Les ciseaux

When Alain and I first moved here, we had nothing by means of kitchen stuff.  There was no way I was going to pack anything of the sort.  We brought clothes and more clothes.

Thankfully we were lent a few items to get us started.  And we were graciously taken to IKEA later that week to grab other needed items.

However, we didn't take into account the items we purchase at IKEA would require ALREADY possessing another item.

For example:

Les ciseaux

Nicely packaged so you CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT open the scissors.

Nope.
Just stop trying.

That little zip-tie is quite the handiwork. 

How would you suggest we get these open?

Oh a knife dare you say?

Well, this is what our knives were in at the moment.

You know that super tight hardshell plastic that even WITH scissors is a beast to open.

Definite predicament wouldn't you say?

What would be your suggestion...

Maybe one day I'll tell you how we did it, ha! 

Moving on... so I can all leave you in desperate anticipation of wanting to know HOW we possibly got use of our scissors and knives.
Bwahahaha (evil laugh)

Since we seriously didn't have much the first few weeks.

This was my technique to steam.

I fondly refer to it as Sans Lid (with a French accent, bien sûr!)

If you ever find yourself in this type of situation... remember sans lid is an equally effective alternative.  (Minus the whole don't touch the bowl without a hotpad, oh wait, don't have a hot pad, find a bathroom towel moment).

And lastly when there was no knife with which to slice and dice.

We still had something sharp upon which to get our meager hands.

A grater.

Oh, but not just any grater.

A grater that has a slanted slot that works very ineffectively at slicing carrots.

Grated will have to do.

C'est la vie! 

La banque V

Is it just me or are you getting bored and/or annoyed of "La banque" posts?
Because
I AM!
If you missed it, I did indeed finally get my new card!
I even had my code confidentiel.
So I geared up for what I thought would be a happy ending, actually ACTIVATING my card.
But no.
It was not.
I put my card in.
I punched in my little code.
It rejected me!
To my complete and utter joy it DID NOT eat my card, but spit it back out.  I much prefer this method!
I stood there in complete confusion and tried again.
It spat my card out once more.
I marched into the bank and patiently waited.
And waited.
Finally a woman helped me, I explained the unfortunate circumstances leading up to this event and she asked, do you have the correct code confidentiel?
Well, I thought I did.  
I told her I was mailed a code for my first card, then I was mailed a code for this card.  
She looked puzzled and said she would request a new code confidentiel and that it should come in the mail by the end of next week.
The waiting game continues...

Le papier hygiènique

Have you ever noticed that in Europe they have all sorts of colored toilet paper?

Every time I have arrived in Europe the toilet paper shocks me.

Especially the pink stuff (which seems to be the most common).  

I just have this expectation that it's going to be, you know,

WHITE. 

When we moved into our place we were graced with toilet paper that was somewhat white.

Exhibit A: 

It is white. But there is a nice added touch of blue leaves to adorn this toilet paper.
What I don't get is that this is the cheap stuff?
It's cheaper to buy pink or purple toilet paper as opposed to white?  Does this make any sense to anyone out there?
At present we are using white with green checkers (not pictured).

The toilet paper aisle in the store is definitely rainbow-esque. But don't be fooled, white is available!

I don't know what it is.  But I think I'd just feel cleaner with white.  The French are so hyped up about preservatives and food coloring, you'd think they'd care about dyes (especially in regards to the down under).  
Mais non.
Do we have colored toilet paper in the US of A?  Apparently is has been too long for me to even remember.

La banque IV

I have not eaten so much nutella that I can no longer walk to my computer.  
In fact, I wish.
It has been a long while since I last posted due to the internet shortage around here. 
Internet shortage, you ask?
Why yes.
The internet in these lovely dorms has been minimized.  
Allocated.
Restricted.
I only have enough internet to do so much.  
However, I realized that I must prioritize.  


The blog must go on!


