This past week, my students commented upon how I am always eating, and it tends to be something reheated from previous meals. Every now and then a student will ask for a bite of whatever it is that I am eating, and I will oblige them. This has led them to believe that I am decent cook, so one day a student suggested that I write a book called "Microwave for One".
The only thing missing from this picture of the cover is a bunch of cats.
Much to our surprise, we realized that this was an actual book that you can order from Amazon. Some of the reviews are hilarious:
Click on it for a larger image. Or just go read a bunch of them for yourself.
Now, the title of the book is obviously cringe inducing, but highlights many of the problems faced by people who don't have time to cook, or who are cooking for only themselves. Spending time to cook for yourself can seem tedious, you can be stuck with leftovers for a while if you don't scale down the recipe, and for something like cooking, the fruits of your labor should be shared.
So, in that vein of sharing what I cook and to appease the students who have asked me to post some of "my" recipes, here are some of the things that I cook. Most of these recipes come from my mom, or from various websites.
Quick and Easy:
Slow cooker recipes:
I typically love my slow cooker. There are a ton of sites out there that recommend recipes, including this one. The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can throw stuff in in the morning when you wake up, and dinner is ready when you get home at night.
From that website, they have a list of a bunch of recipes that you can prepare at once to get them all ready in an hour. You then put them into the freezer until you are ready to cook. They turned out ok. There are a ton of slow cooker recipes out there, get out and experiment. Here is a recipe for Kalua Pork that is solid.
Baked potato- I cover them with a little olive oil and sea salt, bake for an hour at 350 degrees, then when they are done, cover with foil and stick in the fridge. I sometimes cook three or four of them on the weekend, and eat them like apples while I teach. I do the same thing with corn- drop the ears of corn into boiling water for 7 minutes, when they are done, let cool, wrap with aluminum foil, put in fridge. If you have never had corn this way, it is delicious.
For this recipe, it just calls for "hot sauce". I use sriracha, and I add it until it reaches the right amount of spicy. It tends to be a little bit of a surprise for people who are not expecting a little kick at the end. For this recipe, as recommended by my brother, I scale it up times 4, and then freeze it.
This recipe has so much stuff in it that it barely fits into my largest pot. After cooking, I add cheese, sour cream, and corn bread. Ain't nothing wrong with that.
I double the amount of ricotta cheese, add more onion, and instead of using just plain tomato sauce I typically use Newman's own sockarooni.
Summer salad:
This is usually a mixture of a variety of tomatoes, beets, peppers, a soft cheese like feta, cilantro, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add a pinch of salt. You can also add a small amount of sliced red onion.
If you think your hamburgers are good, you must try this recipe. A fair amount of work goes into these, but they are definitely worth it. I would honestly say that these are the best hamburgers I have ever eaten. I have never tried to find the dandelion greens that the recipe calls for, but it is still good without them.
This recipe actually comes out of the Klutz Cooking for Kids cookbook. My mom lends the secret to the brownies- only mix the batter until all of the lumps are gone, then stop. There is no need to continue to mix. Then, don't bake for 45 minutes. I typically pull them out at 35-40 min. Then, once cooled, eat one, and then let the rest sit in the fridge overnight, covered. The next day they will be dense and chewy.
At times scrolling through social media, you may come across pictures like this:
She obviously is on roids. No human could possibly do support the leaning Tower of Pisa. Or maybe she is just being clever.
Last time I checked, these people were not actually holding up the tower of Pisa, but rather using the photographic technique known as forced perspective.
Picture from here. I think this is far more artistic than the above.
As demonstrated by these two pictures, forced perspective is used to make objects appear bigger/smaller/closer/further away than they actually appear. It is how Hagrid is made to look bigger than the other characters in Harry Potter, and how Peter Jackson made the hobbits appear smaller than the rest of the characters in Lord of the Rings.
This is pretty clever, definitely worth three minutes of your time. If you have another minute, and you really want to have your mind blown/see a really trippy video on forced perspective, check out this video.
For the past four months, with both work and personal stuff, I have been dealing with a ton of nonsense. Short list: bike broken beyond repair, almost stranded in a city where I don't speak the language, two new subjects to teach, one of which I have never studied, really large classes, got dumped when I thought I found something good (my fault, couldn't fix it, not sure if it was fixable, but I tried, no success). In reality, all of these things are shit. Nothing that really adds up to much, but without taking a step back, without perspective, it is difficult to see the bigger picture.
