The French

I once heard someone say that the French are a hard people to know. I mean, to really know. Sure, they'll give directions, advice, and recommendations to tourists. They may even take you into their house to offer you a meal. But the French are significantly closed in many ways. That is, unless they are with other French. I am an english speaking person living in France. My french is very much “school french”, and not practical french. Therefore, I can explain myself, express myself well enough to get by but I remain relatively lost in a pure French setting. When the french speak amongst themselves, they speak too quickly and use too much slang. Sometimes, there will be one or two who slow down for me; or who will explain things every once in awhile. But for the most part, Il s'en fiche!

Some French are more open than others of course. The more open, understanding, and accomodating ones are predominantly the ones who have travelled. It is important to understand that there are many french who have never left France. They don't completely understand the world around them. They look inward. But the ones who have travelled outside the country, a number I would peg at less than 50%, understand that the world is not French.

It is true that within France, you have a diverse country full of rich culture, great food, gorgeous countryside, dynamic cities, and a climate that offers a little bit of everything. You could argue that of all countries, France seems to have it all. The south, the north, the east, and the west are all very different. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the french are sometimes resistant to learning even a little bit of english. Simply because they don't need to. They have everything that they need where they are.

The common explanation put forth is that they are arrogant. In love with themselves and their language. Perhaps it is a little of both. But it seems to me that France puts forth the least amount of effort towards learning english than any other European country. And even some Asian states. The reason why is a whole other story.

Training it to Bourg St. Maurice

As I am writing this, I am on a train headed to Bourg St. Maurice. BSM is a small village in the French Alps, which seems (from a map) like a few steps from Switzerland. Having taken three different trains today, I have noticed the change outside. The temperature has dropped, there is more wind, and there is definitely more mountains. Right now, they're big enough but I feel that as we travel more east, they'll only get bigger. There is some beautiful scenery out here I look forward to the crisp clean mountain air.

The trains are very strange indeed in France. From the map, it seems like a direct route would have taken about 4 hours. Three trains and 8 hours later, I will arrive. The train started out heading west (the opposite direction). A couple of hours in, it actually stopped at a station, let people off, and then started again in the opposite direction (i.e. turning around). And the trains here ain't cheap either. I paid 80 euros (about 120 dollars) to get to BSM from Nice and then a 35 euro cab ride after that to the hotel. Sheeeit! I don't know. It seems to me like there is both a cheaper and quicker way to get here. Whats done is done though. Here's a map and the route I took:

Traveling with lots of luggage is horrible. I had one huge suitcase, a smaller one, a backpack, a computer bag, and a big bag of groceries. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to change trains twice. Also, it might not be so bad if the second transfer gave me more than 5 minutes to find the next train. The first gave me about 20. My brilliant idea is to sling the smaller suitcase over the big one. This works out until inevitably it loses grip, falls down, and hangs. If there were ever moments where I want to swear really loudly, this one is at the top of that list.

The Raptors won last night. I believe they play again tomorrow against NJ. That should be a great game filled with passionate play and rivalry inducing hustle. The sad part is is that I wont be able to watch it.

Bargnani just might average 20 ppg this season. Especially if Bosh continues to be hampered by his injury. This will open up not only more playing time for the big soph, but more end of game, contest on the line moments. As they say, he does seem to have ice in his veins. Nothing seems to phase him. Hard to ask for a better personality for a clutch shooter than that.

As you can tell, I miss the Raps and therefore will write about them to ease the pain. Or maybe that will make it worse. Not really sure. Screw it.

Couchsurfing

Traveling is expensive. We all know that. And if you are on your own, it can be hard to meet people. We all know that as well.

These are only 2 of the many reasons why couchsurfing is a great concept. Basically, its a social networking site which has as its main goal bringing people together through good old fashioned hospitality. Need a place to stay in Rome? Nice? Moscow? Mind sleeping on a couch or an air mattress? One quick search on couchsurfing.com and boom! (ari gold accent) You've found something. Not only do you get a roof above your head for free, you have a local who can recommend everything you need to know.

Now, to be fair, I haven't actually "couchsurfed" yet but this weekend, I am going to Aix en Provence for my first couch surfing experience. I will keep you all posted on how it goes. If you don't see anything, perhaps I'll have been murdered in my sleep. In this case, I take back everything I wrote here. From the afterlife of course.

TJ Ford: the little engine that could

T.J Ford wasn't so crazy about holding Raptors training camp in the likes of Rome and Madrid. He is a down-south Texas boy who I believe said something to the tune of "I don't ever have to leave Texas. I got everything I need right here". That is not a direct quote but a paraphrase. OK. Fair enough. Everybody is allowed their own opinion. Personally, I don't care if T.J wants to visit every country in the world or if he is happy going to the same greasy spoon down the road for the rest of his life. I care about TJ Ford on the basketball court.

He is not in the same "all about stats, chucking up uncalled for jumpers" category as say, Steve Francis. But there were many moments on the court last year where he made a poor decision. And poor decisions lead to turnovers. And if you have enough turnovers, you are likely to lose the contest. Sometimes, TJ used his speed as a detriment rather than a asset. You could often see him going TOO fast and losing control of the ball or himself.

