Like - Don't like

We are becoming like Parisians, we spend the week end away from Paris! After 5 full days working and running in Paris we love to spend our days off away from the craziness of the city. This time was Geneva, Switzerland. Last Friday, on my montly extra day off, we took of around 4pm and we landed in Geneva exactly 50 minutes later. It took us longer from our place to the airport, actually!! Our good friend Fred was waiting for us and he drove us to Christine and John's house where we styaing. Guys what a lovely house! Meggie was so happy to meet Alicia and Maximilien and not even 1 minute later she was gone with them playing!! Wouter and I were showed the pool villa where we would have slept! Jeez the pool villa!! By 6pm we were having the aperitivo in the garden with John and we waited for Michele to join us for dinner by the lake! Saturday started slowly with a long and nice breakfast, chatting and laughing! Then in John's big car we all drove to Nyon to give a look! Yes, because one of the option we are evaluating if, one day, eventually, we move away from Paris is Switzerland. Yes I am missing Switerland...! Why this country??? For two main reasons : one it's couple of hours drive away from my parents, second we have friends living there! But there are also other reason why we came up with such an idea : Geneva is considered one of the best places in the world where to live, there is almost no pollution, the countryside is beautiful and Switzerland is known for its strong economy worldwide especially in finance and banking. So I decided to give a look around as a potential place where to move...one day! And here what I like and what i dislike! Little city with a very convenient airport, no line at customs, friendly people...the countryside is really pretty but the city....is... misses something! First thing it's not Paris....!! Duh...!! I know that I cannot make comparisons but ...still...! Paris is Paris and I will always be in love with "her" even if, one day, I will be living somewhere else!

Random

I have so many stories to write and so little time to do it...! Every day I say to myself " Olga you should write about this episode, or that fact of my day, it would be nice to share this with the one of two people who read this blog"...then million of other things come up and I end up without posting a single word on amiche e sorelle. Ok now in totally random order some of my thoughts : Is it just a coincidence that everytime I think of the subject of a post, Petite Anglaise writes a beautiful "piece" with the same ideas I had in mind??? Then she gets at least 75 comments, and I decide not to write the post because it would just a bad copy???? Just a little example....she write a delighful post about her daughter wanting to have red hair like Ariel...well I have been this close to write the exact same story! Meggie since forever wants to have red hair, just like the Little Mermeid! And I jump in horror thinking of those beautiful almost white hair ...being dyed in red!!! I hate being judgemental. I try not to be but sometimes I can't help it! And here it's why. I have told you about my friend Micaela. The one I used to go to school to and that lives just next door here in Paris. I told you also about her marriage problems. Well, she is still, one year after, in the same shit. And she doesn't see that he is the bad guy! But why in the hell she doesn't see it??? So I told her that I try to understand but deep down I don't! I have a diffult time at work. My boss and my colleagues are all very demotivated. I am too. Well I am working a lot, organizing the first workshop in Italy, which I want to be a success but I am really fad up to work like a dog and never get a compliment. Sometimes a simple thank you would be also welcome. And I don't start with the salary....Even donkeys get a little carrot now and then. No carrots here. To be honest I did not start to search for a new job for the simple reason that next year, for my 40, I want to go to Canada and I need my quota of holidays. Very simple like that. Paris. I love Paris. It's a fact. But sometimes this city gets to my nerves. It's so chaotic, dirty, and expensive that I don't see the beauty I came here for. Parisians are what thet are but as you know they are not famous for being friendly and some days I can tell you that this is not a urban myth. Thay can be real jerks. But this "urban rudness" is at home in London or NY too. It's just the problem of big cities. What I am wondering, for some months now, is if this is the right place for my family??? Oh I don't want anybody to think that I regret to have made the decision to come back to Paris! It was the best choice I ever made in my life. It saved me and saved my marriage. But now that things are really good I would like to offer to my family a more confortable place where to live. And here in Paris confortable goes with too many zeros!A nice appartment, in a nice area can cost more than a milion euro! Sometimes I dream of having a nice house, with a lovely kitchen with a view on a little and blossomed garden. And we cannot have this in Paris. And another thought comes to visit my mind, early in the morning and sometimes late at night. To have another child.

