Ok, I swear I have not totally forgotten about this. There will be postings from my trip to Naples and Rome just as soon as I get my laptop back from the shop. Yes, I have poor luck with computers. The trackpad on my laptop started going out on me so I wanted to get it fixed while it was still under warranty. However, it turns out that people work at a leisurely pace in this part of France. I won't bore you too much with the details of my numerous attempts to find out why it has been taking so long (over three weeks) to replace one part. Suffice it to say that I have had to resort to imposing on the nice Japanese researcher, Mami, who has been kind enough to call the shop for me every few days to see what the status is. Customer service? What is that? I basically got hung up on when I tried to call them myself and asked (in French) if they spoke English. The puzzling part is that I know there are people there that do speak English; I spoke to one such person when I brought my computer in so long ago. Anywho, without the laptop to compose entries on at home I just haven't had time to compose anything long enough to do justice to my Italy trip. Meanwhile, here's a preview - me taking one of my numerous pictures of the Roman forum.

Rocks, tofu, and French dentistry: Events of Sept. 23-25

Saturday began mildly enough. I went to yoga in the morning, showered and caught the bus to Antibes. My plan was to stop by a fossil and mineral show in Juan les Pins (right next to Antibes) and then investigate the large supermarket called Carrefour. I took a hot stuffy bus from Antibes to Juan les Pins and managed to get off at the correct stop. The fossil and mineral show turned out to not be a free event, but after going to all the trouble to get there I decided to cough up the 5 euros and go in anyway. There were a bunch of dealer’s tables, some dinosaur and fossils displays and some interesting activities for the kiddies. I was tempted to dig in the sand boxes for bones or pay for the privilege of using a hydraulic device to chip away the rock from a small fossil, but as I would be the only one over 12 years old participating I restrained myself and browsed the specimen tables instead. I finally decided to get one specimen: a strange combination of two minerals that resembles green spherical blobs engulfing little black logs (see picture). One dealer was selling only these specimens; both the dealer and the minerals were from Africa. The difficult thing was that he was selling them by weight, plus there were a lot of them. It took me forever to choose one that was both interesting and affordable. I had to have him weigh several choices for me, but I finally selected the one pictured here (with matchstick for scale). It makes me think of a little green planet with gargantuan buildings sticking out of it like some bizarre sci-fi world. But here’s where things get really bizarre. I somehow got drawn into a long confusing “conversation” with the dealer that seemed to be about going dancing that evening. I say “seemed to be” because things were mostly communicated by gestures. One thing that was clear, however, was that this guy only spoke French and an African language, while I essentially only spoke English and little Japanese. No overlap. I kept trying to explain that there was no way I could go dancing with him that evening because the last bus back to my house came 10 minutes after he (I think) wanted to meet up. Ok, so maybe there’s no point in trying to be polite when the other person has no clue what you’re saying, but I felt compelled to try. At any rate, I eventually escaped with my cool rock, though somewhat frazzled by this odd exchange.

Rather than wait for the stuffy bus I opted to just walk back to central Antibes. Once I got oriented with my map, it was pretty straightforward and turned out to not be all that far to walk. Plus, (and here is the important part) I happened across an Asian food store along the way! Yes, it was small, but the fact that I can now get large bottles of soy sauce, tofu, rice crackers, and giant bags of frozen samosas and nan made me very happy. Since I was planning on a major trip to Carrefour I restrained myself to some silken tofu, sesame oil, kimchee flavored udon, and a special treat. This little store in Antibes carries the tasty-chewy-sesame-peanut candy that I enjoyed so often in Hawaii but have never found elsewhere (not even in San Francisco). I broke into it the moment I stepped out of the store and was happily chewing away when I felt a horrible CRUNCH! And I thought to myself, “Oh s***! I did not just break another tooth, did I?” I DID. Now, I have to admit that I should have been expecting this since the tooth in question had become very sensitive over the last week before this, but it was still horrifying. Why must this happen here? Why not while I was teaching at Corvallis where people speak English and I had full dental coverage? I was very dismayed. The last time I broke a tooth it cost me about $600 to get it capped and it remains highly temperature sensitive to this day. Plus, European dentistry???

Nothing to do but to carry on. Nothing could be done until Monday at the earliest and it didn’t really hurt nor was it dangerously sharp. Seemed like just a small piece had broken off. I continued back to Antibes and took another bus to Carrefour.

What to say about Carrefour? Huge. Like a massive Super-Walmart or Fred Meyer. Also crowded. Well, it was Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t get a cart because you need either a 1 euro coin or a clever little plastic token to disconnect the cart from the row and I had neither. Boring shopping followed. I must add, however, that even the simple selection of the correct type of vacuum bag was made so much more challenging, tedious and frustrating than was necessary since all the packages were in French. Also, still no decent selection of Mexican food. I had brought my one super-sturdy reusable shopping bag and got another one there to help lug out my purchases. Then back to Biot on yet another bus.

