Healthy France 2

Pour votre santé, éviter de grignoter entre les repas.

Snacking is not recommended in France. Well, burger is more like a meal, no?

On the side note, the use of English words is quite common compared to Quebec. They just have to include a translation as seen in the photo.

Healthy France

L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé. À consommer avec moderation.

This kind of makes sense. What amazes me is when we see an ad for cookies, and it tells you not to snack because snacking is bad for you.

Oui, c'est ça.

Thanks David Suzuki.


Misato Sekita-Krislock

Paranomal Activity

Nathan loves Hallowe'en. He misses trick-or-treating. As Nathan insisted, to celebrate Halloween, we got together with his colleagues and watched a horror movie. There is no rational relation here, but that's what he decided to do on his favourite day of the year. The movie he chose was "Paranomal Activity," and we all survived as it turned out to be not too scary after all. We said good-bye to our hosts, and that's when our true "Paranomal Activity" started.

When we got to a tram stop, we saw a man who was helping another old man. He asked us to stay with this old man while he went back to a bar to call a cab for this man. The old man had a little too much to drink tonight. We waited a good 30 minutes, but there was no sight of this man or a cab. We had not idea what to do, and after a consultation among us (representing 4 different countries), it was decided that we should call 112, the equivalent of 911. In 5 minutes or so, an ambulance arrived and we handed over the old man. Thanks to France, my experience level went up again! It was my first call to an ambulance.

Then on the tram heading back home, we saw a beginning of a fight between two men. The next thing we saw was that they got off the tram and one was on the ground while the other kicking him... Yes, Grenoble is quite active on the night of Hallowe'en.

After all, drunk adults outnumbered cute kids dressed in their costume. The movie was not scary, what's scary is the effect of alcohol on humans.

Voiturette

On the way to Chana's grooming, I finally took a picture of a "voiturette." I thought it was a regular Kei-car, but it is not! It is a voiture sans permis = car without license. Its weight is light and most of all its top speed is 45km/h, hence you can drive without having a license.









This one is a Chatenet, and I learned that there is another voiturette manufacture in our region (Rhone-Alpes) called AIXAM. I am looking forward to seeing more of these tiny cars, and more importantly, I want to make sure that the driver is "not too old or young to drive legally" and "not too drunk!"

Rules (No.2)

Chana must be so proud of us. The poster reads "Your dog wants to can be proud of you. Thank you for picking up."

I like how they are using "the positive reinforcement" rather than shouting "PICK IT UP!!" In many cities in France, dog poop bags are distributed for free encouraging the owners to clean up after their dog. I guess these mild approaches are necessary to gradually change the old habit, as many French would overreact by saying "Mais non!" if a harsh reinforcement is introduced.

So voilà, a cute poster of a pooch in the same posture as "La liberté quidant la peuple" by Delacroix.

Rules (No.1)

Here is one of the publicities done by the city of Grenoble with a slogan "Not possible at your home? Same in the streets."

Are the bladders made smaller or something here?

Heat is on

Brrrrr. It is cold in Grenoble. We turned the heat on for the first time this year, and I am so grateful that we have the heater working!

For quite some time, our gas water boiler and the hot water tank were both leaking quite bad. We had the maintenance guy come and they recommended that we should replace both of them. When we came back from FCI Agility championship in Liévin, we had one last hot shower and the water boiler died on us for good. The maintenance guy told me that "In France, customers are kings." So I telephoned the real-state agency like one saying "Having no hot water is intolerable!" They were mightier. The agent said it was totally doable, and she thought it may take days before she can give the go sign to the plumbers to do the work. Luckily (from the French standard) we only had to spend three days without hot water, but the filths we have accumulated over these three days seem to haunt us that Nathan and I are still sick.

Although I am sick, I am now operating at my full capacity. My French courses are demanding that I should quickly finish reading L'étranger and move on to L'écumes des jours. Besides teaching at the Japanese complimentary school, I now teach Japanese to the adults in French! I hope they will learn more Japanese than I learn French from them. Chana has a busy schedule too, and she is going to agility three times this week. She is so bored during the day because I am not at home. She seems to help herself jump up on the bed and take a snooze... We need to find out how to retrain her not to do so... Maybe having the heater on will keep her off as she prefers to stay cool :).

