Sustainable Development: a Development I can sustain?

im faced with the immediacy of my future. i want to work in sustainable development because i want to positively contribute to this planet. but HOW? and WHERE? and WHAT THE HELL?

that third one is sentiment... but it works. so im searching schools, and searching my soul, and reading like a madman. it begs the question, is my goal to work in SD a realistic one? are there too many people studying in that field for the # of jobs available? is another 2 years of school feasible at my age / with my historical profile?

this is BIG. like bigger than the past 3 months of french studies. bigger than moving to france. bigger than quiting my job. bigger than syracuse. bigger than anything before.

As you (who?) can see, I'm a bit lost. help!

The power of the dollar

I seem to be having revelations on the daily, albeit small ones. I've realized today that I've lost a certain something in my move to Paris: my desire, need, and will to buy things. Before I left home (and truly for the past 8 months) I took an inventory of my life, of the things that own me (or that I own), and the things that I truly need - and I pared it down. I had a habit when I lived in the states to look at discount websites like bensbargains.net or passwird.com, or the better known woot.com just to see what geeky gadgets were on sale. And as is normal when one develops the habit of looking at merchandise, one also develops the habit to rationalize more purchases than necessary. So I would buy things if they were a good deal, because hell, after all, I couldn't afford NOT to buy it! (that one's for you, Joe). But now, in Paris, I have all my basics.. clothing, food, my computer, some books, and a few video games / movies. Past that, I don't really "want" for anything, so I don't really buy anything.

In fact, I've lost the urge to buy altogether. Now that I don't work, don't earn a twice monthly paycheck, I guard my bank account a little more closely. I earn a bit of money with my part time work, but that's to pay the rent and pay for my activities. The money I have in the bank is my only real savings, and I don't want to see it depleted. Maybe this is a sign of responsibility? I'm not entirely sure... but in any case when you don't earn, when you simply deplete, you begin to regard things in a different way. I still look at my websites, but not on a daily basis, and more for amusement and to keep "current" with the price of things.. but I rarely buy.

Well that's it, nothing too deep, but it's a change I've noticed in myself. And that's why you're reading this blog, isn't it? ;)

Presentation

I've realized something. After giving nearly 4 or 5 presentations in French, I've become a better public speaker... in English. What I mean to say is that I thought it was hard to give presentations in English before I came to France, but after having struggled with a non-native language and adding an additional layer of complexity to the process, I'm fine with presenting in English. I'll take a giant hall filled with uninterested people in front of whom I can speak nervously any day of the week, as long as it's in English. Because there's nothing worse than trying to improvise in a language where you have no words. When you arrive at a dead end, there's no bullshitting, it's just shitting, and that doesn't please anyone, including yourself.

Resident Evil

I almost forgot! I had another brush with French Administration this week, but I can happily report that it was far less painful than usual. And the result... (drum roll please), I have my Carte de Sejour! Probably anticlimactic to most, because the words Carte de Sejour don't evoke much to the English speaking community, but it means that I have my residency card and I can legally live and work in France until the end of my VISA.

Yay! I know. It's a minor technicality, but I'm cheering the fact that I had an appointment on Thursday with the immigration office at 2pm, I arrived, took my shirt off (it was a physical), coughed a few times, spoke french, and left by 3:30pm. 1 hour and 30 minutes is unheard of in France for accomplishing.. well anything really. But especially unheard of with a government agency. I was rather impressed.

Procrastination

So yes, it's been a month without updates. I hope I haven't upset the fan base or convinced anyone that this blog isn't worth reading (when it obviously IS worth reading). Now that I've gotten that out of the way I'm pretty sure I owe the world a little bit of catch-up. So let's begin.

Yes I am a part time nanny, sort of. That line was just a teaser thrown out to inspire wild ideas and images about my sordid lifestyle in Paris, but the reality is much less glamorous. The good news, I'm watching a 3-year old for 10 hours per week and earning enough to pay my rent and earn some spending money, therefore not dipping into my savings - the bad news, I'm watching a 3-year old for 10 hours per week. It's not all bad, per say, since the mother wants me to speak English and simply play with her daughter to instill an English vocabulary in her sponge-like infant mind, but I'm realizing how glad I am that she's not my kid. Part time nanny? No problem. Full time father? No thanks, not yet anyway.

I've also been graced with a great opportunity this week - to learn all about the French healthcare system as an active participant! In other words, I was incredibly sick for the entire week, and like much of the paranoid world I thought it was the dreaded swine flu! AAHH! Run! (those damn porks) Meanwhile, back on planet earth it was a cold, a bad cold, but just a cold. But here's the interesting part (you were hoping for one, I'm sure) - in France, healthcare works. Can you imagine that?? A social system working?! Surely every Republican mind in the US just exploded after hearing an American say that. Because we all know that social systems = socialism = nazis = concentration camps. And my having a cold and visiting a western doctor and purchasing prescription drugs and therefore contributing to the consumerist society I live in definitely qualifies as a donation to terrorism. Well, Mr. Republican, get ready to choke on your chicken bone, my entire experience cost $60, uninsured. That's right, a visit to chez-le-docteur and 4 prescription medications cost in total less than $60. To my American "you must be insured before you can even think about getting sick" mentality, this was a major punch to the gut.

Anyway, I'm not bitter. But please, America, land of the greed - oops, free - please pick up the pace on this health care thing. It's not marxist flag burning, it's universal health care and we're living in the stone age (exaggeration).