So then what? Change your perspective, and everything comes into focus. The actual problems will present themselves in their actual size. Each one of the above is an easy fix (well, most of them). Bikes can be replaced, foreigners will wait while you attempt to speak their language brokenly and then respond in english, and coworkers can help you with the classes.
I recently rediscovered the Foo Fighters. Somewhat disappointed in myself for forgetting about them in the first place, because I love every album of theirs I have. This is a really good song off of their second album, with a title that has no relation to the words of the song; for this post, it is the title that adds meaning. See this. A more applicable song is Big Me off of the first album.
Also, a fun fact about the Foo Fighters and their first album: Dave Grohl played and recorded every instrument. It wasn't until after he had recorded 15 tracks and had the album mastered that he hired two other people to be a part of the band. The debut album in its entirety can be heard here.
I am incredibly grateful to my friends to listening to me rant about all of this shit, my brother who provides invaluable advice, my parents who guide me, my sister who puts up with me as her teacher, and my coworkers who make going to work every day good. In the words of Kevin Durant, who dedicated his MVP award to his mother, you are the real MVP(s). When you have people behind you, you can do whatever you want. I owe you all a lot of beer (except my sister. No beer for you. Maybe chocolate or something else instead).
Alpe d’Huez Triathlon Race Report: 1.3 mile swim, 70 mile
bike, 13.1 mile run
This was my final race in France. I have been incredibly
lucky to travel the way that I have, and a huge thank you needs to go out to
the following people/groups: my parents and family, who for some reason
continually support me in this sport, the Santos family, who took me on as a
complete stranger and allowed me to stay in their home, helping me whenever I
needed it, the Rennes Triathlon Club who allowed me to train with them. The
list easily goes on to include Team Every Man Jack, my coach Martin Spierings who put me in touch with the Santos family and is keeping me fit,
and all of the team sponsors Gu, Roka,
ENVE, Louis Garneau, Rudy Project, etc.
A little background on the race: The race is named after the final
climb on the bike: Alpe d’Huez. If you know cycling, you know Alpe d’Huez. It
is one of the most famous climbs in the Tour de France. It is one of the rides
that many cyclists dream of doing. To get up Alpe d’Huez, there are 21 numbered
switchbacks, each with a famous cyclist’s name on it. When I started planning
my itinerary for France, I saw that this race was an option to do, and I
immediately put it on my schedule. I didn’t have any goals for the race other
than finishing it and enjoying it.
A picture of the switchbacks.
The swim takes place in a reservoir that is used to power a
hydroelectric dam. The reservoir is only open to swim in once a year during the
triathlon. Otherwise, swimming is forbidden. The bike is a point-to-point ride,
meaning that there are two transition areas: one for your bike gear, and
another for your running gear. The bike is 70 miles long (115km), with 14,000
feet of climbing, two beyond category difficulty climbs, and one category two
climb. Climbs are rated from 4-HC, four being the easiest, HC meaning hors
categorie (beyond category) in terms of difficulty. After finishing the climb,
the run is a 3-lap course of rolling hills, with both paved and trail sections
at 6,000 feet elevation.
After racing Sunday, July 27th, the Alpe d’Huez triathlonwas on Wednesday,
July 30th. That meant after getting back to Pacé around midnight
Sunday, I had to pack everything up to leave Monday morning for my train at
5:15 that would take me to Grenoble, and then get on a bus that would take me
up to Alpe d’Huez. It wasn’t until around 1 am that I was finished packing, and
a few hours later, Virginie drove me to the train station. The train ride was
uneventful, with the one exception of having to change stations in Paris. I
went from Rennes to Paris Montparnasse, and my second train was from Paris Gare
de Lyon, which I didn’t realize when I arrived at Montparnasse. I ended up
taking a cab because the stations are several miles apart, and making my train
by about 10 minutes. Upon arrival in Grenoble, the bus station is right next door
to the train station, so a quick walk over and I was on the bus.
Quick side note: it is very easy to get around France (and most of
Europe) by train, bus or cheap plane ticket from small regional airports. The
buses are a little trickier to navigate because sometimes they don’t sell
advance tickets online, something that is not announced on the website. For
this particular bus service, they only sell advance tickets in the winter for
people who go up to ski. When you try to buy a ticket during other times of the
year, you just get an error saying that there are no buses available. With some
help from Virginie and a phone call to the bus company, this was discovered.