Particularly due to the fact that I JUST received my bank card.
Ahhh yes.
3 months later.
But I do indeed have a bank card.
It is not activated, because do I DARE put it in the machine and have it eaten again?
Never!
But I must!
Oh the decisions I encounter.
Please refer to: La Banque I, II, or III, if you are lost. 


Needless to say, it needed to be said that 


I have a BANK CARD!


I have had it in my possession now for 4 days.
When it is activated and in full use I will post again to celebrate! 
Unless of course I am out frivolously shopping because I can now pay by carte as opposed to espèces!


That is all.


Until sooner than later.
À bien tôt!

Franglais Friday!

L'Été Indien
Indian Summer.

This post is not going to be about the French language but just a random French something or other. 


Here in Metz everyone has been discussing the fact that we are experiencing an Indian summer. 
According to wiki an Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon. It is characterized by summer temperatures in the fall!  Yeah!
Personally, I am loving it!
I am a summer bum, through and through.
Today it is going to be 26 degrees Celsius (high 70's) which apparently is not normal for Metz's autumn weather.
I'll take it.


So what does this have to do with French anyway?
Well, I'll have you know I am friends on facebook with the lovely city of Metz.  They actually have a great personality and always wish me a good weekend and a happy Monday and anything inbetween.  I will divulge that the only reason I am their friend is so they can inform me about what is going on everyday in the city so I don't miss anything fun.  They're very on top of things like that and rather informative.  
But today.
Oh today.
They really made my day.
Their status was:
‎- 
26 degrés cet après-midi : C'est plus l'été indien, c'est l'éééétééé iiiindieeeeeen :-) 
-
And that wasn't the funny part, they made a comment on their status:
-
allez, pour le plaisir, même pas peur
- with a lovely video attached.
This video cracked me up.

Seriously.

No words.

Just watch it.

Here is the video:

Joe Dassin is a real classic.
I have loved him ever since I heard
Le petit pain au chocolat
Most know him because of his famous
Aux Champs Elysées
Which also has a special place in my heart.


Dear Joe Dassin,
  You've always been a favorite.  But now that I have seen this Été Indien video you will rank up there with David Hasselhoff flying through the sky in his music video Hooked on a feeling. [for those reading my blog if you have not seen this video you ARE missing out.] Anyway, back to you Joe, thanks for the memories.  Thanks for teaching my students French when I was a teacher.  We loved you.
Yours truly,
Emilie 

Le Tagada

Le Tagada is the name of an amusement ride here.  It is one of those rides that is expected to be at any carnival or festival.  This here Tagada was in Metz for the Mirabelle Festival (a celebration of that golden delicious fruit native to these here parts).

To explain this ride, you must imagine yourself spinning around really fast.  Also at times the ride will bounce, flying you off your seat.  

There is also a DJ who talks about how he is trying to get you to fall and let go, while he plays loud music (to be expected).  
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this ride and all the people screaming.  And then the thought crossed my mind - would they ever have a ride like this in the US?  A ride where there were no restraints?  A ride where you could fall flat on your face and get smashed by everyone's feet around you?  A ride where you could smack your head on somebody else's or metal bars?  A ride where you yourself had to hold on and if you didn't...?
I thought to myself, of course not!  
There are far too many people in the states who would ride this hoping to hurt themselves and sue the pants off of them.  Maybe?

Either way, I loved watching them spin so fast and try to keep holding on.  I loved watching them grope at each other, friends and stranger alike and somehow it was not awkward.  I especially liked watching those who had fallen try and get back up.  

I found a video on youtube since I didn't capture my own footage.
Tear.

It starts spinning real fast around 1:30. 

After much thought on this spectacular ride that filled me with giggles I remembered 
Starship 2000.  
Perhaps, our equivalent of the Tagada.  
Have you ever been? 
It has and always will be my favorite carnival ride.
Imagine yourself standing/laying on your back on a board and the spaceship spins SO fast that you can barely move.  The centrifugal force is so strong that you are stuck to the wall.  I again found a youtube video, one that I thoroughly enjoyed because it brought back so many memories.  

