India Star

Boston's parents took us to India Star Friday night. It is located on Douglas in Des Moines just a couple of blocks east of Merle Hay Mall.

This is a favorite restaurant. Good Indian food at great prices. It had been awhile since I'd been for dinner (rather than the lunch buffet) and I was happy to see a new menu with clear labeling of what is vegetarian and what is vegan. India Star is IMO one of the most vegetarian friendly restaurants in Des Moines.

I took a couple snaps of the menu showing their veggie appetizers and veggie main dishes. They also have a couple veggie platters-what I ended up with. Salad, raita, 2 main dishes, rice and a bit of dessert for the same price as 1 main ($9.99). Can't go wrong with that!

We also got a veggie appetizer sampler. It was a lot of fried food, but split between the four of us, it wasn't too much. I love India food for the fact that I can be presented with 3 types of fried vegetable balls and each one has a different flavor. Some more smokey, some have more anise, etc.

Easter in France

So Easter just happened.

Anyone have any reflections on Easter in France? When I was there in high school staying with a family, I tried to get them to take me to Mass, but "that's just for the old people. No one under 70 goes to church" haha. Needless to say, we didn't go. We're not over 70!

We did get some awesome chocolate though! Think of the movie Chocolat with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. The scene toward the end when the town leader is found asleep in the store window with all of the chocolat de Pâques covering his face and smeared all over. That wasn't exactly me, but close!

Check out this video, from Rhône-Alphes.tv an interview with a chocolatier while he makes a chocolate creation.


Amazing eh?

Oh to be in France during Easter...ah...

Schools on Strike in France

France is well-known for it’s strikes. I think most people have heard that if you go to France for a trip and aren’t troubled by the train workers on strike, the airline workers on strike or any of the other public employees on strike, then you’ve had a great trip!

What many people many not know about is that students go on strike as well. Not just short protests in the street to show their dislike for a law that was passed, but 5-10-90 days out of class, with or without the support of the school administration.

Much of this is on a national level and is organized through the student unions. Student interest areas, like manual labor areas here, have organized unions with a structural hierarchy similar to something like our Student Senate. (Some of the well-known unions: UNEF, UNI, FAGE, CÉ.) Allignment is fairly complicated, but to simplify, students from different faculté or school generally align with one union because of that union’s beliefs (but such is not always the case). So the faculté d’art has a union that students are a part of, the faculté de droit has a union, and of course, the faculté de lettres has a union. This fac de lettres is the most well-known for going on strike, it is the part of campus that contains the humanities students that are known for speaking their minds. These localized unions on each campus talk to unions on other campuses and will work together to stage a coordinated effort if a law is passed that affects higher education. For example, in 2007, a law was proposed to reform higher education on the national level. This video reviews what happened at Rennes-II, a university in Rennes, France in the Bretagne region in the Northwest:

It must be said that sometimes the laws are repealed (striking is successful) and sometimes the laws go forward. In my discussions with students when I was in France and on strike for 8 weeks, I talked with some students who felt very strongly about the subject and why they were striking and they work they were doing instead of schoolwork-these were true activists. I also talked with students who were just glad they weren’t in school-they were just hanging out, shopping, playing outside, or working to earn money for summer vacations. Many of my French friends in the fac de droit wanted to go back to class and were working hard to learn the material that should be covered in the time missed.

Sometimes certain schools go further than others with their striking. A recent article from Le Monde brought this to light along with the affect that all this striking and missed classroom time can have on student enrollment. You can check it out here: Les facs mobilisees voient leur image se degrader (don’t forget Drake students, if Le Monde rolls this to their pay only archives, you have access to it through the Cowles Library databases!) As you can see, this particular school, Rennes-II has lost over 5,000 students in the past 4 years and the authors are blaming this mostly on the rise of student striking, especially long strikes.

French students generally attend whichever university is closest to their home and the particular reputation of that school does not matter much-they do not have the extensive search that American students do (we must also say that they pay less than 500Euros per year all expenses included because most live at home and we pay between $20,000 and $40,000 per year). Some parents in the article say they would hesitate about sending their student to the fac de lettres at Rennes-II because they would not spend enough time in the classroom. This might become a problem in the future; will French students put more effort into their college search based on who strikes and who does not?

Traffic Patterns!

We've been having an interesting discussion over on the French blog for the students here that I decided I could bring over. The professor posted this video from TF1 about people in a small town in France being confused by the 4 way stop.

You see, in France, the 4 way stop, not a common appearance. They do the roundabouts. You might have seen one, they have been popping up like CRAZY in new suburban neighborhoods that are going for that European flair in the US. These Frenchmen and women come to the 4 way stop and don't know who should go first. (Not that I think Americans really know this better...)

Would not be so weird but for the fact that when I was driving home from my parents' place this weekend listening to NPR for a few hours, I hear a short clip about a woman who got "stuck" on a roundabout in the US because she couldn't find the exit! If I remember correctly, she went around and around on that for 15-20 minutes until policemen were called to escort her off! If you can find the place where I heard this, you win the prize because I can't. I hear this small clips on shows like Marketplace and On Point and then can never find them again...