Chana is somebody finally ;).

News flash! Chana obtained "le CSAU (certificat de sociabilité et d'aptitude à l'utilisation)" and she can participate in dog sports in France!

The CSAU exam is the first thing doggies have to pass to do any dog sports in France, and dogs should be able to 1) show no fear to strangers, 2) loose leash walk or heel, 3) show no fear to noises, 4) stay 30 seconds when the handler is absent, and 5) come when called.

Chana passed it with remark "excellent" and we are excited to get a license to do agility competitions. Thank you Dr. Vet for confirming Chana's ID (microchip) and special thanks goes to Noëlle from CCDU for helping us take the CSAU exam.

As she does not have the paper (registration), she cannot do all of the exams. It is better than nothing though. The Canadian Kennel Club rejected our application to obtain the Performance Event Number (PEN) as Chana came from a backyard breeder. She was nobody in Canada but at least somebody in France.

FCI agility championship 2011

The agility championship in Lievin!

Hello from Bruxelles

Three of us are finally traveling together again. This time we are in Bruxelles, Belgium for three days before we head down to Liévin, France to see the FCI world agility championship.

Today is our second day here, and we have already accomplished eating Belgium waffles, chocolate, and mussels and fries.

The city centre is small enough that we have walked around pretty much everywhere. Chana may have to have a quiet time tomorrow at the hotel when we do some visits inside buildings.

The area we are staying is close to the Muslim quarter and we had merguez and kefta (unfortunately served on french baguette instead of hubuz) for dinner together with mint tea. We had to wonder the demographic imbalance as those who were dining/socializing were all men!

We are really enjoying a country with true bilingualism (trilingualism?).

Rocher de la Garde

Third hike of the month. I am blogging from a peak (a small one about 700m) in the Chartreuse.

Walnut bread and cheese for lunch. La vie est belle.

Fall melancholy

I am truly enjoying my life in Grenoble this fall. The courses at CUEF are going great, flamenco, Japanese school, agility, it feels to me that they are at the perfect ripeness. Another thing nice and mature is myself, and a middle aged person had better know moderation in order to avoid falling ill.

Last Saturday, our doggie friends took us to Annecy where we spent a nice afternoon visiting the castle and historic sites. It has been almost exactly a year since we first visited there, and the charm is still in its effect! We will have to miss the fall festival this year, and this thought made me rather upset...

Most likely we will not be in France this time next year :(.

Despite the filthiness of this country, I am truly at home here in France. The next destination had better be an awesome place, as it is pretty hard to beat this one.

Ohana

"Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind."

Chana is having some intestinal problems but we still went for a hike in Chartreuse near the Grande Chartreuse Monastery. We thought she needed some rest so Nathan back packed her for 5 minutes.

We drove a smart car for the first time and we enjoyed the semi-automatic transmission!

C'est la rentrée!

It is the back-to-school season in France, and we hear more and more odd screams and roars outside these days. You can do anything when you are young.

Being ambitious, I am back to school to learn some more French. I decided to take a semester course instead of monthly intensive courses. The course consists of 10 hours of language courses (FLE, test taking strategy, and vocabulary) and 4.5 hours of general cultural courses. I am doing this among the youngsters as most of my classmates are university exchange students from the USA. So the battle is on :).

I am also back to teach at the Japanese complementary school on Wednesdays. Instead of the 4th grade I teach the 2nd grade this term, and the first class (today) went really well. I cannot say this out loud, but I use the same technique to teach the kids that I use on Chana. It works! In October, I will start teaching Japanese as a foreign language to the adults, but I am not so keen on it at this point. I guess it will be a good experience teaching in French.

For extra-curricular activities, I will be doing Flamenco again, and of course agility with Chana. Nathan is doing more bouldering now, and I hope to take salsa classes with him. Yoga classes have to wait until January, although I already miss my Yoga teacher.

