Frankly, I'm stumped on how to proceed as a blogger. I have blogging friends I admire--among them Barry Moltz, author of You Need to Be a Little Crazy, one of the best books I've ever read on starting your own business, and Francine Hardaway, the irrepressible doyenne of opinion based in Phoenix and Half-Moon Bay. Francine's facility with technology inspires me and I'm looking forward to her conference coming up in November, the Second Annual Entrepreneurship Conference in Phoenix. And of course there's my hero, Tom Peters, whose blog was one of the first I'd ever read.
So now that I've documented my trip to Paris, do I continue with random thoughts? How to balance the personal, since this feels like a diary, with professional, since I'm inviting others to read it? I'm clearly going to have to do some more research on the art form of blogging itself.
In the meantime, I'm back in the swing of things in Wheaton, IL. My clients John Kenney and Kristen Diamond from ModusLink were in Chicago this week and we had a great day at my office space in downtown Chicago (compliments of HQ Global), reviewing our presentations and discussing the format for taking the sales training program to Asia.
Kristen came up with the brilliant idea to create three "tracks" so the participants can rotate through our sessions in order to accommodate getting each of them videotaped for presentation training. The Asian sales force, like the European one, is comprised of people from all parts of Asia, so we can't do a "one size fits all" approach. This is a very exciting project and I am forever indebted to John for inviting me to collaborate with him and his team.
This afternoon I'm heading off to my husband Bill's school, Esperanza, for their cake-walk and carnival. I'm looking forward to meeting his co-workers and students. He teaches special education to high schoolers at this alternative school and has a quiet fortitude about making a difference with these kids. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my morning coffee, watching the much-needed rain outdoors, admiring the two dogs lounging on the couch like bookends (we're "baby-sitting" our daughter's dog, Jake) and feeling only a modicum of guilt about missing my aerobics class due to a sinus headache.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Back Home Again
Flew back home yesterday and am feeling the effects of jet lag as well as Claritan D after suffering a major allergy attack the evening before I left... but I'm unpacked and back in the office now, trying to remember what I was doing before I left. Time to check e-mail, voicemail and catch up on all things not Paris-related.
Brought mon chien Peanut with me to work today and the first thing I did was walk with Peanut, my office-mate Jeff and his beautiful daughter Grace to the coffee shop down the street. I have to go through re-entry carefully (like a space shuttle) so it seemed a good idea to begin my day with a trip to the local cafe. Jeff brought his cat to his office because they're trying to sell their home, so between the dog on my side of the office and a cat on his, we have the animal kingdom covered. The joy of being self-employed! There's been more than one time that I've thought of going back into the corporate life, only to remember I can't bring my dog and dismissed the idea summarily.
The trip back was great--John, my client, bless his heart, upgraded my ticket to business class. It's a whole new world for this business traveler. I needed an in-service just to figure out how the chair, which reclines into an almost-bed, and the individual TV worked. A kind gentleman, Jon, was my seat mate and because his work causes him to travel extensively, he was my tutor throughout the flight. Between the attentiveness of the flight attendants and the copious amounts of food (I passed up most of the unlimited offers of champagne and wine, having consumed more than enough on my travels), it became clear to me that business class is the only way to go. I kept thinking of the line from an old song, "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, now that they've seen Paree?"
Due to aforementioned allergy attack, I didn't have the opportunity to post my last blog from Paris at the Sofitel, where our meetings went well and I got to know the sales team. My presentation was Wednesday morning and the team was generous in participating in the interactive portion... I asked each of them to think back to early memories of when they knew they were good at selling.
Every one of them had a great story to tell, from featuring eggs in a county fair-like competition and winning (didn't have a chicken so he went out and bought the eggs) to setting up a home business as early as six years old. One gentleman set up a team of friends whom he sent out to do chores, and he collected the money a la Tom Sawyer (can you say "override"?) The group proved not only that they were gifted from an early age but that necessity is often the mother of invention--and, more importantly, innovation. It will take me a while to get the sound of the lilting French, Irish, English, Scottish and Dutch accents from my head.
It was with sorrow that I left beautiful Paris and in going through my e-mail, came across a quotation cited by a woman who has an ex-patriate blog of her own... she quoted Ben Franklin, who was known to say, "Everyone has two countries; the one in which he was born, and France.” Now I, too, have two countries.