On the bus ride from Grenoble to Alpe d’Huez, you get an
appreciation of a) how beautiful the alps are, and how steep they are. As
mentioned earlier, to get up the mountain, there are 21 numbered switchbacks.
Lance's name is still up there.
Upon arrival at Alpe d’Huez, it was cold and raining. I walked up
to my hotel, and was greeted by the owner. The place was beautiful, and empty. When I arrived, besides
myself, I think there was only one other couple and two other gentlemen there.
During the winter, the town is packed with skiers and such, but during the
summer, it only fills up when there are big events like the Tour or other
races. I am not sure why it is so empty; it is stunningly beautiful with places
to hike, bike, etc. I checked into my room, put my bike together, and wandered
around the town to find groceries, restaurants, etc and went for a very quick,
very cold ride.
Cold, wet and raining. Not what I was prepared for.
Tuesday morning, I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel (the hotel operates essentially as a bed and breakfast in the summer, but has a full kitchen in the winter when there are more people), picked
up my packet, and found a pool to swim in. Pool rules in France are
dramatically different than in the US: you must take your shoes off after you
get past the gate, and you must be in a swim suit if you are on the pool deck-
no clothes. I was shooed of the deck because I was wearing shorts and a shirt
trying to take the picture below. At this particular pool, you had to be in a
speedo-no shorts allowed for males.
The pool- you can swim outdoor here year round. I can imagine it is awesome in the winter when it is snowing.
In case you are don't have the appropriate swimwear, you can buy some from a vending machine- speedos for guys (and those weird european speedos) and one or two piece options for the gals.
As it was still raining and temperatures were in the low 50s,
after swimming, I wandered through the event expo and found a relatively cheap
cycling jacket. I didn’t bring any of my cold/rain gear because I figured it is
the summer, why would I need it, but I was definitely going to want something
for the race. I also generally have a rule of not buying anything at an expo
because most items have a huge mark up. At one booth, they had a jacket for 150
euros- about $190 dollars. Even in terms of cycling dollars, that is pretty
expensive. I found one for 40 euros, and then made my way back to the hotel.
The rest of the day passed like this: A quick jog to stretch the legs and see
how much the elevation was going to suck, dinner, a little studying for my
courses, race prep and I called it a night.
Minus bike and shoes, everything you need for a race.
Race morning, I woke up and had my standard French breakfast of
some baguette with butter, and added in a banana and a yogurt. I made my way
down to transition 2 (from bike to run), which was near the hotel and arrived shortly
after transition opened, and there was no one else there. The race allows you
to give your run gear to volunteers at the swim start, but I was surprised at
how few people were there setting up. More on this later.
I left my shoes and a few Gus in the bag they had given us at my
spot. There was a chance of rain, and I didn’t want my shoes to be wet before I
started. It would cost me a little time in transition, but in reality, I wasn’t
too concerned about it.
After setting up my spot, I rode down to the swim (this is
actually suggested by the race). It was about a 30-minute descent to the
reservoir. I arrived around 7:50, and again, there was hardly anyone there. I
set up my bike and gear, and talked with a few of the competitors near by.
Transition finally started filling up around 8:30, with the race
set to go off at 9:30. At 9:00am, there
was a huge line to get into transition. There apparently is not much emphasis
on being early to races.
Before the race started, they went over some of the typical rules,
but the rules were announced in four languages: French, English, Spanish, and
Dutch. This was an international race, with competitors from all over Europe,
and when I was moving through transition pre race I also heard Italian and
German being spoken.
Did you say something about second breakfast? Eating a little more before the race- baguette and a banana.
With about ten minutes to go before the race started, we started
filing our way down to the lake. A few brave souls got in the water and
splashed around, and then quickly got out. The water temperature was announced
to be 13.8 oC (about 56 oF). In other words, not warm. As
with the other races I have done, the swim was a mass start, but this time it
was an in water start. I got in with a few minutes to spare, made my way to the
starting line, and waited.
Boom. Race started. If this was my first race in France, I would
have been very confused. There was no announcement, no countdown, no nothing
other than the sound of the gun signaling the start. As what happens normally
with my swims, I fell into a crap rhythm for the first few minutes as I
struggled with the cold. I found a swimmer’s feet to sit on for a bit while I
loosened up.
