Back in the.. U... S... A.

Well we're back.. and when I first stepped out in the world.. known as America.. I can't say it was too shocking.. I thought it would be a bit of a shock.. Well so far these are the things that stood out.
1) No one drives cars any more.. It's either SUV's or Giant Trucks... Yes my Civic is no match!
2) Grocery stores have GIANT bags of... well... EVERYTHING.
3) There's alot more fat people.. and I'm not including the EXTREAMLY over weight people. "Watch out.. big belly coming through."
But I have been enjoying all the foods I've missed and craved over the last year.. Yes, I will join those over wieghts.. just give me time.

Last moments...

Well its Monday, our official last day for this trip. Since tomorrow we will be heading to Bordeaux and stay in a motel cause our flight leaves really early the next morning (wed). We've kind of thought about what we are doing in the near future, but I won't post it all here. But I wanted to take this time, to look over this last year to try to reveal to myself, what I have learned. I feel that I've learned how to see the important things in life, and to enjoy it. I feel that we've gotten to slow down and feel that its important to slow down, stop.. and not stress out all the time about the future. I know there are responsibilities to do, and I think I can face them with a new look on life. Enjoying life is very important too, I understand its important to plan for the future, but if you're letting today pass with out enjoying it, the future will do the same.. pass without enjoyment, and I think that's a waist. Money, its not everything... of course I need it, but it doesn't seem like anyone can ever have enough, so I need to know what that amount is that I can enjoy life, and live responsible without going over board of course. But with all these subjects, the most important thing I learned is love. I learned to love my wife more than I ever have. And to stop letting things inbetween us seem more important.

So this goodbye. I thank all of who took the time to check in on us. You are true friends and family. I'll see all of you soon.

P.S. and for any one that saw this blog as "where I can live the most comfortable for the least amount of work". I'm sorry you saw it that way. I feel that I wanted to put up things of our life and our adventures here, that people who never leave the US may never experience, or can't understand. Although I didn't add WORKING HARD as something I learned, it's because I already realize that. I understand that its important to work hard and provide for a family, and that's what I do. Maybe not to someone else's expectations, but to ours! So I can say that's something I learned too. I never liked trying to live upto someone's expectations, even society (aka keeping up with the jones'), and I don't think I will. I think we have our own expectations, and I think that's what I should be living up too.

The count down begins..

Where did the time go... The last thing I remember is walking into the train station in Paris and thinking to my self... "What am I doing here?" now, almost 11 months later, we're about 9 days from leaving. I can't say that we have made any final decisions, weather to come back or to stay. It's not as easy as it sounds. In both places we have family and friends.. But no matter where we go, we will be leaving the other half of them behind, so it goes with out saying, we can't make everyone happy. So it pretty much comes down to what we want and what we want for our future... Other than that, I don't know what to make decisions on! But no matter what, we will make the best of either choice. We've been back and forth in our ideas, and it doesn't seem like a decision can be made. But I was hanging out with one of my friends the other day, just kind of a guys night out.. And he said something I find really wise.. He said "do something you want to do, and make it work". I do find this truly encouraging. It seems either decision we make will be VERY hard, with jobs and everything else that goes into life.. But when it comes down to it, if its something we want bad enough, we will make it work... And that's all I have for now folks!

The media difference

When I first arrived here in France, I noticed the difference between the media in the U.S. compared to the media in France. It started out with such things like commercials or musical shows of top-less girls dancing or showering. Something that would never be shown in the US especially during Prime Time. Then it moved on to the disaster in New Orleans, where here they would show all the dead bodies lying in the streets. I thought to my self that first time, they don't do that in the US out of respect right? Well the more and more it shows things like this I feel that it's a better way of understanding. Even though I wouldn't want to see nor have anyone else see any dead bodies of anybody I would know. But today, during prime time, there was this show on, called the 60 images that marked the French. It started out with showing things that I didn't get to see in the US. Such as Janet Jackson's pierced nipple during the super bowl, the face of the child that Michael Jackson was suspected of molesting. All these I remember being blurred during the media in the US. Then it got to things such as the Twin towers being flown into. I know after the first few days the media in the US stopped showing any kind of graphical images. But tonight I got to see the planes running into the towers. But nothing got to me as much as the images of the people falling out of the towers. Not only did the cameras follow the people all the way down, but they also got the close ups too. That really got to me. I don't know why the medias views are so different nor do I know which one I see as right. Because on the first hand I don't like the media having total control of what we see or don't see but I don't like having to be so into the scene of seeing real people die.

To add to the Last Post

I've heard that even though the media in the US has talked about this Islam Cartoon Controversy, they haven't been showing the actual cartoon. Well here it is.

• * In France, Raymond Lakah, a French-Egyptian who is the owner of France-Soir, one of the French dailies that decided to publish the cartoons in solidarity with the Danish newspaper which first published them, fired Publication Director Jacques Lefranc. Employees at the paper are now revolting and are demanding that he’d be reinstated.
  