Brought mon chien Peanut with me to work today and the first thing I did was walk with Peanut, my office-mate Jeff and his beautiful daughter Grace to the coffee shop down the street. I have to go through re-entry carefully (like a space shuttle) so it seemed a good idea to begin my day with a trip to the local cafe. Jeff brought his cat to his office because they're trying to sell their home, so between the dog on my side of the office and a cat on his, we have the animal kingdom covered. The joy of being self-employed! There's been more than one time that I've thought of going back into the corporate life, only to remember I can't bring my dog and dismissed the idea summarily.
The trip back was great--John, my client, bless his heart, upgraded my ticket to business class. It's a whole new world for this business traveler. I needed an in-service just to figure out how the chair, which reclines into an almost-bed, and the individual TV worked. A kind gentleman, Jon, was my seat mate and because his work causes him to travel extensively, he was my tutor throughout the flight. Between the attentiveness of the flight attendants and the copious amounts of food (I passed up most of the unlimited offers of champagne and wine, having consumed more than enough on my travels), it became clear to me that business class is the only way to go. I kept thinking of the line from an old song, "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, now that they've seen Paree?"
Due to aforementioned allergy attack, I didn't have the opportunity to post my last blog from Paris at the Sofitel, where our meetings went well and I got to know the sales team. My presentation was Wednesday morning and the team was generous in participating in the interactive portion... I asked each of them to think back to early memories of when they knew they were good at selling.
Every one of them had a great story to tell, from featuring eggs in a county fair-like competition and winning (didn't have a chicken so he went out and bought the eggs) to setting up a home business as early as six years old. One gentleman set up a team of friends whom he sent out to do chores, and he collected the money a la Tom Sawyer (can you say "override"?) The group proved not only that they were gifted from an early age but that necessity is often the mother of invention--and, more importantly, innovation. It will take me a while to get the sound of the lilting French, Irish, English, Scottish and Dutch accents from my head.
It was with sorrow that I left beautiful Paris and in going through my e-mail, came across a quotation cited by a woman who has an ex-patriate blog of her own... she quoted Ben Franklin, who was known to say, "Everyone has two countries; the one in which he was born, and France.” Now I, too, have two countries.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Later that evening...
I’m in the transition between the vacation portion and the work phase. My colleagues from the States are not yet here, so I ate dinner by myself in the restaurant, reading a book and chatting with the wait staff. Everyone is so kind about letting me stumble my way through a sentence, correcting me gently but cheering me on with their eyes. It’s true that if you try to speak the language, it’s appreciated.
Worked on my presentation tonight, taking into account the recommendations of my local advisor, Sophie Mottin. Sophie is a saleswoman with the company, based in Orleans, and she was kind enough to give me an overview of the team + some suggestions about my PowerPoint presentation. I made some changes and tried to see the words and phrases through the eyes of someone who isn’t American. For instance, I took out references to the Boy Scout motto and high school, although I know there are European equivalents of both. I think being here these past few days has helped me see where I made cultural assumptions (I knew the Boy Scout reference wouldn’t fly when I wrote it but also thought it would work for the North American sales force, which it did).
I keep having flashbacks of all the people I saw on the Metro this past week. Diane and I both observed the flair with which people (especially the women, but men, too) dress. Even the littlest child is dressed with a certain “je ne sais quoi”—casual ease, seemingly careless but it comes together like high fashion. The little girls wear jewelry and carry handbags. Women dress in layers and everyone, it seems, even the men, wear scarves artfully wrapped around their necks. The young girls, jeunes filles, are wearing brightly colored tops that look like dresses worn over black leggings. Most everyone is thin and a lot of people smoke.
One thing I noticed is that people rarely talk on their cell phones, especially when they’re sitting with other people. They enjoy each other’s company, facing the street in the cafes so they’re sitting side by side, which is what Diane and I learned to do. That allows you to watch people as they go by while talking and drinking and eating. Such a civilized country! In Chicago three out of four people are walking down the street talking on their cell phones, and it isn't unusual to see someone take a call while sitting across from someone at lunch. Now I know why Hemingway and the gang adopted this country as their own.
On Friday we climbed to the first level of the Eiffel Tower... Diane thought the sign that said “escalier” mean escalator, but it means "stairs." I should have known. At the second level, after catching my breath, we took photos, admired the view of Paris and stopped into the restaurant to see if we could have dinner, but apparently they are booked weeks in advance—mostly, it seemed, with large tours. We sat at the bar and had a glass of wine and when I asked the gentleman bartender in my tortured French what Kir is, he gave us a complimentary drink of Kir and champagne. What a treat! It tasted almost like a Pom-tini. I love zee French.
Then we got more tickets and waited forever for the ride to the next level--the view from the top was magnificent. When we came down, we took the boat cruise and watched the light show on the Eiffel Tower from the Seine. We had to wait until nearly after 10:00 for the sky to get dark enough to enjoy the lights, and so by the time we took the Metro home, it actually closed on us while we were making our last connection! We walked the rest of the way home.