But this year, I believe TJ will have his finest season yet. Word around Raptors preseason camp is that he has been all ears to many of the assistant coaches as well as the wise sage that is Darrick Martin (also a PG). TJ has been actively trying to improve himself not just skill wise, but mentally as well. He wants to become a better team leader, a better decision-maker, and overall, a better person. These are all good signs. Because anyone who watches this team knows that TJ's potential is without limit. Many believe that he is THE fastest player in the league. While this may be true, he has to learn when to turn it on and when to keep it in a lower gear. If he can do this (and with Calderon backing him up), Toronto has a great shot at not only making the playoffs but winning a round or two.

getting a haircut in Nice (thank god for pictures)

Today I got a haircut. Normally, a haircut is just one of those necessary activities which doesn't cause one a lot of stress. However, all of my haircuts up until today were done in an english speaking barbershop. The barber shop is perhaps the place where being able to communicate is priority number one. But thank god for pictures.

Now, my french isnt horrible. I know how to say things like "I want my hair short" or "I want my hair all the same length". But phrases such as these don't hold enough detail for something as important as the follicles on our head. My french is definitely not advanced enough for me to say something like "take a little off the top, keep the sideburns, will i need to use gel?" etc...

So I walk into the shop (which ironically is blaring techno music with english lyrics). The barbers rock their heads to the music as they go about their business cutting, styling, washing, and colouring hair. First thing I ask is "Combien ca coute?" 22 Euros. Wooh! Pretty steep for a haircut for a frugal guy. But I agree.

It was not until the end that I believed that it was worth to 30 or so Canadian dollars. The barber I had was much more detailed, meticulate, and caring than any other barber I've had. Normally, my haircuts last about 10-20 minutes. I think this one lasted almost 45! It wasn't that he cut my hair slowly and took smoke breaks. It was just that there were so many phases to the job. First, a close shaving of the back and sides. Then, a trimming of the top. Then a shampoo followed by some really neat instrument that is basically a dustbuster for one's head. Then some more cutting, some final touches. And finally, a little bit of gel.

I got the feeling that this guy was really INTO what he was doing. That this was his masterpiece. That if he didn't give me all that he had, his boss was going to sever one of his limbs.

Now, this is the reason why I didn't complain. I don't especially like the haircut and will likely hide it under a hat or toque in the coming days but I didn't want to insult the guy. He told me before he started, "Faites moi confiance." Trust me. So I did.

But his look of pride and vindication throughout the whole process made it impossible for me to say, "you know what, just shave it all. Could you please throw away the last 45 minutes of your life?"

So there you have it. Now I look like all the french youth do. With some combination of shaved, hair on the top, faux-hawk, strange twists and turns. But I did not have the heart to tell this guy to change it. I was his canvas and he had just made it his own. I couldn't take that away from him.

Working Holiday in France

OK. Deep breath...it is almost time to leave. The plans have been set for months. The date is very quickly approaching. Not much more than a week to go.
I am definitely excited, don't get me wrong. I love travelling and I do really like Paris. I love adventures. However, most of my adventures have been a) with other people that I had previously known and b) had been relatively planned.

My latest adventure that I am about to take has neither of these things. Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps this will be one of the best years of my life. I truly hope so. I think that I will have to change to make this whole thing work. And these changes that I will have to make will be positive ones. A more independent, demanding personality is only one of these.

Off to create plans. Or do I need them?

pay day breakfast and forced socialization

Companies have many different theories on how to bring people together. Some have a laissez faire approach where they literally stick a bunch of people together and wait it out to see who clings to who and who loathes who. Some have a more pro-active solution, with planned activities to help foster camaraderie. I have been personnally immersed in the latter at my most recent job.

Every 2nd Friday morning, we would have what is called a "pay day breakfast". Everybody (about 14 of us) would congregate in a conference room, have breakfast, and do a round of "check-in". There would be an ongoing cycle over who was in charge of bringing in the food. And then the "check-in". Ahh, the check in. I loathed the check in. And while I'm sure that some people relished it as an opportunity to present a highly contented persona, many people felt like I did. That it was an insincere, forced, uncomfortable, and wholly uneducational process. It was all filler, no substance. To really get to know somebody, you have to earn their trust. Nobody is going to say anything terribly exciting while the whole group (and the boss) are present.

Don't get me wrong! I thought all the people were very interesting and friendly. Just wasn't a huge fan of this format.

Let me know what you think of this process and whether you think it is beneficial to a company.

golf

So yes its true. I am a big fan of golf. Not so much playing it. (played last weekend and almost tore the place apart) Its more the watching that I'm into. This is tough because pretty much 90% of the world and probably 98% of people my age claim that its "boring". Not to me it isn't. Maybe part of this is because I have played it a lot so I appreciate just how good some of these guys really are and what a mental grind it truly is.

Judging from this picture, this doesn't seem true for the world number one: