Thanksgiving and Christmas in Orléans

I've missed much of November and December, so this post will be on our two 'American' holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas. On both holidays, we invited guests over to our apartment and cooked American-style turkeys. The turkeys we ordered from a shop in Orléans. The tukeys here are all excellent, but have much less fat and are smaller than the american birds. They cook differently, with little 'drippings' for gravy. The meat is very tasty, however. In fact, we've noticed that all the poultry sold here is of high quality and generally more expensive than poultry we typically buy at US stores. I assume the birds here are either free range ('plein air')

The image above is of our family and the St. Vincent's, our French friends (Nicolas, daughter Pauline and Caroline). Nicolas works for the American company John Deere and Caroline was an English teacher, so they speak English very well.

Christmas was a similar get-together, this time with our Algerian-French friends, El-Hadi (Laifa) and Latifa Boufendi (below). We were happy that our oldest son Steve, in his third year at UC Santa Cruz, was with us. Steve spent some time with friends in Amsterdam and then joined us in Orléans. I work with El-Hadi at the Université d'Orléans. El-Hadi brought some excellent Champagne and fois gras with onion sauce and bread, and I bought a couple of dozen fresh oysters ('huitres'). All were very successful. The oysters are very much a French Christmas tradition. I saw a report on the France 2 tv news that quoted an oyster producer to say that something like 60% of their sales were on 2 days near Christmas!

We also had a turkey for Christmas, and this time it was more expensive - I guess because turkeys are also traditional Christmas fare in France. The 5.7 (12.5 lb) kg turkey cost 114 euros! Hmmm....oh well, it was only once. The Thanksgiving turkey was smaller but not that much smaller and it was on the order of 50 euros.

Grèves (strikes) in France

The latest round of strikes in France started earlier this fall - in October for the transit workers, for example. The last week, the strikes have intensified (at left, showing a scene at a Parisian metro stop this week). A major strike involving the trains, busses and metro lines started November 14, with no certain finishing date. In addition to the transit workers, some university students have recently been trying to close campuses, civil servants (including gas and electricity workers), Air France hostesses and stewards and even some judges and lawyers have been engaged in various 'civil actions' over the last several weeks and months. There is of course a long tradition of strikes in France, and the current issues are many and complex. Mostly, it involves reaction to the suite of reforms proposed by new President Nicolas Sarkozy. For the transit workers and for some of the civil service workers, a big issue has been the government's proposal to alter the 'special regimes' for retirement for selected catagories of jobs. Some workers, especially those judged to have especially difficult and demanding jobs (perhaps leading to shorter life expectancies), can retire at age 50 or 55, after only 37.5 years of contributions into the pension system. Private company workers, even with comparable jobs (private bus company drivers, for example), generally work the standard 40 years before retirement. During the recent presidential elections, Sarkozy emphasized his intention to equalize the public and private retirement systems, stressing the financial collapse that looms with fewer workers contributing to the pension system. The French pension system is a 'pay-as-you-go' system like the US Social Security system. Demographic changes in France and much of the rest of the industrialized world (e.g. Japan) have been well publicized, but little concrete action has occurred here. Sarkozy took his clear victory as a mandate to aggresively launch these reforms. The unions disagreed that his victory meant he had a free hand in this area, claiming that the government and the companies themselves need to negotiate with them for any changes. Complicating matters further, there is general concern in France about the country's economic future in the worldwide competition. Rising prices and income inequity are a 1-2 punch that the modestly paid public workers have felt keenly. The fact that Sarkozy reduced taxes on wealthy people after gaining office, has many wealthy friends, and recently got a raise for himself, added fuel to their resentment. University students (only a minority it must be noted) are upset about the education minister's plans to give universities 'more autonomy' but also expecting that universities themselves will help raise money through contributions from local business and industries. Students even suspect that these reforms are the thin edge of the wedge, leading to substantial increases in student fees for university attendance. Further, these students are concerned that big inequities in university funding will result, depending on the wealth of the region in which the individual universities are found. The judges and lawyers are concerned about the justice minister's proposals to enact various reforms, that if I understand correctly, include shutting certain regional courts and laying off some workers. Or at least reducing the number of people employed in the justice system by not replacing them after they leave or retire. A similar concern has been expressed by the civil service workers. But it is the transit workers strike - bus, train and metro workers, and especially in Paris - that has had the biggest impact. This country relies enormously on public transport, and if these services are drastically reduced, the effects are severe. A similar strike, over the same issue of retirement, lasted 3 weeks in 1995, and the new president at the time (Jacques Chirac), had to back down. The public mood is reportedly less favorable this time for the grèvistes. The media have emphasized the divisions even within the unions, as well as the fact that a majority of the public is unhappy with the strikes. Only a small fraction of the university students have acted to block the universities, with many students expressing their desire to attend classes. No one can say how this will all turn out. My guess is that Sarkozy will get some of his reforms through, but that significant concessions will be granted the unions. The multiple, interconnected reasons for the strikes are deep and structural. The driving forces are connected to longstanding and widespread fears of economic insecurity and resentment of rising social inequity. These problems and the feelings they engender will probably not go away quickly, so I expect the strikes and disturbances to be equally long-lived. It's a part of the country and will be for the forseeable future.

A Week in Provence

We just returned from a week in Provence. We stayed in a house just outside the town of Malaucène, not too far from Avignon. The weather was mostly really good - cool but sunny. And we had a couple of days of the mistral, the notorious wind that supposedly drives people crazy. The photo at left was taken from a chateau not far from our house, and gives a nice view of the colors and landscape in the valley. Select the photos to get a better view of the detail.

