Quiet Weekend

This weekend was a quiet one. I did take my usual walks. On Saturday I went to Chinatown here in Paris. now that was a bit strange. Hearing Chinese and French while I had lunch really made me stop and think of the different cultures that I get to see. I never really thought about it before, but when my fortune cookie came at the end of the meal, I wondered, why would anyone expect Chinese fortune cookies to be printed in their language and not just in Chinese? Anyhow this one was in french and read, "on ne vide pas l'oce'an avec un coquillage." . I at first thought that it said, "On a full ocean, there is an empty shell", however, after consulting my dictionary I find that it was a bit wiser than that. It actually states, " one does not empty an ocean with a shellfish". Indeed, something to think about.

On Sunday, I stayed around the apartment so that I could talk to my lovely wife, before she went to work. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and woke her up just before 7 AM. She was nice about it due to the fact that I hadn't been able to talk to her for the last few days, you see she has been selling off all my valuables (and hoping I won't notice when I get home) to donate the money to the Animal Shelter. I am just kidding about her selling off my valuables, I really don't have any. However, every fall and spring for the last couple of years, our good friends Laura and Chris Sampson and Betty join in to do a yard sale for the shelter. I heard that this year was a bit slow, so maybe they will do another one soon. Betty also told me that she will be feeding the homeless toward the end of the week, I hope they can hold out, although, I reminded her that she should feed the hungry and build a shelter for the homeless, she thought they might be hungry too. All kidding aside, I am very proud that she takes time to help the community, it makes her feel good and makes our home a better place to live.

After our phone call I went on another walk. This time to the Expo Center to see the Travel Show. Again, my poor language skills brought me into a new adventure. This time, I thought that it was a vacation show for France, and in fact it was a vacation show for people of France. There were booths there from all over the world, including Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, and Russia. I can actually fly to Moscow from Paris for only about $100 U.S., not that I will, but it is cool knowing that I could. So the big discovery this time is as I spotted a booth with travel books from anywhere in the world, that they were all in French (no Duh!). I did have a good time trying to read the ones from the US. There were some artisans and dancers from different countries and I have posted the pictures for you to see.

Back to work tomorrow, the project is coming along, we collected 72 items and we are now narrowing it down to our top 10 or so, and will be putting the presentation together this week.

Have a great week, try not to assume anything, there may be an full ocean out there with an empty shell, you never know!