Category: Living Abroad

Back to Church in Paris

12/15/2020

It’s been nine months since I went to church. I go to the American Church in Paris, where they focus on loving people and helping out the community. Sermons are short, the music is good, and I do love me some good liberation theology.

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Hello, Lockdown, my old Friend

10/31/2020

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Paris’ spring lockdown was harsh. We could go outside to buy groceries or to exercise one hour a day, within certain hours, within one kilometer from home. Parks were closed, loitering was forbidden. When the police stopped you, you had to show them your sworn attestation stating why you were out. The fine was €135.

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Self-Discovery in Confinement

5/23/2020

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The lockdown in France was harsh.

However, it was easy compared to Columbia, where you got a 4-8 year prison sentence for being outside at the wrong time. And it was stricter than in the US. I saw you people on Facebook, out driving around, going to drive-in movies. Crossing bridges. Hiking.

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Confinement Signs

5/2/2020

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Paris is pretty quiet right now. Only grocery stores and pharmacies are open. We are only allowed out for one hour per day for exercise, before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m., and you have to take along a form you filled out with your info. There aren’t enough police on the streets to catch everybody, but there are enough to make you jumpy about breaking the rules.

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France and Coronavirus: Part 1

3/16/2020

4 Comments

By last Thursday, in France, we had stopped shaking hands and giving each other les bises, but we were still going about our business unless it was shut down.

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France is our Hot Mess Friend

2/1/2020

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People find it easy to ridicule France these days, with our Gilets Jaunes and our strikes. But I think France plays an important role in the world community.

France is the world’s Hot Mess Friend.

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The Glamorous Expat Life: La Mammographie

11/11/2019

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I was already digging this French health care system when I got a letter in the mail saying:

You’re a woman past 50, so you get a free mammogram!

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So You Think You Can France

10/20/2019

1 Comment

Moving to a different country is like raising children--just when you get good at one stage, your kids grow out of it and it’s a whole new ballgame.

I must be at least a toddler expat by now.

1 Comment

Expat Life: Burglary

1/25/2019

8 Comments

You’d think getting burglarized in Paris would be glamorous, right? Or maybe it would be funny, like the policeman would be Inspector Clouseau? Nope. Getting burglarized in Paris is pretty much like getting burglarized anywhere else--a pain in the derrière.

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What Could Make You Throw a Brick?

12/15/2018

2 Comments

If you can’t think of anything, may I gently suggest that you have always felt

heard.

What would it take? What could make you throw a brick or rush a fence? What could make you do something illegal?

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