A Very Sad Development

I PUT UP a post earlier this week about the incredible thunderstorms that passed through the area last Sunday morning. Well, yesterday we had a series of storms that made last Sunday look like golfing weather. For about 2 hours on Wednesday our village seemed to be the epicenter of what people around here are calling one of the fiercest storms they can remember. Unfortunately, the damage from the storm included the tragic death of an 11-year old boy from our village who was swept away in a torrent of water. His name was Roman and he was in Patrick and Julia's class last year at the local village school. Julia told me today that for most of last year he sat at the desk right in front of her. (The story can be read in the Nice Matin here.)

The community is obviously devastated. Roman lives about 600 meters from our house at the base of a large hill where there is a small stream that flows along the roadside. During the summer months the stream that flows along his property is barely 1 ft. deep and the average 11-year old could cross it in a single leap. But when the heavy rains come (as they have recently) the stream turns into a fast flowing river as it crests its banks and flows toward Roquefort-les-Pins, the town just down the road from ours. Roman was playing near the stream during the storms when he fell into the water. Early indications are that he hit his head on a tree which knocked him out. His body was found more than 1 km downstream by a local high school student. The link I posted above has a video clip where you can see the rushing water.

These are the kinds of stories you never want to hear, especially when they involve people you know. Kerri, the kids and I are feeling pretty sick about this one.

Bac Subjects Revealed

I DO THIS every year, so why stop now. Here are the four questions from this year's History bac in the OIB (American section). The students just got them and are now sitting for the four hour exam. For this test they must choose two questions, one from the History category and one from the Geo category. Which ones would you choose?

• HISTORY essay: 'Decolonization: compare examples of British and French decolonization.'
• HISTORY document-based essay: 'To what extent did Détente play a role in the cold war from the 1970s to the fall of the Berlin Wall?'
• GEO essay: 'Examine the role of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) in the global economy.'
• GEO document-based essay: "To what extent is the United States an 'anxious superpower'"

All things considered, I'm quite happy with this exam.

Now That is a Storm

TO BE HONEST, if its going to rain I want to pour. I don't mind rain in general, but the soft pitter- patter day-long rains sometimes drive be nuts. Today we got something different: one of the fiercest storms I have experienced in quite a while. And it was great!

We've had temperamental weather patterns for the past few days and large thunderstorms are not uncommon in the part of the world, but what we had today was massive by any definition: bright streaks of lightning, window-shaking thunder, multiple power outages, and rain so think we could barely see to the neighbor's house. The storms started at about 10:00 this morning and lasted until mid-afternoon. By 5:00pm (just about 30 minutes ago), the sky was clear, the sea was blue, the air was crisp, and there was, with the exception of the still-saturated grass, absolutely no trace of storm.

Now that is the kind of storm I like.The rain is coming down hard for several hours.

At one point Kerri was worried the water in the pool was going to overflow. It was close.

15 minute ago the view looked like this from our living room. The people on that cruise ship are getting into Nice at just the right time.

So we spent the day indoors. Homework. Cycling and the entire French Open final on TV. Steak fajitas for dinner.

Ça va!

Family Shots

FAMILY AND BIGGER family. Both taken in Antibes.

The (Really) Big Project

SPENDING A LOT of time thinking/pondering/deliberating/analyzing/stressing about this lately. More to come in later posts, but for today, a little thinking/ pondering/ deliberating/ analyzing/ stressing outside on a beautiful day netted a bit of progress. So I snapped a few photos to go along with some of the others I've snapped a long the way (larger version comes up with a double-click).

After settling on an outline (and after several meetings with my adviser in Geneva) I mapped out the road ahead.

Ordered and read lots of books.

Materials and sources arranged by chapter. Good start, no?

More of the same, plus some books.

But to put it all together...Oye.

Just get to it and keep plodding.

As I said to a friend when he asked how the thesis was going; I've reached the end of the beginning stage and I can't wait to get to the beginning of the ending stage.

Saturday Night Football

EURO-STYLE FOOTBALL, that is. The Champion's League Final is tonight and both my sons are sitting on the couch wearing Barcelona jerseys -- purchases from our last trip to the great Spanish city.