Other kindnesses: on the first day when we came from the airport via the Metro, I was struggling on the stairs (more stairs!) with my two suitcases, and two gentlemen stopped to help me. Diane laughed to turn around and see me come up with stairs without my bags, followed by two men carrying one bag each. She told me later that one of the men held up two fingers with a look of disbelief and said “Two.” Yes, I packed two bags, too much and next time will find a way to stuff everything, including my laptop, into one carry-on. Diane only brought one suitcase and managed to cram in an amazing amount of stuff. But, did I mention, I love zee French?
In fact, I almost missed her at the airport because I waited for her in the baggage claim area. Our flights were less than an hour apart and I watched everyone from Miami come and go. When I approached the man from the airline, who had told me the flight was coming in, he thought I lost a bag. “Non,” I said, “mon amie!” I lost my friend! He looked her up in the computer and said she hadn’t checked any baggage, so I wandered out into the terminal and called her on her cell phone. We found each other within minutes and had our first of many café stops in the airport.
We had a television in our room which we didn’t even turn on until the last night we were there, and what should come on but a French-dubbed episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. My addiction for Law & Order follows me to France. Right now I’m watching CNN, channel surfing between the one English-speaking channel (two, really, including Bloomberg which has limited entertainment value) and the movies which I can discern the plots of based on my limited vocabulaire and the acting. Last night I couldn’t sleep so I watched a Clint Eastwood movie that had dubbed French subtitles. A good way to learn French, according to the waiter at the Bistro Amelot, next door to our hotel, Les Jardins de Marais. My eternal gratitude to Bev and Bob Jones from church who recommended our hotel.
Worked on my presentation tonight, taking into account the recommendations of my local advisor, Sophie Mottin. Sophie is a saleswoman with the company, based in Orleans, and she was kind enough to give me an overview of the team + some suggestions about my PowerPoint presentation. I made some changes and tried to see the words and phrases through the eyes of someone who isn’t American. For instance, I took out references to the Boy Scout motto and high school, although I know there are European equivalents of both. I think being here these past few days has helped me see where I made cultural assumptions (I knew the Boy Scout reference wouldn’t fly when I wrote it but also thought it would work for the North American sales force, which it did).
I keep having flashbacks of all the people I saw on the Metro this past week. Diane and I both observed the flair with which people (especially the women, but men, too) dress. Even the littlest child is dressed with a certain “je ne sais quoi”—casual ease, seemingly careless but it comes together like high fashion. The little girls wear jewelry and carry handbags. Women dress in layers and everyone, it seems, even the men, wear scarves artfully wrapped around their necks. The young girls, jeunes filles, are wearing brightly colored tops that look like dresses worn over black leggings. Most everyone is thin and a lot of people smoke.
One thing I noticed is that people rarely talk on their cell phones, especially when they’re sitting with other people. They enjoy each other’s company, facing the street in the cafes so they’re sitting side by side, which is what Diane and I learned to do. That allows you to watch people as they go by while talking and drinking and eating. Such a civilized country! In Chicago three out of four people are walking down the street talking on their cell phones, and it isn't unusual to see someone take a call while sitting across from someone at lunch. Now I know why Hemingway and the gang adopted this country as their own.
On Friday we climbed to the first level of the Eiffel Tower... Diane thought the sign that said “escalier” mean escalator, but it means "stairs." I should have known. At the second level, after catching my breath, we took photos, admired the view of Paris and stopped into the restaurant to see if we could have dinner, but apparently they are booked weeks in advance—mostly, it seemed, with large tours. We sat at the bar and had a glass of wine and when I asked the gentleman bartender in my tortured French what Kir is, he gave us a complimentary drink of Kir and champagne. What a treat! It tasted almost like a Pom-tini. I love zee French.
Then we got more tickets and waited forever for the ride to the next level--the view from the top was magnificent. When we came down, we took the boat cruise and watched the light show on the Eiffel Tower from the Seine. We had to wait until nearly after 10:00 for the sky to get dark enough to enjoy the lights, and so by the time we took the Metro home, it actually closed on us while we were making our last connection! We walked the rest of the way home.
Other kindnesses: on the first day when we came from the airport via the Metro, I was struggling on the stairs (more stairs!) with my two suitcases, and two gentlemen stopped to help me. Diane laughed to turn around and see me come up with stairs without my bags, followed by two men carrying one bag each. She told me later that one of the men held up two fingers with a look of disbelief and said “Two.” Yes, I packed two bags, too much and next time will find a way to stuff everything, including my laptop, into one carry-on. Diane only brought one suitcase and managed to cram in an amazing amount of stuff. But, did I mention, I love zee French?