The first lap of the swim was felt all right as I got used to the
cold. I made my way past some of the swimmers in front of me. The water was
pretty choppy because of a helicopter overhead filming the race, but by the start of the second lap, I was
in a solid pace and I had about ten swimmers in front of me. As the swim
progressed, I moved up to 7th, and exited the water. I got to my
bike, dried off as much as I could, slipped on the jacket, gloves, helmet and
shoes, and headed out.
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. The ride was 70 miles,
a lengthy distance if was just a bike ride, with some huge climbs. My primary
concern was running out of food. When you are working out for more than 1-2
hours, it becomes necessary to eat, or else you “bonk”- it doesn’t matter how
hard you push, you are out of energy, and you suffer. For a “dad” quote, it is
almost always easier to maintain something than to repair something broken. When
you bonk, depending on far you have to go, it can be both mentally and
physically disastrous. Bonking on the ride meant that I would suffer from that
point forward on an incredibly difficult course, and then having to run. Game
plan: get through ride so that I could run. Push where I could. Eat and drink. Enjoy
it.
Before the race, I taped a piece of paper on my bike with the mile markers for the climbs and aid stations. It kept me going. Each one was a landmark that I could check off.
I took the beginning part of the ride conservatively. It was cold,
with a light rain falling. The course starts out with ~15 miles of flat, before
heading up the first climb. In those 15 miles, about 20 riders blew by me. Not
eased, but blitzed. Who were these people? Some were obviously professionals,
but damn! We had a ton of climbing and riding to do. These athletes were on
another level.
On the opening climb, I fell into a rhythm with a pack of
cyclists. I talked to some of them, we joked as some of the faster riders eased
by us like they were just out for an easy ride as we suffered. As we went up
the hill, I started to warm up, and tried to take my jacket off.
Boom. I was on the pavement. In France, when they do road repairs,
they sometimes put a thin layer of gravel on top of the repaired segment. I hit
a gravel patch, my wheel went sideways, and I was on the ground. I wasn’t going
very fast, and I landed hard on my right butt cheek, but nothing else was hurt.
A quick look over my bike, and everything was ok. A minute or two later, I was
up and riding.
At the top of the climb was an aide station. I grabbed a new water
bottle and some gels. Every ~30-45 minutes I was going through a gel and half a
bottle at a minimum. The descent was smooth and fast, and it wasn’t until mile
42 that I had another climb. Athletes continued to stream by me, which was
mentally tough, but with my only real goal of finishing, I focused on riding.
To say that the aid stations on the ride were awesome is an
understatement. They had volunteers holding bottles of water, flat coke, and something
they called “energy” (I think it was Gatorade, but I couldn’t tell) and gels
that were passing them off to us as we pedaled by at 15-20 miles an hour, and
food laid out for us to grab if we stopped. At every aid station at a minimum I
grabbed one bottle of water and a bottle of coke or energy which I would pound
before I exited the aid station. At some,
I stopped quickly to grab some solid food.
Not from this race obviously, but the handoff between a volunteer and a rider is tricky. The volunteers performed this very smoothly.
This can be a lifesaver on long rides. Why? Because it is sugar and caffeine- what you need to maintain effort. Don’t believe me? Try it. When it is flat, and you are exercising and running out of energy, it is a wonderdrink.
The rest of the ride was simply beautiful. The second climb was
shrouded in clouds, the parts that went through small towns had their residents
out cheering, kids were banging on small drums yelling “allez”.
In the final miles before Alpe d’Huez, my legs started to tighten
up. If I changed my pedaling stroke at all, different parts of my legs would
tighten up. I started standing more, which would relieve the tightness, and I
downed what food I had before the aid station at the base of the climb. The
pain in my right butt had subsided, and with the extra calories in me, it was
time to tackle Alpe d’Huez.
As a side note: some triathletes who compete in ironman races have
a very detailed nutrition plan that includes eating salt tablets to replenish
what is lost in their sweat. For the length of the races that I typically do,
this is not necessary. Perhaps that would have fixed the tightness in my legs
that I was experiencing in the later stages of the ride. It is something to
consider if/when I attempt an Ironman.
Some athletes eat these or put them in their bottles during long, long workouts.
Here is a video of a shirtless guy telling you what he puts in his bottles. I have no idea where on the spectrum of insanity this is, but an example of what some people do.
At the bottom of Alpe d’Huez, I made one agreement to myself.
