--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <authfriend@...> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > As much as I love the Netherlands, and spending time with my extended > > family there, it is *also* an utter delight to be back in Paris, and to > > be having dinner in a sidewalk cafe (covered and heated, of course, > > because it's still almost as cold here as it was there -- global > > colding, and all that), and enjoying both the food and the ambiance. > > > > The highlight of my time "back home" revolves around the time I get to > > spend with young 4-year-old Maya. We have a weekend routine, in which > > she comes downstairs in the mornings while the rest of the family gets > > to sleep in, and we watch "Mayamovies" together on my computer. This > > morning we watched the classic Disney "Cinderella" and a "Winnie The > > Pooh" movie, and the morning before we watched "Despicable Me" (always a > > delight) and a bunch of Nick Park's wonderful Wallace & Gromit movies. > > We chat and do "film crit" all the way through them, which the other > > members of my family don't appreciate as much as Maya and I do, as they > > fear they'll never be able to take her to an actual movie theater > > because she'll want to talk about the movie all the way through it. My > > bad. :-) > > > > But anyway, back to here and now, and Paris. It's "happy hour" in this > > cafe/restaurant, and the crowd reflects this. At a table next to mine, > > there are three French women -- two from the traditional French gene > > pool, one clearly from a more Moroccan gene pool, and they are drinking > > coffees (2-for-the-price-of-one) and chatting amongst themselves quietly > > and with admirable French restraint. Across the terrace, however, sit a > > group of seven clearly American Girls. > > You know, we should start a regular pool on how far Barry > will get into his next "vignette" before he starts to rag > on one of his favorite targets.
Yes, he reminds me of myself when I was 9 years old. My family was transferred to Europe and I lived there until I was 17. At that time, as an impressionable and silly adolescent, I hated and looked down on all things American. It just wasn't cool to like Americans or the US. We lived in EUROPE and how incredible were we - all of us well-heeled kids of corporate American executives living the high life over there, snubbing our noses at those silly, ignorant, uncultured people Stateside. We were the cool ones, the ones who had access to European food, art, music. I was a little like Barry back then, grade 4 to grade 10, but luckily I have grown up just a wee bit. I still don't eat MacDonalds or shop at Walmart but damn I like a lot of things this side of the pond. >