The Fiddle and the Drum (July and August 2011)

In July 2011, for the first time ever, I...

• offered 1hr/wk "juku" for some kids from the Japanese school even though they were on holidays.
• Unofficially took a break from my French lessons. 
• Joined my friends to visit Toulouse, Carcassonne, Andorra as an official driver.
• Got a picture taken by a speed camera coming back and felt sick to stomach. 
• Flew to Canada using miles and swore I never want to transit in the US.
• Had a Strawberry smoothie from Starbucks.
• Cleaned my luggage covered in mint syrup shuttered by rough luggage handlers at a hotel room.
• Laughed out loud.

In August 2011, for the fist time, I...

• Had Subway for dinner with Kathy in Victoria Park, Kitchener.
• Went to the new property of Linda, a new Aimhi location!
• Slept in the bed which used to be our guest bed, now at Jason's!
• Became a true Japanadian.
• Went to Texas to attend the wedding of Abram and MT.
• Shared a hotel room with Nathan's mom.
• Had breakfast tacos.
• Flew from Houston to Vancouver using wifi in the air thanks to Alaska Airlines.
• Stayed with Cath and David, Elearnor's family.
• Visited the house of Doug and Eleanor without Doug and Eleanor.

I still enjoyed and loved...

• Spending time with the Stewarts at their cottage up in Storney lake.
• Drinking coffee with Maruoka sensei.
• Sharing values with Jason.
• Discussing life with Donna while eating her Indian cuisine.
• Eating delicious homemade Persian meal with Leila.
• Seeing Jen and Scott, a community builder.
• Being inspired by Dr. Ariga, Dr. Shimpo, Dr. Hara, Ken and Hana, full of wisdom.
• Being encouraged by Sormeh and Zahra. I feel like I grew up with them.
• Seeing Aya and Tim with their two powerful kids, a family so tight as a unit.
• Chatting with T, with whom I taught at AEON.
• Having a nice dinner with Sharon and Arthur.
• Discussing life with Aseem, my family doctor.
• Drinking Strawberry smoothie from Starbucks. 8th one?
• Doing agility with Chana.

I hated...

• Being away from Nathan and Chana, especially when Chana was ill.
• Being asked to stand up in support of troops. 

Here is Joni!

Peace

Chanagility: weaves

We bought a set of 12 weave poles early April to practice weaves at home. I did not like the luring technique used in agility classes, so our training imitating Susan Garrett's 2x2 methods began. Well, I modified it greatly, so we ended up having a dog who does 12 poles nicely but has very weak concept of entry... I have to be as creative as possible so that Chana knows what "Go weave" means. 

One of the difficulties I am having is that we are practicing in the public park where Chana is greatly distracted. When she gets frustrated, she is looking for troubles. Another is that I have practiced too much with her sitting before she starts weaving. The result is that Chana has no idea of doing the weaves in the sequence. 

I feel like I am doing everything backwards, but we will work and adjust so that we will have a bright future ahead!

Agility in France No. 3 (The grass is always greener on the other side)

As two months of summer holiday for students began on July 2nd, most of the activities also wrap up for the summer. With my Flamenco class, we had a small performance to celebrate the end of the season, and with yoga, a nice gathering at the teacher's place. At the dog club of CCDU, it seems the same thing is happening and more and more practices are being cancelled. The instructors are on the volunteer basis, so we cannot really complain. The club will be hosting a trial on July 14th (French National Day), and after that, I have no idea if they will organize practices or not.

On the other hand, our agility in St. Nazaire-les-Eymes is HOT (excitement+temperature)! The ground covered with stones is a bummer, but I feel some progresses being made after every class. The coach has been showing more directions these days, and I truly appreciate her advice. After all, I love drills and exercises, and am always amazed how my body movement and positions make a big difference in Chana's run. One great thing about our coach here is that she is punctual, regular with schedule, and organized.

