Toxoplasmo what?!

So since I'm in my last month and final days of pregnancy I thought my days of blood work were nearly over. Unfortunatley, I found out today that I'll have to be tested one more time (a month after the baby's birth) for toxoplasmosis. You may be asking why I have to be tested...in France they take their toxoplamosis very seriously. Interestingly, in the US the only mention we hear of this parasitic disease is in brief passing from our OB's, and that's just to warn us not to touch cat poop. Since I've been here, I've been tested every month for it. Since I bruise easily I look like a pregnant junkie for a week after every blood draw. Needless to say, I knew very little of what the disease was let alone what caused it (other than the previously mentioned cat poop). I initially thought they tested it so often because there is so much poop on the sidewalks here that they are fearful you'll step in it, track it into your home, and get it that way.

*Seriously, there is A LOT of poop on the ground. You know there is something wrong when an entire country has a "saying" about stepping in poop. They say it's good luck to step in poop with your left foot, but bad luck to step in it with your right foot. I say it's bad luck with either foot and I haven't looked anyone in the eye while walking down the street since I got here for fear of the poo (and the vomit).

Anyway, ends up that while it is something you can get from cat poop, it seems they were most concerned here with getting it via raw meat (since no one picks up the poo we know it's not for fear of hand contamination.) Raw meat-yes. They don't like to cook their meat here. In fact, Seb's dad always bitches when he makes red meat for dinner and has to cook my meat longer -he's always complaining about how there isn't any taste left and what's the point of eating it so cooked (Not really sure why he cares if he's not the one eating it, but whatever)...Seriously, the blood drips on the plates and that's before they cut into it. Even when you order it "well done" it's still mooing. So now I don't bother ordering meat at a restaurant that's not poultry or pork-because you know those have to be cooked throughly. Even the french don't want salmonella or tape worms.

So I find the contrast interesting. I mean, Americans eat mooing beef as well, so it's possible to get the disease at home just as easily. I do like the French preventive care, but I really don't like being poked every month.

Other than the monthly blood tests for toxoplasmosis (I think I just like typing that word) there was another interesting differences between the US and French maternity care:

Prenatal vitamins: when I aske my midwife what she recommended she said that they didn't recommend prenatal vitamins, but if I wanted to take them I could and that I could probably find some in the pharmacy. She recommended I eat a balanced diet and everything would be fine (does nutella count as part of a balanced diet?). We finally found two kinds of vitamins and one I liked (b/c it didn't have the fish oil -which totally sucks when you burp a lot). But since most women don't use them here, the pharmacy next to my house had to special order them for me. How weird is that? I remember my first visit to the OBGYN and she gave me a sack of vitamins to try -in addition to the store vitamins. The plethora of prenatal vitamins in the US is overwhelming and to find out that in other countries they are having healthy babies without them makes you realize someone is making a shitload of money off our fear for our fetus. I really need to get in on that.

It's been beautiful in Bordeaux this week so we are off for a day at the park. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Speedos

The other day a girlfriend of mine suggested I take up swimming to help me make it though the last month of pregnancy. Sounded like a great idea...so we found a pool close to the house, I dug out my swimsuit (hoping it fit over my big belly) and planned to go the next morning. Then Seb had a thought. Would they require him to wear a special bathing suit for swimming? HUH? That's crazy talk. Just grab your trunks and lets go. Seb decided to call the pool first -just in case. It was a good thing he did...the pool requires all men to wear speedos instead of swim trunks-for hygiene purposes. Seriously? How is a thin piece of material touching junk more hygienic than swim trunks-which generally have built in underwear?? Plus, with the trunks we don't have as many visuals. I guess I don't need to say we haven't made it to the pool yet. I think I can wait for summer to go swimming.

Actually, when Seb and I first started dating, that's all he wore when swimming. Then one time we were at our pool in Philly and my neice started giving Seb a lot of grief for wearing one. Needless to say, the next day we bought him some swim trunks and he never looked back. When we first started going on vacation together in the south of France 15 years ago-everyone wore speedos (not something you really want to see on your father-in-law -trust me). Now days, it's mainly just the old men that wear them. Sexy beasts.

Grinding my Gears

If you watch Family Guy -then you know this title is a reference to an episode in which Peter, the family's fearless leader, gets a job on a t.v. news show. His segment is called: "what really grinds my gears" He then proceeds to bitch about minor irritants in his life. It's so funny and Seb and I have taken this as a mantra of our own when we really want to bitch about something. Me being me, I do this often so I've decided to add my own Gear Grinding Segment to this blog.