Don’t stop. Don’t get off the bike. Stand, do whatever you need to to get up
the hill. It is about 8 miles long, and with all of its switchbacks and
elevation, it was going to suck. To steal a quote from a fellow triathlete,
embrace the suck.
The first four switchbacks are steep and miserable. I was in a
group of about 5 athletes, and we were slowly, very slowly making our way up
the hill, picking off riders in front of us. I had wanted to not be in my
smallest chain ring so that if I needed it, I could fall back on an easier
gear, but that wasn’t an option. My cadence slowed, but I was moving up. The
stream of riders going by me had slowed to only one every now and then. It gave
me a little satisfaction to pull back riders on the last climb- see! This is
hard, you should have paced yourself!
I mixed standing and sitting on the way up the hill. As I went up,
I chopped the hill into pieces. You have done seven switchbacks! That’s a
third. You only have to do that two more times, etc. Mentally, it is what I had
to do to get up it. I knew that there were two aid stations on the climb, so I
only slowed to grab the handoff supplies of bottles and gels.
When I reached the final four switchbacks, a new challenge: wind.
The wind was coming down the mountain, making it cold and slow. This close to
the top, it was going to take a lot more than wind to get me to stop. I knew
that I was going to make it. A huge sense of relief came over me. The race so
far didn’t matter, the rest of the race didn’t matter. I was going to finish
the climb.
At the top, I felt terrible. My legs were in bad shape (hmm, I
wonder why?) and I slow pedaled into transition. After staying in a flat part
of France for the past several weeks, I had not done a significantly climb in
almost two months. My bike split was slow(5:07, the 245th fastest time on the day...) but I did it. I slipped on my socks and shoes, shoved the two Gus I
had placed with them into my pockets (on runs in races that are longer than
10km, I wear socks to reduce the risk of blisters).
My mantra on runs during races is “anyone can run”. I repeat it to
myself when I am struggling. Why aren’t you running faster John? Anyone can
run! So RUN.
Richard Simmons believes that everyone can be fit. Having this guy in your head should always bring a smile to your face. And if you are really feeling down, watch this.
The one thing that races in France can do a considerably better
job of doing is posting the course profile and segments online. All that was
listed on the website was the shape of the run loop, but nothing about the
hills. The first loop was like a first date: let’s exchange questions to see if
we are a good fit as we do some activity together. In this case, it was discovering
where the hills were, the aid stations, and how my body felt.
This is the run profile from my Strava. You can clearly see the three laps.
To use the most appropriate verb to describe the beginning part of
the run would be “shuffle”. My core was tight, my legs hurt. I left transition
with a couple of other athletes, and with the course being loops, there were
already a lot of other athletes out on the course.
On the run, I talked with the other athletes as we ran, which
helped. We talked about the run, our jobs, family, etc. Those moments took our
mind off of the discomfort. Some exchanges lasted only a few seconds- “keep it
up”, “this sucks”, “yes we make poor life decisions”, others lasted a few minutes
if our paces overlapped. Sometimes I would slow my pace a touch to match
someone. I spent about four minutes talking with a gentleman from Germany,
discussing our travel plans for the summer.
On the second and third lap, I picked up the pace a bit. I had
stopped on the first lap to water the plants, and my legs were feeling pretty
solid. Downing some combination of water/coke/energy, a piece of banana, or
energy bar at each aid station helped considerably to both my physical and
mental state. There were sections of the run where there was a light rain
falling, which made it a little chilly, but then the sun would break through.
The looped course also helped because it meant that I always had a crowd in
front of me to chase. I wasn’t being passed with any frequency like I had been
on the bike, and I was moving by others regularly.
At the end of the run, a huge smile busted across my face. I
finished. My run split: 1:40:03, 70th fastest. It was honestly the most physically demanding race I had done. I finished 115th out of 900 finishers and about 1000 racers (a fair number quit on the course), but to be honest, I was just happy. After
the race I took advantage of the post race food, and they had ice water baths
and hot water baths that you could sit in.
After about an hour, I collected my gear, headed to the hotel, and
skyped with my mom and sister. My stomach started to remind me that I just
raced, so I headed out to the town and grabbed some food at a small restaurant.
A lot of the restaurants are designed for tourists and are rather pricy, but I
found a place that serves traditional French food for a reasonable sum.
This is called a galette. Essentially it is a crepe filled with whatever you want. Mine: egg, ham, bacon, tomato, onion. Paired with a glass of wine, delicious.
