Sedulia

LATEST ARTICLES ( 315 )

• Anomalies of French Life: Union Power

  

  CGT demonstration and a homemade sign that says, "I am JESUS* (I love you all)" Don't know if you've been following it, but there's a big train strike on in... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• The Small World, French-style

  

  I met a friendly, badly dressed woman at a big party the other day. She was so frumpy in this chic company that at first I took her for someone who had been... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• The Flower Peddler Loses His Flowers

  

  I have been in London, which explains the lack of posts.... On my way home from the Eurostar in a taxi, we hit an unexplained traffic jam at a strange time of... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Joan of Arc's Sad Fate

  

  By Joan's sad fate, I don't mean her terrible death by fire at the age of 19 on the 30th of May, 1431, but her new sad fate. It is highly unfashionable these... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• FAQs: Advice for Visitors to Paris

  

  I was impelled to create this with my minimal Photoshop skills by one too many visitor asking to come in August Are you considering a visit to a friend who live... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Happy May Day!

  

  My father loved to read old English nursery rhymes to us children when I was small, so May Day always reminds me of the verse: The fair maid who, the first of... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Weird Things a Returning Expat Notices About the U.S.A.

  

  Is it me? I just came back from a week in the south. It's funny the things an expat notices upon returning to her native land. --Billboards everywhere... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Papa I Want to Be a Fonctionnaire Dept.

  

  Open hours Monday: 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday: 10 a.m. to noon/ 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday: 10 a.m. to noon Thursday: 10 a.m. to noon / 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday:... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• April Fool's Day in France

  

  A. reminded me that when my children were little, they would wake up on April Fool's Day and find poissons d'avril (April fish) all over the house. "I would ope... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• A French Diploma

  

  Not to brag or anything but I recently finished a degree at a French university. I knew not to expect a graduation ceremony of any kind (because that would be s... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Flowers for Me and Flowers for the Tourists

  

  "Don't take those tulips," said the flowerseller I always go to. "Those won't last a whole week." Instead she pointed me to some others that would last longer. Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Anomalies of French Life: Thinking the US Government Knows Everything

  

  "No! France will not be a colonial country! Americans in America!" Issued by the French Communist Party. This poster was paid for with funds collected by the... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Starbucks in Paris

  

  Starbucks is a controversial subject... among Americans new to Paris. They tend to think Paris should stay the quaint, museumlike place in their imaginations. Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• French License Plates: the "Moor's Head" of Corsica

  

  On a French license plate, the number on the bottom right indicates the département of the car. So all Paris cars have the number 75 there; Paris is... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• English Versus English

  

  I have been known to take a Magic Marker and write "as if" over that "like" Until 10 or 15 years ago, French people didn't really have to learn English. Read more

  Posted on 15 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• The Hopeful Country

  

  A man I know came round for a cup of coffee at 2 p.m. the other day. He was unshaven-- not the fashionable kind of unshaven-- and did not look very much like th... Read more

  Posted on 13 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Anomalies of French Life: the Narrow-minded Employer

  

  Looking for a job is not much fun in France these days. Along with the economic problems, the French unemployed face the extreme narrow-mindedness of the... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Paris: Petits Commerces Versus Grandes Écoles

  

  A lot of small shops around Paris have this sign in their windows-- bakeries, butcher shops, bookstores and stationers, hardware stores, fish shops, cobblers,... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Google Auto-complete Judges Frogs and Yankees

  

  ... et on les leur rend bien! Americans are... stupid; cons; fat; Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL

• Provence: the Deserted Village

  

  Last week I had lunch with a friend I hadn't seen for quite a while. She is 58 and she and her husband, although they are both French, were raised outside of... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2014 CULTURE, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION, TRAVEL