And thanks to her organization skills, we got to see another agility training center in the area which is literally just across the street. We have always envied to see what it was like over there (Question: Do they have rocks?), so we were thrilled to go for a visit for a fun agility match.

The answer to the question is, No! They have no rocks! BUT, they have no agility equipment either!! I have never been so scared of running a course before, as the handmade objects were so dangerous with no grips on the contact objects. It was my first time seeing a set of 5 weave poles as well, and I was surprised to learn that it does exist! Apparently, the teacher there does not do agility himself, but he responded to the requests from his clients. There were many dogs who were afraid of doing things, and I feel truly sorry for them. That was for sure one of the biggest "oh my goodness" moment in my life.

My only hope is that no dogs get hurt over there and no humans get hurt over here.

Joyeux anniversaire Canada!

Chana proudly representing Canada in front of the artwork in Parc Michallon

Happy Canada Day

Grignan: June 25-27, 2011

Seeing a lavender field was one of my dreams, and we made it come true this weekend. As we drove, we could smell the lavender in the air. My happiness level was at its max. It was just amazing!

We stayed in Grignan, where a beautiful 12-18th century castle stands in the heart of the town. The chambre d'hôte, the rhythm of our séjour, meals, everything was excellent.

This elegant scent of lavender must reach where my beloved people rest in the sky.

Ruins, Dog, Water, and Namesake : June 11-13 (4)

We found Rue de Beauregard in Grenoble, Place Beauregard in Lyon, and now a town called Beauregard north of Lyon. We will be visiting another one in Drôme Province. We should find 12 to make a calendar!

And of course a visit to a village called Chanas. Close enough. Only wish Chana were literate.

Ruins, Dog, Water, and Namesake : June 11-13 (3)

Evian was quenching. The water was flowing endlessly, welcoming those who come with a thirst.

Badoit... In the small town of St. Galmier near St. Etienne. We found a miracle fountain where a naturally bubbly water supposed to come out for free. The only problem was that the miracle fountain was fenced in, and it was closed for the holiday. C'est pas juste.

As we had about five bottles to fill up with something, we tried the municipal water. Nope. It was not Badoit. C'est pas juste.

Ruins, Dog, Water, and Namesake : June 11-13 (2)

The Dog Agility French Championship was very exciting. In terms of the size, it was much smaller than the Ontario Regional which we went to see in 2010, but the excitement was much greater. The audience was as high as they can be, and I wonder if it had anything to do with the location being very close to Beaujolais...

What amazed me the most was the club spirit. One for all, all for one! When the winner got announced, there went the flag, people carrying the winner to the podium, and people doing the club cheer... So much pride and so much honour. This is because the agility team is a very selective part of a dog club. For some clubs, in order to join the agility team, you have to be a member of the club long enough to gain respect and must have the right dog. This must be why two clubs told us, visiters from Canada with a Cocker Spaniel, that the agility was only for competition and it is currently full. They just do not know how perfectionist Nathan is how Japanese I am...

At the competition, they had the demonstration by the Team France member for 2011. I found my favourite pair: Gregory Bielle Biadalot and his Border Collie, Cayenne (Photo below, the one in the middle). The bonus is, he is an amazing singer! French national anthem never sounded beautiful than his a capella. I cannot wait to see them in Liévin at the FCI World Championship in October!

Ruins, Dog, Water, and Namesake : June 11-13 (1)

As we have another road trip coming up this weekend, I have to quickly get one blog entry in from our last road trip.

On June 11-12, the Dog Agility French Championship was held near Lyon. So for the future reference :), Nathan and I decided to go have a peak. Of course we did not miss our own trainings: agility at 9:30 and obedience at 14:30. After a fun agility (still at the old place) and a depressing obedience (not us, other owners), we hit the road with a little KIA.

Ever since we found that random ruins (towers) on our way home from Evian, we are like ruin hunters. Especially if the map indicates there is something, we are going. Here are our findings! Cows and a tower, La tour de Clermont, dated 1107.

After seeing a ruin, we decided to go see a preserved castle in Virieu dated 11th to 18th century. We arrived there a bit too late to take a tour inside, but we will be back.

