Google Test

For a while now I have been trying to locate some childhood friends through the internet. The
problem is that these people are most probably still in New Caledonia and considering how backward France still is with regards to the internet I can only imagine how far behind New Caledonia is. I have run out of ideas on how to find these people, so I figured I would do a Google test here, see if my blog eventually shows up in Google when I do a search on their names and hope that they Google themselves one day. Once I did manage to find phone book entries for two of them and sent postcards from Montreal to those addresses, unfortunately I never got anything back so I can only guess the entries were no longer valid. For Barbara I also found two reviews she wrote on Amazon, but aside from the name there were no other details available. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
For all I know these people could be living in France now... or anywhere else for that matter.
Avis de recherche:
Isabelle Cinquin
Barbara Fochessato
Cecile Courtade
Celine Poulat
Jean-Benoit Pedeutour
We went to CES Magenta in Noumea together and unfortunately we lost touch about 3 years after my sister, my mother and I moved to Sydney. I would really love to know what has become of them!

I trust you all had a very merry Christmas and got spoilt as much as you deserved (or didn't). Me, I was the lucky recipient of the gastro epidemic that is sweeping our part of the world. Luckily, my fairy godmother stepped in and banished the nasty bugs just in time for Christmas day. Anyone care to share what loot they scored? I got Ally McBeal series 1 on DVD, money to help with acquiring my drivers licence, the new Sinead O'Connor CD, Bill Bryson's "Down Under", a cool scrap book, some beautiful earrings, a miniature bicycle to be traded in shortly for a life sized one, the two history books mentioned in a previous post, a fondue maker (YUM!), and a raclette maker that is also a grill and crepe maker (double YUM!). Phew! I don't think I forgot anything :)
We had yummalicious food including smoked salmon, foie gras, gratin de cardons, king prawns, roasts, turkey, buches de noel, and all manner of other deliciousness. I got sent some lovely emails and photos as coverage of the family Christmas celebrations back in Australia and today I got to speak with my Mum, my brother Dowie, my sister Kat and my grandmother. I also got a call from a colleague of Remi's to confirm that they got back to Toulouse from Lyons today and that they have our camera... Yes, in our very early morning frenzy to not miss the train yesterday we forgot a backpack in which we had packed our camera complete with all the Christmas photos. So all is well with the world and in the next couple of days we may have a few photos of Xmas!

In the meantime, I am doing an end of year spring clean. Yes, in a couple of days the year 2006 begins and so before we bid goodbye to 2005 I would like to share with you a few more trips that marked my leaving Canada and my time in France so far... Please click on the links to view the albums.

Firstly, as promised, there is the "Best of Canada" album. It's not really made up of the best photos taken there but moreso those that capture the essence of my time there... mostly freezing my arse off as you can see here on the left
Next are pictures of my first destination once I arrived in France: Lyons
While I was there we also visited Perouges, a medieval village
The next stop from Lyons was pretty emotional for me since we stopped off in Ambert, Auvergne, to re-discover a significant part of my childhood. There we visited the man who was my step-father for about 7 years: Guy. Not only was that very strange but about 20 years ago we had sent a huge crate full of our belongings back to France when the political situation in New Caledonia got a little too shaky. So during my brief visit I revisited a lot of my past and even got to take a few relics with me.

Before heading to Toulouse Remi's mother decided it had been so long since I swam in the ocean she would take me there as a belated birthday gift. So off we went to Orist in the Landes in the South of France close to the Atlantic coast, where we stayed in a gorgeous farmhouse for about 3 days.
Our final destination before hitting Toulouse was Bayonne, way down south in Basque country. Bayonne is home of the famous "Fetes de Bayonne" every summer. In fact there was a corrida happening while we were there but I am glad I didn't get to witness any of it. It's a great little city on the coast and Remi's mother is hoping to move there this Spring.

