Salmon-not just a pink crayon.

Tonight for dinner I made some more amazing Salmon. It was seared and topped with a basalmic glaze. Quite delicious. I used a whole lime squeezed. I know basalmic vinegar doesn't sound like a magnificent treat for your taste buds but the lime juice and the sugar balance it so it is not to sweet and not too tangy just delicious. If you decide to make it leave a comment or send me an e-mail since you all are not prone to commenting-it can be completely anonymous you don't have to sign up... Anyways let me know how your salmon turned out. 

here is a link to the recipe.

Three strikes=y'er out!

Tomorrow on the glorious date of January 29th there will be a nationwide strike. Meaning pretty much nothing in France will be operating. Fortunately Sarkozy signed into law earlier this month that transportation services have to run at least a little bit during a strike, but the city will be slowed to a crawl, probably a 30 minute or hour wait for a metro. But not only are Airfrance, SNCF-national trains, RATP-paris metro, and other transportation people going on strike. Pretty much every union is going on strike- grocery workers included. Why? Because the people of France are upset with how Sarkozy is handling the credit crises. In response the first thing they think of is NATIONWIDE STRIKE! Yeah! Seems like something from a chain mail- everyone don't buy gas on this day so we can show the gas people who's boss! (I'm sure the gas people were "very afraid") but the thing is in France -they are actually serious and they are going to do it! 

Here's an article on it from the UK-so it's in english

I don't even think that this would be possible in the US. I don't think that we could get everyone to participate- a strike doesn't seem like it would cause someone to find the answer to the present problem, maybe people just wanted to get a day off of work. Perhaps it is just the principle of the thing. I'm afraid that it is something I will never understand.

Metro Pass!

 I finally got my carte imagine R this week which means I have unlimited metro rides and discounts at some different stores and what not. Pretty cool. I just walk up to the turnstile and put my card up against the pad (usually it works through my purse) it makes a bing sound and I go through. It makes me feel more parisian. 

Still waiting on my Carte de Séjour though...

Videos

While I was in Lyon we did some exploring and made some dumb movies. Katherine has posted them on facebook - and so let me know if you can't access them and I'll try to see if I can post them here instead. There are three-they aren't that funny but we try. And then there is another one of the very loud protest against Israel. 

Video 1-The town of Lugdunum

Video 2- The Paramedics

Video 3- The Fall

Video 4-The Protest

I thought this was funny

so you have to click on it in order to see the whole comic.

Lyon and Back-Shannon's Tale

 

         

I spent the weekend in lovely Lyon (or Lugdunum according to the Romans- I'll try to post an amazing video about that as soon as I can steal it from Katherine) The city is quite beautiful and the evening of my arrival was nice despite the cold. We picked up some churros/crepes and strolled around the town. Witnessed a pretty huge and loud rally (katherine's first protest in france) of people protesting the violence in gaza. Needless to say we kept a low profile when the started talking about bush and americans being accomplices. Lyon is a presqu'ile or a penninsula (direct translation-almost island)  due to the main part of town lying between two large rivers.  the town is represented by a lion-lyon lion haha. so they have crazy lion statues everywhere. This one was in the tourist center. 

In other visa related news, I hopefully have sent in all the required documents to the office and therefore I should receive an appointment date soon and after that my carte de sejour granting me permission to travel outside of france as I please! Horay. Just be praying that all this takes place and that nothing else goes wrong. I don't think I can handle more set backs!!

January

Proof that Unicorns did exist. Unicorn Armor!

Attack of the little people.

Blurry but cool looking grave, if I only had a blue filter on my camera it would be like -wow. 

Me at la Defense.

A lost polar bear trying to cross the seine.

So here are some pictures of my week of adventures. I went to La Defense where they build all of the "ugly" modern buildings on the outskirts of Paris. I find it similar to Canary Wharf in London. 

Then we hit up Les Invalides where Napoleon and his sons are buried and they have an armory museum there and this crazy weird exhibit on Charles de Gaulle and it is all interactive videos and computers and interactive opposite of most french museum exhibits-but very cool. 

We took a long walk around Paris and enjoyed the almost sunny days we had this week. 

Last night I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire the film that has all the critics talking back in hollywood. It was REALLY good. It is about this guy who is on India's version of who wants to be a millionaire and it talks about how he knew the answers because of different events in his life some of them funny and others really sad. If it still is in release in the US then you should go watch it. 

Today I leave for Lyon to go see where Katherine is going to be living for the next 6 months and hopefully help figure out the problem with the internet and phone. 

Have a great weekend!

oh here's a video-I'm pretty sure that I'm retarded in it... but since I haven't watched it I'll let you enjoy.

NEW UPDATE- I think I found the cure to my visa problems, please pray that this works and works quickly! see my facebook note prayerage for more information.

Katherine the whirlwind of craziness

Katherine came to visit this week/ move to Lyon where she is studying abroad this semester (yay same continent!) We managed to squeeze all her luggage into my tiny apartment for a few days and we explored the city. However, I'm not allowed to post any pictures that I have until Katherine does- her rule. And since my camera is dead-I think I left the charger in the US-dang it.

I have to abide by her rules since it WAS her camera... so please wait until tomorrow!

This weekend I'm going to lyon to take the last piece of katherine's luggage to her (I didn't think she could handle it all on a train where you only have 3 minutes to get off) and I promise to take pictures-somehow of a new and interesting city. Pray for sunshine!

Il fait froid

BOLO! Snowmen have been seen breaking into clothing stores across Paris! These fiendish fiends will stop at nothing and are armed with hammers and accompanied by reindeer. If spotted run away quickly in the direction of a metro vent-the hot air will protect you!

In other News
I'm back in Paris and it welcomed me with-snowflakes and freezing arctic weather. I have only in the past day been able to take off my long johns! It's kinda sad when you are grateful for the temperature to be above 32 degrees but seeing as nighttime temperatures got as low as 4 or 5 degrees I'm overjoyed. yay only wearing 2 layers! 

Classes are going well, most of my workload happened in December so this month is just prep-time for exams-unfortunately most of my friends are on the opposite schedule-oh well...