Lesson learned: do not import traffic patterns from other countries. It will confuse the people of your country!

laissez les bon temps roulez

Most of us in the United States are familiar with the holiday of Mardi Gras, if only in name and what debauchery we think must go on in New Orleans this time of year. Mardi Gras is a holiday that is celebrated in relation to the Christian holiday of Easter, so it does not have a fixed date, rather it floats, but is always a Tuesday. In the French-Cajun region of the United States, the holiday is celebrated that Tuesday and for a few weeks before. For a succinct history of Mardi Gras in la Nouvelle Orléans, see The Times-Picayune article here: http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2009/01/the_history_of_carnival.html#more

In France, however, the tradition varies. The name itself is actually different. In France, as well as in many other places in the world, the holiday celebrated is Carnaval rather than Mardi Gras. The reasoning is the same: to have one last hoorah before lent. In fact, the origins of the word point to the removal of meant. (Merriam-Webster says the etymology is as follows: Italian carnevale, alternation of earlier, carnelevare, literally, removal of meat, from carne flesh + levare to remove, from Latin, to raise)

The timing is somewhat different. When I was in France, I took a weekend trip to Nice, France to get away from the rain in Nantes and imagine my surprise when I came across a Carnaval celebration in early February! In fact, Nice (which holds the largest celebration in all of France-check out their website) started their festivities over Valentine’s Day and they will continue through Sunday, March 1st! Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday? The 24th and 25th of February. In roman times, Carnaval was called septurnales and the festival could be held at anytime between the winter solstice (mid December) and Ash Wednesday. This tradition continues today. Some cities hold their festivals early and some hold them later. When I was there, Nantes’ celebration was actually held after lent was over! I was quite confused by that.

The celebration seems to have been disconnected from it’s religious roots.

What you do see is fantastic though. (One of the floats)

It is unlike anything I have ever seen at an American parade. Check out the website for the Nice Carnaval and some of these photos that I took in Nice and Nantes in 2005 (sorry for the bad quality photos-everyone is moving all the time!). It was contentious times politically and many of the floats were designed to mock Nicolas Sarkozy, who, at the time, was just a minister in the government.

(the "merman" float)

You also get some DELICIOUS food! I had never had churros before and they had stands

(Example of a Churros Stand from zugaldia flickr cc)

set up all along the parade route making fresh churros with powdered sugar

(churros pictured here are from Gill Rickson flickr cc)

pictured here with chocolate instead and in Nice, when it was cold, they had Spanish-style hot chocolate, which is amazing. This churros and chocolate tradition is indeed a Spanish one and something that I was happy for!

Another great thing about these French celebrations is that they aren’t in the New Orleans style of debauchery. Families can go and I felt comfortable and safe there by myself. There are kids with bottles of silly string spraying everyone

If you are ever in France in the first part of the year, check with your city’s Visitors and Tourism Bureau to see if you can catch a Carnaval celebration!

A Cultural Note-Shopping Pleasantries

I was thinking today about the pleasantries that we say when we are shopping in France and in the US.
I thought back to my first big trip when I was studying abroad in France some years ago, when I went to Nice and when I was visiting small shops there. I had established my shopping habits in the big grocery store in my university town, but not knowing the location of a grocery in Nice and wanting to see the small shops in this marvelous town, I was going into each store I could find. I was amazed to hear that each time I entered a store, I was greeted by the store clerk (probably the owner) with a "good afternoon" and only if I looked particularly interested in something did they ask if I wanted more information about the product or if I needed help. And without fail, upon exit, I received a greeting of "goodbye", or "have a good day" or something similar. It took me a few stores and much observation to understand the role that I was supposed to play in this scene; these greetings are not just thrown at the customer, these are invitations to receive a greeting back. When you walk into a store and the clerk says "bonjour," you say "Bonjour, Madame" and when you leave, preferably before they do, you say "merci, au revoir." Because it was a pleasure viewing the items in their store that day non?

However, the protocol seems to be different in grocery stores. I don't know about in your part of the United States, but in my part, we make conversation with the check-out person and the bagger. The weather, news, a particularly famous olympic gymnastic who might be buying groceries two lanes down :-), etc. But in France, at the mega-marts, you say hello, pay for your groceries, thank the checker and leave.

What about other pleasantries? What other sorts of greetings do we say at, say, restaurants, airports, or other places where we meet people that we do not know? Think about this for a day or a week. It is amazing to think about how such small things as greeting the people that help you in stores are different from one country to another.

Obama Arrested in Paris?

Wait, it's only a look-alike? I'm confused.

So were the French police apparently. I saw this on The Today Show at the Dentist's on Tuesday, and found a link on The Huffington Post.


Looks like the French activist group CRAN hired an American Barack Obama look-alike to walk around Paris to see how many times the police would question him and ask for his papers. It was a lot. Why Obama? To get attention. It is difficult to bring attention to the problems of racial profiling in France and they thought that if it was Barack Obama that was being questioned, people would notice. I did, because it was on The Today Show. Did you?