And two scoops of ice cream. Toffee and coconut. One reason to return to France? The ice cream IS AMAZING.
After dinner, I headed back to the hotel, had a beer at the bar
with the staff, and packed up my gear. The next morning, I took the bus to the
train station, made the same switch between stations in Paris, and then back to
maison Santos.
This was my view on the way down. Stunningly beautiful.
I am glad to have done it, and if I have the opportunity to come
back to do it again, I will absolutely do so. From the race, to the travel, to the accommodations (if you have a chance to go to the Alpes, stay at Hotel Beausoleil- I don't have a single complaint about the place), everything was perfect. If you have the opportunity to do the race, do it. It was amazing.
This post is divided into two parts: What I have learned about life and travel in France, and what I have experienced doing triathlons in France. Each is rated as an upgrade or downgrade.
Travel Related:
1) Many cities have bikes that you can rent for short periods of time to ride around on. They are very cheap, and make life very convenient for getting around. It means you don't need to know the metro routes, and you see way more of the city than you would have otherwise.
There are stations all over Paris where you can park these.
2) Buy your tickets online. For museums and other attractions, at least in Paris, you can buy tickets online. There are two reasons to do this: you avoid the lines as there is usually a line for people who already have tickets, and frequently, you can buy tickets to multiple museums at once at a discount. You want to see the Musee de Rhodin and Musee d'Orsay? Combine them. There is an all Paris museum pass that you can buy and use over several days if you are staying for more than one or two days. I would recommend this; it is simply not possible to take in everything. I stayed 3 days in Paris, and I could have spent 10 looking at everything.
3) Travel by train and bus from city to city is pretty easy. For France, unfortunately they do not offer a Eurail one country pass (where you can buy a pass for a certain amount of access), but it is generally cheap and fast.
Life Related:
1) When you walk up to a group of people that you know, you greet each one individually. I went to dinner with a group from the tri team, and there were 14 of us. Whenever a new person walked up, a new round of greetings. It makes things entertaining before swimming with the team because it is a bunch of men and women in speedos exchanging the greetings for several minutes. I am not sure if this is an upgrade or downgrade.
2) Every guy gets a hand shake and a greeting (salut, ca va), every girl gets a kiss on each cheek, and little kids get one kiss on a cheek. I haven't figured out at what age the kids stop getting the one kiss.
3) If I lived in France, I would be obese, diabetic and have hypertension. Besides having nutella, they have this:
Yes- that is butter with sea salt- combining fat and salt into something delicious. You put on baguettes, which you can buy for usually less than one euro. With the family with whom I staying, we eat this after dinner with a type of cheese that I had never heard of before called camembert. Eat till you are full from dinner, then have a piece or two of baguette with the delicious butter or camembert. This is a definite upgrade.
4) You can buy giant things of cereal, like this:
For those of us that use pounds, that is almost three pounds of cereal.
You can't buy the normal cereals (cheerios, frosted mini wheats, etc), but you can buy cereals made by Nestle, which usually combine chocolate, caramel or nutella. They are delicious. Large cereal: upgrade. Not the usual choices? Downgrade.
5) Grocery stores are like Walmarts on crack. Walmart has everything, and generally low quality food. If you want to go buy a plasma tv, and risk getting some fresh produce, you can do that. But not at the grocery stores in France. You can get fresh produce that is of good quality, new pairs of socks, and that inflatable backyard pool you have had your eye on. You can also order your goods online, and then go to the store, and pick them up. It is awesome.
You think I am kidding? This is from the local supermarche's catalog. You can get your cat food, gaming system, and backyard pool all at once. This obviously doesn't show the quality of the food, but it is good.
Rating? Definite upgrade for the consumer, downgrade for the small business.
6) Milk is not refrigerated when you buy it. First of all, if you ever truly want to feel like a foreigner, walk around a grocery store in another country. While you may know a certain amount of the language, do you know how to say things like basil/potato/corn/paper towel? Probably not. I definitely struggled the first couple of times when I had to ask for help.
But back to milk: milk in France is UHT- ultra high temperature pasteurized, which means it doesn't have to be refrigerated until it is opened, and can stay on the shelf for a month. It looks like this:
I was a little skeptical the first time I bought it, but it tastes just the same, so I definitely think that this is an upgrade.
