It's for friends and family

I've always been a little suspicious of blogs... and whether it seems a little self-absorbed to think that other people would read your random rants and thoughts. I say "random rants and thoughts" knowing that - ultimately - that's what this blog will end up being for Ashley and me. With that said, I've had several other friends who have done this blogging thing with some success, and - at the very least - it will help us document the time we spend in France over the next year or two.

So... as some of you know, I enjoy using keywords to sum up my thoughts and stimulate the writing, so I'll go ahead and do that now.

French. It's pretty clear after a week in Europe that my English is not going to get the job done when it comes to living in France. Sure, my boss is American and my wife will speak to me in English... but pretty much everything else is done in French. You call the store, they answer in French. You go to the bank, they speak to you in French. You stand in a checkout line at the grocery store, and someone starts small talk with you in French. As a slight tangent, it's amazing that so many people seem to get by in the States without speaking English. I'm just starting to realize just how many obstacles they face on a daily basis. Anyway, I'm going to enroll in some classes once things get settled.

Two buttons. There are a whole bunch of idiosyncratic elements of French life. Here's just a handful of things I can remember off of the top of my head:
* They don't have paper or plastic at the grocery store. They sell thicker permanent bags for a couple euros that you're supposed to bring back each time you shop. That's great for the environment, but difficult when you rely on those bags to pick up after your dogs.
* They also charge one euro for a shopping cart... and you need the coin to secure it. Not having a single euro coin, I battled through the grocery today carrying a 25 pound bag of dog food, a baguette, a can of pringles and two chocolate croissants. It was brutal.
* Alot of the doors in France have door knobs that don't turn; they're just use the knob to open and close the door. If you want to unlatch the door, you have to turn the key until you hear a click and then you push.
* An inordinate amount of doors have handles that create the appearance that you need to pull, when, in reality, they expect you to push.
* They have two buttons on the toilet - one flush for each manner in which one would use the bathroom. I love this idea! It saves tons of water, only giving you a little rinse when that's all you need. Anyway, there are a ton more... I just need to think of them.

Alfa. We got a new car today. It's a beautiful Alfa Romeo 147 four-door hatchback. The lines of the Italian design are incredibly clean... and the interior makes it seem like a luxury car; the red lighting on the dash and stuff reminds me of an Audi. The cool thing is that it gets 40-plus miles per gallon and it fits into most any parallel parking spot. We compromised on the color a bit. It's a light blue, whereas I would have preferred black... but Ashley digs it. Anyway, here are some photos... while it's still clean. (I'm sure the dogs will have it covered in slobber and mud in no time.) http://duke.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9639&l=66825&id=581074255

Anyway, that's it for now. Ash has long been asleep, so I should probably get up there too.