Late May/Early June Holiday

WE DON'T GET Memorial Day on Monday like back in the US, but we get Ascension AND Pentecost coming up. That would be Ascension on Thursday June 2 and Pentecost Monday June 13. I just love how an overtly secular country like France takes every religious holiday off.

Final Day for Fake Exams

EACH MAY MY department holds the Bac Blanc oral exams -- a 'practice' test to help the students prepare for the oral exams they will have in late June. We hold them each Wednesday afternoon for 3 weeks and it is a tiring process that includes giving exams and taking careful notes on responses for 3 straight hours.

The process is also stressful for the students. When they arrive they pick ONE question from a hat that holds 50 questions covering all parts of the academic program. They then get 20 minutes to prepare their answer to the question -- during which time they may not have any notes or texts. When the 20 minutes are up, the students come into a room with a teacher and present their question for 5 minutes, followed by a 15 minute period of 'give-and-take' on any other subjects covered during the year.

So far no one has cried in the exam. I mention this because it has happened in two of the last three years -- not in the blanc, but during the real orals that I have conducted in Paris. I remember one girl in particular who teared-up and began to cry right after drawing her question, which was, 'Analyze and discuss the presidencey of Jimmy Carter'. (There's a joke there, I'm sure, but I'll let you come up with it). When I told her to try to remain calm and do her best to prepare, her response was, 'I don't know who this is.'

Ouch. The exam did not go all that well, as you might imagine.

The French Face

TRANSLATION IS OFTEN needed, and this post provides details. A taste:

The French face is what hands are to the Italians. It stretches and twists to express a wide range of expressions and emotions with the same elasticity of a rubber band. From disbelief to discontent, it can convey a message just as clearly as any grouping of words.

So what do these faces mean? (more at the above link)

J'aime Bien Les Cerises

I'LL JUST MAKE a note to myself: when we move back to the States, get a cherry tree. I'm not sure if they'll work in DC, but I'm going to try. We've had more cherries in our house than we can eat over the past couple of days -- mainly because of very nice friends who bring them over by the sack. Today we spent the entire afternoon eat lunch at the home of Jean-Luc and Valerie (SDA friends who live just down the road) and I think our little party of 8 adults and a few children easily devoured more than 5 kg of cherries that Jean-Luc picked from his tree last night.

The 'harvest' window on cherries is quite small in this part of France -- about 3 weeks, max -- but during that time they grow almost faster than you can pick them. Before walking home this evening the kids went back to Jean-Luc's tree and picked about a kilo for us to take home. I'm going to have a few right now while I watch some sport I don't like very much on television.

Y'all Enjoy

IF THIS DOESN'T put a smile on your face this weekend, nothing will. And look for the stuffed fox in the background about half way through -- so perfect!

My (sort of) Connection to the IMF Chief

MY FIRST JOB out of college was an internship arranged for me by a family friend at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. The year was 1993 and I was placed in the Russia Division where I served as a staff assistant, which basically meant I did a lot of photocopying, distributing of material, and a bit of research for the 20 or so economists who were working on Russia policy at the time. It was a pretty exciting place to be when you consider what was happening in Russia at the time. I have forgotten the name of my boss, but she was the a very nice woman who was the administrative assistant for the division. After a few weeks I remember she assisgned me to a small group of the staff economists and it was my job to make sure they had all the basic support they needed. The two economists I worked most closely with were Michael Maresse, an former professor from Northwestern University and Piroska Nagy, a highly regarded economist from Hungary.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Khan (or, DSK, as he is know in France) was arrested over the weekend on sexual assault charges stemming from an incident that allegedly took place in a hotel room in New York. In reading about the story, I came across an intersting bit of information: this is not the first time Strauss-Khan has been involved in a sexual scandal (shocker!!). In fact, he has had several issues in the past that one might consider 'inappropriate'. One of them included an extra-marrital affair with a subordinate in 2008 -- for which he was roundly criticized. But of interest to me is that the affair was with...Piroska Nagy! The story can be found here and here.

This connection with the current head of the IMF is a stretch, I know, but if we're playing the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, I can now get to DSK in under three.