Once settled in Toulouse, Anne and I took off for a weekend in the Lot region
It is absolutely gorgeous and not to be missed. We had a wonderful weekend from beginning to end. One of the highlights was spotting castles and houses built into the cliff face and dating back to the Hundred Year war.
Last but not least, the photos of our day trip to Carcassonne, a XIIIth Century fortified city and Albi, famous for its cathedral and a hub of the South West region during its golden age when for a century (XVth to XVIth) great fortunes were built on the Pastel trade. Pastel, being the leaf of a local tree, prized for the magnificent blue colour it produces. Blue being the preferred colour of nobility at the time and used here to paint the cathedral's ceiling.
Anyway, I trust that should any of the photos or tidbits above arouse your curiosity you will conduct a little Google search to find out more ;)
In closing I would like to thank all those who contributed comments to my last two posts, you have greatly helped me with my dilemma!

Throw your arms around the world at Christmas tiiiiiiiime!

Yes, that's the song that's traipsing around my head as I pack our suitcase - very slowly because unfortunately I am still sick :(
In a couple of hours we hop on a train to Lyons (I have no idea why that takes an S in English) where we will be spending the next 6 days with Remi's parents.
Last night we had a little present giving/opening session at home because we didn't want to take the heavy ones with us, especially considering we will no doubt have other stuff to bring back. Actually, again because I was sick, it was Remi who did all the present opening but I was very happy to watch and then I got to hold his tool while he took a picture of it. Oh my! :D
He was the lucky recipient of a Dremel, a tool that he has wanted for ages so that he could get into stone cutting and polishing and all sorts of other mischief like making Pringles packs into macro lenses. Oh joy! He's not really allowed to use it until we get him safety glasses but he still attacked the Special K packet, slicing it, piercing it and sanding it back.


He also got some rocks to practice on. The rock on the bottom right hand corner did not have a
tag, so if anyone can tell us what it is we would be grateful. Otherwise he will just have to look it up in his precious stones encyclopaedia he got for his birthday last year.

I had been wanting a good book to illustrate the history of Europe
especially the Middle Ages and Renaissance period. I got two! one for each period. I have already learnt that Queen Isabelle of Spain was the first to commission a dictionary (of the Spanish language) and that other countries followed after this. I bet you didn't know that huh?!
I also take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas!

P.S: Please read the following post as well because your input on this matter is very important to me.

Many happy returns!

The shape of things to come...

Before I go any further I should tell you that I am a bit grumpy. Well, maybe a lot grumpy. The reason? I have been sick in bed all day. As sick as I was exactly one week ago so that's really not fun and I am fed up. Now that I have explained myself...
A new year is coming up and I always try to take stock, clean things up and start off the year as sharp as possible. So that brings me to the questions I have for you. Questions prompted by frustration at a few things blog-related. I think I lost a lot of my blog audience during my long periods of silence in Montreal. So be it. What I have to say though is that it gives me great pleasure to share things with you guys and a lot of the time this also involves fair amounts of time.
So I am questioning myself tonight (as I have been for a few weeks now) and wondering if all this is just a waste of time. I have been blogging for 5 years now and in the beginning I really started doing it just for myself. Since leaving Australia though, I feel that I blog mostly to keep in touch with my loved ones back home or strewn around the world and so it frustrates me if I put a lot of time/energy into a post and then no one bothers to read it.
So what does she want to know???
Well, I want to know what it is about the blog that appeals to you so I can concentrate more on that and not waste my time writing long entries that no one reads or building photo albums that no one can be bothered looking at.
What types of posts do you enjoy the most? Do you ever actually follow the links towards the extended web references or is adding those a big fat waste of time? What about photos... do you only look at the ones posted on the blog or do you check out the albums too? Is there something about the way things are set out that you don't like?
Help me out here! I'm waiting for your comments and I expect them to be honest. Thanks.

Brace yourselves, this is a long one but hopefully worth it at least for the photos

Honey toast rocks! What else rocks? Well, at the moment way high up on the list is Barcelona. Yep! A jewel of a city tucked away in Catalan country on the Spanish Mediterranean coast and we were lucky enough to visit it last weekend :)


Once a week at the canteen here we organise a lunch so that a bunch of people who want to practice their English can get together and speak nothing but... you guessed it, English. So a couple of weeks ago at the English lunch I was sitting opposite Julia, a Spanish girl I'd never really spoken to before, and somehow in the conversation it came out that I had never been to Spain. "Well I am going to Barcelona this weekend if you guys want to come along, it's always better to be more people so you can share the petrol costs!".
Uhoh, once the idea was planted there you can imagine it was pretty damn impossible to let it go. But you know, I am currently unemployed so we're on a pretty strict budget and this month being Christmas and all... Ah to hell with it, you only live once right?