7) Dinner takes place after 8pm. This means I snack all afternoon on cereal, baguette, etc.
8) They love the Tour de France. It is on two tv channels, and on two different radio stations. For most Americans, they think the tour is booorrrrrring. In France, they listen to it. On the radio. While I thoroughly enjoy watching the tour, listening to it takes it to another level. Upgrade if you love the tour.
9) You can get mayonnaise with your french fries, and ketchup with your fajitas, and this is normal. I don't understand why french people are not more obese.
10) Cooking is based upon mass, not volume. You need two cups of flour? Well, get that much flour, you must know the density of flour. Fortunately, there are websites available to you that give the information you need.
11) Everybody smokes. Ok, not everybody, but a significantly higher percentage than in the US. and they smoke everywhere. While places are "smoke free", like some restaurants, the moment people step outside, they light up. People will walk to the door holding a cigarette. Also, you can buy bags of tobacco and roll your own; I saw someone doing this on the train from Rennes to Paris.
Triathlon related:
1) Races are in the afternoon. Yes, they don't start until 2 or later in the afternoon. This means you don't have to wake up at 4:30 am to be at the race site by 5:30 am for the 7am start. Upgrade.
2) There are no age group awards. Awards are only handed out to the top 3/5/10 depending on the race. I don't know if this is an upgrade or downgrade, but it definitely speeds up the awards ceremony. They sometimes interview the podium too. It was a little awkward when I was asked about the race when I made the podium. "Uhh.... Je suis fatigue, et content. Merci."
3) Winners get good stuff- like money, gift certificates, or gear. In the races I have done, the race that I won, I got a 200 euro gift certificate to a sports store, and the race I placed 7th in, I got a bag full of overstim, the french equivalent of gu. Way better than a little plaque.
4) There are a lot of clubs. Almost every city has one, and they are populated with individuals of varying skill. Because there are clubs, there are club exclusive races, and team races. This makes things much more entertaining.
5) The races usually have the roads closed, and the races are looped. This makes the race safer, and means that races are much more spectator friendly.
6) Team races are awesome. I usually take any form of motivation I can get to race, but now I am racing for a team placing as well as individual placing, best time, etc, I push harder. It also means that the cheering is much more intense. While you may have some friends, family members or teammates out cheering for you at a race in the states, telling you to go faster, in France, they are yelling at you to pull back the competitors in front of you. While it is motivating to have a teammate tell you "Hey John you are the fifth placed girl!" (thanks Mike, and just FYI, I ended up only getting beaten by three professional women at that race), it is much more intense to have someone yelling "ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ JOHN CATCH HIM".
7) Race photos are free. Free. Posted to the website, you can download at your leisure, not $24.99 for one download. Definite upgrade.
Do you remember the first year(s) of learning a foreign language? The classes (at least for me) were in part filled with learning what I considered to be ridiculous vocabulary. In Spanish 2, I remember learning the vocabulary for penguin. Why. Just why. At what point in my travels to a foreign land would I need to know that? When would I need to say the butterfly eats butter with the monkey! What butterfly eats butter? And with a monkey? This is absurd! (And it may be one of the reasons why there is a high attrition rate in foreign language classes). This post is about my travels so far in France.
For the past several years, my parents have been encouraging me to take advantage of my profession and travel over the summer/breaks. Unfortunately, I have not done so, usually because I was working as a lifeguard to make some extra money, taking classes, moving, etc. I could always find an excuse to not go. This winter though, I was presented with an unusual opportunity that was presented to me by my triathlon coach Martin- go to France and stay with a family that does triathlons, and train, race, and travel. I jumped at the opportunity.
And then the planning started. I didn't speak a lick of french, so I downloaded an app on my phone called Duolingo. I worked out with Martin and the family that I am staying with the races that I could do, and did a fair amount of googling to check out others. I bought a bike box to pack up my bike, a plane ticket, and I thought I was set. A vacation combining everything that I enjoy? What else could be more perfect?
Then small problems started to present themselves before the trip started. At school, it was decided that my course load for the next year was going to change: for the 2013- 2014 school year, I taught regular chemistry (the same as the year before) and AP Biology. For the 2014-2015 year, I am to teach honors chemistry and anatomy and physiology. Problem number 1: I have never in my academic career taken an anatomy course. In college, I focused more on the micro side of biology and chemistry. So I found an online course through UC Berkeley Extension. I bought the book, and signed up for the course.