In fact, I almost missed her at the airport because I waited for her in the baggage claim area. Our flights were less than an hour apart and I watched everyone from Miami come and go. When I approached the man from the airline, who had told me the flight was coming in, he thought I lost a bag. “Non,” I said, “mon amie!” I lost my friend! He looked her up in the computer and said she hadn’t checked any baggage, so I wandered out into the terminal and called her on her cell phone. We found each other within minutes and had our first of many café stops in the airport.
We had a television in our room which we didn’t even turn on until the last night we were there, and what should come on but a French-dubbed episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. My addiction for Law & Order follows me to France. Right now I’m watching CNN, channel surfing between the one English-speaking channel (two, really, including Bloomberg which has limited entertainment value) and the movies which I can discern the plots of based on my limited vocabulaire and the acting. Last night I couldn’t sleep so I watched a Clint Eastwood movie that had dubbed French subtitles. A good way to learn French, according to the waiter at the Bistro Amelot, next door to our hotel, Les Jardins de Marais. My eternal gratitude to Bev and Bob Jones from church who recommended our hotel.
Paris Journey, Parte Deux
The first phase of my journey here in Paris is complete, and Parte Deux begins. I said goodbye to my friend Diane at the airport this morning (kissing on both cheeks as is the custom) and then checked into the nearby Sofitel Hotel where we are having our sales training meetings this week. I expect John and Kristen will be in any moment if they aren't already here.
My original intention with this blog was to enter comments each night as my trip unfolded but, alas, that was not to be. The Internet connection at the first hotel was only available for WiFi, and I needed a cable connection... that's when I ventured forth to the business center (see previous entry) and encountered my first international business adventure--a French keyboard! I'm now hooked up via my own laptop but shall make this short, as I've been catching up on e-mail and am not sure what the end result will be in terms of local phone charges.
Just a few highlights from Parte Une:
--Diane and I hit as many cafes as we could and did our level best to boost the local economy which, thanks to the exchange rate, isn't in need of much boosting. We hit the ground running on Day One and went directly to Notre Dame cathedral in Isle de la Cite (sorry I can't add those wonderful accent marks via this keyboard). We averaged three destinations per day and got in as much coffee (me) and diet Coke (her) as we could consume along with delectable pastries and ample meals.
--As fascinating as the sights are the people! For the most part we were welcomed enthusiastically and I was able to practice my feeble French, although I said to Diane more than once that I wildly overestimated my ability to communicate and was beyond humbled. I seem to have forgotten all my verbs. (And all that Spanish I learned in between got in the way.) But people-watching from a sidewalk cafe, in the Metro, walking down the street, was the most enjoyable of all sports.
--Of course the usual sights, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the bridges, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee d'Orangerie, were all amazing. We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, murals of Monet's waterlilies and other priceless, famous pieces of art, so much it made my head spin. It's hard to look at Whistler's Mother and not see her on one of those commercials on TV that brought her to life.
--The food! From the bread to the meats and desserts, we had so much wonderful food that I'm not sure all the walking truly did compensate for the input. But the chocolate tartette I had on the second day (or was that the first?) was as close to heaven as one can get.
--We went to church Sunday at Notre Dame cathedral and attended the Mass which was, of course, said in French. The majesty of the cathedral is impossible to describe, and I thought of our organist at home, Bill Crosbie, as I listened to the organ reverberate through the nave. There were many faithful in attendance, participating in the service while the hum of tourists continued in a circle around us. The Affirmation of Faith, while said in another language, was comforting and familiar.
I'm off to connect with John and make some revisions to tomorrow's presentation. I feel blessed beyond measure to be here and thrilled to be accessible by e-mail again. There may be a Blackberry in my future after all.
My original intention with this blog was to enter comments each night as my trip unfolded but, alas, that was not to be. The Internet connection at the first hotel was only available for WiFi, and I needed a cable connection... that's when I ventured forth to the business center (see previous entry) and encountered my first international business adventure--a French keyboard! I'm now hooked up via my own laptop but shall make this short, as I've been catching up on e-mail and am not sure what the end result will be in terms of local phone charges.
Just a few highlights from Parte Une:
--Diane and I hit as many cafes as we could and did our level best to boost the local economy which, thanks to the exchange rate, isn't in need of much boosting. We hit the ground running on Day One and went directly to Notre Dame cathedral in Isle de la Cite (sorry I can't add those wonderful accent marks via this keyboard). We averaged three destinations per day and got in as much coffee (me) and diet Coke (her) as we could consume along with delectable pastries and ample meals.