L'examen du DELF (résultat)

I got the results for two of the DELF exams I took in May. I am happy with the results, and I got what I wanted: pass B1 with a good enough score and get 100% in A1 :D.

When I went to get the result for B1, the total mark was actually 10 points less. I looked at it carefully, and realized that my worst mark was the reading section. I asked the secretary to recalculate the score, and voila, the examiner had miscounted my mark. Qui ne tente rien n'a rien. Well, I thought I did the best in the reading section, and it turns out that it is the worst score... Need to work on vocabulary!

Compared to how much English I learned in one year when I was on Rotary exchange, my French has not done so well. I am planning on taking a semester course in September so that I am forced to learn.

Doggies love macaroni?

How to serve:

1) For those who like crunchy stuff: Serve as is.
2) For those who are more gourmet: You pour boiling water, wait until soft, cool it down with water, and add favourite veggies or meat.

I have also found a bag of rice in the doggie food section at Carrefour. Let's talk about high carb diet.

Agility in France No.2

Another post for our friends at Aimhi Coaching.

We are starting a new chapter of our agility training in France. Last week, we signed up for one-year membership at Club du chien de défense et d'utilité located in Saint Etiénne-de-Crossey, about 40 minutes away from Grenoble. Here are the reasons we chose this club.

• Public vs. Private

We learned that "club du chien" in France is a public entity, and the trainers are qualified but they are all volunteers. There are some private clubs, such as the one we signed up in February. We pay €120 for 12 sessions at the private club, but with our new club, it costs us €120 for a year, no matter how many lessons you take. They offer three agility classes a week, and various levels of obedience, Ring, RCI, tracking, flyball and dog dancing.

• Team spirit

When we went to see the club, all five participants of the class were very very welcoming. It reminded us of our experience at Aimhi. They were informative, supportive, and we felt very comfortable being with them. Four of them compete, and we appreciate the mentality of polishing skills and working towards higher goals. At the same time, they were really enjoying this sport with their dogs. They all had one aged dog besides their current partner, and the 13, 14, or 15 year-old dog had a chance to run a bit of the course without jump bars. I saw a good balance of labour and joy. 

• Environment

Although this place is about twice as far as our current agility training, there are no rocks on the ground, there is a nice stream in the wooded area where dogs can go for a swim, and a big field to run around off leash away from the road. Chana's performance is better in this field. I guess her paws are not sore from running.

And lastly, the coach is there to guide you. She focuses a lot on motivation and efficiency. My new trick to master is "l'avion=an airplane" which seems to be a blind cross? Gradually, my agility knowledge and vocabulary is becoming bilingual, but Chana does not seem to mind. She is a happy dog who all of a sudden completed a 12 weave poles one day, when we were still working on the entry with 4 poles. I guess going through 6 and 12 is the same thing for her. I should never underestimate Chana.

The members are planning on going to see FCI World Agility Championship in Liévin. Nathan and I have bought our tickets. All we need now is a Team Canada shirt and Team France shirt!

Dog Whisperer de Grenoble

There exists one. Here in Grenoble. He works for the City of Grenoble and he offers free obedience classes. How cool is that? So we went. Chana and I, together with our doggie buddy. We humans were not completely happy-go-lucky though, and could almost see each other's brain going: Geez. Hope he won't use a harsh correction on my dog!

We arrived at the designated meeting point, and there waited 6 other participants for the class. He is not a smiley, joyful, I-love-everyone type of person, but it took very short amount of time for him to include us into the group. He asked us some questions, our training background, our problems, etc, and after that it was quick. We just followed his orders, like a good dog.

One of the questions I addressed to him was Chana's pulling on the leash. As soon as we started group walking, he took the leash from my hand. My heart raced and thought to myself, "Please do not kick Chana!" Thankfully, it was not as bad as I expected. He did pop on Chana's leash quite a bit, but I have seen worse in Canada. And the technique he uses is probably the most common one: Turn around when dog is ahead of you, and make the dog pay attention to where you are going next. We have tried this technique, but we get tired after a while or when we are in a hurry we ignore the rule. As he did not suggest that we use a prong collar or choke chain, it is clear that the problem lies on our side for not guiding the dog "crisp and clear" (Barton 2009). However, one question remains, which I should ask him next time; Do you want the dog to do the "loose leash walking" or "attentive heeling"?