Of course, there is a French angle to this story that goes beyond the fact that Strauss-Khan is French. He was (and I assume 'was' is the correct tense to use here, but you never know) considered a favorite to win the nomination of the Socialist Party and take on President Sarkozy in next year's elections. In nearly all recent polls he was running ahead of Sarkozy -- sometimes confortably ahead. Now the left will have to scramble to find another candidate to take on Sarko.

Family Fun

THE POSTS ARE few and far between lately, but that will change this summer. For now, a few posts every once in a while will have to suffice.

BUT...I did just want to mention how much fun we had having my dad and my uncle (and their wives, of course) over for10 days. They left on Sunday and we are a little sad. It was loads and loads of fun.

Photos coming.

New French Law

TODAY MARKS THE day that France's controversial law to ban full-veils comes into force. It's making quite a bit noise around France and Europe as you might imagine. A few details about the new law:

The controversial ban on wearing a full face veil in public places comes into force on April 11 in France.

Last week French Interior Minister Claude Gueant signed a circular, sent to all law enforcement agencies, “for instructions on carrying out identity checks and for the issuing of fines”.

According to the document, which was published by right-leaning daily newspaper Le Figaro, police officers do not have the right to forcibly remove a veil. However, women wearing them can be arrested as can any man found to force a woman to wear one.

“Either the person wearing the veil removes it, or else that person is conducted to a police station so that their identity can be verified,” the circular instructs.

In no instance can a woman wearing a niqab be placed under arrest simply for wearing the full veil. But she can be held at a police station for up to four hours, held liable for a 150 euro fine and required to take a citizenship course.

France is the first country in Europe to pass such a law. This, of course, makes right-wingers in the US extremely jealous.

Just a Sunday

MORE OFTEN THAN not, the posts on this blog simply recount fun or interesting things that have happened to our family during this little French adventure we are having. When Kerri and I go back and read old posts it is often the day-to-day things we do (or don't do) that are the most fun to remember. Invariably, the 'normal' moments involve embarrassing or downright stupid things we have done that usually end-up costing us lots of money. Of course, the not so ordinary (traveling, sights, chance meetings with famous people, etc.) are fun as well.

But today was one off those ordinary days that I hope I remember when we finally leave this part of the world. There was absolutely nothing spectacular about it -- except that it was great. What did we do? Nothing, really. It started for me at about 6:45 with a couple of hot cups of coffee and a quick read of the Washington Post online (that's how every Sunday starts). By 8:30 the boys were awake -- making crepes -- and I was setting my computer up on the patio outside to do some work for school -- video editing (don't ask), grading papers, preparing for the week's classes. (Because it was a bit cool this morning I had on shorts and my warm Capitals sweatshirt -- perfect). At about 11:00 I stepped away from the table where I was working and stretched out on the deck next to the pool and...took a 20 minute nap. Now, where I come from, a nap by 11:00am means you are having an astounding day.

The next couple hours involved playing a bit with the kids, doing some work, poking around on the internet, and marinating the beef for the Provencal Beef with red wine sauce that I was going to make a bit later. By early afternoon our very late lunch/very early dinner was on the stove cooking very, very slowly and I was sitting in front of the television watching the Paris-Roubaix bike race. Now I love cycling, but even I have trouble watching 4 straight hours of racing so I took breaks: checked the food, graded a paper or two, played a bit of baseball with the two boys in the house, checked on the kids' homework (OK, Kerri did most of that). At about 3:00 I did something that was truly fantastic: I took another short nap -- again out in the sun by the pool.

3:30! Time to finalize our late lunch (make the salad, get the potatos ready) and watch the end of Paris-Roubaix. Great win for the Garmin Team. Patrick woke up from a nap (he's feeling a bit under the weather) just in time to see the final 10k.

Lunch/Dinner time at 4:30 -- and it was delicious. I always know the viande is good if Julia and Kerri eat it. They did. Henry wanted to eat outside so Patrick and I joined him out on the patio and the ladies stayed in the glassed-in area.

After dinner Henry wanted to play so -- being the terrific parents that we are -- we first had him take his bath, then we went outside and invented a game that involves a ping-pong ball, beach paddles, and our front steps. Not sure what we are going to call it, but it was pretty fun.

Showers for the older kids, then a movie while I did a little physical exercise downstairs (you should see me, I'm huge!).