--As fascinating as the sights are the people! For the most part we were welcomed enthusiastically and I was able to practice my feeble French, although I said to Diane more than once that I wildly overestimated my ability to communicate and was beyond humbled. I seem to have forgotten all my verbs. (And all that Spanish I learned in between got in the way.) But people-watching from a sidewalk cafe, in the Metro, walking down the street, was the most enjoyable of all sports.
--Of course the usual sights, Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the bridges, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee d'Orangerie, were all amazing. We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, murals of Monet's waterlilies and other priceless, famous pieces of art, so much it made my head spin. It's hard to look at Whistler's Mother and not see her on one of those commercials on TV that brought her to life.
--The food! From the bread to the meats and desserts, we had so much wonderful food that I'm not sure all the walking truly did compensate for the input. But the chocolate tartette I had on the second day (or was that the first?) was as close to heaven as one can get.
--We went to church Sunday at Notre Dame cathedral and attended the Mass which was, of course, said in French. The majesty of the cathedral is impossible to describe, and I thought of our organist at home, Bill Crosbie, as I listened to the organ reverberate through the nave. There were many faithful in attendance, participating in the service while the hum of tourists continued in a circle around us. The Affirmation of Faith, while said in another language, was comforting and familiar.
I'm off to connect with John and make some revisions to tomorrow's presentation. I feel blessed beyond measure to be here and thrilled to be accessible by e-mail again. There may be a Blackberry in my future after all.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Je suis ici!
We arrived in Paris on Wednesday and I am just now getting to enter this, my first blog entry from abroad... and it will be very short because this keyboard at my hotel is in French and the keys are not in the same places! And that's a really big deal when the "a" is in the wrong place because there are a lot of "a's" in English. Also, the comma isn't where it's supposed to be.
Ah. well. that's the beauty of international travel. Teaches us to be flexible.
France is, of course, incroyable... that is to say, incredible. Today we visited the Sacré-Coeur and I lit a candle for my friend Sheryl in her memory. Diane loved Montmartre where we walked the cobblestone streets along with a thousand other tourists, enjoyed the sunshine on the steps of Sacré-Coeur, ate ice cream in what was possibly the best ice cream shop in the world and had a glass of wine in an outside cafe, sitting admiringly across from the store where we had just bought a bag full of souvenirs. Then we ventured on to the Arc de Triomphe by Metro, having just bought a 2-day pass (we learned our lesson last night after having to sweet-talk our way into the station since we had no change and our credit cards wouldn't work). Got off two stops past the Charles de Gaulle stop where we should have gotten off and backtracked a bit, coming up the stairs to be knocked out by the view of both the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, which we visited yesterday.
So tonight we had dinner in a restaurant on the Champs-Elysées, a lovely repast of pasta and mostly people-watching. The people are amazing! Beautiful people--polite, genteel, patient with someone like me who brushed off her college French and can't resist using it. The waiter tonight took our photo and made sure he got the Champs-Elysées in the picture, too. In watching all the people, the women in particular, I vowed to Diane that when I come back home, I promise to take more fashion risks.
Ah. well. that's the beauty of international travel. Teaches us to be flexible.
France is, of course, incroyable... that is to say, incredible. Today we visited the Sacré-Coeur and I lit a candle for my friend Sheryl in her memory. Diane loved Montmartre where we walked the cobblestone streets along with a thousand other tourists, enjoyed the sunshine on the steps of Sacré-Coeur, ate ice cream in what was possibly the best ice cream shop in the world and had a glass of wine in an outside cafe, sitting admiringly across from the store where we had just bought a bag full of souvenirs. Then we ventured on to the Arc de Triomphe by Metro, having just bought a 2-day pass (we learned our lesson last night after having to sweet-talk our way into the station since we had no change and our credit cards wouldn't work). Got off two stops past the Charles de Gaulle stop where we should have gotten off and backtracked a bit, coming up the stairs to be knocked out by the view of both the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, which we visited yesterday.
So tonight we had dinner in a restaurant on the Champs-Elysées, a lovely repast of pasta and mostly people-watching. The people are amazing! Beautiful people--polite, genteel, patient with someone like me who brushed off her college French and can't resist using it. The waiter tonight took our photo and made sure he got the Champs-Elysées in the picture, too. In watching all the people, the women in particular, I vowed to Diane that when I come back home, I promise to take more fashion risks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