After the heeling exercise, we did many sit-stays, down-stays, and recalls. Of course Chana's recall was miserable, but in return, I attracted another dog a few times. For the recall, he told us to be excited and to praise the dog a lot for coming. He actually pointed out that we two foreigners were doing good job for being cheerful, so it looks like we added some positive feature to the class today.

There was a 4 months old Shiba cross, and the trainer kept saying that the owner had to be more gentle to the dog. He pointed out that the dog was afraid, and corrected the owner for being too harsh on the dog. He said that we had to understand the temperament of the dog and use the appropriate method. He also added that dogs are opportunist, and if we let them, they would assume what they can get. For Chana, I know for sure that the harsh correction does not work (Chana belonged to the dark side in 2008), but I do know that Chana pushes her limit. She only responds to my yells these days when told not to do stuff. There is a big different between being harsh and being firm. So I need to firm up! No more free melon for you Chana!

It was another sunny and hot day in Grenoble agains the odds. We are experiencing a bad drought over here. The dusty dog had a nice bath and is having a sweet dream.

Je suis gourmande!

J'ai trouvé un demi cantaloupe dans le parc et je l'ai mangé!

Luckily the "owner" of the cantaloupe was generous, and she said she would wash it... Her baby was adorable.

By the way, Chana cannot lick her lower lip.

L'examen du DELF

I believe that people perform better and are more productive when there is a goal. Even though Dr. Stephen Hawking insists that there is no heaven, if thinking there is one makes people behave better, why not keep that as the ultimate goal of humanity? Well, I believe in my grandmother who used to say, "If you behave badly like that, you will be a snake in your next life!" So I behave decently enough...probably a mammal at least...

Speaking of goals, exams here and there are good stimulators and rhythm keepers for our lives. Together with my teacher, I was prepping up for DELF B1 exam, and I just finished it today. Hooray!

Last Tuesday, I had the speaking part of the exam in which you are asked to 1) present yourself, 2) role play, and 3) express an opinion on the subject given. The role play part is very funny and truly French. They will give you a situation such as "You parked your car in the area reserved for the handicapped, and the parking officer gave you a ticket. You justify yourself and avoid paying the fine." It requires not only the language skill but also some nerves! The third part is the most difficult one as you only have 10 minutes to prepare your discourse. As they choose articles from recent publications, I was guessing the subject to be on 1) alternative energy (environment), 2) royal wedding (culture, politics), 3)kids (kids), etc. It turned out that my topic was mass tourism versus alternative tourism. I have no clue what I said and how I argued, and I felt a great need to work on my vocabulary.

I did the listening and reading comprehension and the writing part today. Listening was brutal, and I blame myself for not immersing myself in French media. The reading part was okay, thanks to me being Japanese, and the writing part, I managed somehow, but again more vocab would have been helpful.

I do not get anything out of this exam except for my self satisfaction (or dissatisfaction), but I am glad I took the exam to find out what I need to work on. Oh, I also took DELF A1 (required by the OFII), which is exactly the same style but 120% easier. I am also glad that I had to take A1 exam because I now clearly know that I am not in that level. The result of B1 will come in a month or so, and I will start working toward DELF B2 (even if I failed B1!).

On a side note, those who talk during the exam with their neighbours, those who keep writing after the time is up, those who cheat! Shame on you! I could not believe how people behave poorly under such strict circumstance. Dr. Stephen Hawking, I think I agree with you now. The existence of heaven or hell seems to have no effect on our behaviours. God, you should have created us with a "Pinocchio function" or at least some sort of justice meter attached to our body. With all the money we are spending on scientific researches, can we not make that as one of the goals?