Bed for the kids -- and I'm eating a fantastic desert Julia made while watching The Master's...Live!! Tiger is tied for the lead after 12 as I write.

Certainly not an extraordinary day. But in many ways, just the kind of Sunday I enjoy most.

Carnival!!

THE FRENCH DON'T really do Halloween like we do in the States, but that doesn't mean there's not a day to dress up and get crazy. At the CIV crazy costume day isn't in late fall, it's in early spring.

Like today. Carnival took place between 11:00 and 1:00 on this gorgeous day as the entire school descended on the Agora for a massive "fashion" show -- complete with loud, thumping music, judges, and lots of creative costumes. I was one of the few teachers (OK, maybe the only one) who participated. To be fair I only quassi-participated because all I did was throw on a hockey jersey and grab a stick. When I got to the Agora I ran into Julien, a terminale students from Mexico (but who lived for a few years in Canada) and he put me to shame by busting out an entire hockey uniform -- complete with roller blades. I was jealous. But we walked the catwalk together and put on a little fake faceoff and fist-i-cuffs for the crowd.

Of course, my Washington Capitals jersey was only part of the Scriven Family costume, as Patrick and Julia donned other sports-themed ensembles from the DC area. We had both a Nationals and Orioles jersey for Julia but she went with the black and orange (good girl!!).

Man, I wish I'd worn the full gear. (By the way, how great/awful are European hockey jerseys? Gotta love the Nice youth team sweater)

Representin': Skins, Caps, O's

Boy, the French really do love Obama.

Patrick (Santana Moss) with his buddy Declan (Chad Pennington)

Prepa! PSCI 1 students

Little UN Tomorrow

ACTUALLY, THE OFFICIAL name is Model United Nations (MUN) and I run the MUN program for collége (4eme and 3eme) students at my school and tomorrow we start at two day conference hosted by a local school in the area. The conference is in its second year and it is quite a fun activity as students role play delegations from a wide variety of countries. This year we will represent France and Russia and we have spent the past few weeks working on resolutions on topics ranging from nuclear proliferation to the overfishing of seas.

You can see more at the website: www.emun.fr

Each delegations brings an Ambassador (Judy and Alexandre in our case), a Security Council Representative, and a representative for the Political, ECOSOC, and Enrironment Committees. Over the course of the two day conference the students will work together to agree on a set of resolutions that must be passed by the General Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

Can't wait to hear what the delegate from Iran has to say about nuclear proliferation. Especially since the delegate will probably be a 14 or 15 year-old.

11 Marcel Marceaus

I DON'T KNOW if anyone else noticed or commented (I was watching with the sound turned down last night) but the new jerseys that Nike has created for the French national team makes the players look like they are going to a Halloween party dressed as Marcel Marceau. The sleeves are even a bit longer than normal giving it the real mime look. I'll admit I haven't been paying much attention recently so perhaps this is deliberate on the part of Nike.

That said, I kind of like them -- in an odd sort of way.

Earth Hour?

NEVER HEARD OF it until today. It seems that thousands of cities around the world encourage people to turn off non-essential lights for one hour to help raise awareness about climate change. In Paris they turn off the lights at the Eiffel Tower (and other places). I may run over to take a look this evening.

Earth hour takes place this year between 8:30pm and 9:30pm local time.

Couple Days in Paris

I'M IN PARIS for a couple of days on one of the work related trips that brings me here 3 or 4 times a year. Once again the meetings I was attending were out in St. German-en-Laye at the Lycee International, but as usual I choose to stay in Paris rather than out in the suburbs. I'm staying an extra 24 hours because I've arranged to meet with a friend of a friend of a friend who works at the OECD and he has agreed to meet with me over coffee to dicuss my thesis (he's worked quite a bit on EU-Russia issues).

While I spent most of the morning studying in a small corner of the Starbucks on the Boulevard de Sébastopol, I've spent the last hour just walking around the city and enjoying the weather that was beautiful until the downpour that started about 15 minutes ago. I told Kerri that I finally have actual pages of my thesis written. First drafts, to be sure, but actual words on paper. After months of researching, reading, note-taking, outline-writing, and frustration-overcoming, I'll count this as progress.