Problem number 2: I didn't own a bike box. With a gift from my uncle, I bought a bike box. Pack bike, travel with bike. I bought a Ruster Hen House, which promised that you would not get charged for having a piece of oversized luggage. I figured this would help save me money. My bike went from looking like this:
to looking like this:
and going in here:
With my bag packed, I could worry about other details.
Problem number 3: With Duolingo, I was learning what I considered to be some useless things. For example, the title of the blog: Le papillion mange du beurre avec le singe. Or sentences like this:
Thanks Duolingo.
And finally getting to France. Working out the race details with my coach and the family with whom I was staying, there was a race that I could do the Sunday after I got out of school. I get out of school on a Thursday. That meant the following itinerary: School ends at 12:15 on Thursday. Go to airport, get on plane that leaves at 4:40pm, get to Paris at 4:00pm on Friday, get on bus at the airport to go to train station in Paris to take the 8pm train to get to Rennes (about 2 hours away by train), meet with family, build bike Saturday, race Sunday.
I planned out the end of the school year so that I could have everything graded in time, packed up everything (including Reese's cups and a pair of cycling shoes as was requested by the family), and headed to the airport. I checked my bags, and only had to pay for one bag (British Airways gives you one free bag, my bike was packed into a wheel bag and a frame bag in which I packed my textbooks and my clothes), and got aboard with the plan of passing out.
This happened within 5 minutes of getting on the plane.
As my seat buddy passed out on me, I realized that BA had some sweet movies in their seat back entertainment system. I haven't been to the theaters to see any of the major movies in a long time (besides the Lego movie with my sister, and if you haven't seen that movie, stop what you are doing and watch it now). Making a plan on what to watch, I made it through The Wolf of Wall Street, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and American Hustle. All awesome movies.
After landing in Paris with a quick stop in London, I made my way to baggage claim to pick up my wheels and bike. My plane landed at 4, my train wasn't until 8, so I figured I would have time to take the bus into the city, get dinner, and hop on the train. As the bags came out, I became more and more nervous. My stuff wasn't there. And then, the final bag was my wheel bag. Nothing else showed up.
I grabbed my wheel bag, and walked over to the well staffed baggage table, and asked where the oversize luggage was, on the odds that the bag with my frame would be there. I was pointed in that direction, and walked over; my bag was not there. I walked back, asked if that was all the luggage, was informed that it was, and then told them that my bag was missing.
Going through the standard exchange at the baggage table (giving name, flight details, etc), I was informed that my bags were on the plane to Paris (good to know), but they didn't know where my bag was. Confused, I asked again-my bags were on the plane, in Paris, but somehow missing? Yes. I filled out the appropriate paperwork to let British Airways know that they had lost my bike, and then I decided to wait at the airport for the next two flights to come in to see if my frame bag would show up, hoping that it was placed to the side, and would eventually make its way up from the underbelly of the airport.
No such luck, so I took my wheel bag and backpack to the bus stop that would take me to the train station in Paris. When I got to the bus stop, I was greeted with this:
The train workers were on strike (Gare means station in French), and my train was cancelled. Seeing as some of the trains were still running, I hopped on the bus, hoping that I could get on one that was going in the right direction.
With the delay in getting my luggage, and the incredible amount of traffic in Paris due to the train strike (it took 2.5 hours to get from the airport to the train station, a trip that normally takes an hour), my plan of getting dinner in Paris was nixed, so I wandered through the train station, until I found someone who looked official, and asked for help. He let me know that I could get on a train that was leaving an hour later, it didn't matter that my ticket was for the earlier train, just put my butt in a spot on the train.
I got on the train, and two hours later, I was met in Rennes by Virginie and her husband Ruben. I was relieved, and exhausted.
The next day, with Ruben and Virginie's help, we found out that bike had been found, and that British Airways would put the bike on a flight to the local airport, and I could get it Sunday morning. While that sounded grand, Virginie didn't trust it, and we went to meet the president of the triathlon team that I would be racing with, Rennes Triathlon. They had an extra bike I could use, and they also gave me a team shirt, jersey, and a kit to use during races. I was incredibly grateful.
Sunday came and went, my bike didn't show up (a separate blog post on the bike, British Airways, and the bike bag), so I raced Sunday. The races I have done will get their own blog post shortly.
The beginning of the trip was a mess. But I am in France, with an awesome family and team, and things are good.
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