Happy Thanksgiving

So it's Thanksgiving again and I'm fortunate enough to be spending the day with my family in New York. I've been very fortunate over the past year and this being able to be in the US to celebrate with my family is just icing on the cake.

Last night I went out and met up with some friends and I had an absolute blast and I'm thankful to have them in my life as well. I'm also thankful for all the friends that I didn't get to see during this visit.

CNN vs. French Programming

The election has been over for a couple of weeks now which means that I'm slowly becoming unglued to CNN Europe. Whereas before I would watch the news hopeful for the outcome of the election I'm now left depressed hearing all the talk of recession and a possible depression.As a result I've decided to watch more French television to immerse myself in the culture and once again try to improve my French. Some of you may remember my earlier failed attempts to watch French TV, but this time I assured myself that it would be better now that I can understand some of what is actually being said depending on the programming.

So the other night I'm sitting on the couch channel surfing and before my eyes I see group of naked men and women sitting around a pool (this should have been my cue to change the channel but I was intrigued). The camera then pans to this woman in the background with crazy in her eyes. She picks up a sharp object, walks over to a nude gentleman sitting alongside the
pool, and goes Lorena Bobbit on him. WHAT? This is what you call prime time television in France? You'll be happy to know THAT was my cue to finally change the channel. Not quite the kind of imagery that I wanted to be left with before going to bed. Maybe watching
CNN Europe exclusively is not such a bad thing.

The Obama Effect

The day after the election my friend John sent me an instant message that said something along the lines of "people just seem happier and nicer today". I thought to myself that his sentiment was entirely true. I was walking around the streets of Paris with a little extra pep in my step. I also had colleagues congratulating me on Obama's big win (not that I had much to do with it aside from the few phone calls I made to some swing states during the primaries and 2 weeks before the election). The man behind the counter at my favorite lunch spot even asked me if I was happy with the results of the election.

But for me the icing on the cake was when I went to the Yoga studio to buy a 10 class card and instead of paying the regular rate of 175 euros the guy working there gave me the student rate of 155 euros. His kindness and generosity probably had nothing at all to do with Obama being elected president but in my own little word I'd like to think that there is a correlation between the two.