We checked out some hostels but for 25 Euros a night we would have had to sleep separately in 6 or 8 bed dorms. Not very romantic, we deliberated some more. Thursday night we made a last ditch attempt at organising a suitably budget priced but pleasant weekend in Barcelona. We logged on to Rates to Go and managed to find a newly renovated one-bedroom apartment right next to the Placa Reial and one street back from Las Ramblas for 50 Euros a night. Perfect! We booked it and were set to head off at 2.30 on the Friday afternoon.

The weather was grey in Toulouse but we were headed to perfect sunshine in Barcelona so we got some rather incredible light play in the sky on the way there. Remi had the not so bright idea to leave the Expressway around Perpignan I believe, to get to Figueres in Spain via the coastal road along the Mediterannean and through the Lower Pyrenees. It added about an hour and a half of very VERY windy and somewhat steep roads and I was sitting in the backseat of the VW van trying to keep myself together. I was rather sick for quite a while after but ok, yeah... it was very pretty. Well, what I saw of it anyway since in those moments it's better to just look straight ahead and concentrate on one's breathing while sucking on Vichy mints. Good job Remi! :D
(quick sidenote... those places along the coast really are very beautiful and I believe we will be going back to them by train towards the end of Spring if possible).

We finally reached Figueres (hometown of the great Dali and also now home of the Dali museum which we will be sure to visit sometime) and drove on through to Girona where Julia dropped us off at the train station for an hour train ride to Barcelona Sants because she was heading off further into the Pyrenees. At the train station I realised how lucky I was to have Remi with me since he speaks almost fluent Spanish and I am but a lousy beginner. This was my first time in a country where I didn't speak the language!! All the other places I have been they either spoke
French or English and being in Spain just made me want to rush back to my Spanish lessons. I mean, if people speak slower I can pretty much get the gist of what they are saying most of the time. But here they spoke fast, mumbled, AND spoke Catalan rather than Castellano (Castilian) so I was pretty much doomed. I probably could have tried purchasing a train ticket in English but I might have been spat on or something... the guy at the ticket office REALLY wasn't friendly.

The train ride was smooth with a couple of stops and we arrived in Barcelona without incident. We worked out how to work the metro ticket vending machine and headed off to Placa Catalunya, decided we would down Las Ramblas from there in order to reach our apartment. This way we got to see the busiest most famous (and touristy) street in Barcelona on a Friday night. At Placa Catalunya we were struck by the space, the wide avenues and walkways, the pretty and tasteful Christmas lights. The space especially was a huge contrast from Toulouse with its narrow streets and even narrower footpaths. Down Las Ramblas we were especially struck by the guys holding six packs of beer everywhere and trying to sell individual beers to passers-by. I have no idea still what that was about but it's something we saw a lot of over the weekend. If someone could enlighten us we would be grateful!
By 10 pm we made it to our apartment, dropped our stuff off and set out to discover the surroundings and have a bite to eat. I was giddy with excitement. The city feels wonderful and at night it's brimming with life. Around 11 pm all the restaurants were still full, with many diners just arriving. We settled on a little quaint tapas bar where the Sepia a la Plancha was to die for. And then we found out that the drawback of staying right in the thick of it, is the noise.

After breakfast the next morning we set off to visit our number one priority: the temple of the Sagrada Familia. A building Gaudi started to build in 1882 and which was far from finished by the time he died in a tram accident in 1926. They are hoping to have it finished by 2026 in honour of the 100th birthday of his death. It is an incredible sight as I hope the photos will convey. One word of advice though: do not even think about going up the towers (even by elevator) if are even remotely subject to vertigo, claustrophobia or if you are afraid of heights. I thought the warning signs were the usual to cover themselves just in case, and I was wrong. I had a full blown panic attack while I was up there and thought I wasn't even going to be able to make it back down. To even just get back down to the elevator the stairs are very narrow and winding, there are no windows so the light shines into your eyes and you just see open space on the sides and no stairs beneath you because you are blinded. It was horrible. My friend Anne later told me the same thing happened to her up there.