Alpine Flowers

Happy Mother's Day to my North American and Japanese moms! In France, mother's day is not until the end of this month. Interesting!

Our doggie friends invited me for a hike up in Chamrousse from Bachat Bouloud up to Lac Achard. It could not have been better in terms of temperature, scenery, level of exhaustion, etc. I got to see some alpine flowers including wild tulips, pulsatile printanière (the fuzzy one, a type of anemone), gentiane (Japanese "rindou") and many violets.

Grenoble's altitude is around 450m and I was above 1900m today to see those flowers. This is a small hike in the afternoon.

Doggie Health

When we were living in Waterloo, we had an excellent veterinarian for Chana.

Among hundreds of vets, we chose Michelle because of her location and her website. It was certainly a practical choice rather than a logical one, but in the end we really lucked out. She was also an animal chiropractor, and most importantly she prescribed homeopathic medicines. Focusing on keeping Chana healthy by raw-food diet, we were really happy with Michelle's expertise in alternative medicines.

Here in Grenoble, there are also milliards of vets, and we again chose ours for the practical reason: 5 minutes walking distance. He has a very small practice; no receptionists, no vet techs nor vet assistants. His waiting room is usually busy, which I take it as a good sign. Using my fieldwork skills--i.e. visit as often as possible even for a minor thing, I established a fairly good rapport with him. He even let me leave without paying one time, as telling me to come back the following week for the paperwork.

For me being a mild case OCPD (self diagnosed), I had some difficulty at first to comprehend the veterinarian practice here. After all, it all comes down to the French laxness and individualism, and of course my excellent ability to imagine the worst case scenarios. Here are some case studies.

Q: Chana's rabies vaccination is valid until 2012. How does it work here in France?

A: In France, the rabies vaccination is administered annually, and it is the law. HOWEVER, it is the same vaccine as you get in Canada, so if you prefer not to give her, I guess that's okay too.

→Um, did he just say that I can ignore the law? For sure I prefer not to inoculate Chana unnecessarily, but does this mean that there are many people out there who do not care about the rabies vaccination? Maybe I should get vaccinated...

Q: In Canada, we had Chana on the heartworm prevention. How is the practice here?

A: You don't need it. HW is not common in this area, but in southern France. On the other hand, if you go to the mountains, you should probably use some tick prevention. It is up to you though.

→Um, where does "southern France" start? Do mosquitos (carriers of the disease) know not to cross the border line? Is this map just another marketing tool for the pharmaceutical companies? Mountains? Do I see a mountain 100m from our apartment? Why did I not study veterinarian medicine? Okay. I will choose a product which repel both mosquitos and ticks, and time for herbal and nutritional home remedies.

Q: Chana was using homeopathic nosodes for canine cough prevention. Do you have it?

A: No, but I have regular vaccines. Wait. You only have one dog. You don't need it unless you see other dogs regularly.

→Um, many dogs run loose in this country, and doggies like to greet each other. Those dogs probably don't have rabies vaccination, carry bugs, and who knows what. Chana! You have to get this one.

Well, I still trust this vet, and I will keep him as Chana's home doctor. I trust my doggie nose.

Chanagility Le 16 avril 2011

Road trip

I must have written about my Aussie-ness fostered by Emus and Red Kangaroos somewhere, but when I drive, I am the TomTom and I hate going backwards after taking the wrong route. The question is, should I change my approach as we are now paying by mileage?

Our road trip to Evian included a short visit to a medieval port town of Yvoire. It is on the Lake Léman, established around 1300. In February, our Lyonnaise friends took us to Pérouge (1200~), and we have been fascinated by small fortified towns, preserved as a national heritage and inhabited by ordinary citizens! Yvoire was rather touristy, probably more than Pérouges, but they did have a great seafood (lakefood?) restaurant. Nathan had local perch and I had a fera fish, apparently extinct but delicious.

Instead of staying at a hotel, we chose a chambre d'hôte (B&B) in a small town called Margencel for our accomodation. We had a lovely room only 1.5 years old with lovely decoration, in the building which used to be a barn established more than 150 years ago. The lady who ran the chambre d'hôte was so welcoming and lovely, and spoke with us in French even though she spoke fluent English! It was such a warm experience, and I would love to go back again.

