I went to get my first haircut here today. I had one just before I left Austin, and again when I returned for the wedding. I wanted to try this little place on my block that reminds me of an old timey barber's shop, one man, one chair, never a wait. I went in and discovered he takes appointments and is booked through next week. There's never a wait cause everyone makes appointments!
I've had more questions about my appliances here. The ovens all come with a rotisserie bar. The washers and dryers are very small (a load is little more than 2 towels and 2 pair of jeans). My fridge has the feezer on the bottom. I love this. I don't have to bend down to see in the fridge, and it's more efficient. I was loking for this when I bought my fridge in the US, but it was hard to find, and cost more.
While I'm on the subject of differences...there are very few commercials on television during the actual shows. They're normally between the shows. The first ad I saw with a topless woman caught me slightly off guard. It showed a young woman jumping out of an airplane, she was skydiving. She opened the parachute, slowed down, tha camera panned below to show the oacean. Then, she took off her top, unbuckled the chute, and dove into the ocean. It was a soap commercial. I'm sure the add said something about their soap being refreshing, but I wasn't concentrating on the words enough to translate it.
There is a political parody show I've seen a few times. They use puppets that look alot like claymation caricatures. Their favorite seems to be Sylvester Stallone who apparently typifies Americans. The last episode I saw showed a US soldier working on his tank in Iraq. A little girl approached him with a pad and pencil presumbably reqsuesting his autograph. He didn't understand her request, and attempted to shew her away. She persisted though, so he took the pad and pencil and drew a bad sketch of his tank for her. This did not satisfy her and she requested again. At this he grew frustrated, grabbed his rifle, and gave her a stern look. She left. The last episode I saw was based on the recent news that some suspected terrorists were now being released from Guatanamo Bay. It showed a scene much like television portrays US prisoners leaving prisons, recovering their confiscated items. Except, the items they were recovering were their own body parts supposedly removed during 'questioning'.
Work is going well, I've had some nice successes recently. They're small, but certainly start me off on the right track. Some of the furniture I purchased here arrived today. As they assembled my bedframe today I think they stripped every screw. They used a cordless drill with a screw bit, and were clearly using it too fast. It sounded like guys putting tires on a car using a pneumatic torque wrench and not knowing when to stop. The furniture all looked very nice though, that was the only small part that required any type of assembly. My things from Austin have still not arrived. Apparently customs is on strike, so we aren't really sure when my things will be released. Customs has been on strike a few weeks now, and off and on for months. Yesterday, the entire rest of the country went on strike. Apparently they're upset that the government is moving the retirement age for social security to 63.
I've been invited to my first French dinner at someone's home. It's a coworker, and I'm looking forward to it. I heard about some of the things to expect from my cultural adjustment class. But, many of those things don't seem to apply to people my age or younger, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. At the very least, I'll be prepared for some of the cultural differences. Remember, 'faux pas' is a French phrase.
Posted by Brian at May 14, 2003 03:37 PM