The first thing that really grinds my gears is when the french get drunk and then decide to announce it to the world with shouting and singing. Now, I've experienced this often -particularly when vacationing in the south of France. It's extremely annoying to be woken up at 2 in the morning by drunk idiots, but since they are on vacation then it's all fun and good times. Ok, I don't really think this, I actually wish I had the balls to yell out my window to shut the f#**k up, but there you go. It's not like I've ever turned down a drink or four, but must you shout and yell while hanging out and annoy everyone? People show some decorum. I also thought that that the majority of these idiots were foreigners having traveled to the south of france for a nice vacation...WRONG.

It must be a French thing because every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night(and sometimes other nights as well) we have the pleasure of drunk idiots standing out in front of the apartment yelling, fighting, singing...I ask you, is this really necessary? Can't you be a drunk and not yell and announce to the world how hammered your are?? I should note that the difference between here and vacation is the length of time we have the pleasure ot the drunk's company. In the south, it's usually somewhat brief -10-15 minutes- because they are usually walking home from the bars to their camping ground or rental. Here it's longer because they like to hang out in the quad (see previous blog for apartment description) chilling. So that means they can be out there fore 30 minutes or more. Sweet.

You may ask, are there lots of bars or discos around your apartment that these loud mouth obnoxious drunks are leaving that they end up close to your home. NO! Isn't that the weirdest part? We have a grocery store, a florist, a pharmacy, a beauty salon, but NO BAR. The closest bars are two tram stops away. So I ask you, why do they come to our place? There are times when I wish I had a bb gun to shoot at them. Seb, the pacifist, doesn't really like this idea.

The oddest part of this situation is that this seems to be completely and socially acceptable. I would ask why the cops don't do something -like citations for public intoxication, creating a disturbance, but we've seen how effective the law enforcement are around here. But, you may ask, doesn't this annoy other people? Don't they complain? Good question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer...it seems that people have accepted the rowdiness as part of life and ignore it. Either that or they spend a shitload of money on ear plugs (I know I do.)

There's another lovely aspect of these drunks...the pleasure of seeing their vomit the morning after. Oh, this is awesome. Getting up on a Saturday morning in order to walk to the market and seeing the vestiges of the previous evening. It is always a pleasurable way to start the day and always makes one eager to purchase food for the week. One Sunday morning Seb and I actually counted -gross I know, but I just had to know-the number of piles we would see in a 10 minute walk. We counted 5-yes 5 and these are generally next to garbage cans so I ask you, can't they at least lift the lid and puke in the can? Or maybe not drink to the point wher they are yakking their guts up on the street.

I feel like I should end with something positive for the French - since the majority of this blog will be me bitching about them. So the positive for the day is that the French know how to make decent "frozen dinners". Although here they aren't frozen, just vacuum packed =so they cook much faster. The variety offered is different than what i'm used to in the US so it's a nice change. Sure they have the typical lasagna but they also have things like Paella (!)...not too shabby. And for those of you wondering why I eat frozen dinners in France when I should be learning how to make coq au vin, well stay tuned. Who knows, by the end of this blogging year, I may just tell you how to do that... HAHAHAHA! yeah... right!

The transients

So I have to say, this is my first blog and my first day blogging. I never thought I would become a blogger-not being much of a writer, but thanks to my husband's encouragement...here we are. (Side note: My grammar and spelling suck- so please excuse)

I moved to France in January -after living in Seattle for 10 years- to be with my husband while he works as a researcher in Political Science at the University of Bordeaux. I should mention that I'm 9mos pregnant and ready to pop. So my blogging may be sporadic, but there are just too many interesting things that happen here that I have to either share or at the very least get off my chest.

We can start with the most recent events of this past weekend. An episode I like to call: The Transients. Now, Im all for choosing the kind of lifesyle you want and I understand that sometimes it's not even a choice. However, you expect to see the transients in a park or at the beach-some place not near my home...I should first describe my living situation. We live in an apartment building owned by the university and used for international visiting professors and researchers. There are also general offices located in the building. It's quite modern and has recently been redone-having previously been a children's hospital. I can only guess that children in Bordeaux no longer have hospital needs -or at least not equivalent to those of the university.

There is a large quad directly in front of the complex (I'll try to post a picture at some point) where the local teens and preteens like to hang out and smoke. While this is annoying, it reminds me of my own high school days sneaking off to the local cul-de-sac to smoke before and after school -so I feel like I have to cut them some slack.

In front of the apartment is a tramway stop so we get a lot of foot traffic on the quad.

Last Thursday Seb (my husband) returned home from work and mentioned that there were some transients hanging out in front of the apartment. Ok, they're transients-which means to me that they are mobile and will probably leave soon. OH, I was so wrong. Friday morning Seb sees that they are still in front of the complex and talks to the apartment managers. The managers assure us they are aware of the problem and just as frustrated as we are...they have called the police and hope that the transients will be be in transit. Upon returning from a nice stroll in the city we see that indeed the cops must have visited because the transients are no longer located directly in front of our complex, but have now moved to the side of the building and across the street on a grassy hill. No problem for me, I just don't want to have to step over them while I'm entering my home-not to mention they look quite menacing. They look like they all just left a Sex Pistols concert -they also have about 3 dogs and 4 puppies. (The dogs liked to bark a lot a night-such a pleasure)

Saturday we decided to go to the park and enjoy the day -only when we leave the apartment, the transients are back!! What was so wrong with the grassy knoll?? Why weren't they happy there? I was happy them being there-well not happy, but at least they weren't at my front door. We decide to enjoy our day and if they are still there when we get back from the park, we'll call the police ourselves.

