I filled out my absentee ballot request and sent it off to be mailed today. As an overseas voter I had to fill out the Federal Post Card Application form. Hopefully they will actually get it and send me a ballot in time for the election.
On the form I was suprised to find that there was a question asking my race. Race? What the heck was I supposed to write? Human?
Today we received in the mail a letter from the bank. They have now officially opened an investigation into how they lost (mishandled or whatever) a not insignificant amount of euros that we deposited into our account. The content of the letter was as close as anyone can get to an apology in France, albeit an indirect one. In any case we’ll see how many more months it will take before they decide that they don’t want to take the blame for their screwups afterall.
At this point, we would like to withold judgements regarding incompetence of people at the bank. However it is quite difficult to do so considering that the nature of the problem hints at either negligence or blatant theft on the part of whoever handled our bank transaction. This coupled with the indifference we’ve faced by the bank and that it has been more than four months since we first notified them of this situation lead us to have already made relatively firm conclusions on the subject.
It is a bit ironic, considering that when I opened the account here after first arriving in Paris, it was with a private bank, rather than a government run one such as La Poste. The reasoning at the time was that the privately run institution would be more efficient, competent, etc than one run by fonctionaires… Well, if not ironic, then I hate to imagine what would have happened had I opened an account with La Poste.
I can’t believe what I am watching on French cable TV: News casters stripping while… well … stripping (!). Just in the time that I’ve started writing, the weatherman has already stripped down to his skivvies. And now the political news caster is unbuttoning her blouse… Well, they are certainly upholding the “libertie, egalitie, fraternite”.
Today was the first ’serious’ day of judo since the summer break. Two and a half months off has taken its toll. My sore muscles tell me that running and pushups work different parts of the body than you use in randori.
今日は夏休みが終わってから初めての柔道だった。二ヶ月半も休んだということがはっきり感じられる。筋肉痛によると柔道の筋肉の使い方と僕がやっていたジョギングの筋肉の使い方とは全然違います。
Again a short 12 hour flight takes me from one world to another. This time from the neat and orderly modern cities of Japan to the disorganized and relatively unkempt ancient cities of France.
This morning we’ve got an appointment with the bank. We’ll see if we can get the bank to finally do something about the mistake that they had made more than four months ago. We suppect fraud by someone at the bank and we have collected evidence supporting our claim. That might encourage the bank to take some action to rectify the situation. Of course on the other hand it’s France, so we’re not so hopeful…
We went to Jardin du Luxembourg for lunch today, after visiting an apartment. We got some sandwiches and cold drinks at a nearby FranPrix and went to sit in the park. Jardin du Luxembourg is really quite nice this time of the year. The center of the park is a great spot, just in front of the Senat, ringed by classical statues and replete with flowers. From the center of the park one can get a clear view of the Eiffel Tower and the Saint Sulpice belfries without any modern buildings ruining the scenery.
We just signed earlier this evening! Phew! That relieves a lot of stress of trying to find a new apartment. We are hoping that the new apartment doesn’t deluge us with problems like our current apartment…
Ce soir on a regardé le télévision juste un peu après le dîner. On regardait une programme des moines Shaolin dans TV5. Il y avait deux commentateurs. À fin de la programme à notre suprise nous decouvert que l’un commentateur était mon professeur du Judo! La vie est pleine des suprises, non?
We just ran out of gas for our stove. Our landlord said it was full when we moved in and that it usually lasts about six months; it lasted for seven and a half. Not bad. Does that mean that we don’t cook as much as other people (quite possible on average since we’ve spent quite a bit of time away from Paris), or just that we don’t waste as much gas? …
We ported the old empty canister down to a nearby local shop for an exchange. We hooked up the new canister and to our surprise it actually worked, contrary to our problem prone apartment. Of course, the natural question to ask is “for how long”?
