a "to do" list as long as my arm: phone calls to make, clients to connect with, and must take the time to refresh my memory about a variety of projects I left in a state of suspended animation ten days ago. It's the post-vacation reentry that's always the hardest, isn't it? That couple of days after you've been on holiday and now have to shake it off and try to remember what the hell you were doing before you left? Because I'm perpetually juggling a wide variety of projects with my writing and web design businesses, I always worry that I'm forgetting someone or something as I work on reconnecting myself with the world. So the next couple of days are definitely going to be "working days" for The Bold Soul. I've got everything I need here at the apartment and if I run out of something... Read more →

Redefining "Hero"

Paris is like one giant monument. You can barely turn a corner without seeing France's heroes immortalized on every building, statue, bridge, and cathedral. France is a country that has such a long and rich history, and plenty of dead heroes to remember. The famous Père Lachaise cemetery is full of them, and the local international airport is named after the guy pictured here. But finding real live heroes and heroines these days is a bit harder to come by. We used to be able to look up to our heads of state as our heroes, but more and more, we distrust them so much there's no reason to look up to them. And we also used to find heroes in the sports and entertainment worlds (and many still do), although our culture is now so obsessed with celebrity that it's gone far beyond a bit of harmless hero worship. So when I was presented with this weeks Sunday Scribblings topic of "Hero", I had to stop and think for a bit: who ARE my heroes? Do I even have anyone I admire to the degree I would classify them as a hero? What does that word even MEAN to... Read more →

Dimanche seul

Sunday, alone in Paris. Not much different than a Sunday back in New Jersey in that I slept in, woke up, made some oatmeal, watched a video, took a walk, came home, did some work on a client's website, made some phone calls, checked my email, and blogged. Except that when I woke up and opened the drapes, I got a view of the Paris skyline (a bit rainy and cloudy but still Paris). And the oatmeal tasted better... must be the milk because they were Quaker Oats, same as at home. And when the weather cleared and I took a walk, it was to return something I bought at a store on Friday (which they actually took back without giving me a hard time) and then I wandered through the Sunday street market browsing, before queuing up with the locals at the boulangerie, where I bought a piping hot fresh-from-the-oven baguette and a mille-feuille (that's a Napoleon in the States). I made it about 3 steps out of the door of the bakery before breaking off the tip of the baguette to nosh on for the walk home, where I carried my baguette wrapped not in a sterile plastic... Read more →