After the temple we briefly wandered through the Christmas market in the park across the street and there Remi discovered the shiver inducing pleasures of the orgasmatron. We bought one and sat on a bench giving each other shivers for a while before heading off to McDonalds (yeah I know but there was a good reason) since it was the only place we could find where we could eat while recharging the camera battery which was running dreadfully low.

That done, we set off to Park Guell which is probably more widely known as Gaudi park because it was designed by him. For a mosaics fan like myself it was wonderful and full of treasures.
There we also made a great discovery: the Hang. Rather than describe what this musical instrument looks like, you can see its story and a picture here. It's a percussion instrument that sounds somewhat like a harp. Remi made a short film of the guy playing in the park and you can view it here. We bought the CD!


Leaving there we met a couple of restaurant owners from California who were visiting on their way back from Mozambique. I actually spoke to her because she had a guide book and we wanted to know where the Palau de la Musica Catalan was since we were totally unprepared for all tourist activity. She was really nice and gave us a couple of spare maps she had. We ended up talking to them for a good half hour before moving on to the Palau and then on to Barcelona's gothic cathedral. Unfortunately at the Palau we could only appreciate the outside beauty since we were not allowed in, and the cathedral was covered in scaffolding, presumably undergoing restoration.
By now night had well and truly fallen and we decided that since Toulouse was not (yet) playing the English version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire we should try to see it in Toulouse. God knows I was not going to be able to stand the possibility that I wouldn't be able to see it at all in Toulouse! So it was off to a yummy Japanese restaurant for a small meal and then to the movie theatre. The movie was great! The best Harry movie so far... which is actually not such an achievement considering how crap the first two were.

Sunday morning we walked to the port, stopping in a little patissery for croissants and the best coffee I have had in a long time. We walked all the way around and down to Barceloneta beach where we admired the Mediterranean Sea, not having seen ocean for months. The apartment owners had kindly let us store our bags in the apartment while we continued our sightseeing rather than forcing us to check out at the usual 11 am.
Unfortunately we got a call from them around 12 saying they had received a last minute booking and would therefore need us to remove our gear by 2 pm so that the cleaning lady could get in there. That put us on a tighter schedule. After much umming and aaahing we decided to take the risk of not getting back on time rather than give up on the idea of taking the sky train to Montjuic where we knew we would not have time for a full exploration but at least it meant getting a good panoramic view of the city. Not only were we not disappointed but we also managed to get back on time.

Once we grabbed our bags it meant the sightseeing was pretty much over. We still had a couple of hours before we had to meet Julia for the return trip. We decided to spend them on a paella, followed by Spanish hot chocolate and a little wander through the boutique lined streets. That is how we found Barcelona's version of heaven: Xocoa.
If you ever get a chance to stop by there, there is one delicacy you should not miss. I am not sure of its name but it looks like a cake covered in icing sugar with what they call marzipan though I don't believe it's the same as the marzipan we refer to. It is filled with a chocolatey paste. It is dee-licious and light. MMmmm. I would go back just for that, but then again I can be a bit of a guts :D
All of this topped off by a long snooze in the car most of the way back. Aaah life is good :)
For your viewing pleasure, you will find the full Barcelona album here. Do not miss the Sagradra Familia pictures!

Give Blood... Donate an Organ!

