Village Paris

I had already bought Elle magazine (which is usually my choice as it's weekly here and printed on cheaper paper), so the newsstand vendor on boulevard Saint Germain didn't mind me paging through Jalouse while waiting for the bus.  He counted on his fingers to emphasize his point.  “You’ve got the earthquakes in the west, the tornadoes in the middle, and the hurricanes in the south.”

His pitch rose and fell, wavelike, and he drew out the last syllable of each phrase as one does in French, which sounds pretty and lyrical when you are listing ingredients of a savory tarte, “il y a des carottes, du chèvre, des oignons...” and lousy talking about natural disasters.

He spread his palms and dipped his chin gravely, “Ici, we don’t have these things.”
“The travel agencies should put that in the brochures,” I said, and we both laughed, a little embarrassed, at the gallows humor.

One thing I’m really appreciating is how the people that have crossed my path in this last week have been generally  concerned and informed about the crisis in America (they also don't miss the opportunity to dig at Bush's incompetence).  That people in my quarter would be the first to bring up the hurricane amazes me and makes me feel like I live in a small village rather than a teeming city.  Even the girl at the video store who is probably about twenty years old asked if everyone I know is safe. 

A little less pleasant is an email my father just received from one of his high school friends regarding America and how global warming (and thus, the hurricanes) are all our fault.  My father and three of his friends from high school have heated, beautifully written, epistolary political debates.  Hard for me to get a handle on, what with my french reading being not dissimilar to a Neanderthal, but there are some fascinating and scary insights there.

Completely unrelated note:  if you’ve emailed me in the few days, there’s a 100% chance I haven’t gotten back to you what with the internet not working in my apartment.  Short story: I’m a flake, Wanadoo/France Telecom are now in my vocabulary of most hated words, and it’s just the smallest problem in the world right now. 

Comments

[Marilyn]

Glad to hear there's care and concern there.

[Miss P]

Yes don't worry, everyone has the same problems with Wanadoo,good luck though.

[piu piu]

same for me when he london bombs went off. poeple in the US were emailing asking if i was ok, and i was like 'yeh of course'.

unfortunately later on, i found that someone i know WAS affected.

[Neil]

Great hearing about the concern over there. I actually was very curious about the European reaction.

[la.dauphine]

With a potential 10,000 people dead it seems inconceivable to not be touched by this. It's usually so easy to ignore the news and focus on your own little world, but for anyone with a connection to America, I think you've got an obligation to stay informed.

[africankelli]

I couldn't agree more. The last thing Americans here or abroad want to hear at the moment is how this storm is "our fault" and how we are gas guzzlers. We know we use too much gas. We get it. We are working on it. It is kind of like taking a fat kid off of candy over night. There are a few tantrums, but with time, we'll adjust.
Actually, such criticism goes over about as well as listening to people talk about how 9-11 was the United State's fault too. You know, because of our oil policies.
Now is not the time. Catch us in a month, when things are more under control and we've rested and are ready to discuss how we can prevent this from happening again. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure the poor southerners suffering aren't to blame.

[stepping off of my soapbox]
~Africankelli

[DDJ]

The French critics could do with a little bit of modesty on this one. After all, it wasn't an American who thought that a swamp in between three bodies of water was a good place for a city.

[Sierra]

DDJ: Well, wherever anyone puts a city on this planet isn't going to be safe. More germane is all the deaths from the heatwave two years ago. But it behoves everyone to take a look at what happened after Katrina and learn from it.

Coquette: I used to get this too when I lived in NZ. A couple of times, stuff happened in the Netherlands and everyone would be asking me if my people were okay. Very sweet, really.

[Beth]

An entirely unimportant observation on the above, but still:
I can't believe Elle is printed weekly there. As if I needed more reasons to be jealous.

[Alisa]

Go Free! Free.fr is great, and cheap-ish, and calling the U.S. is really cheap, and calling anyone else in France, or maybe just in Paris, but Paris for sure, is actually FREE. Can you tell I love it? We tried wanadoo and noos. They sucked. Free, good!

[schuey]

Short story: I’m a flake, Wanadoo/France Telecom are now in my vocabulary of most hated words, and it’s just the smallest problem in the world right now.

Still a story that prevented reading us while some people in New Orleans are blogging...

[schuey]

euh, reading you I meant...

[Coquette]

Alisa, I am going to try them, thank you. Otherwise I'm looking at another 7 days sans internet.

Schuey, And just think, the disaster could have been avoided if only I'd paid my bill and Wanadoo didn't spread so much sheet.

[Mica]

Coquette,
I know you don't want to hear this, but now is not the time for Bush-bashing, America Bashing or anything of the sort.
Right now the focus should be the victims, evacuation and relocation. The politics can be sorted out later.
I can't think of a single American who said the Tsunami was the fault of the people who were victimized, or the governments who allowed them to live on ocean front property. It's just crass and I would tell people that.

[la.dauphine]

There is never "not a time for Bush bashing" so long as he is President.

[air yeezy]

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.