We remember

From Canada...

Hello from Canada, and a special Cherrio from England. Our vacation was great, now I understand why you love to travel sooo much, there are many incredible things to see in this world, Love ya Nancy

Japanese Story

I tried to describe "Japanese Story" but my words did not match the impact this film had on me. Faith and fatality scare me and leave me wondering about life's meaning. But because I want to post about this movie, today, I use a review from the Times Magazines thinking that I wish I could write like that.
A man and a woman set out to explore the Australian outback. Sandy (Toni Collette) is a healthy, hearty geologist, bored and impatient in her role as guide. Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) is an emotionally closed businessman who is dangerously insistent on taking the less traveled desert roads. They almost die on one when their SUV gets stuck in the sand.
Thereafter, as romantic convention demands, they find themselves sleeping together. So far, so routine. But then Japanese Story takes an unprecedented turn. Reviewers are often chastised for revealing the end of a movie. But in this case, what can't be discussed is the middle, the remarkable turning point. All we dare say is that what begins as a brusquely stated but rather ordinary romance turns into a meditation on mortality that is harsh, potent and unforgiving.
As unforgiving as the landscape in which director Sue Brooks situates it. This is brutal, unlovely country, indifferent to human enterprise or feelings. It is a perfect match for these damaged, rather hostile people. That they can break through their barriers, which are cultural as well as psychological, and find a few moments of happiness is plausibly managed by Alison Tilson's script and played with a kind of offhand realism by Collette and Tsunashima. They have the rough grace to act surprised by this turn of events. When the landscape exacts its revenge for their happiness, when Sandy faces the consequences of her carelessness, we are surprised by the intensity of our feelings. Japanese Story is a simple, austerely told tale. But there is something memorable, even haunting, about it.

Growing a belly....!

Kathleen is a new friend. We met in Paris in April last year during the first blogging event organized by Petite Anglaise. I liked her immediately. In first istance because she was Canadian. Secondly because of her peculiar "sour" humor and third because of her funny face covered with flecks! Kath has lived in Japan, Middle East, Algeria. We talked and we made plans to go to movies and do girlish things together...and actually we met couple of times. Then Kath moved to Vietnam. Jeez that's far!! Her French "Hubs" signed for a 3 year project in the middle of nowhere in this far East. Since Kath moved out, keeping though her Parisian home, we met several times here in Paris. In our, between working hours "encounters", we spoke about everything...shared many thoughts. Then I guess it was in June when I got an email from her announcing me that she was pregnant! This was such a great news...but living in one of the most secluted areas of Vietnam, couple of hours drive from so called "civilisation" is not the best location to live when you are "growing a belly" so for this reason Kath and Hubs decided that it would be better if Kath would go back home in Canada. This baby will be born in December 2007 but has already travelled the world including a "jet-setter" week end in Budapest!!! Kath has been here for some weeks, first in the south of France, with Hubs and the in-laws, then some days here in Paris doing the famous girlish things with her friends. Pizza Pino last Thursday at lunch and a movie and bolognose pasta at my place this Monday! Great time, lots of laughters and the promise to keep in touch through our blogs and emails! Kath is going back, today, to Regina to be with her parents and to wait for this baby to come to the world! Have a safe flight Kath and take care of yourself!!

In the mood for cooking...

You don't need to be a child to go and see Ratatouille. It's really sooooooooooo cute!! Meggie and I just loved it...we had such a great time ...we felt so light-hearted and I was almost in the mood for cooking.....!!! Yes me, cooking!!! RATATOUILLE is the story of a little rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau...NOT TO BE MISSED!!!