The Barcelona details are coming along nicely and will be with you within the next couple of days. I am also getting more organised so will shortly be bringing you the photos of my visits to Bayonne, the Lot, Orist, Ambert, Perouges, Lyons and Carcassone... as well as a 'Best of Canada' album as mentioned previously. Sorry about the delay but believe it or not all this is a lot of work and the uploading has to be outsourced to Remi's office since our crappy modem connection can't handle the task.
Yesterday we went on a train trip to Albi with John and I will give you a bit of a rundown when the photo album is ready. Somehow during the day I got on the subject of blood groups... for no logical reason that I know of except to say that I think my blood group is pretty cool since it spells Be Positive. I found out Remi is A positive ("A Plus") so A+ and in France that is a familiar way to sign off when emailing or leaving someone on IRC/msn. It's short for "A Plus Tard" which basically means "see you later". So I guess here, his blood group is kinda cool too.
So then I asked John what his blood group was and he said it was O positive or negative, whichever one can be used by everyone. I figure that kinda makes you one of the chosen ones, the saviour of the people if you will, a responsibility that should not be taken lightly, so I asked him if he ever gives blood. I was shocked to hear the answer was no! I mean it turns out he actually gets very faint at the sight of blood so I understood a little better. BUT Remi and he basically told me giving blood is not something that's really in the mentality of your average French person.
I then asked if he was an organ donor and he said no. !!!!!. Raaar! No organ donation??! What good are your organs to you if you're no longer around??
So there again they told me that it's not something that is really put in their face, most people wouldn't even be aware of the procedure to become an organ donor, and even if they were the procedure is a pain in the butt anyway (apparently).
I told them how in Australia there are a couple of ways to become an organ donor but that the main one was to declare yourself a donor when you get your drivers licence. We all agreed that was a really good idea. Australia 1 France 0.

But seriously... Think about it... Think about it hard... then... Just do it*.
Give Blood. Become an Organ Donor.

*I'll probably get sued by Nike for that one

Ad break... Indira in Toulouse and Carla Werner on the stereo

A little P.S for today since I cannot upload the Barcelona stuff until early next week (connection at home is too low).
I am feeling much better tonight and even got to go and finish my Christmas shopping before meeting Remi and John (remember the guy who travelled through Arizona with us?) for a yummy Indian meal at "Indira" - rue de la Colombette. For those of you in Toulouse, the food is great, portions are generous and very reasonably priced! Try to ignore the tacky decor and the annoying thing by the door that loops bad Christmas carol music (we kindly asked them to switch it off and they obliged).

Those of you in Australia, try getting down to see Carla (Werner) live before Christmas. Check out her website for details
Also some details of her next album... yes, the one we have all been waiting for... due out in March. Some of you have been hanging out to get your hands on her 'old' EP and you will see on the site that it is available again.
Also, check out her myspace page to sample some of the new stuff - unfortunately you can't download the samples so you need to have a reasonable connection!
Those of you in the States, you can't attend the shows but you can get down to your local record store and buy the album!
Those of you in Europe may only know her as the voice on Paul Oakenfold's "Southern Sun", but she's definitely worth discovering
Me, well I'll just plug her talent from time to time and hope someone sends me the CD in March *HINT HINT*

Ok, that's it for the ad break :D... but seriously...

Yep, even in France... these were lifted from an Irish pub in town :D
Notice how Tasmania is not part of Australia?