So those two paragraphs sum up a month, right? What? No? What was I doing the other 25 days in between? Well let's see. My mom and aunt came to visit which was delightful. It reminded me that yes I can love to see my family but be incredibly stressed to balance my work life, my personal life with Alix, and my family life. I had forgotten about that juggling act. We spent a week together and visited Versailles, rode the bateaus mouches, took a tour bus around Paris, and stopped in Montmartre, at Notre Dame, at at the Musee D'Orsay (which is damn cool). We ate a lot of good food (and I can prove that being 2 lbs fatter), we visited some home goods stores, and eventually decided that every home goods store in Paris charges $90 for a lampshade and went to IKEA. Thank god for the swedish and their flat-ish furniture. I say ish because I notice more and more non-flat variety furniture populating the shelves. I'm onto you IKEA.

School has continued to be a mind-blast. What does that mean? Not sure really, except that it's still 21 hours per week in French and I'm not sure at what speed my level is advancing, but I'm loving the coursework and becoming more and more friendly with my classmates. One of whom held a little get together about a week back which was congenial and welcoming, so much so that I invited Alix to come along and she enjoyed it just as much a I did, if not more.

Today, however, I'm procrasitinating. After a week of vacation which should have been filled with dancing and eating chocolate and oversleeping, it was instead filled with hacking up a lung and feeling like death, and now it's over and I haven't done any of my work. That would be all well and good save the fact that I have a test in French history tomorrow and I feel the old "Procrastinator" emerging in me. It's been long-dormant, but rearing to make a comeback, and here it is. I don't want to do my work. Which is silly, because I'm here firmly by choice, doing this just for me, and yet, I still don't want to do it. I want to play video games. I think that's just nostalgia creeping up because I enjoy gaming and it's been a while since I've wasted my days and nights on some useless quest to save the princess.. but well, there it is.

Past that, life is still amazing. No regrets. I miss my family and friends, a lot. It's slowly building to a whole lot. Nostalgia is winning. But, the holidays are coming up with PERFECT timing and I'm looking for a flight home between Dec 26 and Jan 1, so if you're in town and want to hang out, I'll be there! (I hope!).

A Nanny Becomes Him

So yes, I'm going to become a nanny. But I'll leave you with that for now and explain later :)

21 Hours Complete

21 hours of French language instruction down, 294 to go.

I've had quite an interesting week, I have to admit. I was more than a bit skeptical about what type of courses I would be taking at l'ILCF, whether they would be taught in both French and English, whether there would be large or small classes, or whether I was even signing up for live instruction at all versus computer labs with a French aide to help us with our self-instruction. (I think I had a dream/nightmare about that last one.. not that the concept is scary, just that c'mon, I wouldnt want to be spending my time in a computer lab all day teaching myself with some software.. but it at least shows you the complete lack of understanding I had about what I was walking into).

I can therefore calm your nerves by saying that we have small classes, typically 16-18 students, with a dedicated French instructor who speaks only French during the lessons. These students range anywhere from the USA, to Spain, Japan, Mexico, China, Portugal, Brazil, England, Taiwain, Egypt, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and probably elsewhere (but I forget..). What's interesting about the range of nationalities is that we all speak French at our own varied levels, but we have no other common language. Sure, many people speak English, but not as their mother language, so we really have to speak French to communicate. Even though the conversations can be a bit confusing and broken from time to time, it's an amazing way to learn.

Well.. Alix and I found an amazing little place this week for movie lovers called Le Forum Des Images.












We went after finding a small advertisement for one particular part of the Forum, Les Salles de Collections (the Collections Room). This little out of the way discovery is run by the Mairie of Paris and therefore free to the public. It's a personal cinema with access to over 6500 movies, and its setup in a great room with individual couches, television screens, headsets, and a dark, dimly lit atmosphere bathed in red lighting. It was fantastic. Now of course, streaming movies and on demand entertainment is becoming more and more common, so the need for a place like this is diminishing, but at the same time it was nice to get out of the apartment, to discover something exciting, and to dedicate ourselves to sitting down and watching a movie. It's too easy at home to get bored or tired or hungry and leave yet another movie half watched. So we watched "Trouble in Paradise," a movie from 1939 I think which was about two jewelry thieves preying on the ex-depression rich in America. Verdict? See it. Great movie!

Past that we finished our Obama puzzle! I had found an incredibly tacky "Yes We Can" puzzle at Barnes and Noble back in December for $1 on clearance, and since Alix and I had ritualized puzzle building with a tacky $1 Spiderman puzzle last year I thought it perfect for us. It took us almost 9 months to get around to it, but we finally did! Overall it's about 30" wide by 22" tall, and it will make a great addition to our slowly but surely American themed apartment. (Did I mention that I threw up an American flag as a shade for our mezzanine? Or that I put up my Muji New York City wooden buildings set? Yeah.. I did.. love it).

This weekend we're taking the train up to Lille, our ex French city, and then the tramway over to the town where Alix grew up. We'll spend the weekend with her parents and I'm sure talk all about our school life and our experiences in Paris and so on. It should be fantastic. And next weekend my mom and my aunt come to visit! Already! It seemed like it was so far on the horizon, but it's practically here. I can't wait to see them! Alix's mom will also come back to join us for the weekend, and for the first parental introduction. I love how unorthodox we are :)

That's all for now. Tune in next time.