As we are getting on the tram for the park, we see that two of them and two of their dogs are getting on the tram at the same time. Unfortunately, I LOVE to stare at people and sometimes don't realize I'm doing it so Seb had to keep warning me to stop staring - but I ask you, how can you not??? When someone is so different from everything you know and have ever been exposed to, how can they expect you not to stare? Well, I did my best. The funny part was when one of them pulled out his cell phone. CELL PHONE, HUH??? You don't seem as much of an anarchist if you have a cell phone. Not mention, that while talking on said cell phone, he told the person on the other end he needed a sweater because he was afraid he was going to get cold that night. Um, how long have you been sleeping outside? Ofcourse you are going to get cold-YOUR"RE SLEEPING OUTSIDE. Then he said he had to go to the hospital for x-rays. Not quite the tough guys you would imagine...Oh, and we heard him telling his friends where he and his posse where sleeping. Uh,oh...that could only mean one thing-more were coming. We hoped not, but...

When we got back to our place after the day at the park-they were all there with their shopping carts, sleeping bags, pack of dogs, a stroller (????), Fanta bottles full of booze, etc. So, we called the police. Now apparently there are different kinds of police in France. The ones Seb had to call are the Municipal Police. The lady on the other end wasn't very reassuring. She said they didn't really have the resources to send anyone over but if the dogs continued to make noise or the transients were being really loud and disruptive then we could call the french equivalency of 911. Neither one of us is going to make that kind of call unless someone is dying so-definitely not for some transients! However, much to my excitement-the municipal police showed up-all two of them. I was happy-Seb said not to get my hopes up. Apparently, these guys don't have much authority. Eric Cartman they are not. So they stood around for about 15 minutes trying to look menacing to the transients, but then they just ended up leaving-accomplishing nothing. Seriously, what are two men with no guns standing around with their arms crossed going to accomplish when faced with 6 transients, all their crap, and 7 dogs. Seriously.

I should mention, that Seb, the progressive, felt guilty for calling the cops because he thinks we should live and let live. That lasted until we watched some guy poop in front of us-Seriously. In front of us, other people and his friends-while still talking to his friends- the man dropped trou and took a freaking dump!!!!!!! Wow. After that, Seb no longer felt guilty about calling the cops.

Sunday morning and we decide to head to the beach...Seb gets up to go to the bakery for breakfast and guess what?? We were right-they mulitplied over night and now there were about 10 transients lined up taking up the entire front of the apartment. They were just spread out from one end to the other. We were pissed that they had multiplied like lice over night and so decided to again call the oh so effective municipal police (we figure if we keep complaining they have to do something). Their reaction: well, that kind of sucks but sorry, we don't have the resouces to do anything about it. Are you freaking kidding me? What kind of "police" job is this that you can't do anything but stand around with your arms crossed and stare at people?* (I should note that at least they got out of their car -there's a spot here that's a major hub to party and congregate and when we first moved here in Jan. (when it was cold) the police just sat in their van shooting the shit until their shift was over-they might have gotten out to stomp their feet for circulation purposes, but that's about it-French tax euros at work -I want their job) Finally Seb was like, look they are multiplying and they have lots of dogs and ther are children that play on the quad. It's not safe. Well, once they heard about the dogs then they became concerned. Because having a dozen homeless anarchists isn't enough -no it's the dogs that are the menacing parts. The person at the other end of the phone said that the municipal cops didn't have the resources to deal with that many people but that they would call in the big guns. I still don't really understand the differences in the police here (Seb has tried to explain them to me many times, but whatever). Anyway, driving home we were betting if they were still there and if so, how many more were added to the lot. But AHA!!!!! They were gone - and not just to the grassy knoll beside the complex-they were all gone. WEEE!! No more dogs, no more smelly people, no more sleeping bags, shopping carts, skin heads, and most importantly, no more public pooping.

We were much relieved. It's interesting that the first call to the police from the landlord wasn't as effective as it might have been at home (US). Seb says that here a lot of people have to complain about something before anything is done.

I do have one more interesting story to share today...on the news the other day a man's body was found in his home -he had been dead for 3 years. 3 YEARS!!!! How does that happen?? Doesn't he have bill collectors? Neighbors? I just don't understand. Didn't he smell?

Anway, transients are gone so I'm off to read in the park behind our apartment and enjoy the sun. Have a happy day!