I've been invited to participate in a photo challenge about Gourmandise. France is probably the best place to be gourmand (I've already explained that idea of gourmandise, which I would translate as state of non-restriction in front of yumminess and good food, in a previous post). To make sure I got the perfect picture, I went to a couple of bakery and catering places and picked up a few nice, tasty and delicate cakes (I didn't eat them all, but shared them with my host family). Anyway, here is the picture. And yes, it's photoshopped.
If you think this is a good one and is worth publication, please vote for it on this link, make your friends, family, neighbors vote for it too!
Speaking of publication, I was finally able to celebrate the publication of the paper from my PhD!! Direct link to its Pubmed page.
Besides being an infinite catalog for photo inspiration, I re-discovered the country I was born and raised in. I've lived in different countries, I loved living in Sweden or in Canada, but there's nowhere similar to France. As one of my friend said, for us (we are both born in France) everything here is so smooth, so easy, so natural. There are tones of things that are completely irrational, cities that are dirty, people that are crazier/stupider than anywhere else but we share a common culture, language, state of mind, humor: there is a connection that facilitates the communication. At the same time it's like I moved to an unknown country and also as if I moved back to my home country.
Because I focused on the bad side of France and french people lately, I will add that it was very unexpected for me... to like it so much! I fell in love here.
I fell in love with Bayonne and the Basque Country... It's so beautiful and I met very kind, interesting, diverse and motivating people.
That leads me to describe a little bit my 3 months experience in France. I came back because of the immigration system in Canada. It was supposed to be for 2 months, but I got a summer job for 3. I stayed! I was depressed to leave Canada and my life there. I almost didn't take my ticket back to Toronto!
In the past three months, the Olympic Games took me a lot of time! Let say sport in general took me a lot of time since I've been working in a French sport store (http://www.decathlon.fr/), and preparing (oh I'm still so behind my program!) my second half-marathon. I've had a very entertaining training: from running on the sand to hiking or doing splits up and down hills. But best, I've been doing long distance run on the Atlantic shore... and that is incomparable to any other run.
Most of all, I enjoyed working full time as a vendor in a sport store. I've never ever worked in sales before, I discovered how to manage stocks, how to expose products and how to deal with clients! Clients were the best part. Oh these clients; I saw all kinds: from tourists (French, Parisian, Dutch, Spanish...), to angry and stressed mom, but also happy runners, injured runners, over-seventy runners, old lady (often the nicest client of the day...), to 10 year old who want to be a great sprinter. I also got the angry-against-life teenager, the friendly winner of the local trail race but I missed the famous actor and famous football player... To sum it up, I'll say that it was pleasant to give advice, to give my opinion on running shoes, to help people run injure-free, and I'll be happy to do it again, maybe not all my life.. I miss science.
And I was delighted to talk to motivating people who were doing crazy challenges or huge trail in the Alps... they made me dream! they motivated me to try more things! they made my adventurous side come back to me! and I'm glad they did.
Even if that was a full time job, because the store is open 11 hours a day, I wasn't in there all day every day, and my schedule was perfectly adjusted so I could enjoy a week day off or half a day! I was able to visit my own country, I was able to go swim or in the ocean before work, I was able to party or spend time with my friends!
In a word, I had a good memorable time in France, surrounded with French people! And I would do it again!
The Summer made me younger, but the Fall took it all. That's how I feel now. I've been working and living with people who were younger than I am, who didn't know how old I was, most of them thought I was between 23 to 26 (which still had an impression of old to them... that's the disappointing part)!! Good to know! That was pleasant to talk and hang around with them, it actually made me feel and behave younger. I've been partying reasonably for a summer time (well, not that reasonably a few times but in average that was not that much). And despite 2 great sleepless nights, I found myself a bit older than I thought. But Summer is over, all the young ones went back to school and I am getting older again, looking and interviewing for a job, in a few days back to where I was 3 months ago.