Despite this alarming footage, I am of the opinion that the Starship 2000 (aka Gravitron) is much safer than the Tagada. 

Am I wrong?  

Most likely.

Next time I will have to actually ride Le Tagada so I can give my full report.

Onto another ride, have you ever wanted to walk on water?

Well now's your chance!

Get inside this huge clear ball and your wildest dreams will come true.

And yes, there's a boy in that inflating ball.

Fully inflated.

Just hanging out on the water.  

I couldn't help but wonder if there was a time limit before the oxygen ran out.  

Les chiens et les gitans

The night we went to see the fireworks I learned a few things about the city of Metz.
Let me explain.
We went with some friends and decided to park at the south part of the park (where the fireworks were going to be held) and walk north to get there. 
[For the visual learner I have included a very cool map with all the details at the bottom of the post.]  
We attempted to go north on the pathway when we were stopped by some police officers.  They told us we were not allowed to go through this way and that we would have to walk around.
This walk around entailed going east a little bit and then heading north, going past the park (because there is a river with no where to cross) and then walking west and then south.  
In simpler terms: a 30 minute detour of walking.
If we had taken the pathway it would have taken us about 10 minutes to arrive at the park.
So being the rebellious person that I am I suggested we cut through this field which was to the left of the pathway and out of sight of the police officers.
We cut through a chain fence and started trudging through mud (that wasn't part of my plan).  We also passed a site where there had obviously been many parties by all the garbage left behind.  We were a few minutes from arriving at the park when out to our left a police officer saw us (the other police officers that had stopped us earlier were on the right).  He yelled at us to stop at once.  We halted and thought to just turn around, but since he was coming our way we stopped and waited.  
He told us that we could not continue this way.  I was puzzled.  I asked him why we couldn't go and he then said:
- Les chiens.
- Les chiens?
- Oui.
Okay.  So the dogs?  
The thought that I might be in Mexico crossed my mind.
He said that it didn't bother him if we decided to keep going but that it would be our choice whether we wanted to deal with the dogs.
So we thought about it and decided to keep going.  He said:
- NON! Les chiens!
I thought you just told us we could go if we wanted to deal with the dogs.  But no, that wasn't true.  His job was to stop us from going near the dogs.
Why were these dogs here anyway?
Especially right beside the new Pompidou Center, that was finished last year.  The main attraction that Metz has to offer. The site that all the tourists have been coming to Metz to see.
And instead of getting some dog control, they have hired a police officer to warn people of these dangerous animals on the loose.
Alright fine.  We won't keep going this way, but we will go to the road (on the left) instead of trudging back through the mud.
We started walking towards the road.
- Non!
Alright.  I paused for him to explain. 
- Les gitans!
- Les gitans?
- Oui!
I didn't even know what that meant.  I was confused.
He looked at me like I was crazy if I wanted to keep going towards the road.  
Towards the dreaded Gitans.  
So we made our way back and all the way around.  Double the distance we would have walked if the police officers would have let us past.  
I didn't mind walking.  I just wanted a good view of the fireworks and rumour had it that it was going to be packed.  That was my main concern.  As you already know, the place was less than packed due to the weather.  The fireworks were awesome.
Oh and Les Gitans?
The Gypsies. 


MAP (you can drag to view):
Points -
Green Star: Where the fireworks were
White Diamond: First stop by Police
Yellow Pause: Second stop by Police
Blue Square: Where we parked
Lines -
Yellow Line: The way we wanted to go (.86km)
Red Line: The way we attempted to go (.92km)
Blue Line: The way we actually went (2.15km)
Areas -
Light Blue: The Pompidou Center that wasn't built at the time this photo was taken.
Green: The dog area.
Purple: The gypsy area.