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The latest article I wrote for MyFrenchLife was published today, and you can read it here.
Enjoy! 🙂
Archive For January, 2012
An American (Football Fan) In Paris
In one of my earlier posts, A New England Sports Fan Abroad, I wrote about what it was like to miss championship games because of my international antics. But after several Sundays spent at The Great Canadian–a Canadian bar (surprise!) that airs NFL games here in Paris–I can, thankfully, write about what it’s like to watch a game abroad.
One of the first things I thought about when I decided to accept the offer to work for my current company and make the move to Paris was how I would be able to watch my beloved New England Patriots every Sunday. When I lived in the States, I made a point to go to at least one home game every season (last year I upped it to two, in light of my imminent departure), and if I wasn’t at Gillette I was surely glued to a TV somewhere. I’ve definitely had to miss my fair share of games, though, and that wasn’t an occurrence I wished to become a regularity.
The 2011 season, however, was a whole different ball game–pun intended. Not only have I been traveling more (admittedly both for business and for pleasure), but I am of course living in a country where American football isn’t exactly the most popular sport around. If you ask the locals if they’re into football you’ll likely hear a resounding yes, but they’re certainly not talking about tossing the ol’ pigskin. And as if there weren’t enough obstacles to watching a sport in a country that predominantly couldn’t care less about it, I also have to deal with the six to nine hour time difference for watching games taking place in the US–arguably the most difficult element to work around.
Fortunately for me, I was referred to TGC by a fellow American expat and blogger, Michael (you can check out his blog here), and his recommendation couldn’t have been better. Not only have I been able to watch several games during the regular season, but this past weekend I was able to watch the game that turned out to be our first playoff victory since January 20, 2008. This is particularly amazing considering that the game began at a staggering 2am Paris time Saturday night/Sunday morning. Thankfully, TGC came through and stayed open for the entire game, not-so-gently kicking us out at 5:30am. I was able to catch this crucial match-up, share drinks with friends, and make it home on the metro just before the sun came up.
Just for fun, here are some pictures of myself and some friends during the course of the season at our favorite American football hangout:
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- The gang, dedicated and pulling an almost-all-nighter for our team!
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- Me on Christmas Eve cheering for the Patriots to pull ahead of the Dophins!
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- First Patriots game at TGC!
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- With Esteve/Paul/Alfonso and the Frog Prince!
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- With beautiful Melissa on my very first trip to TGC to check it out 🙂
It’s been a great season so far, but I’m looking forward to what comes next as the Patriots compete against Baltimore for the AFC Championship title! And thank you, TGC, for giving me a little piece of home every Sunday. Now for next week: Let’s kick some Baltimore butt, boys!
Three Holidays, Three Countries
For me, the “holiday season” has always consisted of three important holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve/Day. 2011 marked an interesting year for me, in which I spent these very special holidays in very different locations.
Of course there’s no where in the world to celebrate American Thanksgiving than in the United States, so that’s where I went! This trip was in conjunction with the surprise 50th birthday party we threw for my dad (which you can read about here), and my 10 year high school reunion. Take a look at our Thanksgiving table as we prepared for the big feast:
Tigger (who occasionally travels with me) is eyeing the turkey!
For Christmas, Santa brought family to me and delivered my Father on Christmas Eve! We spent 4 days walking all around Paris (and I mean ALL around), and I acted as a poor excuse for a tour guide to my guest, who was also a first-time visitor to The City of Lights.
A chilly, grey day in front of the Tour Eiffel
And lastly, to ring in the New Year, my wonderful Frog Prince invited me to join him and his friends in beautiful Cadaqués, Spain — about an hour north of Barcelona. The sites were beautiful, the running was difficult (so much wind!), and the company was great. How could I ask for more?
Not a postcard - a snapshot by the sea!
Hoping everyone had a great holiday season and is having an equally excellent start to the new year… as for me, I’ve got big plans for 2012. Watch out, world! 😉
Becoming an Anti-Anti-American
You know what I hate? Encountering obnoxious Americans when I’m traveling and living abroad. Obnoxious anyone, for that matter.
Image credit: isabellasnow.hubpages.com
You know what I hate even more? Encountering Americans who are traveling and living abroad slamming other Americans.
It’s true that at one point I was a bit reluctant to associate myself with Americans while traveling. I’m sure a lot of you have heard the advice “Tell everyone you’re Canadian when you travel” due to the seemingly overwhelming unpopularity of Americans when visiting countries other than their own. I’ve never fibbed about my nationality, but there have certainly been times when I’ve cringed at the stories I’ve heard about loud Americans in bars, rude Americans in restaurants, or Americans asking some really ridiculous questions (like, “Do French people use toilet paper?” COME ON PEOPLE!).
However, imagine if, in the history of the world, every single person who was ever something unpopular turned on their own kind and shunned who they are. What exactly would our global society look like if every person who had stood up to someone saying that their race/ethnicity/religion/nationality wasn’t worth defending simply agreed with whatever negativity surrounded them at the time and faded away?
So to all of my fellow Americans who are living or traveling abroad, here’s an idea: if you find yourself constantly annoyed by Americans, instead of jumping to insult them, why not try leading by example? Be the better tourist/expat, and change the opinion people have of us. Change can start with one person, so maybe it’s time for each of us to be that person. And you never know, maybe in a few years the American-abroad reputation will be so much improved that Canadians will be wearing stars and stripes on their backpacks the next time they take a Euro-trip. 🙂
I’m a Writer!
Okay, not really. BUT – I did get asked to contribute to an ezine called MyFrenchLife. I said yes and my first article was recently published. You can read it here.
I’ll be writing at least one article a month, and I’ll be sure to link to my writing on MyFrenchLife over here. You know, because you are all DYING to read more of my writing. 😉
The Perpetual Passenger 