A quick update to let you know I haven't forgotten about you. Those of you who have been patiently checking for an update daily, thank you for your determination!
The last few days have been very busy with doctors' appointments, job hunting, domestic duties, and... a trip to Barcelona!! which I was hoping to tell you all about a few days ago but which will now have to be my next post... hence the wait.
The last couple of days I have suffered a terrible flare-up that has left me bed-ridden and overdosed on codeine and ibuprofen. Yuck. BUT... my Remi is a wonderful nurse and I am getting better and Christmas is just around the corner and there is a lot to be grateful for, including my Mum whom I spoke with this morning on the phone :)
So the doctor's appointment ended up being rather positive. Apparently it is normal for Sarcoidosis to sometimes manifest itself like that and other times not. Just to be sure, I got a second opinion. I also have a specialist appointment on January 9th... a Dr Gache (don't laugh) who has a very good reputation and both GPs I saw agree that I will be getting the best care possible from him, so that is extra good news.
About the flare-up in the last couple of days... don't worry. We think it was triggered by the use of cheap Spanish wine when cooking a tomato sauce. Normally using wine in cooking does not cause problems because the alcohol evaporates, but Mum told me today that she read an article that said some allergies can even be triggered by smells. I do remember the wine smelling extremely strong even once it was cooked in the sauce... So we'll have to be more careful with all that. It's not an experience I am keen to relive any time soon!
Some of you have sent emails asking me if there is anything from back home that I really miss. An Aussie friend of mine here just had her niece over for a visit and she was kind enough to bring me the top 2 of my wishlist: golden syrup and vegemite!!
Aside from that I almost cried in the bread aisle of a supermarket once when I realised that I would never see packs of crumpets in a bread aisle in a French supermarket *sniff*. I am still trying to recover from that. Someone tells me there is an English supermarket somewhere in the city and they might sell them... the adventure continues. Especially since I am now blessed with the best butter and honey in the world.
Other wishlist items:
- Tea tree oil
- Cherry Ripe
- Tim Tams
- My special yummy scratchy cloth from the Body Shop, but am pretty sure you can't get those anywhere anymore :(
- My special yummy lip pencils from Face of Australia
- My family and friends (though those are definitely top of the list!)

A bientot alors with the Barcelona adventures!

What's up Doc?

Tomorrow I go back to my doctor with my x-ray and blood test results and though I'm curious, I am also a bit nervous. I guess I should explain. As some or most of you know, I have a disease called Sarcoidosis. Every year I am supposed to have a chest x-ray to make sure the disease is not spreading to my lungs, and I guess because in me it seems to be behaving strangely they also hope every year to notice an improvement. The bad news is it hasn't improved, the good news is it doesn't seem to have gotten worse either. Of course, this is speculation on my part since it's over a year and a half since I saw my last x-ray, I don't have it with me for comparison, and I am not an expert.
The x-ray guy kinda freaked me out last week though. I was a little spooked during the x-ray because in France they don't give you little paper gowns to put on for modesty. Here you stand tits at attention until they stick them right up against a very cold metal plate and pretty much make you do the hokeypokey before having to throw your hands in the air and turn side-on for the next shot. Anyway, after this little ceremony I went back into the waiting room to wait for my results to be processed and handed to me sealed like they do back in Australia.
Instead, the doctor came out to call another patient and turns to me and says 'Mme D, you too please'. Surprised I make a mad grab for my things and shuffle off behind him until he points me into a room to wait for him. I sit myself in the chair, look up and am confronted head-on with images that look quite like the inside of my chest. So I wait, nervously. He comes back in, sits down and says 'Now. What is happening with you'... Now of course, because my doctor had clearly written "Controle, Sarcoidose" on the referral I figured this guy was in the know. That is why I panicked. But when he said that I confusedly replied 'Umm, nothing. It's my yearly check-up. You know, I have sarcoidosis'. Ooooh!! silly me! grrrrrrrrrr
The good news is it still hasn't moved to my lungs :)
The news that I am nervous about though is that it seems to finally be manifesting in my bloodwork... and I have no idea what that means...
For 12 years I've been told so many different things by doctors because nothing showed in the blood tests. And now, stuff is showing in the blood tests. So I guess it's normal to be a little nervous no?

Wish me luck!

Ok... you got me. This photo was not taken here or now, it was taken a little over a year ago in Tadoussac, Canada. This was my close encounter with a Beluga... though I really did see a real one off in the distance when we were on the zodiac watching the other whales. Yes, Belugas are very protected so it's rare to see them up close, but what a feeling to see them at all!
And so this picture introduces one little thing that I wanted to share with you today. One thing that gives me the warm'n'fuzzy feeling here in Toulouse: the sight of an Airbus Beluga getting set to land. Where we live, I do get to see that from time to time and maybe it's nuts but it always makes me want to skip and sing... Shiny white Belugas in the sky! Unfortunately I can't share this experience with you because I am unable to find a perfect photo on the web to capture this, and I never have my camera with me when I see them. Boo.

I had better get back to finishing this translation that's due tomorrow. I hope you have all been touched by the spirit of Christmas... it's creeping up on me! :)

xxx