The main mountain peak in the vicinity, Mt. Ventoux, is beautiful as well, and the photos at left and below were taken from the summit as well as on the mountainside. We were lucky with both the weather and the colors - and the lack of heat and tourists that plague this area in the summer months made it especially nice to be visiting in late October.

We also visited several other locations, all amazing in their way. Probably the most famous of the Roman ruins in Provence is the 'Pont du Gard,' the astonishing multi-level bridge over the river Gard with the aqueduct at the top. A couple of pictures of that are shown here too.

On another day, we went to see the gorges of the river Ardèche. A couple of pictures of that are shown below, especially the pont d'arc, which is a natural formation caused by the river, over centuries no doubt, meandering back on itself with the gorge cut into the soft rock. I don't know the composition of the rock, but it must be soft - limestone or sandstone?

Finally, we spent one day exploring part of the hills of Luberon, not far from the region made famous (infamous to some, no doubt) by Peter Mayle and his books on the area (e.g. "A Year in Provence"). We had a great lunch at one of the auberges in the area, and the photo below (left) gives some idea of the beauty of the place. The photo on the right was of the village of Boux, just next to the auberge. Wow, what a wonderfully beautiful country.

October in the Loire Valley

The month of October, so far, has been absolutely wonderful. The weather has for the most part been superb, the last week or so especially clear and sunny, although a bit cold. There are many lovely places for a stroll in the direct vicinity of where we live near the river in Orleans, and even more, we are discovering, not far away. The photos above were taken in a nice recreation area just off the river near where we live.

On another day, we went to see Chambord chateau and the town of Blois. Our son Robert is on a water polo team that often plays in Blois. Last Saturday, we went to see the famous chateau and

then went to Blois to see his match. A photo of the inside of the Blois piscine (pool), with the water polo team being addressed by the coach at halftime is above. Robert is on the farthest right of the group of players and seems a bit chagrined at this point.

A couple of nice views of Blois can be seen below - one of the chateau right in the center of town and the other of the Loire next to Blois.

Yesterday, we went to see another, smaller chateau in the city of Meung sur Loire. This one was decked out in halloween garb, and you can see one picture from the inside where Maggie (known as 'Maguy' to many of our french friends) has apparently taken 'fright.' Then we went outside where she saw the very unscary ponies.

All of the pictures can be seen more clearly because they will enlarge if you double click on them, by the way.

Festival de Loire 2007

A wonderful festival has been taking place this week in Orléans - the Festival de Loire 2007 . You can see some photos of the festival above from previous years - it takes place on the Loire in Orleans, and has a strong marine flavor. It has run from September 19-23. I'm writing this the evening of Saturday the 22nd and we just saw the fireworks over the river - lovely. As Orléans is a fairly small city (about 270,000 people in the area, maybe half that in the city proper), things are fairly accessible. This festival is a good example - it got crowded around the quais where the exhibits and shows were held, and the traffic was bad in the city during the festival. Nevertheless, it was fairly easy to get to and around even the most popular areas.

Activities in Orléans

The last week or so, we have been busy trying to set up activities for ourselves outside school and work. Daughter Maggie joined a fencing club (see photo from the Cercle d'Escrime d'Orléanais) and son Robert has joined a water polo club. I have started going to a squash club and intend to begin yoga in a couple of weeks. (I am returning to the US for a couple of weeks). Sue may begin working in Maggie's school as an assistant, but we've not set that up yet. And Sue's french lessons at the university are still in the process of being set up. One of the nice things about Oréans is the relative ease of insertion into the activities here - relative in the sense that a certain (basic, but non-zero) mastery of french is generally necessary - but the helpfullness and goodwill of people here makes joining things a pleasure.We think this contact with clubs and activities will be especially important for all of us to get a better sense of France and will lead to a richer experience of living in France. It is just starting but so far, things look promising.

Arrival

The Graves family from Lafayette, California is spending the year in Orléans, France for 2007-08. We are David, Sue, Robert and Maggie. Son Steve is at the University of California at Santa Cruz for the year. Sue and Maggie are seen posing to the left in front of the cathedral of Orléans. This blog is being written by David, so I'll switch to first person. I am a professor at the University of California at Berkeley in the department of Chemical Engineering. I study various aspects of ionized gases (called 'plasmas'; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28physics%29), focusing mostly on the use of plasma to process materials. They are used extensively to make computer chips, for example. I was given an invitation to spend the year with my colleagues (especially Laifa El-Hadi Boufendi) at the Université d'Orléans at an institute named GREMI, to study various problems associated with making small particles of silicon in plasmas - also called 'dusty plasmas' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_plasma). The stay is being supported in part by a foundation called le STUDIUM (http://lestudium.cnrs-orleans.fr/). My colleague André Bouchoule, now retired, is from GREMI and is an old friend with whom I have have had many enjoyable interactions over the years. Robert is attending the Université d'Orléans in a program that involves french instruction as well as french literature and history. He is 18, and graduated last June from High School (Acalanes).

Maggie is attending the Collège Dunois in Orléans in 5ieme, or the US equivalent of 7th grade. She is 12.

Sue is currently managing the apartment and all of the family functions. She will be taking french classes in a month or so. We arrived August 23rd, so we've been here almost a month. I was away for a week in Kyoto for a conference in late August, then again for a couple of days in London . Things are almost under control! Only today (9/17) did we receive the phone in the apartment and neither the intenet nor cable tv are available yet. But all things considered, things are going quite well. We've met many people and are having a great time so far. Orléans is less glamorous than Paris (where we stayed for 6 months in 2002), but is more friendly and accessible. We like it here!