I guess I was lucky to get on the train to Villefranche 2 hours before the strike but now it's dragging on longer than I thought. According to my french colleagues it's more of an annoyance to folks not involved with the strike. Not only are all public transportation halted (subways, buses, trains planes) but public schools are also closed and now the oil refineries are also affected b/c they have no way to transport the fuel. The eventual result of this is there would be no fuel at gas stations and cars would be affected! this last part would happen it it goes on for months. I was planning to do some sightseeing in Lyon which is a short half hour train ride further south. Now I'm not so sure if it will be that easy to get there. Worse case taxi is an alternative but could cost about $60 vs $15 for the train. We will see.
It's been foggy here in the last two days. Apparently this could happen since we are so close to the Rhone river. I took a walk along a really lovely path yesterday after work and realized that the river was only about 1/2 mile. I was just getting over a light case of the flu so couldn't push myself too much. Thank goodness today I felt much better. Gary couldn't understand why I couldn't just call in sick. I guess I could but it would make matters worse in the end. You don't get to move out the end of the assignment and everyday is booked with interviews from morning to end of day. If you miss one day it would be impossible to make up. Good thing it wasn't really bad, I just had to take it easy on Tues and Wed and drink lots of liquids.
The food is so good here! Lunchtime at the employee cantine is a nice variety of gourmet food and desserts. Yesterday I had pork bourguignon. Yep, the french really like wine in their cooking. They also really like their sauces. It's so fattening but unfortunately too good to pass up. At least I try to stay away from the creamy sauces and stick with the wine sauces which I happen to love anyway. Desserts are all kinds of tarts, custards and fruit & soft cheeses. And by the way, I think the cafe workers in Scottsdale should hand us our plate of food with a "Bon Appetit!" greeting as they do over here. It just makes it so much nicer!
I can't wait to wander around old town Villefranche and take some pics this weekend. I don't hear much english spoken here since americans tend to go to Paris first. Actually, don't think I have run into any english speaking people! Most people will shake their heads when I ask them if they spoke english. Either they don't really speak english or just don't feel like it. Either way I have no choice but to speak french to them. It's really broken french but I know enough key words and body language to get my message across. I find it easier to read french than to speak it. People probably cringe when they hear me speak but so far no real problems!
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