On the following day, after tasting a delicious cheese called Abondance, we were on the cheese hunt. The lady of the chambre d'hôte gave us some info, and here we were on the country road looking for cheese. After driving through some nice woods, we finally found the sign and really shabby building as described by the lady. Given all three cheese we bought were great, (Tomme, Reblochon, Abondance), it is proven that you don't need a nice house to make good cheese.

We were in a hurry back to Grenoble as the car started smelling delicious with cheese warming up. However, this is France. When you are on the road, random views of castles capture your eyes. We drove up a random path in the vineyard (Chignin), and found the castle which is a private residence and the remains of seven towers of the castle wall.

For our next road trip, we do not need a destination. It is truly "yours to discover" :).

I love driving

I love driving. I do not know what Nathan would do when I am too old to drive... It won't be pretty.

Getting French driver's licence was amazingly easy. Firstly, we were lucky that we had an Ontario driver's license. I do not know why, but not all Canadian provinces are granted simple exchange of license in France. Secondly, we had our Driver's Record which states the day we obtained our license. One must be driving at least two years for the exchange to be granted. As the Ontario driver's license only shows the date of renewal, we needed this second piece of document. Thirdly, thanks to Canada's official bilingualism, we had no need to have our license translated. We went to the Prefecture, and surrendered our beloved, credit-card size, plastic license. In a week, we received our French license, good for the rest of our life, in paper!! It is carefully laminated so that it is still good when you are 80 years old! Now I regret that I did not use a better picture...

Although we still do not own a car, we now have access to one....or many :). We are now members of Alpes Autopartage, a car sharing system. For €16 per month, we have access to almost 50 vehicles in Grenoble, and we are entitled to use the system in other French cities as well. Making a reservation is easily done on-line according to your needs. You pay the hourly rate and the mileage, but gas is already included in the price. From our apartment, we have three cars within 5 minutes on foot, and so far the experience has been great.

What is great about this car sharing system is that you only drive when you really need it. So far, we only booked the car three times, and other than that we had no need for cars. It encourages people to take the public transportation, and in Grenoble, it is truly ideal with the tram system. In addition, we now bike most of the time. Nathan bikes to work using his Métro-Vélo, a bike rented for a year, and I take my red folding bike which we shipped from Canada. I happily ride my small bike as I do not stand out as much as I did in Waterloo! And when it rains, there is always the tram and bus.

At the same time we try to be as much environmentally conscious as possible, I am happy to have the sense of mobility and freedom that having an access to cars provides us. Car sharing system: brilliant.

The source

Nathan and I are both SIGG users, and we hardly ever buy bottled drinks. We live on tap water, and the quality of water here in Grenoble is pretty good. No need for Brita filter, no need for Culligan. However, I noticed that the water Nathan brings back from his work (Montbonnot) tastes better than ours, and the water at our friends' place (Le Versoud) is even better. This is quite interesting as all three loci are within 15km.

This past weekend, we left for a short excursion to drink the most celebrated water in the world: Evian. Évian-les-bains is on the south shore of Lake Léman (Lake Geneva), about 2.5 hours by car from Grenoble. Not yet too crowded with touristes, the city welcomed us with a perfect weather with delicious water for free. Originally "owned" by Mr. Cachat, the Evian water is now sold by Danone. The city also offers the thermal therapy. We missed out on the spa opportunity this time, but any town with "les-bains" have the spas.

Here on the Avenue des Sources, you can freely get "Evian" water in your bottles. We chatted with a couple who had two dozens of bottles. They come from 30km away whenever they need more water. I am sure their tap water is labeled as "French Alpes Water." I must say, the water in Évian-les-bains in our SIGG bottles tasted really good, definitely better than the one in plastic bottles.If we ever move to Germany, we will be drinking water in glass bottles (so I heard?)!

(Original Cachat building with Lausanne, Switzerland in the background over the lake)