How bad is racial profiling in France? Is it different than that which goes on in America? From the videos that I've found related to this, it seems that this guy is just jogging and gets asked for his papers quite often. That's sketchy. But questionable, because Obama isn't the racial profile I would think the French police would be going after. He doesn't fit the North African bill.

I'll do more looking into this.

Followup to the UN Resolution

Saw this on Reuters tonight:

UN Declaration on LGBT Rights

I try hard to make my blog more about France and America and culture differences and similarities than about gay stuff. Mostly because my life is about traversing the two cultures than about being lesbian.
But, happily, today, the two intersect and I have the pleasure/displeasure of posting a link to the following from 365gay.com: Vatican Trashes First UN Declaration of LGBT Human Rights

I am having a difficult time finding any articles from good news sources in France, but no worries, I've got my frenchies on the case :-) In the mean time, take a look at this article: Act-Up La moindre des choses

France was on the forefront of Human Rights issues 60 years ago when the first Human Rights declaration was being passed in the General Assembly. And it is nice that this is being proposed now. The Vatican's issue with it is quite interesting because if you look at France's acceptance of gay marriage, it is not full. France has PACS, which is a civil union (that hetero couples can get as well if they don't want a religious marriage), but in France, like in many places that grant civil unions, the recognitions and rights are not the same. Tax benefits, adoption rights, etc. Point being that the Vatican thinks France's ulterior motive with this Declaration of rights is to make countries around the world grant marriages to gay, lesbian and trans couples, when really, France doesn't give marriages or even civil unions of equal rights right now!
Not that I see anything good in France's current status, but there seems to be a fallacy in The Vatican's argument.

There is a lot to be excited about soon! On December 9th: The State of Iowa Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in the Varnum v. Brien case in which the court will decide the fate of the gay marriage case. On December 10th, the whole country is supposed to Call in Gay to work as part of our on-going civil disobedience movement. And the 10th is also the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Should we need a special declaration? No. Do we? yes. When the President of Iran says that there aren't any Gay people in his country and my immediate reaction is to say "that's because you have killed them all" and there are at least 90 other countries in the world that imprison people for being openly or suspected of being gay, we need a declaration.


So, let's give France a hand.

Auto Industry Bailout?

I had this whole post written out about the financial markets and the auto industry bailout and how it might be similar to the French government ownership of their auto industry when i realized that I didn't know anything about French government ownership of auto industries.

so...I went to where we all go now when we don't know things...

and discovered that the French government hasn't really owned major stakes in any of their auto industries in over 10 years. So what was I thinking? Aeronautics. But that doesn't have anything to do with what we are talking about in the US. So my point was invalid. But I'll make it anyway.

If we bailout our auto industry, we will not be any different from other major industrialized countries (like France). I was not going to say it was a good thing (cause I do NOT thing it would be a good thing), but it would not be the TRAVESTY that so many believe it would be. I'm not an economist, but I've taken more economics classes than the average person and I listen to NPR more than the average person and listen to less sensationalized CNN than the average person and I have no idea what to do about our crappy world economy. It's down and up and down and up; all I know is that I've been in the workforce for about...4 months now, I've put over $200 into my retirement fund and it's worth about $20. And that sucks. I could have put that money into clothes and it would be worth more! That sounds ignorant. How did I get away from France?
Right...my ingorance about the French auto industry. So, turns out, Renault was bought by the French government in the aftermath of World War II (because its CEO had been killed and the company had cooperated with the Nazis, assets were being seized in order to avoid a future state catastrophe) and it was being managed privately, but owned by the state, often at large losses. Eventually, the French government pushed the company to success and it was privatized in the mid-1990s, but even still, the French state owns more than 15% of the company.

In the case of other French car makers, the French government has often intervened to avoid a major collapse of Citroën, but has never owned or had a major bailout of the company (mainly organizing major talks about selling partial groups). So although the French government has never wholly owned major stakes in most companies, it has always seen it in their interest to ensure that the companies were doing well (and good things in the case of Renault and the Nazis).

So what does this have to do with America and our auto bailout? If we are looking for precedent, I think we can look at the idea of pushing for talks of semi-mergers and joint supply lines, etc, but not a multi-million dollar bailout. I think we see that it is not in America's interest to do that. If France, (remember, they are the "socialist" ones!), can't do it, can we?

But we also have to look at what would happen if our auto industry were to go under: then we will be completely dependent upon other countries for a major part of our economy and life in America. I'm not ready to make the judgment that this would be such a bad thing, but many are. Has bailing out the auto industry become an issue of national security? Perhaps the funds should come from the defense budget instead! We all know that they have enough money to cover 25 billion...

I am having a difficult time reading through the French news about their plans for saving the economy right now. Anyone else seeing the plans? Sarkozy isn't going to save the world by himself (like Obama can), but he has to have plans right?