Now on to Monday. My goal: make an appointment with a dentist who speaks English and can be reached by bus. Based on my previous experiences with American dentistry I figured this would be expensive and it might be weeks before I could get an appointment. But lo and behold, the first place I called in Biot had an English-speaking dentist and she could see me that very day. Shocking! Same-day dental appointment? Unheard of! At the lab, I found out that I could later get some of the cost reimbursed as soon as I got my French social security number, but meanwhile I would have to cover the cost myself. Gulp! With some trepidation I made my way back to Biot early in the afternoon for my appointment. Oddly enough, the dentist was in the same interesting old building where my yoga class meets. I kept expecting the receptionist to give me some forms to fill out but she never did. To my surprise, the dentist, a pleasant woman close to my age, did the work that afternoon. She took x-rays of the tooth, removed the old filling and put on a new tooth-colored filling all in about an hour. And, ready for the kicker? The whole thing cost a mere 58 euros (around $75). Heck, what else can I have done to my teeth here? I may start chewing on ice cubes so I can just break anything else that’s going to break and then get it fixed for cheap.

Some more random observations:

- So, cars are generally smaller and more gas efficient here. I have come to the conclusion, however, that some of that efficiency comes at the expense of cleaner emissions. I am engulfed in toxic fumes whenever I have to walk along even a moderately busy road. A single passing car leaves a cloud of nastiness behind it. Makes jogging on the road extra yucky. I did find some un-gated roads to jog on; I just have to be alert since there are no shoulders to speak of and only occasional sidewalks. No jogging with the ipod here. Instead of worrying about mountain lions and rattlesnakes, as I did at Lava Beds, I have to worry about crazy drivers and lung damage. I prefer the critters.

- I found out why the village of Biot has no street gutters. The streets just act as small rivers when it rains hard. I practically had to wade up the steps from my bus stop on Monday when I went to my dentist appointment. I suppose it was a good thing I was wearing my sandals. Except that I knew the water flowing over my toes was basically diluted kitty and doggy doots.

Next: Naples and Rome – Tanya takes a trip for her project and eats a lot of pizza

The challenge of jogging

For anyone who is unaware of the situation, I will be living in southern France for one year in order to work on a research project focused on the Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera in Italy. I will be working on seismic data collected in the area in an attempt to image part of the caldera structure below the surface. I arrived in late August and after a protracted search found a small studio apartment in the quaint roughly 500-year-old village of Biot. My modes of transport consist of my two feet and the chronically late bus.

In this blog I'll just be writing about various occurences and things that I observe while I am living here. It will be pretty random stuff. I may post a few photos here but mostly I will use Snapfish for picture sharing.

To start out I will just relate what occurred yesterday afternoon when I attempted to go jogging near Biot. First, some general description of the area outside the village. The terrain: hilly, lots of trees, houses scattered everywhere. The roads: narrow, no shoulder, no sidewalk. The traffic: cars, buses, small trucks and vans, motorcycles and mopeds - all driven by people who appear to be in a great hurry. In odd juxtaposition to this I have often seen people stop and put on their hazard lights then jump out and run a quick errand while traffic builds up behind their car. Amazingly, no one gets angry, beeps their horn, yells obscenities, etc. I figure people must drive like mad eejits (Father Ted reference, for the uninitiated) to make up for these delays.

This all makes up the first challenge of jogging here: finding a safe route with low traffic volume. Consulting my map, I spied a possible loop I could make through the residential area in the small valley next to Biot village. Things started well; traffic was light and the trees provided nice shade. Just as the road started to head uphill there was an automated gate like you might see at a gated community. The map didn't show any such gate and it was wide open even though no cars were passing through so I figured they must close it at night and jogged right through. Beyond this were many fancy houses all with their own firmly closed gates and a few with security cameras as well. It made for interesting scenery. When I reached the point at which the map showed I could connect to a roughly parallel road and loop back towards my starting point I found my way blocked by large gate like the one I had breezed through before. I could not find any way to get the gate to open from the inside so I was forced to turn around and head back the way I came. Of course, now it occurred to me that the other gate may be closed now as well and then what would I do? The only way around either gate was to climb a large fence. As I sprinted back to the first gate I decided I would just have to wait for someone who actually lived there to come through in their car.

Sure enough, the first gate was now closed. Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long for a car to come along on its way out. I exchanged grins of "oopsie" with the driver as he drove up to the keypad. However, his code didn't seem to work and he had to try to call someone to let him out. Luckily we were both saved by another car coming in. I escaped! Other than that it was a good run, but I don't think I'll attempt that route again. This leaves me with no way to do a decent sized loop while still avoiding heavy traffic so I'll have to try to come up with something else.

Some other random observations that I have made so far:
- most businesses and shops are closed from noon to 2 pm so you can forget running errands during your lunchtime
- coffee eclairs are very tasty, but coffee in general is very strong (espresso) and comes in very small quantities (no giant lattes that will last one a good hour or so and so far no iced coffee of any kind)
- grocery stores carry a staggering array of cream-related things and desserts but finding non-fat anything (yogurt, milk, etc.) is very difficult
- compared to cream-type stuff, cheese selection is limited (I have only seen French cheeses so far, but then I haven't yet been to a grocery store as large as your average american supermarket)
- at least in this part of the country, people view a car or other personal motorized transport device a necessity (people look at me pityingly when they find out I have no car here and no plans to get one due to the expense)
- cars are generally small (very few SUV-type things) but lack hilarious model names like those found in Japan (e.g. Opti Beex, Me Lady, Scrum)
- people who drive mopeds or motorcycles all must have a deathwish - they do not slow down or stop for any reason unless absolutely forced to, they pass other cars on narrow two-lane roads even on blind corners and will often drive down the center line on two-lane roads with cars going both ways

All for now...