Strikes: A Frog tradition

I think I can permit myself to bring you all another report from the Frogland.

Since I have got here, there have been 3 major strikes. The railway workers, public transport and students...yes students! Allow me to fill you all in with the gripping details of each.

The French invented strikes, the French clearly suffer from them the most. The SNCF (French Railway Network) decided to go on strike because their pension plan privileges were taken away. They have gone on strike twice in just one month and plan to have a third right before the Christmas holidays. I don't want to even try to explain how much this has put the entire country on its head. I know, I know, It's a free country, but isn't liberty bound by the next person's? If people cannot get to work because of this idiocy action you are abusing your liberty SNCF!

I won't go too much into the public transport one since it was a pretty sad strike (especially by local standards) that only lasted one day. However, the one about students complaining they receive no money from Sarkozy is a good one. I'm not going to say much since one argument can summarize exactly what I think: The tuition fees in France are between 100-400 euros per year...for all students! Any more questions?

I say, keep it up...Faire la grève, c'est français! Gribbit...

Long time no write...

I have to say I have been won over by the spirit of Christmas again! It's been a long time and I finally feel it here in Strasbourg, France. It's such a beautiful place, with all the lights, the Marché de noel, Vin Chaud and everything else that comes along with all this. While I'm sure the commercialization of Christmas has reached France as it has everywhere, it's very clear that if you try hard enough...maybe you can just escape it.

Frog report

So, I arrive in France to see a country that I honestly have trouble understanding how it works. While it's a great country, the bureaucracy here is almost like a bad joke. Perhaps I understand better now why the French have their own style that characterizes them, why people make fun of them so much; people need to find their own ways to survive and the truth is, this is the only way to do it. So what does an outsider like me do? I can sit here and compare the system to that in Canada which is much more simplified but that doesn't get me anywhere, I need to be like them and slalom between their procedures which seem more like obstacles to discourage people to do anything here. Hence, in the end most people give up from the start and choose to sit in their chairs and do nothing. It's unbelievable how long it took me to get internet. On October 3rd, they came to activate my line (it normally takes 3 weeks here), however they did it wrong and my internet still did not work. So brace yourselves my fellow readers, because you will now hear about the amazing relationship I have with Orange - France Telecom, the providers of the ever so famous Livebox and nationally renowned as the best customer service in France (hehehe).

I call to tell them my internet does not work, that the person came to my house and didn't activate my line. My line was apparently activated in their system but they told me to wait 10 days and if it still doesn't work to call them then. I said to myself - confused as to what could possibly take so long after my line was already activated - okay, they have their own system here, no point in trying to change it just accept it because you are an outsider in their country. Finally, 10 days pass and still nothing. I start to get aggravated, I call them more often and I find myself talking to Orange customer service more than I speak to anyone else (At least I make friends fast). Finally, a technician comes to fix it, he says it was just kid's play, a simple mistake with the wiring in the basement.

All I have to say is, Vive la France! ...Because I have no idea how you haven't died yet.

Next slide please

I've almost forgotten I had this.

So, where to start...the fact that I'm done high school and moving on means that what just passed doesn't matter. It's time for a fresh start, not because i need one but because every now and then we need to change our bedsheets.

I have been here for 11 years. Eleven years where I have grown up into the person I am today. As I grew older, I started to realize that although I have a nice life here, this is not my home. Home is where you feel a spiritual belonging to the people around you and to your mundane actions. This year brought a total understanding of this feeling. "I wake to sleep and take my waking slow...I learn by going where I have to go". I need to get out of this cycle. I need an injection to my life, perhaps I can then find a new meaning, an improved one. I feel I have exhausted all my resources here.

Now that I don't need to question this place anymore, I feel I enjoy it more. Who knows what life has in store. Maybe I find that while I love my time in Europe, I really was always looking for something else. Perhaps I am so wrong about everything. Perhaps I'm just a crazy teenager who just finished high school and wants to go into the world, on his own like a bull. Maybe all this is true. But how would I know that unless I go and experience it? This way, I am not just continuing my education, I am continuing my understanding of myself. It's so scary how the main theme I wrote about this year in all my English papers: Search for Universality, fits my life like a glove. Although I don't actually believe that it can be found, I might come closer to finding new explanations. New explanations that can broaden my contextual box (excuse my TOK). After all, I have nothing to lose. Either I continue to be in the same situation as I am in over here or I have everything to gain. I feel that to be able to feel comfortable and content about my future, I need to make sure I eliminate all regrets. Because if I didn't leave right now, when I still have a chance to, I might regret it later. I refuse to live a life with regrets.