  French publications “Le Nouvel Observateur“, the “Courrier International” and “Charlie-Hebdo” have all decided to publish the cartoons. The “Liberation” daily will have 6 pages dedicated to the subject, with some of the drawings. All French television stations, except musical channel M6, showed them.

  CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News, the Washington Post, the Washington Times or the New York Times on the other hand, nothing!

  Meanwhile, Palestinian gunmen shut down the European Union’s office in Gaza City, demanded an apology from the European Union and threatened to kidnap European workers.

*TAKEN FROM SUPERFRENCHIE.COM

So it's all crazy over here with all the Muslims angry and all the French angry.. and now alot of places have already gone on strike. Also here's another cartoon.... I thought it was funny

* Written by editor Jihad Momeni, a former Jordanian senator who has since been fired from the paper, the editorial asked:

“Who offends Islam more? A foreigner who endeavors to draw the prophet as described by his followers in the world, or a Muslim with an explosive belt who commits suicide in a wedding party in Amman or elsewhere.”

Another last!

Well today was my official last day of school. I had finished my class schedule of 200 hours of French. Wow, that seems like a lot, that is until I got offered an internship-type job to pretty much study French for 300 hours and get paid for it. That's a total of 500 hours (for all you non-math majors) of French, wow I must be good. Well we'll see if we decide to stay or not, which we'll see if I take it or not. But back to today, it was kind of sad to have to leave something I kind of got used to doing. I actually got to know/meet a lot of people from all over the world: Brazil, China, Japan, England, Africa, Spain, Philippines and Russian countries. And all we had in common was French. But as sad as it maybe, at an ending there's always a begging, so why dwell on the past, when I can look towards the future.

Current Events : Well today in the U.S. is groundhogs day, and in France it's Crepe day! OUAI! Today's actually Chandler day which is "the presentation of Christ", and like any Religious day or holiday in France, it usually includes eating. Speaking of eating. Has any body heard about the French people getting fatter. Yeah, it's probably McDonald's fault, there's 2 1/2 in a town of 50,000 here.

In The News: Well if you haven't heard about it, the Muslims are mad. Well I live right-dab-slap in the middle of Muslim land, yes I am talking about France. But this story is on the News all the time, I'm just waiting for another riot or maybe a religious war, which comes first huh? Well it started out with a cartoon of the Muslims God Allah, and now a lot of the Muslim world is upset. On the news/radio either people are mad that there was this cartoon or they are saying "get over it, they apologized". Here's a link on the MSNBC.com page.

The world’s best place to live.. FRANCE?

Well it's true, at least to The internationaliving.com 2006 Quality of Life Index it is.

The United States, which had been first for every one of the 20 years the Index has been in existence, finished 7th.

Switzerland was second, Australia was third, and rounding out the top five were Denmark and New Zealand. Meanwhile, the UK finished 18th and Germany 21st. And Iraq ... well that is still dead last at #194…

The categories taken into account for the Index are climate, economic stability, heath care, infrastructure, climate, cost of living, safety, and recreational opportunities.

France beat the United States in 7 of 9 categories and was tied in the ‘Risk and Safety’ category. Only on the economic front did the US finished ahead (3rd) of France (5th).

Noting its “good climate, unspoiled countryside, world-competitive infrastructure, plus the best health care in the world”, internationalliving.com also remarked that “the culture is top-notch” and that “Paris is arguably the world’s most beautiful and romantic city on earth. France sees in excess of 70 million overseas visitors each year, making it the world’s favorite destination.”
*above taken from http://superfrenchie.com

From my own personal experience I would have to say this in the categories:

Climate: It is really nice here, its warm in the summer and not painfully cold in the winter. Plus I see palm trees and fruit trees all the time. There is always an ubudance of fresh fruit. Not the pressure grown ones, yuck!

Economic stability: Well so far I haven't found a full-time job, but from what I hear, when you get a permenant job, its hard to get fired, now thats what I call stability.

Heath care: Although I think people go to the doctor here way to much, the cost is great. My brother in law and wife had a baby, and they didn't pay a dime! oh, and they don't work! So I guess health care goes to everyone, not just the lucky few.

Infrastructure: I'm not sure what this means :)

Cost of living: Well I think this varies. Food cost alot here, but there isn't all that oppertunity to spend money on every new thing that comes out, like in the US. So i guess it averages out. House, although going up dramatically isn't as bad as the us. So no one's spending a fortune on that. And some how people tend to be able to take 2 vacations a year.

Safety: I don't know, people drive crazy here. Thats not very safe.

Recreational opportunities: About 1 out of 2 people that I know are into some kinda sport. Thats alot I think. And I don't mean they just go out and jog (like me) they are actually part of a sports club. I don't know to many in the US. I can only think of one, my dad and he plays racket ball in a gym/club.